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Top Ten Leading Advertising Mistakes That Mortgage Professionals Make

By Reed Hoisington

The #1 most celebrated advisor to the mortgage industry

One of the services that I offer the members of my “Magnet Mortgage Marketing System” is FREE critiques of their ads and direct mail pieces. As you can imagine, with over 2000 members, I see a lot of mortgage ads every year. Here is what I have discovered - LOUSY ADS GET LOUSY RESULTS.

This is particularly instructive, because oftentimes mortgage professionals tell me that a particular media doesn't work. It might be postcards, sales letters, newspaper ads, radio or TV spots - whatever. When in reality, they all work. Some work better than others, and clearly my personal favorite is some from of direct mail, fax marketing or voice broadcasting. But mortgage professionals that run lousy ads and get lousy results mistakenly blame the media, when in actuality it's the fault of A lousy ad.

So, let me discuss with you the "Ten Biggest Advertising Mistakes That Mortgage Professionals Make," and the impact that this can have on the effectiveness of your advertising.

#1: Far and away, the biggest advertising mistake is having a Lousy Headline. When I write an ad or direct mail piece for a mortgage client, or for myself, I normally spend half of my time developing the headline. In fact, typically I will write about a dozen headlines before I settle on the one that I think will get the best response.

The headline is the most important part of any ad. It will grab the readers' attention and pull them into what you have to say. Headlines like.

* We Have the Lowest Rates

* Refinance Now

* We're the #1 Mortgage Company in Hastings, Nebraska

are typically worthless. What you really want to write is a headline that offers a benefit and provokes curiosity. For example, instead of writing a headline that reads “Refinance Now," try

“Discover (mortgage company name) Mortgage Refinance Programs: The Ones That Other Mortgage Company’s Don't Want You To Know About!" Now, which one creates more curiosity? Which will get the prospects to read the rest of the message?

#2: No Offer/Lousy Offer: It is very difficult and often costly to get a new prospect in your mortgage company. What will make someone respond? Well, I'll tell you one thing - there is no way that someone will respond to a lousy offer, or worse yet, no offer. Make the offer as generous as you can afford. Remember, the real money in getting a new customer is in making them a "customer for life." That way, you'll reap your dividends when they return over and over again.

#3: No Deadline Or "Wimpy" Deadline: People are normally procrastinators and unless you motivate them to respond NOW, they never do. They might look at your marketing message and want to take advantage of your offer, but unless they have to respond right away, they’ll often set it aside and never take action. A Deadline is what makes them respond. Deadlines create fear - fear of losing out on a particular offer or opportunity. I have found that typically, the shorter the Deadline the better. My personal favorite is four-days and I’ve bad great success with a one-day ONLY Deadline. One rule that I live by is never to give a prospect more than a two-week Deadline. If you do, you might as well save your hard earned money that you invested in the message.

Order Reed Hoisington's “Magnetic Mortgage Marketing System” Now at: http://www.reedhoisington.com/kitchoice.htm OR CLICK HERE

#4: Lack Of Testimonials: What your current customers say about you is ten to twenty times more believable than what you say about yourself. Testimonials are a great way to get instant credibility with prospects. How many testimonials should you use? As many as you can - and use them everywhere. Put them in all your ads/messages. Hang them on the walls; include a picture of you and the client at your office. Several of the clever ways we use them in my own company is: on our web site as a recording and transcribed, on recorded message lines and transcribed and on our “message on hold."

#5: Lack Of A Guarantee Or A "Wimpy" Guarantee: This is a very simple concept but often scares mortgage professionals to death. Study after study has proven that the better the guarantee, the more people will buy. Sure, some will take advantage of your guarantee, but they are insignificant to the number that will buy more and more often. Oh, by tile way, if you can't guarantee your loan products or services, then find something else to sell. You see, having a BIG, BOLD, and SOLID GUARANTEE is just the right thing to do.

#6: Me-Too Appearance: I have written and developed hundreds of ads and direct mail pieces during my career. Far and away, the most successful one that I have ever sent my customers was a 5-page handwritten letter on yellow legal paper. Why was this so successful? Because it didn't look like an ad. Or in other words it didn't have a "me-to" appearance. Instead, it looked nothing like a traditional ad., but like a letter that a friend would send to a friend, resulting in my mortgage company being filled with prospects for two straight weeks.

Order Reed Hoisington's “Magnetic Mortgage Marketing System” Now at: http://www.reedhoisington.com/kitchoice.htm OR CLICK HERE

#7: Focus On Their Business Instead Of WIIFM (What's In It For Me): How many times do you see an ad for a particular mortgage business and all it says is how wonderful the business is? It talks about how many years they have been in business, how low the rate is, how the friendly service, or the big selection of loan products - but what about what the prospect really wants. Prospect ONLY want one thing -WIIFNI (What's In It For Me). When you concentrate on the prospect and what's in it for him, you'll get much better results with your advertising dollars.

#8: Trying To Accomplish Multiple Objectives: This is one of my personal pet peeves that I often see in bad advertising. The mortgage company or ad agency that created the ad often tries to accomplish multiple objectives. An ad/message should ONLY have one objective. All you should care about is GETTING A VISIT OR CALL. You See, a call or visit is only thing that can put money in your bank account. Image can't do that. Last time I tried, the teller at my local bank wouldn't allow me to deposit image.

#9: Failure To Tell Your Story: I often tell the members of my “Magnetic Mortgage Marketing System, seminar attendees, or private consulting clients that this is the biggest mistake that I occasionally make. And whenever I make it, I always regret it later. Customers and prospects like a story. They want to hear why you are making the offer that you are making. It seems to add credibility, and when they believe you, they respond better. Plus, tell everything about your mortgage business that you can and don't take anything for granted. Things such as rates, debt reduction services, bi-weekly options and mortgage products, etc., etc. should never be left out. The inclusion of any one of the above items on the list might be just the thing that makes the prospect respond.

#10: Cute: Why is so much advertising cute? Two reasons. First of all, cute advertising is the type that wins awards, and ad agencies like to win awards in order to help them "pitch'.' new clients. Also, advertisers like cute advertising because they think it gets remembered. Well, let me ask you a question? Can you give me the names of the advertisers that spent over a million dollars each during the last Super Bowl in order to air their 30-second TV commercial? Bet you can't name more than one or two. That's because cute advertising is remembered for being cute, but not for selling anything. Study after study has proven that the type of advertising that sells is still emotional, direct response advertising and not the "cute" brand building type.

Now that you have my list of the top ten advertising mistakes that mortgage professionals make, go back to your scripts, yellow pages, newspaper and sales letter ads and any other mortgage marketing materials you might use to see how many you are making.

For more information on the most proven, tested, and successful system ever assembled for mortgage professionals, to give you a step-by-step system to grow your mortgage business, go to my website at: http://www.reedhoisington.com or go to: http://www.reedhoisington.com/testimonials/ReedsAudioTestimonial.wav and listen to what other successful mortgage professionals have to say!