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Three More Viral Marketing Ideas for Mortgage Brokers

In our last edition, we gave you three viral marketing ideas you can use right now to get your clients, customers and prospects to help spread your marketing message for you.  See those three ideas by clicking here.  Now, as promised, we’ve got three more for you.

Let’s repeat a couple key points about viral marketing from the last article.  The basic concept behind viral marketing is the old “you tell 10 people, who each tell 10 people, who each tell 10 people…”  The key is getting those 10 people you tell to tell 10 people each.  And remember:

• For viral marketing to work, it must be completely painless and easy for your prospect or intermediary to pass it on.  That means: Don’t require registration, a form to be filled out… don’t even make the prospect identify himself or herself before the message can be passed on.

• In the short history of viral marketing on the Internet, no hard-sell ad has ever been passed around to a large number of people.  Resist the urge to sell.  Be satisfied if some very basic information about your business gets widely circulated.  Even just your XSite address.

• Everything you know about response rates and ROI has to be set aside.  You know if you get a one percent response rate to a large direct mailing you’ve done great.  But your “virus” may have to propagate and incubate for some time before “symptoms” – increased Web visits, more phone calls – occur.   Because your investment in spreading the message is minimal – remember, we’re after “cheaper” and are counting on a lot of other people to do the work – you can be satisfied with delayed results. 

So then, here are three more ideas.  We’re interested in hearing from you if you’ve had success with any of these techniques – just email info@alamode.com and let us know!

1. Myspace, Facebook and other community sites.  Social networking sites like Myspace and Facebook let you connect with online (and “real world”) “friends,” exchanging news and photos and sharing common interests.  Many mortgage originators – many businesspeople from all walks of life – are using these free opportunities to reach prospective clients.  When you locate the kind of user whose business you would like, you can ask to be added to their “friends” list.  Your link is displayed on their profile (viral marketing!) and you can send them “bulletins” that will let them know about services you offer and keep you front of mind when it comes time to choose a mortgage originator. 
   
   The ins and outs of Myspace and Facebook are beyond the scope of this article, but good introductions and reference materials can be found at About.com – click here for an introduction to Myspace, and here for how (and why) to get started on Facebook.  And by no means are these the only two social networks out there – see here for a “tour” of all the big ones. 
   
   These resources are worth looking into for one very good reason: Increasingly, your clients are using them.  Go where your clients are!
   
   
2. Create an e-mail survey with a giveaway.  If your goal is to get people to forward your message to others, you can almost never do better than the promise of a freebie.  A quick, informal e-mail survey also has the benefit of getting you new names and information for your contacts database.
   
   Just e-mail clients and prospects on your list and ask them a couple simple questions (remember, you don’t want to make them do too much work).  Do you own or rent?  When do you think you’ll next be in the market for a mortgage?  Then hold a drawing from all responses for a free gift – anything from a free report (more on those below) to an iPod Shuffle (retail price about $75) to discounts from vendor partners.  Making recipients do little “work,” asking them to forward to friends and promising a chance at a goodie will likely get you a great response.
   
   
3. Free reports.  If you haven’t, enable the Request Industry Info page on your XSite.  It lets your visitors choose mortgage and housing “industry reports” they would like to see. In the My Office area, just select the XSite content pages you would like to make available.  A visitor can mark which reports they’re interested in and fill out their basic contact information. Your XSite delivers the reports to them and the lead flows seamlessly into your Contact Manager for an easy follow up.  To start, just hit Request Industry Info from your content area.
   
   You’ll capture Web visitors’ information this way, and that’s great.  To take full advantage, e-mail your contacts and let them know you have these free “industry reports” available.  Ask them to forward your XSite address to anyone who might be interested.