Marketing Yourself in the Current Mortgage Economy with Lauren Dobie

Ben Treadway: You've had an interesting journey over the past couple months recently had a child. Congratulations.  aNd and now you're headed back to work. I Think there's  I think there's a lot of interesting pieces here, right? Because you're starting at a new company. And there's a lot of people that companies are doing layoffs.

Companies are, are, you know, having to let people go. And so there's loan officers out there. There's marketing executives out there that are trying to find their new position. So just talk to me on how you were.  Working yourself to get to this new position. And now that you're here like talk to me about your excitement and where you're ready to go. 

Lauren Dobie: Yeah it's definitely challenging out there. I mean, it's been going on for quite some time now. I don't think anyone expected the industry to still be where it is right now. During my time off, I'm, I'm pretty sure it got worse even. So you know, things turn around eventually. I know it's been getting very difficult for, you know, people I know even just scrolling on LinkedIn and constantly seeing open to work badges.

You know, the reality is there's a lot of great candidates. There's not as many positions that are open. So it's, it's really important, you know, to, to make sure that you have your personal brand established that you are putting yourself out there.

You're doing whatever you can to stand out against your competition.  You know, something that I had to kind of go back to basics. I was in my previous role for a very long time. My entire career, you know, I really got all of my roles through referrals. It was based off the reputation I built with the people I worked with inside or outside the companies I was with.

So it's very important, you know, to just always be networking. Keep those strong relationships. But something I had to do just because there weren't many positions opening, you know, I had, I had people looking out for me.

You know, lots of word of mouth referrals.  But when it came to the actual job application process, you know, I really had to, I just spruced up my resume.

I had to update my LinkedIn. I took courses. I did whatever I could to help, you know, set myself apart from, you know, all the resumes that were going out there to different positions. Something that also helped was to get in early. I know a lot of applicants are, you know, searching often, but I found that I was having the most success with you know, positions that were posted, you know, that day or even within hours and just trying to be first in the door and, and put my, you know, best foot forward in the application.

Ben Treadway: Yeah, I think social media is a good way to like show who you are, engage with the people that are involved with the hiring process as well. One thing that I always say is you might as well connect with, you know, the recruiter or head of HR or like, you know, head of whoever, whatever that position you're trying to get into.

And LinkedIn allows you to do that very, very easily. Connect, send a quick note and, and get in front of the people that you want to, you know, work with eventually. Now that you're in your position,  where, where do you go from here? I mean, you're starting at a, at a place that hasn't had much history with a marketing team.

And so where do you, where do you go? What, what's your thought process starting off, kicking off a brand new company with a new marketing strategy? 

Lauren Dobie: Yeah. It's it's a lot of different things. It's definitely exciting. Right now in my second week, so still observing a lot getting to know the loan officers here.

Some of them are very savvy on social media, having a lot of success. Others. It's been a common question I've already been asked, how do I get on social media? I need help. I don't know what content to post. Now is the time. To get into it. I myself, I'm probably one of the most introverted marketers.

Even coming on here is definitely jumping outside my comfort zone, but. New job. I'm like, I got to practice what I preach here. So anyone can do it if I can do it. That's definitely a priority for me is just helping individual loan officers you know, develop their brand, get themselves out there on social media.

Everyone has an existing network, you know, start there. You don't have to have. Tens of thousands of followers. You can get to that point, but, you know, start where you are start with your friends, your family, your neighbors people want to know who you are just goes back to, you know, no, like, and trust.

And you can very easily do that on social media. You could do it at, you know, a minimal or no cost. And and build yourself from there. I know budgets are tight right now. Loan officers don't want to spend money on different marketing activities, but social media is one of those things that it's really just a time investment.

It's pushing past your, your comfort levels. I know a lot of them are not comfortable in video. My goal is to help them get to that level, help them, you know, if they need scripts, if they need content ideas.  Getting one on one with them and recording a clip whatever I need to do to push past that initial hesitation.

I would, I would love to start there and you know, now's the time to do it. It's very similar to, you know, my job search. There's, there's still business out there. I don't even know the exact stats, but the number of active loan officers out there right now is, it just keeps declining. So that's giving, you know, the loan officers that are still in it right now, you have so much opportunity but the ones that are going to last, you know, through this and as things pick back up, it's going to be the ones that, you know, have, have a, you know, a strong personal brand, good social media following, and they've developed those, those habits and that consistency. 

Ben Treadway: Last question. What's the breakdown for you when it comes to how many times a loan officer should post and should they be posting all corporate content, personal content, a mixture of both? What do you think?  

Lauren Dobie: My thought is a mixture of both.

Definitely for, you know, anyone that's just starting out and trying to dip their toes into something new. Many companies do provide content. I think. Every loan officer should, you know, have the goal of developing their own content at some point, even if they're using corporate resources to do that. So maybe you take you know, a social media graphic or a video that they already have and you put it into your own words, you put your own perspective on it.

That's a great way to start developing your own content for those that, you know, struggle with coming up with content ideas. But as far as frequency, I think, I think it's really the quality and the consistency. Of your posting. So for some loan officers, that might look like once a week. Some, it might be once a day, I would say whatever they can commit to is more important because what you don't want to do is give yourself this, you know, unrealistic goal.

And by week two, you're falling behind and you're not keeping up. So start small, start with what's realistic block off that time in your schedule. And you can always grow it from there.  

Ben Treadway: Yeah, I totally agree. I always say if you can do one corporate post, like one mortgage specific post, educational, and then one personal post, you are doing better than everyone.

That is like the perfect mix. Two posts a week, maybe one on Tuesday, one on Thursday, right? Call it good, but make sure you're consistent and that your content is who you are, right? Educational, but also personal. So, absolutely. Lauren, thank you so much for taking the time to jump on Quick Hits with me. I really love your insight.

I love what you're you're doing. I'm excited to see where you go with your new company and, and how you're able to to help them out significantly on, on social media and marketing in total. So thanks for joining me here on Quick Hits and we'll catch you next time.