Are you a loan officer looking to boost your business presence in 2018? Well, you’re in luck.
The digital marketing industry has developed quickly over the past several years. There are now a number of innovative ways to increase your exposure and bring new clients to your loan agency.
Loan officer employment is projected to grow 11% between now and 2026, which means more and more competition. If you want to stay ahead of the pack, you need to remain in the know when it comes to smart ways of marketing yourself. Enter digital marketing.
Your agency likely has a web presence. But is it actually helping you, or is it just treading water?
To help you out, we’re going over seven marketing ideas that will help propel your agency in the new year.
Let’s get started.
1. Leverage Online Reviews
The importance of online reviews for businesses is now measurable. Positive reviews of a product or service result in a sales increase of 18%.
Good reviews also instill trust and serve as proof of that business’s reputation. This is especially important for a loan agency, as people often feel vulnerable when dealing with sensitive financial issues.
Therefore, it’s important to ask clients to submit reviews on sites like Yelp and Bink. Then, add these reviews to your website and social media profiles. Exposing more people to positive feedback not only establishes trust, it helps your agency rank better in search engines.
Monitoring your online reputation through client reviews also provides insight into areas you may be able to improve.
2. Make Social Media a Priority
Any digital marketing campaign must take advantage of the reach social media has. Sites like Facebook are now integral in the way people connect with each other and with businesses.
When marketing your loan agency on social media, you need to be providing informative and useful information. It’s no longer good enough to put out flat, useless content.
Instead, provide content that answers questions you know your clients commonly ask. Give a professional insight into things like current mortgage rates and the economy. There are always laws and legislation affecting the loan industry, so use this as a springboard for conversation.
The biggest advantage of social media is that it initiates an interaction with potential clients. This interaction is much more memorable than a simple advertisement.
3. Mobile Optimization is a Must
If your website isn’t optimized for mobile search, many of your online marketing efforts won’t pay off. People are now using smartphones and tablets to access the internet more than desktop computers. If your site doesn’t display correctly on mobile, people will simply click away.
Mobile optimization is referred to as responsive design and it’s a must for 2018. When your site is responsive, it displays and functions properly on any screen. A user can read content, navigate your site, and fill out contact forms as easy as they would on a desktop.
You should also consider responsive design if you’re planning on sending out e-mail newsletters, which we’ll talk about next. Many of your recipients will open the newsletter on a mobile device, so it needs to display properly.
4. E-mail Marketing
If you think e-mail marketing is dead and gone, think again. As a loan agency, e-mail newsletters can be very advantageous, as they provide extremely focused and personal outreach to new and existing clients.
Newsletters keep you on the minds of current customers, so if they ever have a need for loan services in the future, they know where to turn.
When thinking about e-mail marketing, keep the same approach we talked about with your social media presence. Don’t send out an advertisement. Send useful and relevant content.
FAQs work great, as they answer everyday questions your current and potential clients may have.
5. Content Marketing
Unique and relevant content is an essential marketing feature for a loan agency. Most people don’t need loan services too often. Therefore, it’s futile to promote content that repeatedly advertises your business.
Instead, concentrate on creating quality content that provides useful information and answers questions. Not only does this establish you as an authority in the industry, it’s crucial for better search engine rankings. Quickle payday loans offer a lot of great content on their site, including FAQs and information about their process.
A great way to put out frequent material that people actually want is with a blog. Writing blog articles allows you to take a conversational tone about relevant topics pertaining to the economy and loan industry.
A regularly updated blog helps your agency rank high in Google and also provides perfect material to distribute via social media and newsletters.
6. An SEO Campaign
We mentioned the necessity of a responsive design for your website. It also needs a good SEO strategy to ensure it ranks well for your target audience.
This means developing a good keyword strategy, which takes the search terms you want to rank for and weaves them into the content and code of your site.
Good search engine optimization also means your site loads quickly and isn’t using any black hat SEO techniques that could get you penalized by Google.
Optimization is a mysterious science, so you may need to hire an SEO expert to audit your site and then develop a game plan. This is well worth the initial expense.
7. Video Marketing
Video is now the preferred way many people digest content on the web. It’s also favored by many online marketers as a means of branding and outreach.
Creating professional videos provides users with an easy way to learn about your agency. You can also deliver useful industry information in a casual and entertaining way.
Videos are easy to add to your website and provide great sharable material on social media. You can also use them in newsletters and blogs.
Give Your Loan Agency the Boost it Needs
A good digital marketing strategy is essential to compete in almost any industry. Take a look at your current web presence and decide which of the tactics discussed above isn’t in place. Then, it’s time to get to work.
We provide a wealth of information on optimization techniques to help grow your online presence. Check out more SEO articles today.