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MARKE TING
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Much of the work involving a marketing plan
for your business comes before it’s time to exe-
cute your ideas. Understanding your company’s
goals and researching your prospects’ needs can
help you determine your marketing’s e;ective-
ness and overcome challenges that may arise.
Preplanning and research
To build a marketing plan, you must know your
company well. ;is knowledge provides the
backbone for creating consistent messaging
that represents your business.
Ask yourself the following questions: How
is your business known in the areas in which
it operates? How would you like for it to be
known? Why do your current customers choose
you? What di;erentiates you from competitors?
By answering these questions candidly, you
can build your marketing plan based on bench-
marks that enable you to gauge its e;ectiveness
beyond the number of new customers you gain.
To develop an e;ective marketing plan
around your business, you also must deter-
mine where the best opportunities are in the
market. If you have not stayed on top of trends
in the commercial mortgage landscape, this
may require research.
Although some opportunities may seem ob-
vious, do your homework to ensure you are not
heading down a dead-end path. From there, you
can then determine the best target markets on
which to focus your e;orts.
Part of this process involves analyzing pros-
pects’ wants and needs in your focus areas. ;e
economic environment presents a host of chal-
lenges to the commercial real estate industry and
to potential borrowers. Understanding your pros-
pects’ thinking is critical to e;ective marketing.
Consider the following: Is volume in the area
picking up? Or is commercial lending still suf-
fering? Is most interest coming from business-
owners wishing to expand or from people look-
ing to start new businesses?
In-depth research can help you decide where
to place your focus. It also can be extremely
helpful when you craft a message to which pros-
pects can make a real connection.
Art “Ski” Swiatkowski
is president
and co-founder of MyCapital Access
( www.mycapitalaccess.com), which
provides business-finance products
and operational knowledge to
small businesses nationwide. The
company also provides mortgage professionals with
an additional source of revenue through the sale of
these products and services. A long-time mortgage
professional and active industry speaker,
Swiatkowski is a founding member of the
National Association of Mortgage Brokers’
commercial lending committee and a
national trainer for NAMB. E-mail
him at skiski@verizon.net.
potential
customers
and those who
in;uence them,
your marketing
e;orts could fall on
deaf ears.
One of the strongest
marketing strategies for ac-
quiring leads for commercial
mortgage lending is having a
solid referral base. ;e attorneys,
accountants, insurance agents and
real estate professionals with whom
you work often can refer you to business-
owners, entrepreneurs and investors who
are potential prospects for your business.
Another key tactic is networking. In the
commercial lending industry, having a strong
networking plan and skill-set is extremely im-
portant. To take advantage of networking op-
portunities, get involved with business groups,
chambers of commerce and networking groups.
Consider going beyond just attending events.
Instead, participate in planning committees,
volunteer your services and expertise where
needed, and take any opportunity to make in-
formative presentations.
assume
they will
automati-
cally make the
connection; you
may need to draw
the conclusion for
them in your messaging.
In addition, some bro-
kers neglect market test-
ing and tracking their results.
Some marketing activities work
better than others, and not all ef-
fective activities will work inde;-
nitely. ;erefore, it is important to test
your ideas on a small level before com-
mitting greater resources to new e;orts. By
tracking the results of each small-scale initia-
tive, you can see which e;orts work and where
you may want to make changes before develop-
ing a larger campaign.
The personal touch
Next, you should explore the best methods by
which to reach your target audiences. Remember
that you are doing business with people.
Although delivering countless ;iers that pro-
mote various programs to your prospects’ mail-
boxes and buying pages of advertising space may
be easy, if you are not introducing yourself to
Overcoming challenges
Commercial mortgage brokers face some speci;c
problems regarding their marketing e;orts.
First, many brokers have a tendency to be
too broad in their outreach. If you try to appeal
to everyone with your message, then there is a
signi;cant chance that none of your prospects
will relate it to their speci;c needs. Keep your
marketing message focused speci;cally on the
problems of a single prospect category.
For example, more municipalities and states
are requiring gas-station owners to replace
single-walled underground storage tanks with
double-walled tanks. Directing your marketing
message to focus on this problem when target-
ing gas-station owners likely will get far-better
responses than one that talks only about your
programs, loan amounts and great service.
Another potential problem is emphasizing
products and features over problems and solu-
tions. While you should communicate the fea-
tures of the products you provide, that should be
integrated into the selling process. At the mar-
keting stage, you are trying to get prospects’ at-
tention by having them re;ect on the challenges
they are experiencing and determining how
your services can address those issues. Do not
Putting it together
Once you’ve created a marketing plan, your work
is not complete. Having this work stored on your
desktop will not make the actions happen.
Treat your company’s plan as a living docu-
ment. You must update and adjust it consis-
tently to re;ect a changing industry, as well as
your business goals. It is important to recognize
when a tactic is not working and to tweak your
outreach e;orts for maximum e;ectiveness.
Outside major changes, you also should re-
view the plan routinely.
Ultimately, remember where you and your
plan ;t. With the problems plaguing the bank-
ing industry, many institutions that made
loans to apartment buildings, o;ce buildings,
mixed-use properties, retail space, manufactur-
ing and storage facilities, and automotive lots
are not interested in maintaining them in their
loan portfolios as the loans come due. ;is is a
problem for commercial property-owners, and
some may not even know it.
;is issue can be a revenue-generator for
mortgage brokers who are willing to put the
time, energy and e;ort into locating and assist-
ing these property-owners. ;orough, strategi-
cally planned marketing activities can propel
these opportunities.
It is vital to stay current on industry news,
to know how you can assist customers with the
challenges, to understand how changes a;ect
all segments of your prospect base, and to cre-
ate and maintain a marketing plan that re;ects
changes in your business and the industry. •
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