Marketing Yourself!

by Tim Hart | Aug 11, 2021 11:32:00 AM

I love marketing, I love creating, coming up with new ideas, and sharing information with our buyers, and Realtor Partners. So when VanDyk asked me to share my marketing tips for loan officers with our Company Newsletter readers, I was happy to.  But this information isn't just for Loan Officers, I think my experience can help anyone who is looking for some help marketing themselves.  So whether you are a Loan Office, a Realtor, a Painter, a Plumber, or whatever your business is I hope this helps you!

 

I started in the mortgage business in 2001 and the one thing I’ve learned is, you have to look at marketing as if no one knows what you do for a living. We like to think that everyone is thinking about us and our business 24/7 but the reality is that they are not. Your customers and referral partners are running a crazy life just like you.

 Remember, your job as a loan officer is to make sure that whenever anyone brings up a mortgage or even thinks about getting a mortgage, you are the first thing they think of. Many people think you only do purchases or refinances, but it’s your job to remind them that yes, you are in the mortgage business and yes, you do both.

 

You are Your Own Brand

 

Once I realized that people don’t remember what you do for a living, I decided I needed to be way more aggressive with our marketing. 

 

Now we try and attack every day with that mantra in mind, that’s why I always have my name tag and business cards, and I mention mortgages in almost every social media post even when my post has nothing to do with mortgages, because It’s another chance to make sure people know who I am and what I do…I want it to be true that no one can ever say they don’t know what I do for a living. That is the goal behind your marketing… is to market yourself.  

 

With that being said here are some points we have learned to help you be do the same  

 

Know Yourself 

Before you even come up with your marketing plan you need to know yourself, because you are your brand. We all love VanDyk Mortgage, but you are the face of your business. In sales, people are really buying you, so sell yourself.  

Find your voice, your niche, and let that flow through ALL of the platforms available to you. 

 

What are you excited about what you do, is it VA loans, is it helping first time home buyers? Is it being current on the latest market trends?  For me, its finding creative ways to share my knowledge through my content. Whatever it is focus on that, and your content will be you, and not the same generic content as the next guy. We want it to bring value to your clients and referral partners, and to be genuine. 

 

Don’t force it. Whatever your style is roll with it, if you need to sit down and plan your videos out do it, if you are better on the spot flowing with a live style video then do it! Whatever is the most natural for you is a good place to start.  WE need to go deeper on types of marketing like mailers, written, email, phone calls, face to face, texts etc.

 

Start By Planning 

I always like to think of marketing as chair, it needs at least 4 to be stable… you have so many ways to market to people and we need to hit them from all sides, so the chair doesn’t fall over  

So, you need to have a plan of attack that will balance you. 

 

I have found over and over again it’s not just about the content you put online, it’s the face to face’s, the realtor trainings, the mailers, phone calls, texts, the emails reminding people I work weekends it all goes hand in hand so start by figuring out what are the legs of your chair so you can find balance with your marketing.  

 

When you have your legs, you can branch out from there. If your legs are Videos, Emails, and Face to Faces, great now you can launch into how many, how often, and exactly how you will execute those steps. 

 

You may not want to do everything we do, and that’s ok I get that, but keep your chair in mind… you need at least 4 of those legs to keep it up. Find whatever types of marketing that speak to you and go for it.  

 

Execution 

I hear people say to me a lot “Well, I post on my socials about it, or I sent an email blast about this.” 

 

But think of yourself and your own social media how many emails do you delete unread, how many posts do you scroll past, your one email, or one post isn’t going to cut it. It’s all about how you execute your plan. 

 

Hit them through texts, phone calls, mailer, different socials, email, and be consistent with it. Stay in front of them. Remember, they will not remember you unless you remind them all the time.

 

You may feel like you are overkill, or spamming your clients or friends list, but you have to overcome that feeling because to stay in front of them and stay top of mind you have to be everywhere.  Remember people won’t just remember what you do. 

If you do find that you’re feeling like your spamming people, then check your content and make sure its valuable. The goal isn’t just to put out content, like we mentioned earlier it’s about putting out valuable and unique content. 

 

Lastly, I couldn’t write this article without mentioning this … please understand that going heavy online isn’t guaranteed to change your life, while a lot of what we do is online it isn’t the only way to go and its definitely not about instant results, it’s more of a long-term play. Never lose that personal face to face relationship building. 

 

While marketing may look like just creating fun content and pretty social media images all day it’s really not, that’s just the surface. When you talk to all top producers you will find out that what they do is actually pretty boring and tedious, but they are willing to dedicate to that grind because they are committed to seeing the success that brings.  Keep your efforts diverse and consistent and you WILL see results!  

 



Born and raised in Southwest Florida, I have been in the Mortgage business since 2001 I'm a grizzly, battle tested mortgage veteran. I am also the Host of Rates & Reels, which is the most popular fishing show in Southwest Florida, hosted by a guy named Tim. In my spare time I love spending time with my family, coaching baseball, and anything else my kids or wife want me to do. I would be happy to help you or someone you know with any of your Mortgage needs.

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