Meaningful content is key when leveraging online marketing.  To add to your content stack we are going to share three topic ideas to use on social media to help drive direct consumer business to your title insurance practice.  A lot of marketing in the title industry has been historically focused on real estate agents and lenders – and rightfully so.

However, a brave new marketing world is upon us with millions of millennials that spend a significant amount of time on Facebook and the internet, and have become savvy in Googling to find their next home.

According to the 2017 statistics report published by Contactually, “84% of all buyers utilize information they find online as a crucial part of their home search process.”  This builds on the trend as reported by the National Association of Realtors that more and more buyers are turning to the internet as the first step in their home buying process.  If millennials cannot find you in the places they expect, like Facebook, or you do not have any star ratings online, they may not close with you.

Although you cannot neglect real estate agents and lenders, as time goes on you will see an increase in direct consumer business from targeted social media marketing.

Below are three ideas you can use to market direct to consumers:

1) Consumers do not know what title insurance is OR why it is important

Many law firms with a title insurance practice do a good job of explaining what title insurance is on their website in an FAQ or another “about” page. What we typically notice however is they fail to explain why it is important, and why the consumer should care. In other words, they are not explaining it in a way that helps the consumer understand the peace of mind it provides.

For example, a common description might say something like “title insurance protects your home from unforeseen liens caused by previous owners.” It is descriptive, yes, but it is far from engaging.

The best way to explain the importance of something is to trigger emotion.

…And the best way to trigger emotion is to illustrate something through a story such as:

“Jack and Jill spent their life savings on their dream house for their family. Three years later they discovered there was an issue with a claim of ownership on the property from a previous owner’s family member. This uncovered many more issues that cost Jack and Jill thousands in legal fees and ultimately resulted in a loss of their dream home. Had Jack and Jill purchased title insurance their investment would have been protected.”

Isn’t that better than just a definition?

2) Consumers don’t know that they can pick a title agent

This is crazy. It is as if a car shopper thought there was only one car dealership in town. A social media post is a great opportunity for a title agent to market directly to consumers and also help real estate agents educate the home buyer on how to be smart when making the largest investment of their lives.

One great suggestion is to write an article on how to pick a title agent, and at the end of the article give them an opportunity to contact you with any questions.

People in your market that are Googling phrases like “how to buy a home” and “how to sell my home” are likely to find the article, visit your website, and call you with follow-up questions.

You have just formed a new relationship and created a new inbound lead.

Which leads us to the next point…

3) Consumers do not know they can contact you about their real estate questions

Here is a quick story about this concept in action. Several years ago, my partner and his wife were considering buying life insurance but they did not know much about it, what to look for, or how much to purchase.

Around that time he happened to find an article and podcast interview with a life insurance expert. The life insurance expert had a family, seemed very personable, and answered a lot of questions right in the interview.

Come to think of it, they were probably the common questions of many others considering life insurance.

Since my partner was in the market and through the expert’s podcast had already helped him, he decided to give the life insurance agent a call to ask a few more questions.

What’s amazing is that the life insurance agent had built trust and answered most of my partner’s concerns without ever speaking to him.

Long story short, my partner ended up purchasing life insurance from someone he had never met, literally across the country.

Why can’t title agents market themselves in this way?

Consumers have questions about real estate and the closing process. Since most home searches today start online, many homebuyers even find the property themselves and bring it to a real estate agent to get the ball rolling.

What if they contacted you directly? Where would you refer them? Just think about it for a moment.

A real estate attorney is a non-biased, non-threatening third-party for any of your real estate questions. Start marketing yourself as a trusted friend, and a portion of those who find you will do business with you because they trust you.

In closing

From my time in the title business, I have learned that when the real estate business is slow, title agents and real estate attorneys start marketing themselves. However, when closings pick up, they do not have extra time and marketing goes by the wayside. Use these tips in social media and your website to build your pipeline.

Want More on Helping Your Agents Educate Consumers?

Did you know American Land Title Association members have access to tons of free resources called the Homebuyer Outreach Program (HOP) to help you educate and attract homebuyers on and offline – from printouts to blog posts to social media ads, and more.

So, if you’d like to do more marketing but need an extra set of hands to help you educate, schedule a consultation and demo today to see how TitleTap can help you accomplish more with less.