Securities Market Line

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Read more: Pre-Marketing 1/21

     A by-product of the housing boom was an addiction to credit largely funded by the rising equity in our homes. A large portion of our economy was deeply invested in this boom. The chain of industries that profited from and helped propagate the boom is endless: builders, real estate brokers, investors, appraisers, surveyors, paint stores, home supply chains, lumber companies, marketing companies, architects and of course mortgage companies. In a financial game of musical chairs it was the mortgage companies who were the ones left standing.

     The mortgage companies, fueled by their own greed and an economy that demands the continuous flow of goods and services, invented new ways to “move money” to a larger segment of the public. As competition between banks escalated, new lending products were invented to capture a larger share of this market until they were basically handing out loans to anyone that could fog a mirror. Banks, who had an endless supply of money via their investors on Wall Street, sold the loans for a profit only to reload to do it again. The problem was that these loans were ticking time-bombs with short fuses, each dependant on rising house values.

     As we all know that ship has sailed, leaving our economy in shambles in its wake. The problem that we are faced with is not “who’s to blame”, but rather, who can fix it. The most obvious answer is our legislative group and the banking industry. Unfortunately, those who would be involved with the recovery have either a political agenda or are just trying to stay afloat but it is the public that’s suffering. The writers at Lendfast.com, a nationwide home loan services company, have come up with what they feel are the three main reasons we can’t solve the current mortgage crisis: Read the rest of this entry »

     Direct Mailouts

     In hard times, think about ramping up use of email, fax, and direct mail as inexpensive ways to deliver targeted offers to your best prospects. Instead of ‘shotgun’ mailouts to purchased lists, repeat mailouts to those who inquired in the past. Perhaps you don’t have your own email list to market to. If not, think about renting a list from a publisher or putting ads in other targeted email newsletters. This can be a great way to generate quick response by reaching your market.

     Getting Published

     Taking advantage of public relations opportunities can generate more bang for the buck. Writing an article for an industry publication is a great example. Article contributions can include success stories and customer testimonials, as well as article bylines that illustrate your expertise. Another method of keeping your company in your customers’ minds is the newsletter. By maintaining the newsletter circulation, a brief prerequisite survey can ask subscribers some qualifying questions. The answers to these questions should be entered into the database, and follow-up steps should be taken if appropriate. Both the newsletter and article contributions can be re purposed for the Web.

     Speakers

     Promoting your company executives as speakers at important meetings and conferences is another economical marketing tactic. These events can be used to generate leads by sending audience members a white paper or copy of the presentation in exchange for their business cards.

     Trade Publications

     Your company will most likely benefit more from a frequent presence in a couple of publications than from an infrequent presence in several. Ask your media reps for BPA statements, and study them to discover the percentage of a publication’s readers who are actually part of your target market. Also, in tough times ad sales tend to suffer. It may be possible to negotiate a lower rate with publishers.

     Shows Read the rest of this entry »