How to Automate Marketing at a Title Company

Now more than ever before I find myself talking to title companies about marketing technology. I kid you not, companies approach our team and ask, “What tools do you know that can we implement?” and proceed to implement the entire toolset we suggest.

Automating the process of locating and converting new business isn’t a new concept. However, one that has been tricky for an industry as specialized as settlement services. Historically hidden behind the real estate agent or lender, the consumer has had little interaction with the company. And that is only if they know the company at all.

Things are about to change with the new Closing Disclosure preparing to take effect this year. But please, don’t expect a massive influx of consumer interest in the title aspect of their closing. It’s going to take time before “title insurance” becomes an essential item on every consumers home buying to do list. Word still needs to get out to consumers that they now have this power through home buying education. But that’s a topic for another article.

Today many companies are adopting these consumer centric tools sets that explore prospecting beyond sending your sales representatives into the local branch of Chase. And much to their surprise, when executed properly, they grow their B2B business.

There are a couple of main elements to every digital automation strategy. Let’s explore the three core components.

CRM

The story of good digital marketing automation begins with your sales epicenter. Many title agencies use software to manage their client relationships, but very few actually implement a powerful marketing focused CRM system that allows them the flexibility they need for their sales professionals to prosper.

CRM stands for Customer Relations Management and is a system that allows you to track your leads, opportunities, contacts and existing business. These systems provide your sales staff with organization, allowing them to close more business, while management is able to instantly view the health of the company’s business development in real time.

Cloud based CRM systems allows the company to extend their functionality beyond simple management of their customers. Utilizing a powerful cloud based CRM means being able to automate lead generation so that your prospects come to you. It means being able to manage the sales process, like sending that introductory email, right from the dashboard.

And thus every good marketing automation strategy starts here. The hub of your digital marketing efforts, your CRM.

Email Markting

Now that your CRM is live and your marketing staff is familiar with it’s capabilities and best practices, you need to begin generating leads into that CRM.

As I said before, there isn’t a mad rush of consumer interest on the immediate horizon. Establishing consumer friendly marketing outlets like Twitter and Facebook is good for brand management at the moment, however, these efforts most likely won’t land you your next policy.

You can, however, close a multi-million dollar account with a residual customer like a real estate agent or lender. Think for a moment about the daily routine of a lender. As they arrive at their office, the doors gently close behind them forcing them to focus their attention toward their job. For good security, a bank’s technology (like their computer) is behind strict firewalls. You won’t find many lenders tweeting with #LoanClosed during normal business hours. It just isn’t the nature of their business.

While they may not be bombarding your social media, they are connected to their email. After all email is an essential tool in doing their job. Think about it for a moment. You are always connected to your email on your computer at the office, on your phone on the car ride home and on your tablet while you’re unwinding for the day on your sofa. The same is true for most professionals in America.

This is why perhaps the best tool for reaching B2B connections in title is through email marketing. Crafting company email campaigns that inform, educate and sell are crucial to the health of digital sales efforts for the modern title company.

Landing Pages & Web Real Estate

Up to this point we’ve established a digital hub for your company sales, we’ve established a way to reach your target audience but now we need to connect the two and start making your sales people busy.

It’s quite the cliche, but your website is truly online 24/7/365. You may be at your in-laws house on Thanksgiving enjoying a feast, but your website is still in the virtual office ready to represent your company.

Developing web real estate is so much more than simply having a beautiful website. Especially for a title company, the tools you integrate into your website (both for the benefit of your audience and yourself) are essential.

You already integrate with your GFE calculator and allow customers to order from you, but how can you efficiently connect new prospects who want to learn more with eager sales professionals ready to help?

Let’s pause for a second and take a look at a sample scenario.

You prepared a new email talking about the great strides your company has gone to in order to become compliant. In that email the main call to action teased your audience with the promise of more information. Thus your prospect clicks the link. Humans are, after all, a curious group.

On this landing page there is a clear and obvious call to action to submit your contact information for further assistance beyond the content of the landing page and email. This form directly integrates with your CRM and automatically connects your curious prospect with your ready to help sales professionals in a rotation.

What action was needed on your end to produce these results for this and many more prospective scenarios like it? Nearly nothing. An email campaign triggered a view to a landing page which brought you a new prospect. Your sales professionals will handle it and organize themselves in the CRM from here. It’s really that simple.

Every aspect of our lives seems to be automated these days. Where automation has the greatest benefit to you as a title company is in allowing you to generate greater interest, faster and keep your sales staff busy closing rather than prospecting. Furthermore you as management have the ability to track the health of your company in real time from anywhere as seamless steps are taken to continue sending your value propsition into the world.

The industry is continuing a new chapter of great change and new possibilities. What will this new chapter hold for your title company?