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I
f there was ever a time when handing
out your business cards at networking
events was enough to grow your business,
those days are now behind us. In an
article for SalesForce, Docurated's vice-
president of marketing, Fergal Glynn, put it
bluntly: "Consumers are immune to traditional
advertising and marketing strategies."
In today's Instagram- and Google-
driven world, new mortgage business is
likely to come from direct referrals or
potential clients who have experienced a
minimum of six to eight "touches," instances
of interacting with you and your content
on social media and other forums. ere
are many descriptions for this new world,
but "relationship marketing" sums it up.
It isn't about perfecting your brand material
but about finding and focusing in on your
niche to create bonds with people who
relate to you and believe you'll understand
their journey.
Intuitively recognizing the changes
underway, mortgage broker Irene Strong
wrote her new book, Own Your Piece of
the Earth: Everything You Need to Know
about Mortgages in Canada's Major Housing
Markets, as a way of educating and making
an authentic connection with like-minded
homebuyers. By sharing her own journey
in Vancouver's mad, mad market, with
personal experiences that include a marriage
proposal at sea and morning sickness so
severe she "smelled like a teenager's hockey
bag," Strong created an extraordinarily
personal marketing platform. She's extended
that platform through strategic campaigns,
aligning her life as a young mom with her
market segment: busy young families and
singles, mostly women, who see real estate
as a key to their life dreams. In other words,
people just like her.
Unleashing the Power
of Relationship Marketing
How IRENE STRONG built her own unique brand BY LORI BAMBER
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| winter 2019 cmba-achc.ca CMB MAGAZINE
