Getting started with video marketing for loan officers

Justin Ulrich
You bet. I guess we could start with you telling us a little bit about your background and kind of how you got into the mortgage space. That would be a great place to kick us off.

Mandy Philips
Sure. My husband and I first started with the real estate side, actually. We own a real estate brokerage here in Redding, California.

And initially we were an independent brokerage. And we had struggled for many years with the process of the transaction. And it seemed to be where we would get hung up was with the lending side.

And we had no control over that part. Yet we were the face of the transaction being the realtors. And so we decided, let’s get into mortgages. And we didn’t know what we were doing, admittedly. But we did have the real estate experience. So my husband’s like, congratulations, you’re going to be heading this side.

And I’m like, that is terrifying. I don’t know what I’m doing. But what I do know is that it’s very important that I handhold these people and give them the service that we were not receiving with other lenders.

So that’s how we got started. And I now run this business. I no longer sell real estate at all. And I have been very fortunate to build a clientele through social media and past clients of mine and present clients of my husband’s and the agents that work in that office. 

But social media really has been massive in my growth for my business. And over half of my business comes from social media now.

Justin Ulrich
Wow. Yeah. I noticed some of your channels. You have a ton of followers, especially on TikTok. And your engagements seem to be like they’re through the roof. And maybe we could talk a little bit about that.

But also, it seems like you and your husband have a pretty good thing going from a referral aspect. And I would venture to say 99% of folks in the mortgage space don’t have that strong of a connection with someone who can refer them. 

So maybe we could talk a little bit about your social as well as some things that you think folks could do that could really move the needle in terms of driving business for themselves.

Mandy Philips
Absolutely. So I definitely recognize that I have a leg up there with the referral aspect. But I noticed with the increase in interest rates early 2022 that that business was going to slow down quite a bit.

And transactional volume was slowing down. We certainly weren’t seeing as many refinances. And so I decided I was going to take this opportunity to start posting on social media because that’s what they tell you you should be doing.

And I decided myself to start with TikTok because I thought no one’s going to see me on here. I’m just going to be practicing, you know, getting my awkwardness out. This will give me some content once I feel like I’m ready that I can post on Facebook and Instagram where I actually know these people.

And within two to three weeks, I had a video go what I would have at the time considered viral and had a couple hundred thousand views. And I was like, oh, my gosh, this is wild. And I still don’t know what I’m doing.

But then I really leaned into that. And thank God I did, because that year and that actually was 80 percent of my business. So social media was massive for me when the rates started to increase and my business started to decrease and the referral business almost completely turned off.

And I think I closed one transaction with my husband that year and that was…

Justin Ulrich
Was he given leads to somebody else?

Mandy Philips
No, he was not. He was more listing heavy. And, you know, that doesn’t really help me. I need the buyers. 

So with that, I started noticing where my social media followers were coming from, where my leads were coming from. And they were in states that I was not licensed in, in addition to my area, California.

And so I actually ended up getting licensed in four additional states. So now I have five licenses and I could probably pick up a couple more and do additional business. But five is where I tap out.

And but it has been massive because I am now able to, you know, take on kind of more national business in addition to my local business.

Justin Ulrich
Yeah. No, that’s a huge help. It just expands the pond in which you can fish. You mentioned getting the awkwardness out of the way. I think a lot of folks. That’s kind of an inhibitor to get started.

So what was it that that got you to realize, hey, I just need to do this thing and get the reps in and eventually the content will be good? Like, how did you kind of push past the barrier of self-doubt that a lot of folks deal with?

Mandy Philips
Well, for me, it was kind of twofold. One, I knew I wanted to and quite frankly, I needed to create a small library of content in order to better explain the mortgage process because I was educating my clients individually, but it was becoming redundant for me. And, you know, selfishly, I was like, you know, it’d be way easier if I just make a video and I can email it to them or I can direct them to this link.

And so initially I started doing it with the intention of creating a content library, more explaining and educating on the mortgage process, some acronyms that they were going to be hearing a lot throughout the process and giving kind of timeline updates. This is what to expect, you know, at this stage and then this stage and so forth. So that’s where I initially started.

I made a pretty lengthy Word doc and just started jotting down tons and tons of different video ideas based on questions that I knew I was asked frequently, different things that I wish borrowers knew but didn’t know. And so I decided one Sunday to come in the office where nobody was going to be here. So I didn’t have to feel uncomfortable filming in front of anyone, my husband included.

I still don’t film in front of him. And I told myself I was going to knock out five videos, five short form videos, which I was like, oh, this is going to take me one hour. Nope, it sure did not.

It took me all day and about 37 takes to make one video. But I made the commitment to myself that I was going to have these five videos and I was going to post one every other day. And then I was going to do the same thing the next Sunday.

So I was committed one day to making five videos to have something that I could post every other day because that seemed like a schedule I could keep up with. And it worked. And it was a routine that worked for me.

And then eventually, because there are seven days in a week and I had five videos that I was posting every other day, I had additional content that I was able to just keep in my drafts. And then if life took me elsewhere, then I would have something that I could still post. And then eventually I had enough content posted to where I could repost the same videos. 

And because in short form world, your content really isn’t necessarily evergreen. People aren’t really finding you way after the fact. So if you repost the same content, you’re likely going to reach different viewers and or the same viewer that did see it isn’t going to remember that they saw the exact same video six months ago. 

And especially when your content is like mine, where it’s content that could be useful at many different times. It doesn’t really expire. It’s not like I’m talking about a specific news article, which I do every once in a while, but mine was more for the actual process of getting a mortgage.

Justin Ulrich
So with that being the case, with the algorithms recognizing what content works, have you actually created very similar content to try to keep that momentum?

Mandy Philips
Yes. So I make a mix of two different types of content mostly. I kind of leave some room for some flexibility, but the two main forms of content I make are talking head, Q&A type videos, where I now have tons of comments that I’ve saved that I reply to via video.

So these are actual things that people ask me. TikTok is really great because you can just hold down the button and hit reply with video. So I do that and that’s my number one type of content.

My second form of content is in the form of short little skit videos. And the skit videos, I try to make educational, but also they’re based on real-life scenarios. I wouldn’t say those are where I get my clients, but those are where I get my followers.

So it brings people in. They follow me. That’s usually where I see my largest amount of engagement. But then those that stay, I engage with my Q&A type videos, which are definitely more educational and more serious.

Justin Ulrich
Yeah, for sure. Yeah. I’ve seen both types of content on your channels and they’re both great.

But I feel like with the younger demographic who are maybe their first time home buyers, maybe they range up to maybe 30, 35 years old. I think there’s an element of trust that needs to be built with those folks. 

And when you have a channel like you do, you’re able to create this really authentic content that resonates on the channels that demographic is on all day, every day.

And so they’re going to come across your stuff. They’re going to follow you and they’ll continue to engage with you until they feel comfortable and ready to make the purchase. 

And so the entire time you’ve been nurturing them along without actually having them necessarily in an email nurture campaign, which is something that’s been done a lot more in the past.

Mandy Philips
In social media in general, you nurture people that you don’t even know you’re nurturing. I can’t tell you the number of individuals that have come to me and they say something like, I’ve been following you for a year. I’ve been following you for two years and I’m finally ready.

And I just happened to be the person they thought of because they saw me the most frequently. I don’t even know that they found my content to be that exciting. It’s just that that’s who they thought of because I was the only one talking about it consistently.

And that’s the case on Facebook as well and Instagram, even though those are not my two biggest platforms. I repurpose my content from TikTok and post there. That’s actually where I’ve been getting a lot of my local business from is the fact that they have seen me on social media.

I do still get some referral content or contacts, of course. But still, it’s about 50% is coming from my social media.

Justin Ulrich
Do you ever do any collabs with any folks locally or real estate agents or maybe even with your husband?

Mandy Philips
I do occasionally. It’s more difficult than one would think to get somebody to get on camera with you. I have had a number of realtors that I’ve collaborated with, same with my husband.

But nobody seems to be jumping in and doing it as regularly as I encourage them to do. It’s one of those things where they see it working and they think it’s really great. But once they’re actually in front of the camera, they get really nervous and intimidated.

And that is something I still struggle with. But you just have to get through it. If you know something works, you just have to do it if it’s important to you.

Justin Ulrich
Yeah, 100%. We’ve had other guests who have talked about collaborating with other local businesses and just highlighting other folks within their local region. Whether they’re going to a game and they’re highlighting results of the game or how things have gone, they’re going to the gym and highlighting the owner there or maybe the local ice cream place.

Have you ever tried to do any collabs with other businesses in your local area to maybe highlight the ice cream place or the dry cleaner or whatever it might be to try to gain access to other audiences that currently exist?

Mandy Philips
I have. And it’s been successful. In my experience, I’ve kind of more pushed the realtors to do that because I am still involved in my husband’s real estate business, even though I don’t actively sell.

That is where I’ve really encouraged the agents to focus because they need that more local connection. And they’ve done amazing collaborations with restaurants, coffee shops, dog groomers. In our area, we have a lot of hiking trails, mountain biking, lakes, mountains, and so fishing, world-class fly fishing.

So they’ve also highlighted local amenities and features as well. And those videos have done great. So I’ve done some, they’ve done more, and they have turned out beautifully because they get cross-posted.

The business or in our area, whoever’s managing the fly fishing business or whatever, they will cross-post and cross-promote.

Justin Ulrich

Yeah. It’s kind of a hack for growing your audience. It’s a struggle, as you know, to grow your audience from the ground up on your own.

So if you can gain access to audiences that already exist, it’s a lot faster way to be able to grow your own audience and gain your own followers to get your own word out more regularly.

Mandy Philips
Yeah, absolutely.

Justin Ulrich
If you had somebody listening today who, it could be on the mortgage side or on the real estate side, they’re really struggling to maybe drive growth or engagement, whatever it may be. 

What’s one thing that you’d recommend they could do today or maybe sometime this week to really get the ball rolling in the right direction for them?

Mandy Philips
They need to isolate themselves, whether it’s in a car, it’s in an office where there are no humans around, and literally turn off all of their notifications on their phone. And in my opinion, that filming five videos, they just need to make it happen. Film five videos.

You don’t have to post them, but film them and work on editing them. Specifically edit out the awkward beginning pause because there’s always going to be an awkward dead space that people are just going to scroll past if they see or hear. 

So they just need to get just that one editing piece down where they chop out the front part, start literally as you’re speaking, but get the five videos out.

I swear, once you get five videos recorded, it does something you’re like, okay, this is not horrible. I can do this. But it’s when they just do that one, they post that one, they’re like, I did it.

And then they’re like, I can’t do that again. You have to have a small batch to have to get your nerves out and to get something to where you’re like, okay, I can do this consistently. So they need to, I can’t tell you the number of videos that I see people post in their cars that do well.

It’s quiet in there. You can go to a space, face your car where you have good lighting. It doesn’t need to be beautiful.

I think a lot of people in their mind, they think they need to have the most perfect recording space. They think they need to make it really aesthetic and they don’t. People work with people they like, people that they relate to, and they want to see you being a real person.

And so it doesn’t really matter as long as they can see you and hear you. It doesn’t matter what the background looks like.

Justin Ulrich
Right. Yeah. If you look at a lot of the popular like AI tools now where you can create avatars that can make videos for you, like a lot of them have the walking and talking and walking down the street, a normal background.

So it seems super authentic because that’s what the algorithms pick up on. That’s what people like to see.

Mandy Philips
Exactly.

Justin Ulrich
And they engage with it.

Mandy Philips
People overthink it and then that’s crippling to them. And then they just don’t do it because they don’t have the right microphone. They don’t have the right ring light or the right camera.

But that’s not even what works. When I see videos that are too overly edited, it’s too salesy. I don’t like it.

Justin Ulrich
Yeah. That’s true. That’s true. When I started making videos too, it’s the same thing. It’s just like you work with what you have and then you just improve and optimize.

Like with anything else in life, it’s like, okay, maybe I’m going to get a light or maybe I’ll get a microphone or do whatever. But you don’t have to have everything get started. If that’s the case, you will likely never get started because you get so overwhelmed by everything that you have to do to make this perfect start because you want it to be just right.

But at the end of the day, odds are your very first video is not going to go viral. You know, so not that many people are going to see it anyway. So it’s better just to get the reps in.

Mandy Philips
Absolutely. This is definitely one of those situations where quantity is better than quality. And I think a lot of people don’t recognize that or don’t understand that.

And yeah, you want to eventually make good content, but you just want to get content out there first and then go from there.

Justin Ulrich
Yeah, I’ve got a good buddy. His name is Shawn Walchef. He’s in the restaurant space, but he always says quantity times consistency times speed equals quality.

Mandy Philips
I like it.

Justin Ulrich
The more that you can get a ton of videos out there, the quality is going to improve the more that you do regardless. And if you get as many as you can out there as fast as you can, then you can accelerate your learnings and get even better, even faster. So you’re not waiting two, three months for what you could achieve in one month.

If you just, like you said, you’re creating five videos at the very beginning. Most people don’t do that. They start with one.

If you do batches of five, then you can stack them up. And instead of posting, you get to the one a day or one every other day. Then maybe you can get to one a day.

Then you may be doing two a day or whatever it might be. And doing so will get you, the algorithms will pick you up more so and just get you in front of even more folks.

Mandy Philips
Yep, absolutely.

Justin Ulrich
Very cool. So is there someone that you have kind of emulated or it could be in any industry where you’re like, man, this is like the solid content that I really want to kind of be like them. 

Just to give another idea, because I know your channels are great and we’re going to guide people to those channels so they can follow you and see the types of content that you produce.

But what are some other folks that are out there that you think are producing really solid content?

Mandy Philips
So in my industry, the first mortgage content creator that I discovered, I think he actually has probably the most followers of any mortgage creator on TikTok. And his name is Scott Bentley. And his content was short, relatable, easy to digest.

Some of it was funny. Some of it was educational. And none of it was overly edited or professionally filmed.

And I was like, OK, I can do this. And he has over 800,000 followers on TikTok alone. And so I kind of modeled my content after that. However, I am long winded. So I talk a lot. And so my videos ended up being way longer than his. But that worked for me. That was fine.

Justin Ulrich
That works for you.

Mandy Philips
Yeah.

Justin Ulrich
That’s the thing is you got to work with what you have. Like if you try to change yourself for the video or for the content, it’s probably going to be it’s probably going to come off as inauthentic and not perform as well as if you’re just being yourself.

Mandy Philips
Right.

Justin Ulrich
So speaking of being yourself, like you like to do, I mentioned earlier, you like hiking, you like boating, you like nature, snowboarding. What’s your favorite place to go snowboarding?

Mandy Philips
So admittedly, I am not the best snowboarder. It’s more my kids that I take snowboarding. So we live about an hour south of Mount Shasta. So we take them there.

But really where they love to go is Mount Batchelor. We usually get them season passes. Mount Batchelor is outside of Bend, Oregon, and it’s about five, four and a half hours away from here.

And so we’ll go up on the winter break or President’s Week or whatever, because they have a million breaks now. And the kids love it. And it’s beautiful. And they have two lovely lodges that my husband and I can sit in and enjoy and still take in the snow, but not be freezing cold.

Justin Ulrich
Yeah. Yeah. The first time I went snowboarding with my wife, like the first run, I was feeling really confident.

And I’m like, man, I’ve got this. And I was approaching the sign like at the lift to say, slow down. And I was going to hit it. I couldn’t carve out of the way. I ended up wrecking so hard. I broke a rib in front of like 50 people.

Mandy Philips
Oh, it’s the worst. I can barely get off the lift. One time the lift knocked me in the back of the head.

And then as soon as I made it down, I like landed flat on my face. And I’m like, okay, you’re a grown up. Don’t cry. Don’t cry. It’s the worst.

Justin Ulrich
Well, you know, I dug up this action shot of you. Actually, it’s just from AI.

Mandy Philips
Yeah, that’s exactly what I look like.

Justin Ulrich
Yeah, exactly.

Mandy Philips
Just tearing down the mountain.

Justin Ulrich
That’s right. Well, awesome. Well, hey, this is a ton of fun, Mandy, having you on.

But before we let you go, why don’t you tell folks how they can follow you across the different channels that you’re on?

Mandy Philips
I appreciate that. I am Mortgage Mandy on Facebook. Technically, I think I’m Official Mortgage Mandy. On Instagram, I’m Mortgage_Mandy. But on TikTok and YouTube, I’m just Mortgage
Mandy.

Justin Ulrich
And then your website, what is that?

Mandy Philips
mandyphillips.com.

Justin Ulrich
Awesome. And on that website too, you can get all your different social handles there at the bottom. Perfect. Well, this is a lot of fun. I really appreciate you coming in for your insights.

And for those who are listening, thanks again for listening. We’ve got some really cool guests that we bring on. I think Mandy’s an incredible guest to show her insights into what you could actually do today to start growing your social channels and nurturing your folks along in a way that they’ll engage with content that resonates.

So thanks again, Mandy, for joining us in the lab.

Mandy Philips
You’re welcome. Thank you for having me.

Justin Ulrich
You bet.

As always, thanks for joining us in the Local Marketing Lab. This podcast was sponsored by Evocalize. To learn more about how Evocalize can help you grow your business, visit evocalize.com. 

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And remember, keep innovating and testing new things. You’ll never know what connects with your customers best unless you try. Until next time. Thanks for listening.