If there is one point that I have tried to hammer home during this industry crisis is that mortgage originators still need to keep their marketing activities in place. But should they still be doing the same things they were doing two years ago or should marketing efforts change to face the new reality?
Marketers, if anything, need to accomplish more, with fewer resources.
Davia Temin, the chief executive of Temin & Co., a boutique marketing firm based in New York, recently sent a letter to the firm's clients on the topic of the economic crisis and marketing strategies for 2009.
The current environment, she said, is a "convergence" of her two specialties: crisis management and marketing/reputation strategy. "And where they overlap is in mission critical marketing - for business and organizational survival."
Ms. Temin said she is being asked "What happens to sales, to the organization, if all marketing grinds to a halt?"
Convention wisdom, she notes, is during a "down market, when all your competitors are going radio silent, it is the exact time when you should raise your image. It is not only easier to shine, but you let your markets know you are still in the game, you are still there for your customers, and that you are a survivor - and thus a winner.
"But this is not a normal downturn. A massive reevaluation is going on in most organizations, well beyond last year's focus on marketing return on investment. Which aspects of the marketing mix are mission critical to sales? Which activities are crucial to maintaining a reputation as a survivor and winner, and which are extraneous?" these organizations are asking.
Temin & Co. did a project to benchmark global best practices for business-to-business marketing; these also apply to business-to-consumer marketing, and as a mortgage broker, you need to be nimble enough to do both (remember, marketing to Realtors, attorneys, accountants and more is on the B2B side).
Among the practices identified were:
"Innovative, and low-cost, Internet database marketing; tireless, targeted, communication to key market segments; idea and solution-based messaging; and a willingness to be nimble and improvisational in support of sales, while remaining true to one's brand, seem to be among the winning elements.
"Try these instead of going radio silent.
"We are redefining marketing best practices day by day, both through technology and through resource scarcity. Nine parts metrics and one part magic, a lot of good decisions are being made, but also some bad ones. Senior management, now more than ever before, needs to hone its marketing judgment, and learn from best practices, in order to survive," Ms. Temin said.
To read more from Ms. Temin's letter, called "Crisis and Marketing Strategies for 2009: Swimming Naked With the Black Swans," go to
