How well do you stand out from the crowd of loan officers? What are you doing to nurture your professional relationships? Your relationships are an extremely valuable asset, and as you build them you strengthen your brand — one of the most important factors in differentiating you from the competition.
If you’re a loan officer and you’re not using content marketing, you’re losing out on valuable business opportunities. Content marketing is a very powerful tool that, when done well, will grow your business.
Content marketing is a strategic approach to creating and sharing helpful, informative content to attract new clients and retain existing ones. You’re not trying to sell anything — your goal is to be like that friendly neighbor who stops by with a plate of fresh-baked cookies, except you’re bringing a plate full of tips, advice and information.
Content marketing allows you to indirectly nurture your relationships by establishing yourself as a helpful, friendly, knowledgeable subject matter expert. 70% of consumers want to learn about a brand through content rather than ads, so give them something to read! That way, when the time comes for a realtor to refer a client, or a client is in need of a loan, they know you’re the loan officer they want to contact.
Now that we’ve established the importance of content marketing, you probably want to know what you need to do next. Here’s the how-to of content marketing in three easy steps:
Step 1: Planning
There are two key parts to planning your content marketing strategy. Part one is deciding how often you want to create content. When you’re just getting started, once a month is a safe place to start. It’s a good idea to set aside time each month to brainstorm and write. Whether it’s blocking off a few hours to do it all at once or sprinkling the time throughout the month doesn’t matter, as long as you do it.
Part two is deciding what you want to write about. The content you share should be helpful — think insider tips and tricks of the trade, or maybe a deep dive into frequently asked questions.
Some topics we’ve covered in our newsletters for loan officers have included saving money on your cable bill, home renovations, and what to do before putting your home on the market. Topics like these provide value to clients that is directly related to the service you provide, which not only helps establish you as a friendly business professional offering up valuable free advice, but also keeps them wanting and coming back for more.
Take planning a step further and brainstorm a list of topics all at once, then calendar them out over multiple months. Keeping your content seasonally relevant is always a good idea too.
Step 2: Craft Your Content
Headlines are your bread and butter. When it comes to consuming information, 8 out of 10 people will read your headline, while only 2 out of 10 will continue to read the article.
Think about the types of articles you read. Which headlines catch your attention? We see a lot of success with headlines that involve “DIY,” “how to,” and numbered lists. Some of the headlines we crafted from the topics we listed in step one are: “How to Save Money and Cut the Cord on Cable,” “Which Home Renovation Services are Worth the Money,” and “6 Things to Do Before Listing Your Home.”
As for the content itself, write as if you’re talking to a client. Your goal is to be thorough but not long-winded, and if possible, stay away from too much jargon. If you use too many buzzwords, people are likely to lose interest because they have no idea what you’re talking about. You can also check out examples of what we’ve written for our loan officer clients.
Step 3: Share Your Content
Once you create great content, you have a ton of easy, accessible ways to get it out into the world. Here are the four best platforms to share your content:
Use a Blog
Creating a blog is a fantastic way to add instant value to your website and establish yourself as a loan expert with anyone who finds you online. They could be searching for a local loan officer, or they might be looking up information on home renovations or what to do before selling their home.
Content marketing through a blog helps set a friendly tone and lets visitors know you are a valuable source of information. Furthermore, when you present clear, concise information in your articles, you win brownie points with Google and can be bumped up in search results.
While blogs are perfect for people who are browsing your website, there is a whole market of folks who prefer to get their information in their inboxes. Email marketing is where you get your biggest bang for your buck, yielding 4,300% ROI for businesses. That’s right, two zeros behind the four and the three. Why? Because email is fast, easy, and it feels personal. Investing in email is a no-brainer.
Email is particularly important with the millennial crowd. Nearly 50% of millennials prefer to talk to businesses via email instead of on the phone, in person or over social media. This means if you have an email list they can subscribe to, there’s a good chance they’ll subscribe.
Thankfully, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel here. Blog content can be easily repurposed in email format, and you should link your emails to your blog so readers can easily access all the great content you have created.
LinkedIn is more than just the place where you copy and paste your resume — in fact, it has quietly become a professional content marketing powerhouse. LinkedIn has even edged out Twitter in popularity, with 22% of U.S. adults using LinkedIn compared to 19% using Twitter.
When you share original content on LinkedIn, you have the chance to launch your reputation and increase your professional influence with peers as well as clients.
The Bottom Line
Content marketing is an easy way to nurture your business relationships whether you’re courting a potential client or keeping in touch with a past client. Need more evidence content marketing works? See the Not Using Content Marketing? 5 Stats that Show You’re Becoming Irrelevant. When you provide quality content you become the go-to source for information and eventually the loan officer your clients want to contact next time they have a question or need a loan.
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