A recent study revealed that close to 92% of new mortgage borrowers conduct online research before approaching a lender. In the same vein, 66% of homebuyers favor handling their mortgages entirely online over manual methods.

What does this imply? There’s a great deal of leads out there waiting to be tapped. All you need is a few robust strategies that will help you score these high-quality leads that are on the verge of getting converted to long-term clients.

Not sure where to begin? I’ve got your back!

In this article, we’ll discover 3 lead generation ideas that will enable you to get more leads and convert them into clients.

Let’s do this!

1. Sponsor a Dinner to bring Influencers together (and film it!)

According to this study by Tomoson, influencer marketing yields a $6.50 return on investment for every dollar spent.

It’s easy to see why it is the talk of the marketing space right now, but how can you capitalize on it as a private lender?

“All great change in America begins at the dinner table.” -Ronald Reagan

The answer is simple: sponsor a dinner to bring influencers under one roof.

Sponsoring a dinner encourages word-of-mouth marketing in a huge way. More often than not, influencers who attend this dinner will have a positive interaction with your brand and continue to talk about your offering and the amazing time they had even at a later time. If your company’s name or logo appears on their social networks, you have an additional opportunity to reach more clients.

Filming part of the dinner for your social media channels is an effective method for amplifying your reach. A number of social networks today offer a live story feature. You can easily live stream the dinner. Once prominent names in the lending space get seen in your events, it’s certainly going to get leads flowing your way.

These types of dinners can effortlessly bring together private lenders, bankers, corporate financiers and other lending professionals. This will not only explore and delineate the new lending eco-system and innovations in credit risk assessment, product origination, fintech, contact strategies, and AI; but also get new opportunities and partnerships your way, getting your lending company the exposure it needs.

2. Master Google SEO with Organic Content

This report by the Search Engine Journal states that 93% of all online experiences begin with a search engine. Well, duh. But, that’s exactly why search engine optimization (SEO) is so crucial to your lending company’s online success.

Staying on top of SEO takes a lot of experimentation as well as research. Google’s algorithms are continually updated so it’s important to stay in line with the newest happenings. With this in mind, and a bit of practice, you can become your own SEO expert in  no time!

As more and more users ignore or completely block paid search and ads, it has become more critical than ever to exercise SEO to your best advantage. Search engines (and the people using them) look for high quality content that has value related to their search, and ideally, you would like them to engage your company. If you’re not displaying that quality content, you will miss out. In fact, you probably already are.

Once your website begins to rank in the first pages of Google’s search results through organic content, you’ll get more visibility. This means more traffic, more conversions, and eventually, more revenue.

Getting to page one of the search results is important since 75% of users don’t even click past Google’s first page. If your content accurately represents what the visitor is searching for, that visitor turns into a lead, and eventually a client for your lending company.

For example, if a lead is looking for a lending company that can approve their renovation loan within a short time span in Los Angeles, they’re probably going to search the internet for something like “Fast funding for renovation in Los Angeles”. Now, if you take this search query to be your keyword and build your landing page or even a blog piece around it, the chances of your company being displayed in the said lead’s search results considerably increase.

3. Create meaningful video content for your local market & upload it to LinkedIn

Video is a highly engaging and versatile content format that not only keeps us informed about the latest advancements taking place within our niche; it’s also easy to share across multiple platforms. Consumers like it because it’s easy to digest, and entertaining, while we lenders like it because it can give a potentially huge return on investment.

Jason Roy of Quantus Mortgage Solutions is well-known within the lending realm for having utilized a video marketing strategy for generating leads and expanding his business. In a recent interview, Roy told BombBomb how he’s shifted from scripted, professional looking videos to more personal, one-to-one videos over time.

Btw, maybe consider not creating videos when you’re driving?

In this interview, Roy also spoke about how he uses screen recording to discuss a fixed rate versus a variable rate or other in depth topics. Jason admits he is 99% virtual and rarely gets the opportunity to meet his clients; because of this, he uses video to build relationships and help his clients tackle this heavy information on their own time. Finally, Jason explains his “mortgage minute videos” and how they’ve helped him grow his business.

Creating meaningful video content for your local market is a lead generation strategy that’s here to stay, given that video drives a 157% increase in organic traffic from Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).

The idea that sharing free information can help grow a business isn’t new and it still holds true. Your network is struggling with different types of problems. You can easily pick one and make a quick video that helps to solve it.

Uploading the video to LinkedIn will give it all the more exposure. Since LinkedIn’s audience is traditionally business-focused, your chances of being found and scoring leads considerably increase.

Here’s What Lies Ahead

The state of real estate lead generation is evolving at a rapid speed. What brought in great leads at an affordable rate a few years ago might not necessarily have the same impact today.

In the end, it all comes down to maintaining good terms with your network and showing them that you care. Call people to congratulate them about their milestones and that brings results, guaranteed. It’s a great way to stay connected and top of mind. Take birthdays, for example—every day, Facebook will tell you whose birthday it is, so instead of just posting a birthday message on their Wall, pick up the phone and call them.

[Almost all] of the people you call will appreciate it, and guess who will they recommend or work with when the time is right? You.