Our Blog

Admittedly, I could lose my marketing and PR association memberships for that headline (assuming I were a member in the first place).  I most certainly don’t condone or advise a “one-off” approach to public relations or marketing, that’s for sure.

Allow me to explain myself.  In the mortgage, real estate and settlement services industry, there are a few unavoidable realities that tend to steer executives and owners away from comprehensive marketing and communications programs:

1. Many decision-makers here come from legal and small business backgrounds, and are very used to the personal relationship/referral approach to branding.  After all, it’s worked for the last 20 years…
2. It’s a low margin industry.  As in “infinitesimal.” Most of the budget tends to go to operations, and collections/receivables work in a very different manner than they do in other industries.  Oh, and then there are the ever-changing and industry-unfriendly regulations and laws.  Accordingly, it’s not just the marketing budget which is thin.
3. It can be brutal to truly and accurately measure marketing communications or public relations results, making it much harder to justify an investment in comprehensive marketing. 

I’ve blogged endlessly about the importance of having a long term strategy for your branding and communications approach.  You can see one such example here.  It’s really true that 99% of the time, a “one-off” approach—a single flyer, one postcard campaign, one news release—is ineffective.  Ok, I don’t know if it’s really 99%, or 99.9% or 94%.  But it is a recipe for bad execution, confused market, wasted expense and incredibly limited results. 

Why?

I maintain that marketing (I use the word very, very generally here.  I mean direct marketing, collateral marketing, public relations, branding, advertising and the like.) is just as much an art as a science.  It’s the practice of psychology.  Many of my peers will disagree with me.  To them, I say yes, there are some improved methods to measure ROI, but most of those methods still employ some very subjective elements.  So it can be hard to justify an $X,000 marketing vehicle to a cash-strapped executive when some of the returns may not be measurable for a year or even years.

And yet, we all seem to get that it is, for whatever the reason, important.  We just can’t or won’t put a finger on why…

So, in many cases, we try it on a test basis.  We do a single release.  We upgrade the Website, but we pay our cousin’s wife a cut-rate to do it (she took a graphic design class once while completing her BS in Accounting).  We end up disappointed, and we blame marketing in general.

I very much get that this is not a good time for firms in this industry to spend a lot of money.  With the specter of CFPB and horrors untold looming on the horizon, “The Book” (as in ‘going by the book.”) tells us to stash the cash until the all-clear is sounded.  That’s reasonable.  But if you are fortunate enough to have the means or bold enough to use them, it’s also a great time to get an edge on your competitor, and marketing can be a part of it.

 Ok.  You’ve heard my case.  But you still want to take it in steps?  If you must, at least do it this way to ensure some modicum of success.

1. Start with a plan.         If you do nothing else, start with a strategy.  Pay for it if you must.  But identify, as objectively as you can, your UVP, your differentiators, your target market and a key message which brings what you want and what they want together.  This is the most important step.  Too many times, we start with the tactic (“Hey!  How about a flyer?”) and make this step up as we go.  Eight months later, we do it again, but with a different message.  You know what that builds?  Confusion.  A muddled brand.  Communications wallpaper. Have a plan.  Even if you don’t actually do anything else, you must, must, must start here.
2. Whatever you do to implement that plan, do it consistently.    Bear in mind that “consistent” does not mean “identical.”  If you really believe in your UVP, and that your key message differentiates that from the message of your competitors, make sure it’s in every marketing vehicle you use.
3. If you choose low-cost options, expect to spend the time to make it work.      Advertising, right or wrong, is a tough sell right now.  It’s expensive, and it, too, takes time to really work.  Social media and self-created content marketing are the rage.  Why?  They’re cheap—even free to some extent.  But many in our industry dabble in it, then give up.  They don’t have the time.  Hire someone, designate someone if you must.  But if you want this to work, it will take time and thought.  Just advertising (e.g. using self promotion in discussion forums) through social media, by the way, is not the way to go.
4. Understand that you will probably only measure some of the return.  I’d be rich right now if I had a truly, truly 100% comprehensive way to measure total ROI on marketing communications.  But I don’t.  And I’m skeptical of those who believe there is one.  Yes, we can measure “click-throughs.”  Yes, we can put codes on our direct mailers, use different URLs and landing pages to track e-mail and other marketing results.  We can hire focus groups, do surveys and employ the most complex of algorithms.  We most certainly should.  But as long as human beings—with their propensity for the occasional mistake, short attention spans and lack of awareness as  to what truly attracted them to a brand in the first place—are a part of the purchase equation, there will be some subjective elements.  Definitely, definitely demand metrics on your investment.  But be aware some campaigns may take years to come to an end—at least in terms of the impact they have on their audience.

An investment in a marketing strategy is no different than investing in technology or compliance.  Do we ever really know exactly how much we’ve saved in potential fines and consequences by bringing on the attorney?  Probably not.  But we certainly know the cost.  Tech is a little easier to measure, but there’s still some guesswork and subjectivity.  Marketing is the same way.  The good ones understand that, and use it to their full advantage.