Mortgage leads are coming at a premium in 2022. After record origination years of 2020 and 2021, 2022 is squarely focused on purchase and cash out refinance business. The past few years mortgage leads have been primarily refinance which typically requires a much shorter nurture timeframe. Fast forward to 2022 and it is mostly purchase mortgage leads with a 90-120 day nurture state before a sales contract is accepted.  

As home affordability becomes less affordable, many homebuyers are looking to be educated on what products, programs, and rates are available to help manage their monthly payment.  

What is it that a lender should be doing in 2022 to capture more mortgage leads and grab a bigger piece of a smaller pie? 

Technology is a great place to start. Many small to mid-sized mortgage lenders have put off investing in technology and digital marketing services. The belief was that the low interest rate market and overwhelming demand of the past few years did not warrant the investment.  

Times have changed, rates have changed, the market has shifted and 2022 will require new methods to drive repeat business.   

Here are 4 great ways to generate mortgage leads in 2022.

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#1. Blog Post and Content Marketing

Content marketing has been around for many years and now includes more than just written blog posts of the past. Content marketing includes Instagram, LinkedIn, Vlogs, Youtube, and other social media marketing. The benefit of content marketing and mortgage lead generation is that Google picks up on keywords that help improve your SEO (Search Engine Optimization). This presents your brand as an option when a mortgage lead might search for a topic like “first time home buyer program in Miami”. If you have written blogs or posted Vlog content, or maybe did a podcast on the topic, the chances of Google ranking you higher in the search results is much greater than if you have no content at all. That is the value of contenting marketing. Once you create the content it never goes away and is always searchable by mortgage leads and prospects. 

Content marketing is mostly “free”. It does take discipline and time to create unique content that will attract mortgage leads and rank higher in SEO. Content marketing also allows the prospect or lead to better understand your brand, you, and your team. It brings new traffic to your website that would otherwise not visit. 

Follow these recommendations for content creation:

• Provides valuable information before asking the visitor to enter contact information
• Incorporate SEO and commonly used keywords for home buying or home refinancing
• Engage the visitor with videos or images within the content or blog post
• Stay on brand with the message
• Incorporate a call to action at the end to “learn more” or “subscribe” to something of value

It pays to be consistent with your content. Be disciplined in your approach and commit to posting several times a week. The 6-8 hours a week that you commit to content marketing will help build brand awareness and convert more mortgage leads. 

#2 Get Social! Market To The Masses

There is a growing list of social media platforms. We recommend reusing some of the content from #1 into your social accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. This can help an overwhelming task feel more manageable. Although ad targeting has become more restricted on these platforms most organic social marketing is very valuable to attract mortgage leads. You can also leverage social media to connect with past clients and real estate agent partners to keep them up to date with current market conditions. 

Facebook and Instagram make it very easy to create and share content to a growing audience. You can utilize videos you post on your website vlog or blog and also post those same videos and content to your Facebook and Instagram accounts. The key is to get into a rhythm of consistent content creation and to think about how one piece of content can be utilized across multiple marketing platforms... 97% of all home searches now begin online. Facebook and Instagram are considered online so find the time to create your social presence!

#3 A Modern Website Experience

The year is 2022 and a bad website is going to set you back much farther than it did in 2019. Across the globe, 49% of consumers shop online more now than they did pre-COVID-19. That trend is only going to increase going forward. First time home buyers were now born in the year 1995. If you want to attract new mortgage leads it starts with an investment in your website.  

There are many great templated mortgage website solutions such as Vonk Digital or for more of a custom design we recommend Webcherry. Two of the better website building platforms are Wordpress or Webflow. A well designed website will greatly improve your mortgage lead conversion rate. 

Here are a couple of questions to ask about your current website.

• How does it look when viewed on your phone?
• When was the last time you made a significant investment into your website?
• Does your website generate any leads? If not, it’s time for an upgrade.

#4 Google My Business 

Just as we described in #1, SEO is important because Google has specific keywords that will now be used when a mortgage prospect is researching a specific topic. Local SEO is a strategy within SEO that centers around content creation for local markets. 

For example, if you are a mortgage lender in Miami, Florida you might create a series of blog posts around “Condo financing for South Beach” or “What to know about purchasing a condo in Miami” to help generate mortgage leads for condo financing. This is local SEO. 

The easiest way to get started with local SEO is to create your Google My Business listing. The first step is to create your Google My Business account. Within your registration you can include your phone number, email, address, and operating hours. The benefit of GMB is you are now indexed within Google and will appear across many of their platforms including Google Maps. You can also collect Google Reviews for your business which improves your SEO rankings. Leveraging Google Reviews is the one of the best ways to social proof your brand and attract more high quality mortgage leads.  

Do More of What Works

Although it does take time and lots of dedication to create and manage your content the goal is to have some fun and experiment with what works. Not all markets are the same and some approaches work better than others to generate mortgage leads. The end goal of content creation is to generate more inbound mortgage lead opportunities for your business.  

Our recommendation is to pull out one or two of the lead generation strategies outlined and stick with it. Commit to 90 days of consistent content creation and then measure the results. If you find it is not producing the expected results try a slightly different approach but do not quit. The more content you create the easier it will be down the road.  

The power of the internet is behind you. If you put in the time and effort you will see high quality leads finding your brand across many different platforms!

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