BLOG VIEW: Mortgage companies spend millions of dollars every year selling their services to consumers via modern digital marketing. And the industry is using more creative ways to do such. With a shortage of skilled employees to handle the recent windfall volume, why not spend significant marketing effort and creativity to recruit and retain those employees?
Like other industries, the mortgage industry recruiting efforts face a problematic issue: we are all selling a commoditized product (a job in mortgage banking). Even as demand skyrockets, our industry still has a relatively finite quantity of qualified mortgage professionals. We are all seeking job candidates from the same pool.
How do I convince you, my fellow mortgage brethren, to change flags and join my organization if the selling points are very similar (if not identical) to those of the shop next door? What marketing execution will, in and of itself, communicate a unique value proposition and differentiate my organization?
Many (if not most) companies in our industry still rely on traditional recruiting techniques when vying for human capital. How many posts shouting “We’re Hiring” have you seen this week on Facebook, Instagram, Indeed, Glassdoor, or LinkedIn designed to drive visitors to a job posting or career page?
Companies also rely on an army of recruiters, internal and external, to parse through the noise and move forward people who show enough interest to entertain a phone conversation.
Organizations still need to do this basic blocking and tackling. Still, it’s equally important to enhance these traditional efforts with recruiting marketing that differentiates your organization and elevates your company above competitors executing similar tactics.
The best organizations in any industry make their value proposition consumable, available, and personalized for recruiting candidates. Their marketing efforts make a statement about the organization that speaks as loudly as the message’s actual content. As an industry, we can set the marketing standard for recruiting higher.
For example, some mortgage companies rely on “pitch decks” printed or emailed as a PDF to potential employees. Loan officer recruiting is highly dependent on this tactic to surface the benefits and stability of an organization.
We don’t use this type of one-off, one-size-fits-all marketing to sell home loans, and we shouldn’t be using it to recruit employees. Why send generic material to specific individuals? Why not make material readily available to more individuals? Better yet, why not personalize the materials?
In the same way that we market refinancing by educating customers about how much they could save by refinancing their loan, we must let recruiting targets know why they should leave their current job and join your firm.
Here’s an example of how marketing technology can clearly show the organization’s unique value proposition (UVP). Note also how the package showcases the organization’s ability to execute sophisticated marketing: http://landatplanet.com/denver.
This example illustrates how organizations can distribute their value proposition in a flexible, personalized, and customized, easily consumable manner with multimedia. Not only does it position the organization as a thought leader, but it exemplifies the marketing prowess of an organization. It gives potential employees, especially loan officers, a hint of the type of marketing air cover they can expect to help them find and convert more customers and attract more loan officers to grow their businesses.
Great marketing can and should be part of your recruiting strategy. Leverage your marketing team’s creativity and technical know-how to highlight your unique value proposition compellingly. The best way to help attract great employees in a tight market is to wow them with cutting-edge marketing recruiting materials.
Jim McDonald is chief marketing officer for Planet Home Lending.
Note: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views, policy, or position of Planet Home Lending, LLC.