MARKETINGMATTERS Volume 1 / Issue 2
SPRINGTIME IS FARM MARKETING SEASON Working with agents and builders to farm listing neighborhoods
inside Best Practices What’ s New Weekly Features
APRIL 14 | 2014
MARKETINGMATTERS Volume 1 / Issue 2
One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar. - Helen Keller (1880–1968)
MM
M a r k et i n g Ma tt e rs i s pr ov id ed t o eve ry on e a t L o an S t ar H o m e L end i n g to u s e, sh a r e a n d l au nc h . Th e s t aff w e lc o me s c o m me n ts a nd i d e as a nd a l t ho ug h we s tr i v e fo r p er fe c t io n , w e ar e we l l a w a re t h a t we w on ’ t p l e a se ev er yon e . B u t , we t ry ! CONTACTS
| Phone 503.597.6702
| Email marketing@GoLoanStar.com
Kenn Bartley
| SVP Marketing & Business Development | kbartley@GoLoanStar.com
Mikayla Morgan
| Regional Marketing Manager
| mmorgan@GoLoanStar.com
Nick Long
| CRM Manager
| nlong@GoLoanStar.com
Kayla Bowker
| Marketing Administration
| kbowker@GoLoanStar.com
Sheri Kramer
| Marketing Administration
| skramer@GoLoanStar.com
Springtime is selling season and buyers swarm the farms!
WORKING YOUR
FARM by Kenn Bartley, SVP Marketing & Business Development
Realtors have been farming neighborhoods since the beginning of real estate sales and even though it seems to be archaic, it still can and does produce results.
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But how can mortgage lenders effectively get involved, and why should they? WHY NEIGHBORHOOD FARM MARKETING Your agents likely farm neighborhoods. So why should you do it too? Here are some reasons why: •
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Your agents do it poorly. Not that you want to jump in and do it poorly with them, but you can build a deeper relationship with them if you offer to help and improve their marketing and most importantly, the results. To improve farming, set meetings with the marketing department to create plan and strategy with your agent. Once the plan is set, we’ ll help you execute it and help your agent earn more business. Boots on the ground. The most successful farming is done around open houses. Some of our top LoanStar originators have been testing several open house systems to create the “ Ultimate Open House”and we’ ll share that with everyone soon. In the meantime, offer to help agents farm the neighborhood surrounding an open house by walking it with them and personally delivering invitations to attend the open house. Marketing has samples of open house fliers you can use, or use the agents design. Help the agent with decorations and use the LoanStar Moving Promotion signs to attract more attention and interest. Attend the open house and help the agent register people who attend and enter them into the LoanStar “ Springstakes”iPad giveaway contest (see last issue of MM for a sample of the contest marketing). After all this work you should have offers on the house and multiple buyers to follow up and get approved.
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Be consistent. Farming is not a one-and-done proposition. Still, many agents try to blast out some post cards and then stop and hope the phone rings with an interested seller or buyer. However it just isn’ t that simple. You can help by getting them involved in an annual plan that marketing will help them with. Besides the database marketing, we can help them plan out who to farm and when to do it, and then help keep it on schedule. Frequent farming is the key to success. Stay on the farm. Another tip to share with agents is to pick a neighborhood to farm and then keep at it until it is obvious it isn’ t going to produce results. Many agents spread their farms too thinly. A farm isn’ t a city or county. It’ s a neighborhood, and the idea is to “ own”the eyes and ears of that particular space. It can be done but needs to be consistent, frequent and professional. Get marketing involved to help your agents get focused. Grow a bigger crop. One of the biggest successes this spring was when an originator contacted all the agents with listings in a farm area and got them to all have an open house on the same weekend. She promoted it with fliers, online, and door-to-door. Huge results!
HOW TO MARKET TO NEIGHBORHOODS Here are some of the marketing programs now available from marketing to help you get the ball rolling. As always, enlist marketing to help you plan and execute your farming programs. • Open House Listing/Finance Option Fliers • Neighborhood Open Houses Promotion • Moving Promotion Displays (desktop with cards; aframe; roll-up banner) • “ Springstakes”iPad giveaway contest forms
The number of LoanStar Originators as of April 1, 2014. Goal for Open House cobranded financing fliers is one per LO per week.
The number of Open House fliers ordered for the weekend of April 11, 2014.
Order Open House Financing Fliers every week from Marketing@GoLoanStar.com. Normal turn-time is 24 hours for a .pdf, 72 hours for printed copies at your desk.
Following are samples of marketing that has been created and you can order for your personal brand. As new marketing is produced it will be included in subsequent editions of Marketing Matters.
HOW TO ORDER Send your request for personalization to marketing@GoLoanStar.com. Include your name, branch, and this is important, when you need it completed and ready to launch (usually not the same day, give us a chance!).
I WANT SOMETHING ELSE! Okay, call marketing and we’ ll discuss what you need and how and when we can deliver it to you. Make sure you have a goal in mind along with your request, we get plenty of practice designing cool marketing stuff already!
CAMPAIGN “ Referral Partner Budget�reference flyer WHAT When promoting our marketing services for referral partner use, this handy one-sheet explains how much each piece of the database campaign costs so they can budget accordingly.
Use the budget flyer in conjunction with the Business Partner Marketing Resources brochure. HOW Email Mikayla at mmorgan@goloanstar.com to order yours today! COST No charge for the flyer.
CAMPAIGN “ Logo Store� WHAT The LoanStar Logo Store is online and open for business! Purchase logo apparel, promo items and open house props to gift to customers, referral partners or to use at open houses and events.
New to the Logo Store in April will be balloons in white and green; black golf towels, green tees and Nike golf balls; and green roller-ball pens. HOW Click on the link at the bottom of our home page, shop and purchase online. COST Vendor fees paid directly to supplier.
CAMPAIGN “ FHA Special”email blast or flyer WHAT We’ re still looking for more FHA loans to send through as a test case so the incredible special is extended through April. Send to your agents and database! HOW Contact Nick Long for email blasts. Contact Mikayla Morgan for flyers and direct mail. COST None unless mailing.
CAMPAIGN “ Introductory PowerPoint Presentation� WHAT Marketing produced a PowerPoint presentation to introduce his team to a builder. The presentation was brief and to the point and requested a meeting to follow up and answer and expand on any of the points in the presentation.
If you need a PowerPoint presentation for any reason, contact marketing. HOW Contact Kenn Bartley at 503-597-6702 or kbartley@GoLoanStar.com. COST None
CAMPAIGN “ Springstakes!” WHAT Now until June 30, 2014, you can use this “ Enter to Win”sweepstakes to gather contact and mortgage or real estate needs at events. Use at Open Houses, Home Shows, Buyer Seminars, and if you are a year past your initial Re-engagement Campaign, you could elect to do a new give-away promotion. HOW To order contact marketing at marketing@GoLoanStar.com. COST No charge for the iPad or small quantity printing but expensive if you don’ t use it! Postage and vendor printing, if any, will be charged to LO.
CAMPAIGN Documentation Checklist (V1.0) WHAT This simple, easy to follow Documentation Checklist is perfect in helping your clients understand and manage everything they need to work through the process. Send this out with your initial disclosures to help alleviate the stress of needing important documentation at the last minute! This is our first version of this marketing piece, so look for an updated version in the weeks to come. Feel free to send Mikayla input or suggestions on how to make it better! HOW Email Mikayla at mmorgan@goloanstar.com to order yours today! COST No charge for the flyer. Printing and postage costs may apply.
CAMPAIGN “ General Products Flyer” WHAT Our Products Flyer is an easy way to show Realtors, builders and clients what programs we have to offer. Look for specific Product Flyers in the upcoming weeks that will highlight each product category. Use them in a series of meetings with referral partners. HOW Email Mikayla at mmorgan@goloanstar.com to order yours today! COST No charge for the flyer. Printing and postage costs may apply.
CAMPAIGN “ Meet the Team” WHAT At LoanStar you have the support of an awesome group and you should show them off! Use this flyer to let your business partners and clients know who will be helping them with what, and who to call if they have questions. This can eliminate a lot of the headaches of miscommunication! Promoting your team shows your strength in numbers!
HOW Email Mikayla at mmorgan@goloanstar.com to order yours today! COST No charge for the flyer. Printing and postage costs may apply.
CAMPAIGN “ Rate Increase”Flyer WHAT A lot of people don’ t know how much an increase in rate can affect their buying power. Use this flyer to demonstrate exactly how crucial locking in their rate can be –now - and how a refinance can drastically change their home loan! This flyer will be tailored per region to account for average loan amounts. HOW Email Mikayla at mmorgan@goloanstar.com to order yours today! COST No charge for the flyer. Printing and postage costs may apply.
CAMPAIGN “ I’ ve Moved”Email/Flyer WHAT Let your clients and business partners know you’ ve moved to LoanStar! This marketing piece can be blasted out via email, snail mail, or handed out to all of your clients and Realtors as an initial marketing piece to generate business. HOW Email Mikayla at mmorgan@goloanstar.com to order yours today! COST No charge to you!
CAMPAIGN “ Affordability Options” WHAT Many people, especially first time home buyers, don’ t know how affordable homeownership really is. Utilize this flyer to help clients realize how they could be saving money by owning a home vs rent! HOW Email Mikayla at mmorgan@goloanstar.com to order yours today! COST No charge to you! Normal charges for printing and postage, if any, may apply.
CAMPAIGN “ Let us Move You!” WHAT Our moving promotion is a great added value that can help you not only get more clients, but also help build stronger relationships with Realtor partners. Use this email blast alone, or partner with your Realtors(R) or builder to promote this awesome promotion to everyone! HOW Email Mikayla at mmorgan@goloanstar.com to order yours today! COST No charge to you!
CAMPAIGN “ MMG Weekly”& “ MMG Monthly” Provided to you Exclusively By Dion Mancia
For the week of Mar 17, 2014 | Vol. 12, Issue 11
Dion Mancia Sr. Loan Officer NMLS# 19061 The Mancia Group LoanStar Home Lending NMLS# 1094582 Office: (503) 597-6703 Cell: (503) 381-8900 E-Mail: dion@themanciagroup.com Website: www.themanciagroup.com
In This Issue
WHAT Mortgage Market Guide (MMG) is a popular mortgage market update newsletter provided by Vantage Production that can be branded and personalized with your information. There is a weekly and monthly update for MMG which includes a recaps, graphs, and much more! HOW Check out MMG’ s website (https://www.vantageproduction.com/mmg/index.php) and contact Nick Long (nlong@goloanstar.com) for more details. EMAIL RECIPIENT Realtors & Select database contacts COST $359 Per Year OR $39 on month-to-month, they also have a 14-day trial.
CAMPAIGN “ Neighborhood Open House Flyer” WHAT This is an example of an open house email that was featured all the Open Houses in a neighborhood. The LO did all the leg work to get the agents on board, and now she has new referral partners and the event created leads for her and the agents! HOW Marketing can create the flyer and contact Nick Long (nlong@goloanstar.com) to get it emailed to your targeted database. EMAIL RECIPIENT Clients and Realtors COST Free to design and email; nominal direct mail costs may apply
CAMPAIGN “ MBS Highway” WHAT MBS Highway is another example of a subscription service that loan officers can subscribe to. We take what information they have given us on the articles and turn it into your branding with your name and photo on it. Marketing is willing to work with whatever subscription service you want and try and provide that to your database. HOW Go to MBS Highway’ s website and contact Nick Long (nlong@goloanstar.com) for more details EMAIL RECIPIENT Weekly Realtors COST $499.95 a year OR $49.95 a month
CAMPAIGN “ USDA Benefits Extended” WHAT This USDA blast was part of the once-a-month email blast going out to clients. Each month will be a new featured flyer and will be emailed out to each of your client email lists provided. All of them will be personalized with photos and other information. HOW Keep adding to your client email lists and building that database so more of your clients will get these. If you need help with your lists or the CRM you can contact Nick Long (nlong@goloanstar.com) EMAIL RECIPIENT Clients COST Free
CAMPAIGN “ HARP” WHAT This email blasts to customers featuring the HARP refinance program. Every Monthly blast will go out on the third Thursday of every month. HOW Keep adding to your client email lists and building that database so more of your clients will get these. If you need help with your lists or the CRM you can contact Nick Long (nlong@goloanstar.com) EMAIL RECIPIENT Clients COST Free
APRIL 2014 EMAIL BLAST
calendar W1 W3 YR
Direct Mail Newsletter mailed the first week of every month
Email Blast launched the third Thursday of every month
Annual Mortgage Review mailed to everyone in a database once a year. dB is divided in 26 equal parts, mailed every-other week, with names and phone numbers sent to originators to call in between mailings.
Contact marketing for more details or to review your Annual Marketing Calendar.
CODA A little humor to end this newsletter and start another successful week