TheMReport

34 | TH E M R EP O RT FEATURE Energy," Chatterjee explains that when Forrester surveyed 4,500 respondents to create their brand energy framework, they found emotion was the biggest con- tributor to brand energy above "salience" and "fit." Doing so can be difficult: nearly every individual wants something different, and they all want to feel special. By tailoring messaging to individuals, however, producers have a better shot at attracting new customers and retaining existing ones—creat- ing customers for life. Listen to what your data is telling you to predict customer behavior and develop personal- ized promotional activities that engage prospects and customers across every channel. You can tailor your messaging to address segments based on: • Stage of the customer journey: preapproval, house hunt, in process, postclosing • Major life milestones: marriage, new additions to the family, changes in employment, retire- ment • Demographics: generation segments, ethnicity, single households, multigenerational households • Activity or inactivity: expiring prequalification, rate change, beginning of a home search • Habits and behavior: in-person follow-up, lead capture, email open These are only a few of the many homebuyer segments to keep in mind as you create more timely, relevant and personalized marketing materials to engage unique segments of your audience. When marketing to these segments, you need to address their unique characteristics and motivations to establish mean- ingful relationships. Sending a first-time homebuyer an email prompting them to refinance their home in not only ineffective but may prevent them from doing business with your loan officers at all. Whether your loan officers create their marketing materials or have access to a premium content library with branded templates, their chances of resonating with customers increases if they know what makes each group tick. As you tailor your messaging to specific segments, consider: • What's most important to them • Preferred channels of commu- nication • Qualities they want in their loan officer • Reasons for buying a home Your segments and brand mes- saging will continue to evolve, so it's worth keeping up with the data. Update your segments frequently. Look—and listen—to what the data is telling you as you consider which campaigns are superior to others and track new ones to ensure your seg- menting is engaging and effective. The digital era has handed consumers more power than ever before. They are tapping into that power, dictating not just more personalized marketing but a more personalized experience. As the competition for consumer attention intensifies, so too does the need to engage with them on their terms: how, where and when they want it. Automation E very lender and loan officer knows they have data they could be using to enhance the customer journey. Many produc- ers don't have the time it takes to gather their data in a single location, break it down into practical slices, and leverage it to engage prospects, customers, and comarketing partners when and where they are. Better automation goes hand in hand with real-time access to cus- tomer data and behavior across all channels and devices. Technology advancements empower produc- ers to put customers at the center of the experience—personalizing and delivering messages when prospects, customers, and comar- keting partners are most receptive to them. Intelligent automation further empowers producers by delivering the right message at the right time to the right person. Increased automation reduces the time and effort required in de- livering communications to realize meaningful budgetary savings at a time when every depart- ment is feeling the constraints of margin compression. In addi- tion, intelligent automation offers time-strapped loan officers a way to seize customer engagement op- portunities with fast, personalized responses at scale. As customer expectations continue to evolve, organizations that can anticipate and meet the growing desire for timely, relevant touchpoints will create lifelong relationships and drive revenue. Personalized engagement is equally critical when custom- ers venture offline. According to the latest annual "Conversion Rate Optimization" Report from Econsultancy and RedEye, only 15 percent of company respondents report personalizing their offline channels while 37 percent of those report a significant uplift in conver- sion rates as a result of doing so. In accompanying customers along the customer journey, trig- gering points of engagement no matter where the customer goes, loan officers can boost conversion as customers decide it's time to transact. Take Marketing From Cost Center to Revenue Driver I f automation is the engine that can help your loan officers turn marketing into a revenue driver, data is the fuel. After all, what good is data if you can't lever- age it to enhance your marketing activities? Likewise, what good is automation if it's not based on real behaviors and metrics? Data-driven marketing automa- tion can propel your marketing and sales forward as we race toward 2019 and beyond. From greater ef- ficiencies to making every interac- tion feel personal, loan officers can leverage automation to bridge gaps along the customer journey while boosting the bottom line. But, remember: It's not how much data you have. It's how you use it. JOE WELU is the Founder and CEO of Total Expert, the creator of the only Marketing Operating System built to meet the unique needs of the mortgage industry. Welu founded Total Expert in 2012 to empower lenders to take their marketing and sales efforts to the next level. According to research from the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council and RedPoint Global, 43 percent of 250 marketers surveyed agree they are not lacking data but are missing the ability to transform that data into real-time action.

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