Mortgage broker marketing: a practical playbook

Where do mortgage clients actually come from?

Start with the book you already have. Past clients approaching renewal know what it feels like to work with you. A referral carries someone else's trust. A realtor partner has buyers trying to make a decision now. Paid ads and content reach people outside those relationships, but an enquiry from a stranger needs more explanation before it becomes a file.

Those sources belong in different conversations. A past client needs a review of what has changed since funding. A buyer referred by a realtor needs clear financing expectations before making an offer. Someone reading an article may be gathering information months before acting. Sending all three the same rate email ignores the reason they came to you.

Choose channels you can look after rather than opening every possible account. If the week is already full of files, a regular review of upcoming maturities and a reliable partner update can be more manageable than another content schedule. Marketing for mortgage brokers should fit the service you can actually deliver.

How do you market to past clients without breaking CASL?

A funded mortgage is not permanent permission to send marketing. CASL applies to commercial electronic messages, including marketing email and SMS. Express consent does not expire until the recipient withdraws it. Implied consent from an existing business relationship generally lasts 2 years after the last transaction or 6 months after an inquiry. Keep the evidence that supports the basis you are using.

Every marketing message must identify the sender with contact details and provide an unsubscribe mechanism. Honour an unsubscribe within 10 business days. Do not treat that deadline as a reason to keep sending in the meantime. Record the request when it arrives, and make sure the next campaign respects it.

The awkward case is the old client whose mortgage renews after the implied consent period has ended. A maturity date in your system does not renew marketing consent by itself. Check whether you have valid express consent or another applicable basis before sending. A bought list or an address copied from an old file is not proof of permission.

Use the CRTC anti spam guidance and its consent and message requirements as the authority, and ask your brokerage to confirm the process. BrokerDam can run email campaigns with AI drafting and SMS with STOP handling, but software does not decide whether your consent evidence is sufficient. This is general information, not legal advice.

When should you start the renewal conversation?

Start before the client is staring at an offer they can sign without speaking to you. The first contact does not need to be a rate pitch. Ask what has changed: work, income, debts, plans for the property or the next few years. Those answers tell you whether this is a straightforward renewal or a conversation that needs more preparation.

Make each later touch useful. Review the remaining balance and amortization, explain what a changed payment could mean and ask the client to share the lender's offer. Avoid promising a better outcome before you have the details. Sometimes the right advice is to accept the existing lender's offer, and being willing to say that protects the relationship.

Our mortgage renewal outreach timeline sets out a cadence to adapt. Renewal reminders in BrokerDam keep maturity dates and planned touches visible. You can do the same work with a calendar and a clean spreadsheet; the important part is that somebody owns the next contact and checks the consent position before sending.

How do you work with realtors so they keep sending deals?

Be useful before asking for an introduction. Help the realtor understand what a buyer's financing position means for the offer, what documents are still missing and when a condition can reasonably be removed. Tell them what you can confirm and what still belongs to the lender. A confident sounding update with no substance makes their job harder.

Feature sheets can support open house conversations by giving people a clear property and financing reference to take away. Check every assumption and avoid implying that an illustrated payment is an approval. At an open house, a helpful question about the buyer's plans can lead to a better conversation than a request to join a mailing list.

Agree on what updates the partner needs and what the client has authorized you to share. The realtor portal gives a partner visibility into shared deals without turning every update into another email. Whether you use a portal or a phone call, close the loop after an introduction and make it clear who is handling the next step.

Do paid ads work for mortgage brokers?

Ads can produce enquiries, but a form submission is not a client and a client is not a funded mortgage. Meta and Google lead ads are ways to start the conversation. The offer, audience, consent wording and follow up all matter. A campaign attracting people you cannot help is not a success just because the lead price looks low.

Choose a specific question to answer rather than advertising every mortgage product at once. Make the ad and the next conversation agree. If the person asked about renewal options, do not greet them with a purchase qualification script. Check advertising requirements with your brokerage and avoid guarantees that depend on lender approval.

Before spending, submit a test lead and follow it all the way into your work queue. Check the name, contact details, source and campaign, then confirm who receives the notification. BrokerDam's ad lead capture uses an inbound webhook through tools such as Make or Zapier. The capture ad leads tutorial walks through that connection. Speed to lead is a practical habit, not a substitute for a relevant answer.

What should your follow up look like after a lead comes in?

When the enquiry and consent allow it, aim to text within minutes while the person remembers asking. Introduce yourself, mention the question they submitted and ask one useful question. Do not send a long product list or request sensitive financial documents in an ordinary text thread. The first reply should make the next conversation easier.

Offer a booking link when a conversation is the right next step. It saves the exchange of possible times, but it should not replace answering a simple question. Some people want a call today; others need to know whether their situation fits before committing to one.

Record the response and a next action. If there is no reply, choose a sensible follow up rather than letting an endless sequence run. Stop or change the sequence when someone books, replies, asks to wait or withdraws consent. A reminder sent after a personal conversation makes the broker look as though nobody read it.

BrokerDam's two way and bulk SMS keeps replies in the CRM. Texting is activated on request with a dedicated local Canadian number. Client portals provide a separate place for document collection. These tools keep the work together, but the broker still needs to read the message and decide what to do.

How do you measure what is working?

Keep a lead source on every contact, including referrals and returning clients. Use names that mean the same thing next month. If a contact came from an ad, keep the campaign as well. An unlabelled contact can become a good deal, but it cannot tell you which activity deserves another hour or another dollar.

For paid activity, calculate cost per funded deal by dividing the relevant campaign spending by the funded deals attributed to that campaign. Use a consistent attribution rule and allow for the time between an enquiry and funding. Compare like periods rather than judging a new campaign against a book of clients built over years.

For renewals, review how many eligible clients renewed with you against the group whose maturities you were working. Note why others left or did not need financing. Renewal retention is more useful when you understand the cases behind it. Review missed follow ups too: sometimes the channel was sound and the handoff was the problem.

What should you put in place first?

Start with a clean contact record, consent evidence, a source and an owned next step. Then choose one repeatable activity: reviewing maturities, checking in with partners or answering a question your clients keep asking. Write down when it happens and what a useful outcome looks like. Add another channel only when the first one is being looked after.

BrokerDam brings email campaigns with AI drafting, texting, feature sheets, booking, ad lead capture and client and realtor portals into the same workspace. That can reduce the number of places to check, but it does not create a marketing plan by itself. Read every draft, verify the facts and keep the message appropriate to the person receiving it.

What else do brokers ask about marketing?

How do mortgage brokers get clients?

Start with the relationships you can serve well: past clients approaching renewal, referrals and realtor partners. Content and paid ads can add enquiries, but each needs a clear next step and someone responsible for following up.

Can I send marketing emails to past mortgage clients?

Only when you have a valid basis for consent and meet the message requirements. Express consent lasts until withdrawn. Implied consent from an existing business relationship generally lasts 2 years after the last transaction or 6 months after an inquiry. Identify the sender with contact details and honour unsubscribe requests within 10 business days.

Should I use paid ads or referrals?

They do different jobs. Referrals build on an existing relationship, while ads introduce people who may not know you. Keep the source on each contact and compare the work and spending needed to produce funded deals, rather than judging either channel by lead volume alone.

What should happen after a mortgage lead comes in?

Review the enquiry and consent information, assign an owner and respond promptly through the permitted channel. A short personal message and a booking link can move the conversation forward. Record the reply and next step so another reminder does not arrive after the client has already answered.