LMG and Lendi Group provide insights on top marketing strategies
In a highly competitive mortgage broking industry, brokers want clear and effective strategies to attract new customers and then keep them coming back.
The competition from other brokers and banks that target customers directly through cashback refinance offers is immense. With home loan lending volumes diminishing due to rising interest rates, brokers need to stand out from their competitors.
One of the ways they can achieve this is through marketing. To gain insights into the best marketing strategies, MPA spoke to Angela Tracey (pictured above left), director of broker success at LMG, and Zara Cobb (pictured above right), chief growth officer at Lendi Group.
Why marketing is vital for brokers Tracey says marketing is essential for brokers wanting to grow their businesses.
“Finding new clients, extending their lifetime value and minimising client churn are the three desired outcomes of marketing for brokers,” Tracey says. “Consistent marketing works all hours of the day and night and is the precursor to a sales conversation. It’s about communicating a value proposition in a compelling way so potential clients want to engage with the business to learn more.”
“Focusing on their local area helps Aussie brokers establish and maintain a strong presence in their local community and build their reputation as a reliable and knowledgeable expert in the local territory,” she says.
“Word-of-mouth referrals and local networking events can also be highly effective in attracting new clients.”
Cobb says Aussie and Lendi brokers have a strong national brand behind them that consistently spends and optimises in chan- nels that drive results to their bottom line, through social media advertising, email campaigns, digital banners, display ads and more.
“This combination of local and national tactics helps local brokers reach a wider audience and build a strong brand presence, boosting their reputation both online and offline,” she says.
Setting up a marketing strategy
“Too often brokers think marketing can solve all problems all at once – awareness, acquisition, trust in a single billboard; it can’t,” she says. “An advertisement gives you about 30 seconds with a customer, so it’s important to make that time count by being focused on the single most important thing you want them to take away. Then build out from there.”
Tracey says marketing and prospecting go hand in hand, fuelling a broker’s pipeline with qualified prospects, but providing a positive customer experience is just as important.
“Brokers who consistently delight their customers at every touchpoint will see their book grow. Happy customers lead to more happy customers by referring their friends and family.”
A multichannel approach to reaching potential customers
Digital resources, online search and automation have radically altered the way prospects find a broker, says Tracey.
On average, she says it takes six to eight touchpoints to educate, inform and nurture a lead to an initial meeting with a new prospect. “Most interactions before the first engage- ment with a broker will come via social media, Google, blog articles, podcasts, online reviews,
YouTube and more. Therefore, brokers should use a multipronged approach.”
Tracey says a comprehensive strategy encompassing social media marketing, email marketing, SEO, search engine marketing and content marketing is critical to reaching potential customers. “The more a brand is seen regularly and consistently, the more likely the potential customer will choose to engage with that brand when they are ready to, versus a brand they’re not as familiar with.”
A broker’s marketing activities should include posting to Facebook, Google and Instagram, she says, as well as publishing regular newsletter and blog articles. They should optimise their website for conversion, have a strong local SEO strategy including five-star Google reviews, advertise on Facebook with video content, and use marketing automation to nurture leads and existing clients.
Cobb says the approach depends on the broker and their customer base. “Brokers need to think beyond the traditional above-the-line platforms – radio, out of home etc. – and embrace emerging spaces and technologies – TikTok, socials, Instagram – even if these make them a little uncomfortable.
“These areas are where you can access new customers, engage in interactive exchanges and build your brands organically.”
Measuring success
Cobb says brokers should keep it simple and look at their cost per acquisition (CPA).
“Simply divide investment into marketing with your new customer growth. Look at this on many levels too: CPA of customers you will be nurturing for a while, CPA of customers who are ready to transact and CPA of returning customers.”
Tracey says a good strategy needs to strike a balance between short-term tactical results and long-term sustainable brand awareness.
“Every campaign can be measured according to its goals, from website visits, brand impressions, click-through ratios, and the list goes on. There is no shortage of metrics to track in digital marketing.”
But Tracey says the ultimate measure of long-term success is a sustainable lead flow delivering a strong return on investment.
“Businesses that utilise attribution model- ling to identify how much each of their marketing channels has contributed to sales efforts will get a holistic view of their marketing return on investment.”
Marketing tools and support
Tracey says every LMG service plan includes marketing for brokers. Brokers on the LMG Member service plan get access to email marketing automation to nurture prospects for deals and also extend their client lifetime value through stay-in-touch automated email journeys.
“Monthly residential, business and RBA update newsletters are provided for brokers so they can stay top of mind and deliver ongoing value to their clients.”
The LMG Partner service plan provides an industry-leading suite of marketing solutions to help broker businesses get measurable results from online marketing, Tracey says. It includes a fully optimised business website, a customer satisfaction and review platform and a personalised lead capture and qualification tool.
Brokers can save time and stay on brand with LMG’s social media marketing programs, including branded post content (Instagram, Facebook and Google Business) and cost- effective Facebook advertising packages.
For high-touch “done-for-you” marketing support, and to leverage the power of a collective brand, Tracey says brokers can also choose to operate under the trusted Loan Market consumer brand, which taps into Australia’s largest real estate referral network, Ray White.
Cobb says that at broker level, Lendi Group has a self-service approach, providing brokers with platforms to access materials, templates, assets and guides that support 90% of their day-to-day marketing needs.
“This empowers brokers to easily customise and execute their own marketing campaigns,” she says. “For the remaining 10% of non-standard marketing needs, our brokers have access to our broker marketing team and the wider growth team. This enables collaboration to ideate and execute customised marketing strategies tailored to their unique requirements.”
Cobb says Lendi Group’s approach ensures that brokers have the flexibility and resources necessary to promote their premium service, and the tools and support to create impactful marketing campaigns that resonate with their target local audience to drive business growth.
“At brand level, we invest heavily across traditional and digital mediums to raise brand awareness and generate leads for our brokers,” she says.
Brokers who opt into the fully supported Platform Plus operating model also benefit from Lendi Group’s industry-first Journeys program. Cobb says that through this program, customers who aren’t ready to transact are placed into specialised nurture journeys for ongoing, bespoke communications, with the aim of bringing that customer back into a broker’s pipeline when they are ready.
“Up to 50% of our Lendi business comes from customer re-engagement,” Cobb says, “and we’re excited to see the results take shape for our Aussie brokers now that they are fully operational on Platform.”
Using AI to write marketing material Cobb says using AI is a balancing act as what a customer wants to see in a broker’s marketing is them and their personality.
“ChatGPT can give brokers the template of comms, but they should always add their own personal language and approach – the written or unoriginal, which makes it unlikely to rank well in search engines.”
Word-of-mouth marketing
Word-of-mouth referral is still the most effective tactic because it carries a high level of trust and credibility, Tracey says. However, relying on these types of leads alone is not enough to sustainably grow a mortgage brokerage.
“Since referrals aren’t predictable; they can create a feast-and-famine cycle, creating leads, is key to the continued success of any broker business.
Cobb says word-of-mouth marketing is a powerful skill and a testament to the success of a broker.
“Referral is by far the most successful of any customer acquisition channel as not only are they more likely to convert but they are more likely to come back time and again, becoming lifetime customers. But brokers need to put strategies in place to nurture and grow this alongside other marketing channels.”
