If you’re like most MLOs that I speak with, you probably have a typical marketing and sales process that you use to capture and close purchase or refi leads. But what I’ve found through my experience is that most MLOs are not taking advantage of the enormous opportunity to use video to amplify and streamline their marketing and sales process.
According to an eMarketer study, the time adults spend watching digital video each day has increased from 21 minutes in 2011 to one hour and 16 minutes in 2015. That means that it's increasingly important for marketers to get their messaging in front of potential customers via digital video.
10 years ago, it wasn’t possible to use video as a key part to your marketing and sales strategy, but with the proliferation of smartphones, high speed mobile internet, improved video compression and distribution platforms like YouTube, Vimeo and Facebook; MLOs have a lot more robust tools to engage and close new leads.
But with so many different platforms, formats on each platform coupled with the fact that most MLOs have never used video, what’s an MLO to do?
Here are 3 video ideas that MLOs can start using today to start getting their brand out there more!
One really easy piece of content that MLOs can start putting out there are daily rate sheet updates. You look at rate sheets every morning to analyze where pricing is for your products right? Why not share some of your analysis with network?
This may not have been practical before the development of features like Facebook Live and Instagram Live, which allow you to broadcast (you guessed it) live, directly from your smartphone.
Facebook or Instagram will then push a notification to anyone who follows you and let them know that you’re broadcasting live. After you’ve had a chance to finish your live broadcast, Facebook will actually record the entire broadcast and post it to your timeline so people can see it later.
This is a great and really easy idea for MLOs because it allows you to provide DAILY video content to your network without having to actually think up any new content. You’re already analyzing the rate sheet, figuring out what programs have awesome pricing today, why not share that with your network?
You may even get someone who might be in the market for a refi who could find your rate information useful to their situation. Sending out daily rate sheet updates via email is still effective, but you can open up the network that you send these updates to by using Live video on Facebook or Instagram.
This is a technique that is especially useful for call center LOs who want to add a little bit more of a personal touch to their communication with their borrowers.
After receiving an application, we recommend that put together a 1 - 1.5 minute video which gives a quick introduction of yourself and also gives a high level, step by step overview of what is going to happen throughout their application process.
This video should be branded with the company logo and also have “bumpers” which display your name and title. It's important to give some branding to these video so they don’t seem like they were just shot and uploaded with your iPhone (for the record, it's perfectly fine to use your iPhone to record these types of videos).
This is a great piece of media that gives you a more humanized way to connect with someone who has submitted an application.
When shooting this video, we recommend that you use a tripod to keep the video steady. We also recommend recording yourself from the chest up. The environment should be pretty quiet so the audio comes through nice and clear. If you’re having trouble with the audio, we recommend you get a separate microphone and to use subtitles in the video (since some people might not be able to use audio when they watch the video).
In terms of publishing the video, you could upload it to YouTube or Vimeo to start with, but if you have a place where you can privately host the video that is fine as well. Just keep in mind that when you post it to YouTube or Vimeo, the video is public for everyone to see.
Many MLOs have strong partnerships with Realtors in their communities. MLOs should take advantage of these partnerships and develop video that benefits both the Realtor and the MLO.
Both the Realtor and the MLO have useful information that can help a buyer along every step of the searching, financing and closing on a home, so why not team up and produce a helpful co-branded video together?
A few ideas on topics:
These videos should be casual and shouldn't feel too scripted. Think of it like a casual dialogue between a Mortgage Professional and a Real Estate Professional sharing their own knowledge with each other.
You should plan out a few questions prior to the video and take turns asking each other questions. If your company allows it, you should also put both of your branding on the video to give you both better brand equity online as people start to view the video.
When you’re developing these videos, the content should be “evergreen,” which means that it can basically live on forever regardless of how old it is. This allows you to continue to recycle the content over and over again for you and your Realtor partner.
We’d recommend that you post the video on your own social media properties and distribute it via any digital methods you have (email list, blog etc). Ultimately, this video becomes a great co-marketing piece to get your Realtor partner exposure to your network and you exposure to your Realtor partner’s network.
Not only do you get the additional knowledge from your Realtor partner, but you also get the added benefit of getting your brand and knowledge in front of his/her’s network!
Are you an MLO who is currently using video in your marketing and sales activities? What’s working for you? What isn’t work for you? We’d love to hear!