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Leads are the lifeblood of your business. As a loan officer (LO), implementing a great mortgage lead generation strategy can make or break your business.
You need high-quality prospects – homebuyers who match your ideal customer profile – coming in all throughout the year. Of course, this is easier said than done.
Many LOs mistakenly believe that all homebuyers are great potential clients. In reality, it’s better to focus on one type of homebuyer.
People have vastly different goals when buying homes. The right marketing or sales message for one type of prospect doesn’t work for another.
Plus, as a loan originator, broker, or LO, you’re busy. You don’t have time to do your job and be a full-time marketer or sales professional. You have to pick and choose how you invest your time.
For a broader overview of everything you can do on the marketing and sales side, check out our post on the topic here. In this article, we’re going to dive deeper into a key subtopic: mortgage broker lead generation.
Mortgage Lead Generation vs. Mortgage Marketing vs. Mortgage Sales
Lead generation is different from marketing and sales in a few ways.
Mortgage marketing describes what you do to create awareness of your business as a broker. Marketing activities are designed to help people find you and understand who you serve.
Sales activities convert prospects into customers. Sales requires making compelling offers and saying the right things to convince people to purchase a loan with you instead of a competitor.
Mortgage loan lead generation is all about motivating homebuyers to engage with you specifically. It involves more than just educating people about your business.
Lead generating activities are targeted and designed to get potential customers to let you know they are interested in what you’re selling.
The goal with lead generation is to convince your ideal “avatar” – a representation of your perfect homebuying customer – to identify themselves from the masses and let you know they want to hear more about how you can help them accomplish their goals.
You don’t want people to just be aware of you as a loan officer, and not everyone is ready to buy when you first engage.
Lead generation bridges the gap between awareness and conversion. It enables you to go deeper with a smaller group of people who have shown interest in your offering. When done well, it’s one of the most effective and efficient ways to grow your mortgage business.
Is Buying Mortgage Leads Worth It?
Is it a good idea to buy mortgage leads? The simple answer is no. Buying leads is an expensive way to grow your business.
The problem is that lots of LOs and businesses purchase leads. On the surface, it appears like an effective way to skip the marketing needed to find qualified prospects.
But this shortcut has consequences.
Chances are that your competitors are purchasing the same mortgage lead lists. The leads on those leads are likely being pursued by other brokers and LOs, making it harder to get attention.
And if you start sending generic communications to people on a lead list, you can damage your inbox and business reputation. People who don’t remember asking to receive communications from (even if they did) are likely to unsubscribe and label your outreach as spam.
This signals to your email provider that you are delivering a low-quality experience to recipients. Word can also get around quickly that you engage in poor communication practices.
Additionally, leads on purchased lists may not be your ideal customer. Purchasing and using lead lists as a mortgage broker only makes it harder for you to find who you really want to help.
You end up paying for low-quality leads, which costs you more in the long run because you’ll have to spend more to fill your capacity as a broker.
Sure, more sophisticated list brokers can often tell you how they build their lists and why their prospects are quality leads. But their process will still fall short of you managing your own lead generation with your target homebuyer in mind.
So, there’s no easy way to identify and attract high-quality leads for your mortgage business. It takes work. The good news is that you can learn how to get home loan leads organically.
How to Get Mortgage Leads Organically
Building a healthy lead generation pipeline is worth the effort. Below are different types of lead generating activities to consider.
You don’t need to implement every one to be successful. Focusing on one or two may be enough. It all depends on who your target audience is and how they prefer to buy mortgages.
Share Useful Digital Content Behind a “Gate”
One of the best ways to generate mortgage leads is to write informative and valuable content that addresses common pain points for homebuyers. To make your content a true lead generating tool, you can hold the resource back until prospects give you their contact information. This is what it means to “gate” your content.
For example, you could write a one- or two-page guide on how to save money on a mortgage or how to improve your credit score before purchasing a home. If you enjoy writing and have the time to build a more in-depth resource, you could create an eBook that guides a specific type of homebuyer – like a first-time buyer – through the end-to-end process of finding a mortgage.
To share this resource, you could add a submission form to your website or on a related blog post. As soon as someone submits your form, you’d send them the guide.
Other common ways of sharing gated content include hosting webinars, online workshops, and “Ask Me Anything” sessions where people have to sign up in advance for a spot.
With any of these approaches, the aim is to get contact information for people who are actively searching for solutions to problems you solve. Pursuing these prospects with follow-up phone calls or emails is a much better use of your time than investing solely in generic marketing.
A Quick Word About Lead Magnets
Lead magnets are how many businesses generate leads. These are resources you share that are designed to attract certain types of people – hence the term “magnet.”
An effective lead magnet solves a narrow problem for a homebuyer and then introduces the next problem they need to solve. And in a perfect world, you offer the solution to that next problem in the form of another lead magnet or your core services.
Understanding lead magnets as a mortgage broker is important because great lead magnets draw in great leads. People are willing to trade their contact information for the value that a lead magnet provides.
Let’s say you write a short guide on different types of loan options for veterans. In this lead magnet, you solve a narrow problem by educating the reader on all the ways they could get a loan, which they didn’t know before.
After reading your guide, someone may ask:
- What credit score do I need to qualify for these different options?
- How much would my monthly payment be?
- What strategies should I use to save enough money for my down payment?
You could answer each of these questions in subsequent resources or offerings, like a webinar or consulting call. If you’re able to answer all the questions or problems that someone has on their way to getting a mortgage, you build incredible trust with that individual.
And when they’re ready to get a loan, you’ll be the first person they contact.
Start a Newsletter
Sending a regular newsletter is another great way to identify quality leads. For example, you could share a daily newsletter with mortgage rate updates. You could share a monthly educational newsletter or one that covers regulatory changes when they occur.
Again, what’s most important is that your newsletter aligns with the interests of the people you want to turn into clients.
(read this post for more comprehensive coverage of mortgage email marketing)
To make your newsletter a lead generating tool, people should have to opt in to receive it. You could have site visitors submit a form on your website or ask people to comment on a social media post if they want to be added and then follow up with a direct message to get their contact info.
(and check out this post for more coverage on how to use social media marketing as a loan officer)
As a reminder, what distinguishes this type of lead generating activity from general marketing is that you are trading value for permission to follow up with someone.
You share an informative newsletter. Your prospect gives you access to their inbox.
Each email you send should also present a logical next step for prospects who are ready for the next step in the buyer journey. For example, if you provide market rate updates, share a link to a mortgage calculator on your website in the email. Then, give people the option to book a consultation with you to discuss the calculator’s results.
Notice how we’re building a sequence of solutions to problems that your homebuyer may experience on the way to getting a loan.
Offer Free Consultations
Another effective lead magnet is the free mortgage consultation. Many people like hopping on a quick call to understand their options and ask questions. The key here is to demystify the consultation. It’s easier for someone to book time with you if they know what to expect.
For example, wherever you advertise your free consultation, you could publish an agenda:
- 5 minutes: introductions
- 10 minutes: you share your homebuying goals and ask questions
- 10 minutes: I answer questions and point you to additional resources
- 5 minutes: we agree on next steps
A simple agenda like this makes it easier for someone to take advantage of your consultation. By eliminating the unknown, you help people feel more comfortable with taking the next step.
Host In-person Educational Events
Meeting people in person is still a great way to market your mortgage business if you focus on a particular geographic area. The same lead magnet principles apply here: present a solution to a narrow problem that leads people to go deeper with you.
You could host lunch-and-learns on timely mortgage topics that require people to sign up in advance. You could go to open houses and bring a QR code for people to sign up for your newsletter or a consultation.
Feel free to get creative, always thinking about how you can deliver value in exchange for a qualified lead.
Run Paid Ads to Your Offers and Lead Magnets
Running paid ads is different from buying lead lists. With paid ads, you spend money to get your promotions, lead magnets, and offers in front of people who fit a certain profile. You’re not buying leads – you are sharing resources people have to choose to accept.
You can run ads to any of the lead magnets we’ve discussed in this article or directly to specific mortgage offerings. And it’s crucial to run your ads where your target homebuyer spends time.
If you prefer working with mid-career professionals, LinkedIn might be a good channel for you. If you enjoy working with younger people, you could run ads on Reddit or Instagram.
An often overlooked paid advertising channel is direct mail. Many of us have low perceptions of direct mail because we assume that what is junk to us is also junk to everyone else. This isn’t true. Direct mail can outperform digital channels by a wide margin.
People take action on promotions they’re interested in. Depending on your ideal mortgage client, direct mail could be a great source of quality leads.
Use Personalized Videos to Generate More Mortgage Leads
Lead generation for mortgage brokers is a continuous process. As you learn more about your target homebuyer, you’ll want to refine your lead magnets and offers.
And as market conditions change, so too will the problems and challenges that homebuyers face. You should revisit your lead generating assets often and keep an eye on their performance.
One of the best ways to keep people engaged and moving towards a purchase is to send them personalized videos at key moments along the buying journey. Video messaging is how you distinguish yourself from other LOs and build relationships, even when you’re not interacting with people directly.
Some ideas on where to incorporate a video message:
- In the emails you send to prospects with gated resources they’ve requested
- In your newsletter to provide a voiceover of the material you cover
- On your Free Consultation landing page to introduce yourself before a phone call
- In follow-up communications after in-person events
Check out this example of a broker using a video message to introduce himself:
This type of video goes well with any type of lead magnet you share. It helps humanize your business before someone makes the decision to reach out for a meeting.
Only a small percentage of mortgage brokers really understand how to generate home loan leads well. And an even smaller percentage use video in their marketing and sales efforts.
Imagine combining sharp lead magnets with the power of personalized video messaging…
We wrote a free guide on how to use video messages as a mortgage broker. We explain the different moments in the prospective homebuyer’s journey where personalized videos are important.
And we provide scripts you can use in those situations to acquire leads and increase engagement.
Download the guide here, and start closing more loans today.
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