Lead Generation For Mortgage Brokers: Everything You Need To Know

Welcome to the world of mortgage brokers, where qualified leads don't come by in large numbers as mass audiences. 

That's because people looking to take on a mortgage make life-changing decisions and invest a lot. There's also very little a mortgage broker can do to change their lead's mind; the potential customers may come to them after already locking down on the real estate space. 

In short, mortgage leads can't be randomly selected because they have extremely specific qualification criteria. 

Additionally, the mortgage industry is very competitive and still growing, with nearly 6,000 mortgage brokers in the UK  and close to 16,000 mortgage brokers in the US. It makes differentiation a serious challenge. 

Mortgage lead generation for brokers needs an extremely strategic approach, particularly if your mortgage broker business is facing difficulties with growing revenue. 

Why your mortgage services business can't generate leads continually 

There could be multiple reasons why your business just isn't generating enough mortgage leads to support your growth. Some of the important ones are:

1. Subpar marketing

You don't use the right channels or tools to reach your audience where they're present.

2. Improper targeting 

You're not targeting the right audience, keeping a broad focus rather than niching down.

3. Limited online presence

You're not active online, specifically on a website, social media, and emails.

4. Ineffective mortgage lead generation strategies 

You don't make the most of content, lead magnets, a website, landing pages and more.

5. Dropping the ball on leads in your pipeline

It's extremely difficult to convert cold leads. And with delayed responses to queries, you're not warming them enough for sustained lead generation.

6. Buying mortgage leads

Buying third-party mortgage leads is risky, owing to stringent data protection laws gaining momentum globally.

The best way to step up your mortgage lead generation is to source your own mortgage leads instead. 

Build your own mortgage lead generation ecosystem 

If you've never built your own lead generation ecosystem before, there's an easier way to begin. Use the sales funnel as a reference to map out your lead generation and management strategy. 

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Your mortgage lead generation strategies will mainly operate at the 'awareness' and 'interest' stages.

Once you've built your ecosystem, you can use repetitive, tried and tested motions to generate mortgage leads in the long term.

But, before you begin, here’s step zero

Step Zero: Define and refine your audience 

Since you'll be creating your own mortgage lead generation ecosystem, it's essential that you get the targeting right. It will direct the rest of your strategy and performance.

Niche down

Instead of considering just 'anyone who's buying a house', dig deeper into your audience's demographics, interests and behaviours.

For instance, define the age, location and type of project your audience will invest in. Say, individuals aged 30 to 40 years in London looking for a ready-to-move project are your primary audience.

Niching down your audience also sets you apart from other brokers.

Consider lead types

Then there are also different types of qualified leads to consider—first-time buyers, remortgage/next-home buyers, buy-to-let, equity release, self-employed and commercial buyers.

Identify pain points

Next, identify your audience's pain points or desires. Consider what they're struggling with and how you can help. It gives you a more refined idea of the type of messaging you want to go with, in your marketing and sales campaigns.

Settle on marketing channels

Your target market also dictates the channels you will use. 50 to 60-year-olds may be more active on Facebook. In comparison, 20 to 30-year-olds may be present on Instagram and TikTok.

Set a definition 

Finally, define what 'qualified mortgage leads' means to you and ensure your team knows it, too.

Generally, a lead is a potential real estate buyer's personal or professional contact information. However, you can add specific qualification criteria that help you completely define a 'lead' for your mortgage business.

Once you've got the targeting basics right, you can try out the mortgage lead generation strategies below.

8 mortgage lead generation strategies for brokers 

As brokers or real estate agents, here are 8 mortgage lead generation strategies you can experiment with to develop your lead generation setup.

1. Complement buyer research with content marketing 

The more your leads are aware of the value you provide, the more likely they are to become your client. That's where content marketing comes in.

Typically, buyers undertake hours and hours of research before settling for a broker, given the magnitude of the decision.

You can use content marketing to give buyers the information they want. It gives you the tools to showcase your authority in the mortgage space through educational and trust-building content.

Develop practical and relevant content from which leads can receive value. Value generation equals building trust and an expert voice. And it's your chance to highlight your niche, promoting your USP through valuable content.

Another benefit of content marketing is that you can explore various formats, including videos, images, press articles, blogs, infographics, lead magnets, case studies and even whitepapers.

Content marketing ideas you can try:

a. Post a video on YouTube or record a podcast episode helping your clients navigate the complicated mortgage lending market. 

Source: YouTube‍

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b. Write an eBook on the criteria for selecting the right mortgage broker and offer it for free as a lead magnet. 

Source: Twitter

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c. Write a blog on relevant topics such as ‘ten tips to improve credit score’.

Source: The Mortgage Mum

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d. Publish a press article in a local online magazine or newspaper. Since print media is often considered an objective source of information, mortgage leads will trust a published article more. 

2. Brighten up social media presence 

Social media is a mainstay today, spanning all age groups and becoming a primary mode of communication. No matter what demographic or interests you target, you can reach a large chunk of your audience on social media.

Some platforms you can use are:

• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Snapchat
• TikTok
• Whatsapp 

Despite the many years that social media has been around, what still matters to grow on these platforms is value-driven content that is posted regularly and brings in a healthy amount of engagement.

So, to survive and thrive on social media, create posts that attract engagement and respond to users who leave comments. If the audience finds your content useful, reliable and easy to understand, they'll stick around for more.

Source: Instagram

Also, like content marketing, social media offers the choice to explore different content formats. It also gives you the creative freedom to a certain extent, which you can use to showcase your personality or engage in light humour.

Social media ideas you can try:

• Shoot a short-form video on 'how to select a mortgage broker.'
• Create branded images and infographics.
• Collect customer reviews and use them to craft success stories.
• Run surveys through polls, quizzes and Q&As.
• Answer questions on Quora and Reddit about mortgages with expert advice.

💡 Pro Tip: You can integrate your content marketing using a strong content distribution strategy. 

For instance, use a blog post to create multiple social media reels and posts. You could even create a YouTube video around the blog.

3. Dabble in one of the oldest marketing tactics – Email

The first email was sent in 1971. Considering Google launched more than 20 years later (1998), dismissing email as old technology is easy.

Yet, the reality couldn't be any more different. Email is still alive and kicking, practically available to and used by both older and younger generations. 

77% of marketers noticed an increase in email engagement over the last year, and 99% of email users check their inboxes daily. 

So, what makes email marketing tick? 

It aims to build relationships with prospects rather than pushing promotions, even when sending them your first-ever email. 

If you plan on sending a cold email, avoid direct selling. Instead, offer a lead magnet as a free resource. You can collect more information on the lead by inviting them to fill up a lead generation form.

Source: Broker Engine

Once you have their information, check if they match your ICP. And if they do, nurture them further with content and updates.

However, remember to segment your audience so you can send them relevant emails. For example, if you've just closed a lead, you don't want that client to receive an offer email which promises a better deal. That will hurt their trust in you.

Email marketing ideas you can try:

• Share latest updates and statistics on interest rates.
• Share loan options for your target audience, giving them information on each option.
• If you have a financial calculator that helps clients assess their mortgage or financial health, send it to them.

4. Optimise website for better SEO

A website is typically the first platform visible to your leads when they search for you online. It's, therefore, critical to optimise your website to improve your local SEO rank and appear in the top results on SERPs.

Here are some essential features to optimise your website: 

• Homepage with clear value proposition statement.
• Clearly visible and easily clickable CTAs to lead forms for capturing leads.
• Bio pages to improve your professional credibility.
• Products or services page to showcase your offerings.
• Mortgage calculator; it's optional but good to have for users to engage with.
• Client reviews or testimonials as social proof. 
• Contact Us page for leads to reach out to you. 

Source: Google

Remember to set up an SEO strategy for all devices, including mobile, because it's a popular medium for online audiences. As of June 2023, mobile users contribute to just under 55% of all website traffic.

Ideas to improve ranking using SEO:

• Maintain an active presence across multiple online platforms, including social media and the press.
• Have your company name in the domain address of the website. 
• Keep logos and trademarks consistent across channels. 
• Use relevant and traffic-generating keywords on the website and in published content. 
• Publish value-driven content (such as blogs) regularly. 
• Generate high-quality backlinks for your content. 
• Add your website link to the Google My Business page so it appears on search listings.

5. Increase visibility with online advertising 

By running digital advertising campaigns, you can amplify your organic mortgage lead generation efforts. The best part about digital ads is that they're available across platforms—social media, display, search and video.

Online advertising ideas you can try:

1. Google Ads campaigns for keywords relevant to your mortgage business and audience. A keyword example could be 'mortgage brokers in the UK'.

Depending on your niche, you can also get more specific with the keywords. For instance, 'first home mortgage brokers in the UK'.

You can also run search ads on Google (which is the most widely used search engine) or on others such as Bing and Firefox. 

2. Search ads on Google, Bing, Firefox and other search engines.
3. Social media ads offer you focused and a wider range of targeting options which you can use to your advantage. 
4. Listing ads where you can run ads on real estate or mortgage listing websites like Zillow. These ads connect you with more mortgage-ready leads.

Source: Zillow

5. Native lead generation forms attached to Google Ads, search ads, display or PPC ads and social media ads can collect lead data without redirecting users to external landing pages.

However, if you want to create a personalised experience for leads without inconveniencing them, you can use custom landing pages or lead generation forms. 

6. Build custom landing pages 

An alternative to native lead generation forms is custom landing pages or lead gen forms. 

Each campaign could have different objectives. Directing all the leads from various campaigns to a common website page may confuse them.

Instead, build custom landing pages for each campaign.

Source: Money.co.uk

Landing pages are usually a 1-page website optimised for your offerings. You could use landing pages for anything:

• Offer a free quote or consultation.
• Share a mortgage calculator.
• Provide a real estate mortgage checklist.

If you noticed, the landing pages in all of our examples encouraged the visitor to take a specific action. That's what makes landing pages different from your primary website.

Each landing page's CTA could direct the lead to a web form where they can share their details seamlessly.

💡Pro-tip: If you want to focus on capturing high-quality leads rather than quantity, use more question fields. This helps qualify prospects at the lead generation form stage, making the next steps easier. 

If you don't want to build a landing page from scratch, use lead generation forms instead. These forms don't need to be hosted on a website. So, if your website isn't up to standards yet, lead forms are a good alternative.

The less effort the prospect needs to share their information, the more likely they are to fill out your form.

Lead generation forms are also more flexible. You can use them on social media (with organic and paid posts), display ads, search ads and YouTube ads.

You can also optimise your landing pages and web forms for mobile, which makes them an effective mortgage lead generation tool.

7. Activate Google My Business 

The first place that prospects will look when searching for mortgage brokers is search engines and local listings. A Google My Business account improves visibility by showcasing your business in the listings section.

Set up a Google My Business page. It's free and highly effective, particularly for local listing search results. Even better, you can add your website link, contact details, address, photos and social media profiles to the listing.

Source: Google

The most important word to note is 'local'. It's easier to start building your pipeline with local leads as those clients may be more open to working with you.

Another benefit of using a Google My Business listing is that it lets you generate unbiased reviews from previous customers. This builds social proof, which improves your reputation. Also, remember to reply to positive and negative reviews in a professional manner.

8. Remarketing and retargeting to warm up leads

Use remarketing and retargeting for leads that showed interest in your products or services but haven't actively engaged with you yet. These leads may have downloaded a lead magnet or quote from your website or social media but didn't take any action beyond that.

The way it works is remarketing uses snippets of code or pixels to show your ads only to those leads who've interacted with you previously. It also allows you to flexibly run remarketing ads on multiple channels—search, display, social media, videos and even emails.

In fact, if you don't have the budget for paid ads, you can still use email marketing as an organic alternative.

Remarketing and retargeting are also useful for building and reaching out to lookalike audiences to expand reach. Lookalike audiences are similar to your target audience, with similar interests or behaviours. 

Create a resilient mortgage lead generation machine 

Mortgage lead generation for brokers is a different ball game, needing reliable and high-quality leads. It also needs to account for differentiation in the competitive mortgage industry.

But don't stop at that. Follow end-to-end lead management to ensure that your leads move from lead to revenue. Driftrock offers a holistic mortgage lead generation company management system to streamline your mortgage lead generation efforts and nurture potential customers to conversion. Here's how we can help:

Multiple lead sources

• Generate leads across 20+ sources
• Discover new lead sources 

Enhance lead quality

• Lead validation 
• Track leads from click through to purchase 

Manage leads better

• Sync leads easily with the CRM
• Optimise campaigns 
• Remarket to keep leads warm

Simpler insights

• Custom analytics 
• Showcase value and ROI
• End to end tracking from lead to conversion

Secure information 

• Data compliance 
• Ensure credibility and brand image
• Official Meta, Google, LinkedIn partner

Interested in getting the ball rolling on mortgage lead generation? You can book a demo with our team or get started for free!

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