Marketing is vital to the survival of any business. But it can be akin to speaking a foreign language to some professionals in the title insurance industry, many of whom for decades have driven business through business relationships as opposed to marketing.
During the 2017 National Settlement Services Summit (NS3) in San Antonio, panelists Marianne Mathieu (Fidelity National Title Group) and Kathy Riland-Hinton (Meridian Title Corp.) discussed the best strategies for honing your message to lenders and Realtors.
“You’ve got to be your own evangelist for your products and services because no one else is going to tout them for you,” Mathieu told attendees.
Companies should first determine their ideal customer profile before deciding on a marketing strategy. “Defining your ideal customer profile will allow your marketing team to better target personalized messaging,” Riland-Hinton said. “Once you define your ideal customer profile, then you can customize your approach for each business segment.”
For title companies, those customers include homebuyers, lenders and real estate professionals. “Your focus is really going to be [business-to-business] marketing. But understanding how your agents are marketing to their customers is key to being able to help them grow their business,” Mathieu said.
After defining your customer base, companies then need to create a brand. However, some companies confuse branding and marketing. “Branding is about who you are and how you present yourself to the world — the values and things that your company stands for,” Mathieu explained. “Marketing is how you communicate this message to the prospective customers.”
Riland-Hinton said companies should think of themselves as “celebrities” when it comes to creating a brand. “There’s a common misperception about celebrities, and it’s that they are generally superior to the rest of the population. In most cases, celebrities are just like the rest of the population,” she said. “Becoming an industry celebrity means becoming extremely good at one thing and letting people know about it in a memorable way.”
Mathieu said a company’s brand should position it as an expert in its field, reflecting the specialized skills and knowledge the company possesses that competitors either don’t have or aren’t communicating.
“You want to ask yourself and your staff some questions. What are you good at? Who are you? What gifts, skills or knowledge set you apart from the competition?” Mathieu said.
She advised asking both employees and customers to offer one word that best describes your company. “Where those perceptions positively overlap will be where you start to find your company’s brand,” Mathieu said.
Riland-Hinton said once a company zeroes in on a brand, it must find a way to make that message memorable. Business owners should identify some of their own personality traits and make that part of their personal brand.
“For me, I like to help people resolve issues and accomplish things. So in my marketplace I’ve become known as someone people can go to if they need help with industry issues, whether or not they are customers,” Mathieu said.
Once the brand is formulated, deciding where and how to deliver your message is the next step. “If you don’t like writing, think about videos or podcasts. Just pick one medium and start getting your message out there, and be consistent,” Riland-Hinton said.
She said finding your customers most likely will involve social media, in-person contacts and word of mouth. Once you find good sources for reaching customers, use those same sources to establish yourself as an industry expert. “One way is to become a resource for customers,” Riland-Hinton said.
For an underwriting perspective, it’s important to understand regulations and market influences in order to assist customers with compliance issues. To do this, Mathieu suggested joining trade associations, reading industry publications, staying abreast of technology offerings, attending trade shows and events and participating in relevant online discussions.
“You want to share industry information that’s not only global but local to your market,” Riland-Hinton suggested. “Talk to your staff and ask them what questions are they being asked…If someone’s asking about it, maybe that’s an opportunity for you to write a blog post, or create a flyer or postcard, or just post on your social site. Things that the customers come to you about, I’m sure more than one person wants to know.”
Creating and marketing a brand is only one part of the equation. Companies also must be vigilant about maintaining their brand and reputation. That includes monitoring what is said about your company online.
“Google yourself, your company, and your employees…You can’t ignore that fact [that customers] are going to be Googling you, even if it’s just to get your contact information,” Mathieu said. “You want to make sure that everything that they see is positive and accurate…title agency reviews can turn up on all types of sites.”
Riland-Hinton also urged companies to check the social media sites of employees to make sure they are not bashing the company or posting things that reflect negatively on the company.