Mortgage Advertising Explained: Generating Mortgagors at Scale

This article is a part of the complete mortgage lead generation guide, where our team explores the most effective mortgage lead generation strategies using earned and paid media. Check out the guide for more insights.

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Mortgage advertising is marked by two major differences from organic traffic acquisition: it’s much quicker – you get mortgage leads shortly after launching the campaign – and it allows you to generate borrowers (mortgagors) at scale as long as the budget allows.

The sky’s the limit when it comes to lead generation for loan officers, brokers, and companies alike. From classic Facebook mortgage ads to offline partnerships, there are dozens upon dozens of mortgage advertising strategies to employ depending on your goals, audience, and budget.

In the next few paragraphs, you will learn everything you need to know about mortgage advertising and specific strategies that may fit your business case.

Source: GIPHY

Are Mortgage Ads Effective?

There’s good news and bad news when it comes to mortgage advertising – and the good news you already know: mortgage ads generate customers quickly, and you can get as many of them as the size of your advertising budget. The bad news is that lead generation for mortgage brokers is not always as rosy as it sounds: the niche is complex, the stakes for mortgage loan borrowers are high, and the regulatory environment doesn’t make it better.

But then again, your success largely depends on how well you’ve defined your target audience and chosen the appropriate ad types and platforms. For example, if you’re targeting seniors – a reverse mortgage loan or other relevant mortgage services – Facebook mortgage ads will likely do a better job than TikTok.

Your mortgage broker advertising is as effective as your segmentation, platform choice, and timing. It is the right message sent to the right mortgage lead at the right time that sparks interest and drives them to purchase – a formula that easily applies to organic lead generation as well.

Types of Paid Advertising for Mortgage Brokers

Pay-Per-Click Mortgage Ads	PPC ads are most accurate because they allow you to choose whom to display your ads: location, device, keywords, timing, and other demographic and psychographic parameters.
Display Mortgage Ads	Display ads work best for growing brand awareness, staying top of mind with a broader audience, and generating visuals. Like with PPC ads, you can choose your target demographic and psychographics.
Video Mortgage Ads	Video ads range from short attention grabbers to non-skippable in-stream videos, with many ways and formats to generate the mortgage loan leads you need.
Text Mortgage Ads	Textual ads are the most affordable and simple to set up, with efficiency depending on how well the advertisement is written, the display timing, and the audience.
Audio Mortgage Ads	Audio ads can be used on radios, podcasts, and digital streaming platforms like Spotify or Apple Music to raise awareness of the general audience (for example, real estate podcasts) or target motivated mortgage leads (for example, podcasts about mortgage loans).
Native Mortgage Ads	Blended in with the context, native ads capitalize on seamless user experience and uninterrupted flow. Native ads can come as images, videos, text, and anything that matches the environment.

Having a good grasp of digital advertising technologies, you can tap into programmatic ads to automate mortgage lead acquisition with any of the mentioned ads. Programmatic algorithms leverage real-time bidding and AI-driven algorithms to purchase the most effective advertising space across a wide range of platforms while considering your target audiences.

For example, using Google Ads for mortgages in a traditional way usually means targeting specific keywords like “reverse mortgage loans” or “lowest mortgage interest rates USA.” This standard approach can still be effective, but not even close to programmatic ads, which change on the fly depending on the real-time campaign parameters like the available ad space, cost, performance, and more.

Mortgage Advertising Types, Platforms, and Target Audiences

Ad Type	Target Buyer	Platforms	Advertiser Pays For	Ad Cost
PPC	An active, high-intent, well-informed searcher for a mortgage loan aged late 20s to 50s	Google Ads Bing Ads	Clicks	Medium to high, keyword-dependent
Display	A passive search of a broad age range and moderate interest and awareness	Google Display Network Social Media Platforms	Clicks Impressions	Cheaper than PPC
Video	A seeker of detailed information about mortgages, including younger video-focused audiences	Facebook Instagram YouTube	Clicks Views Engagements	Depends on the publisher and/or video production costs
Text	High-intent borrowers aged late 20s to 60s	Google Ads Bing Ads Websites	Clicks Impressions	Low
Audio	Older adults and busy professionals listening to podcasts	Spotify Pandora Apple Podcasts	Impressions Listens Engagements	Medium
Native	Mortgage leads valuing immersive, uninterrupted experiences	Websites Blogs Social Media	Clicks Impressions Engagements	Medium

Mortgage Advertising on Social Media

In many cases, mortgage broker advertising boils down to harnessing social media platforms, and rightfully so. Social media have long proven effective in generating leads in traditional business fields like finance, insurance, home services, and mortgage.

Here are the 10 biggest social media platforms, all viable for mortgage advertising:

Source: Statista

Now, the question is: What specific social media platforms should you prioritize in your mortgage advertising campaigns? You can’t advertise everywhere.

With that in mind, I’d like you to focus on these five:

• LinkedIn
• Facebook
• Instagram
• YouTube
• TikTok

And if you think mortgage leads don’t dwell on TikTok, let me inform you: they do. With TikTok growing like crazy, you can advertise mortgage loans popular among younger audiences, like FHA loans. Besides, if you’re there for the long haul, here’s a fact: younger audiences will grow over time and become open to new types of mortgage products.

LinkedIn

With over 200 million users in the United States alone, LikedIn unites solvent, knowledgeable mortgage leads aged 25 to 34, 56% of whom hold a bachelor’s or master’s degree or equivalent. Linked-inspired marketing ideas for mortgage loan officers always include research papers, case studies, and expert content – everything that appeals to mortgage professionals and serious buyers.

LinkedIn Mortgage Advertising in a Nutshell

Audience	LinkedIn is, in fact, a business talent search platform with a big B2B component, so you can effectively target real estate agencies, investment firms, and related businesses with tailored mortgage ads.
Types of Ads	Sponsored content – posts that appear in the news feed Sponsored InMail – direct messages to target users Text ads – text ads that appear across LinkedIn pages Dynamic ads – Followers Ads, Job Ads, and Spotlight Ads, all customized to the user’s preferences
Advantages	LinkedIn is arguably the best platform for B2B mortgage loan advertising, with the greatest share of real users, including serious businesses and high-income individuals. LinkedIn supports all types of content, so you can generate leads with what you can do best.
Disadvantages	LinkedIn ads usually cost more than Google or Facebook ads, must be in-depth to resonate with the knowledgeable audience, and the B2C segment is underrepresented. You will likely have to go the extra mile with mortgage loan advertising there, digging deep into the needs and wants of the established professionals.

Here’s a mortgage advertising example from LinkedIn:

Source: LinkedIn

In the article, the author calculates how abstaining from regular morning coffee would affect your mortgage payouts: you repay a mortgage loan several years faster!

Facebook

With over 2 billion daily users, predominantly aged 18 to 44, Facebook leaves you no chance but to embrace the power of Facebook ads for mortgage brokers. Facebook mortgage leads are a mix of professionals like ones on LinkedIn and casual browsers akin to Instagram or TikTok users.

Facebook Mortgage Advertising in a Nutshell

Audience	Facebook is primarily a B2C platform with some B2B potential. The demographics and psychographics are so vast that it’s fair to say that Facebook represents every existing mortgage borrower persona – you only need to find them with the right ads.
Types of Ads	Mortgage ads on Facebook encompass: Image & video ads – promotional images or videos featured across Facebook: news feeds, video feeds, Stories, in-stream videos, and search results. Carousel ads – up to ten images or videos within a single ad that display different features of a product Lead ads – ads with a built-in lead form to convert a mortgage lead on the spot without leaving Facebook Messenger ads – ads appearing in the Chats tab of the Messenger app, enabling a real-time conversation with a mortgage lead
Advantages	Mortgage Facebook ads allow you to tap into millions of leads of various demographics. These ads are not the cheapest, but you can always choose more affordable ad formats like, for example, image or carousel ads.
Disadvantages	Ad fatigue caused by the flood of ads on Facebook makes it harder to stand out and reduces the overall effectiveness of ad campaigns, no matter how sophisticated and well-targeted they are.

Here’s a mortgage advertising example from Facebook:

Source: Facebook

Instagram

Instagram can guarantee you wide reach and visual appeal. When you hear Instagram advertising, you naturally want to double down on HQ photos and videos that tell a story about your company or product.

Instagram Mortgage Advertising in a Nutshell

Audience	The most significant Instagram user base spans ages 18 to late 40s, evenly split between males and females. Instagram users love visually appealing, emotional content.
Types of Ads	Photo & video ads Carousel ads Stories & Reel ads – full-screen ads that appear between Instagram Stories and Reels
Advantages	Instagram mortgage ads are great for tapping into visuals. Likewise, you can integrate Instagram ads with Facebook to manage both campaigns through Facebook’s advertising platform.
Disadvantages	Most Instagram ads offer limited advertising space, so you must be concise yet effective in advertising your mortgage product. Most importantly, though, Instagram is much more about entertaining than serious topics like mortgage loans.

Here’s a mortgage advertising example from Instagram:

Source: Instagram

YouTube

With over 900 million daily users, YouTube is a platform where you can take your time when advertising your mortgage products. The big advantage of YouTube lead gen ads is that you can synergize them with your organic YouTube channel, creating a coherent experience for your future customers.

YouTube Mortgage Advertising in a Nutshell

Audience	YouTube consists predominantly of users aged 25 to 54, with an even distribution between genders. The platform is known for its high engagement with content, including advertising.
Types of Ads	In-stream ads – skippable and non-skippable ads played before, during, or after videos Discovery ads – ads that appear next to related videos in YouTube search result Overlay ads – semi-transparent text and image ads in the lower part of the video Bumper ads – no-skippable short ads played before, during, or after videos Sponsored cards – cards appearing in videos to direct users to the advertised product
Advantages	You can choose whether users will be forced to watch your ads (non-skippable ads), the lengths of the ads, and when you like them to appear.
Disadvantages	Skippable ads may not get much attention, whereas non-skippable ads may irritate users, backfiring on you in the long run.

Here’s a mortgage advertising example from YouTube:

TikTok

Finally, you can tap into a younger audience on TikTok. The fastest-growing social media may not look like a mortgage lead powerhouse, but viral content shouldn’t be underestimated either. If you manage to strike a chord with viewers on TikTok, you may get a flood of leads you’ve never expected.

Here’s a mortgage advertising example from TikTok:

Google Ads

Advertising on Google is arguably the most effective way to generate mortgage leads outside of social media.

Here’s how you can implement mortgage advertising for Google search:

• Google Ads: With Google Ads – text ads, dynamic search ads, responsive search ads, and call-only ads – you can make your ads appear where you want them to: at the top or bottom of the search results, in local searches, and even within the Google Maps results. These ads will be marked “Ad” so users know they see paid ads.
• Shopping ads: Shopping ads appear above or below search results, marked “Sponsored.” Since the first few search results receive the lion’s share of clicks, mortgage companies seek to occupy them with Shopping ads.

Take, for example, the “mortgage loans in New York” search query. The first four spots are occupied with sponsored content:

Google Ads return high-intent searchers, but you must deal with high competition and comply with strict regulations limiting certain types of content and targeting opportunities for complex industries like mortgage. To add insult to injury, some users don’t trust paid ads, ignoring them altogether.

Google Display Network

Google Display Network encompasses thousands of websites and mobile applications, including media that Google owns, like Gmail and YouTube. Any website owner can enable ads by connecting to Google Display in Google AdSense.

Here’s how Google Display Network works in detail, so I won’t elaborate further.

Paid Email Advertising

Email advertising is one of the most underestimated strategies for generating mortgage leads. For some reason, many mortgage companies neglect to promote their offerings in third-party newsletters while only counting on their own email campaigns.

At the same time, integrating sponsored content in emails of related brands – say, a real estate agency – might be surprisingly effective. You can place a banner, a dedicated section, or an inline contextual advertisement there – the most important is the quality and relevance.

Likewise, you can brute force it with dedicated batch-and-blast emails (promo email series sent by a third-party company) or even rent an email list from an email marketing company and launch your mortgage advertising campaigns there.

Offline Advertising

Last but not least, you can advertise your mortgage products in a traditional way: direct mail campaigns, print advertising, billboards, banners, radio, TV, and partnerships with local businesses. You can host seminars and workshops and create branded merchandise to engage with offline leads and show online borrowers that you’re a legitimate business.

Automate Your Mortgage Lead Management With Phonexa

Making the most of your mortgage ads and generating mortgage leads at scale is only possible if you know who they are, what they want, and how to make it happen. Long story short, you need a lead management system covering your lead acquisition process from top to bottom.

This is what Phonexa offers – a proprietary lead management software suite of 8 cutting-edge solutions that smoothly deliver leads to the destination point, be it your internal sales department or advertiser while deciphering the customer journey.

Phonexa’s lead management software suite includes (all at once price):

LMS Sync	Lead management software
Call Logic	Call management software
E-Delivery	Email marketing software
Cloud PBX	Dedicated cloud phone system
Lynx	Click tracking and affiliate marketing software
Opt-Intel	Suppression list management software
HitMetrix	Use behavior recording and analytics software
Books 360	Automated account software

Get it all for only $100 a month, or schedule a free consultation to learn more about Phonexa.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best mortgage lender advertising strategy?

The best mortgage lender advertising strategy is the one that allows you to acquire high-intent leads at a minimum price. This usually is a combined approach that includes social media ads – Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads, Facebook Ads, YouTube Video Ads, etc. – and organic lead acquisition.

What are the highest converting mortgage leads?

Technically, the highest-converting mortgage leads are leads qualified by your sales team for taking out a mortgage loan. From the perspective of the traffic source, the most high-intent mortgage leads are loyal and referred customers.

Can you get cheap mortgage leads with paid ads?

You can get cheap mortgage leads with certain paid ads, for example, text ads on social media. Another way to cut advertising costs would be to re-engage users who have previously shown interest in your products.

Is YouTube lead generation effective for the mortgage industry?

YouTube lead gen ads can effectively capture essential information like a lead’s email address or phone number. Depending on the format chosen for your mortgage ads, you can generate leads during the video, in search results, or on the YouTube homepage.