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The Box of Donuts is Evolving

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By Posted on July 16, 2010 in Mortgage and title industry (general)

Let’s be honest.  The settlement services and even the mortgage industry are what we would politely call “traditional.”  On good days, that means old-fashioned values like loyalty and honesty.  But on the not-so-good days, shall we say it means, ahem, conservative?So I want to take a moment to applaud the industry.  I’m seeing quite a bit more creativity and effort when it comes to branding, marketing and messaging. 

In the old days, the rule of thumb on media relations was to designate one person (usually the attorney) to bark “no comment” at the inquiring journalist.  Any proactive work was a contributed article, neatly polished into banality by the legal team.  Now, I’m starting to see real and proactive efforts to work with trade publications and daily news sources to craft a story that actually serves the editor and the reader as well.

Donuts

In the old days, networking was only something done face-to-face, perhaps over dinner or at a trade conference.  Sales was the salesman at the door of the prospect’s office, ubiquitous box of donuts tucked under his arm, hat in hand.  E-mail expedited some of that, but the early days of social media were greeted with a mix of equal parts intrigue and skepticism.  Although a good number of industry executives joined Linked In and Facebook, very few got actively involved.  Fewer still engaged in active conversations, hearkening back to the core concept that the “e in e-mail stands for evidence.”  There’s a real reluctance in this industry to put anything in writing for the world to see, lest the slightest competitive edge be lost.  It’s a lawyer-driven industry, to be sure.

Now, however (in recent months, at least), I’m seeing some movement toward a more creative outlook on social media.  Our conservative industry seems to be speaking up a bit more in existing groups and forums.  Moreover (Did I really just type “moreover?”  Twice?), I’m seeing more collaboration, more effort to turn the proverbial box of donuts into content marketing of use to all.  I’m seeing good e-newsletters.  I’m seeing new Facebook and Linked In groups that are more than just marketing collateral.  And I’m hearing about some very creative efforts (which I can’t really share here just yet) the results of which I’m excited to see.

To be sure, some of these efforts don’t always work out perfectly.  Execution is still an important part of the marketing and branding equation.  But remember that social media, in particular, is still evolving.  There are no real “experts,” just those putting thought into it and experimenting with it a bit.  Marketing, PR, advertising…they’re all really about common sense.  We marketing-types can throw as much jargon around as we’d like to prove we’re important (Really we are!  Really, really!).  But with or without a charming and lovable marketing consultant, a firm needs to put considerable thought into its key message for its marketing communications to be effective..  Even more importantly, we need to try hard to view our target market’s perspective on our message (this shouldn’t be that hard for attorney-types, who routinely consider their potential legal opponent’s or judge’s counters to their own arguments).

I see more of this happening in our beloved title, settlement and mortgage industry.  And I applaud you for it.

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