As the mortgage market has grown over the last few years, there has been a huge increase in competition – particularly in the non-conforming sector. There are still a lot of people who need non-conforming products (a recent Citizen’s Advice survey showed that 770,000 people missed one or more mortgage payments in the last year) but, without marketing, your company could get lost among the competition. Successful marketing presents an opportunity to showcase a brand and demonstrate how the company can make a difference.
Research
Before you start to build a marketing strategy it is vital to gain in-depth knowledge about the market you operate in. Think about who you are aiming to do business with, considering lenders and suppliers as well as customers. When considering potential customers, consider the profile of your current customers – who are they, what are their values and why do they choose you over your competitors? Do you simply want to attract more customers of the same profile, or are you also looking to diversify and reach out to a completely different audience?
It is equally important to undertake research into your competition – other intermediaries. By doing this you will be able to highlight the key differentiating factors that set your company apart from the competition and even learn from their mistakes. What are your company’s unique selling points (USPs)? Identify them and then use them to your advantage. Consider the company’s core values and culture, as well as where you want to be positioned in the industry.
Brand
Think about brands within the mortgage industry and what they represent to you as a customer. Your brand represents your company, so it should reflect your USPs in an eye-catching manner and – most importantly – it should be a true and honest representation of your company values. If you’re developing or changing your brand, consider employing a design agency to create an attractive visual representation of your companies USPs and values. It is essential to create something that people really believe in – that includes your employees and the industry as well as customers.
With a good brand people should be able to recognise the company just from the look and feel of the marketing materials. Following our rebrand in February 2004, an intermediary stated: “If the logo was removed from a piece of Preferred literature I would still recognise it as being Preferred’s.” If everything that is presented to the public is entirely consistent with your brand it will develop beyond simple name recognition. Some clear examples of this are Direct Line’s red telephone and the easily recognisable orange livery used by EasyJet and its associate companies.
Brand is considerably more than just a logo. The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) defines a brand as ‘The set of physical attributes of a product or service, together with the beliefs and expectations surrounding it – a unique combination which the name or logo of the product or service should evoke in the mind of the audience’. In other words, it is about the way the company is represented to your customers, employees, stakeholders, industry colleagues and regulators. This includes both a literal representation of the brand on all company material (internal and external) and the way it is demonstrated by company employees. How employees behave with customers and to other members of the industry reflects on the brand and the company.
As such it is important that your employees are behind the brand and their perception of the company is in line with your own. A brand is not owned by the marketing department, it is integral to the company infrastructure and culture. Anyone who speaks on behalf of your company, be it to customers or other industry colleagues, needs to do so in a manner that is consistent with your brand values at all times. Therefore, employees should be given the necessary training and support to understand the brand values and all their implications.
Directing some promotional activity towards the mortgage industry could also serve the company well, leading to increased recognition and support from lenders. A simple monthly newsletter to lenders could also be an effective tool to remind them of your presence.
Promotional strategies
There are many channels you can use to keep in touch with your customer base. As well as advertising in the more traditional sense, you could use e-mail campaigns and flyers. Regular useful communication will pay dividends in the long-term, however you need to make sure that you are not ‘spamming’ your customers, as this is likely to have the opposite to the desired effect.
It is important to know how your customer wants to be communicated with (by e-mail, post or telephone) and, equally importantly, to know which customers don’t want to receive communication. Consider how regularly you communicate with your customers and understand the value of the customer relationship and the transactional information you hold. By keeping on top of this information and recording customers who have ‘gone away’ or are deceased, you can be sure that your data is clean. Mailing someone who is deceased is not only upsetting to his or her family, it can also be damaging to your brand. When a customer tells you of changes to their circumstances, it makes good business sense to capture the new information on your systems.
In the 21st century, websites are increasingly important marketing tools. Often it is the website that gives the first impression to potential customers and business partners so it is important to make sure it is up to date and informative. If the customer does not find evidence on your website to suggest that you are able to help them, they may go elsewhere without getting in contact.
Above all it is essential to make sure that all promotional material is fully compliant. In July, the Financial Service Consumer Panel (FSCP) issued a report stating that in a sample of newspaper advertisements analysed, 47 per cent of mortgage promotions were not compliant with Financial Services Authority (FSA) guidelines. The regulator provides a comprehensive guide to Financial Promotions, which can be found on its website.
Lender relationships
Developing strong relationships with the lenders you work closely with will have a positive impact on your brand and on your company in general. If there is a specific niche product area that you do not feel is currently being made available to your clients, work with a lender to make the most of product place and price. Our Partnership Lending programme gives key intermediaries the opportunity to work closely with us to tailor the product range to suit their needs. This gives those brokers a competitive advantage and helps them to better meet the needs of their clients.
Lenders can also help brokers by making sure they promote their products in a timely way, providing the tools brokers require as quickly as possible. Be sure to communicate your needs to the lenders with whom you have relationships
Finally, take advantage of any free seminars or workshops that are on offer. Lenders and trade associations regularly hold seminars on useful topics such as ‘Treating Customers Fairly’, Financial Promotions, etc. Such events are a great opportunity to refine your skills and industry knowledge – not only will the information provided help with the day-to-day running of your business but you can use it to better market your company to customers.
Follow-up
With any marketing strategy it is important to keep in touch with the market sentiment and your position within the market. The best way to do this is ask for feedback and regularly monitor how your strategy is working. Customer feedback questionnaires can be distributed by e-mail or post.
We hold an annual event to gather feedback. We invite our key intermediaries to tell us what they think we are doing well and – more importantly – to alert us to any areas where they think we could make improvements. These ‘Quality Circle’ sessions give intermediaries an anonymous forum to speak freely about Preferred, thereby giving us vital insight into how to improve our service proposition.
Marketing should be a two-way communication; you cannot build up a brand and then rest on your laurels. The mortgage market is continually changing so service levels, product offerings and promotional material should be reviewed constantly and updated according to the feedback you receive.
If you are in touch with your customer views and react to their suggestions, you are likely to impress more clients with your service. This will lead to increased opportunities for repeat business. Clients’ circumstances change over time and if you are not in contact with them you may miss the chance to offer your services. Furthermore, if clients are happy with your company’s offering they are likely to refer business your way in future. Independent third party recommendations are far more valuable than any self-promotion so a happy customer is one of the best marketing tools you can get – don’t let them disappear.
In an increasingly competitive environment it is even more important to maximise opportunities and minimise the threats to your business. Developing a marketing strategy that works for your company could be key to succeeding in what is currently a very challenging marketplace.
