"Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half." Never has that John Wanamaker statement been so true for so many lenders. What is best…Paid Search? SEO? Email? Social media? We have our finger on the pulse of the industry all day, every day. We can show you what works and why; and what is wasted money. Facts are an enlightening friend.

Local Search Engine Optimization 3.0

SEO Platinum 3.0 is our next-generation promotional platform for lenders. A professional site with search-engine friendly structure is a starting point, not the end. You must be noticed before you can be found.

There are many ways to advertise to compete for user share. SEO offers one of the best returns. Work done today can keep delivering new leads for months, or even years, maintenance free.

Buying links and other "tricks" used in the past by other companies are no longer effective. In a way, we have gone back to the future. In the early days of the web, there was a saying, "Content is King!"

Content is still king...more than ever.

Successful SEO starts with good site content structure and incorporates key-word intelligence from search data.

SEO is strengthened by natural link building, local citations in your market’s listings, and social sharing of quality content.

We have professional writers and designers to give your site legs to stand tall in the market and insure your message is heard.

Social Media Management

For most business owners, trying to get their head around how to utilize Facebook, Google+, and other "social" channels is daunting.

The fact that many are socially challenged leaves the door of opportunity open for those with guidance, and the ability to act on that insider knowledge.

Getting started with social marketing doesn't have to be overwhelming.

FACT: Good social presence also improves your ranking in search results.

Online Reputation Management (ORM)

Before the internet, it was difficult for a disgruntled customer or former employee to air negative comments on a scale that would actually impact the bottom line. Outside of his or her circle of friends, it was highly unlikely any prospective customer or employee would hear such rants.

Such is not the case today. There is nowhere to hide bad service. The best defense is customer service that rocks! That said, no company has perfect employees. Occasionally, even great companies drop the ball. Those fumbles can end up in review sites, forums and other social media comments that appear alongside your name in search results. Scary to say the least; and it will only get worse (or better for great companies) as technology gets smarter.

At full tech-maturity, top search results will be positioned by a reliable, hard-to-fake, customer satisfaction index calculated from recommendations, ratings, and popularity (social media). Negative comments from disgruntled customers, whether true or malicious, will cost you future loans.

Preventative medicine is the prescription of choice, but our experts can help insure searchers will see positive news about you.

Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)

Do you buy online advertising? Are you sending those visitors to your home page? Shame on you if you said, "Yes."

Have you tested the lead generation from your current page against another head-to-head? Shame on you if you said, "No."

Every site should conduct ongoing A/B testing to refine and improve conversion. Why? Because if you are not continually improving, you will fall behind.

Advanced Marketing Consulting

Ready to scale? As marketing teams and plans grow, so do the number of moving parts. Particular disciplines must be in place or lead cost can rise, conversions fall, and the strategic advantage that enables a company to compete for ad space is lost.

To remain lean and mean, the mandatories are:

• Tight cost controls;
• Cross-channel conversion tracking;
• Lead nurturing;
• And real-time lead scoring.

We can assist in one or more of the many phases, including concepts, as you grow your marking machine.

Lead Nurturing & Scoring Solution

Graduate from email to full marketing automation. Few things will improve lead conversion more than staying in contact with those leads until they are ready to make a move.

Be the one delivering timely news and advice. This will keep you top-of-mind in your prospect and pay off with more revenue.

This advanced email marketing can be fully automated with our Tribal Rain email solution.

Tribal Rain will allow you to:

• Generate more loan applications from the same lead pipeline;
• Easily create multi-step marketing campaigns;
• Nurture leads until they are ready to buy;
• And easily test your marketing offers head-to-head.

Pay-per-click Campaign Management (PPC)

PPC allows us to place your business in front of the people that are actively searching for mortgage loans at the very moment they are most motivated.

This is the fastest way to generate leads from the Web, but it must be done smartly. A mismanaged campaign can bleed a budget dry faster than many realize. However, done correctly with a tested, scalable solution, the payoff can be huge.

We will define the scope (geo-targeting, search phrase matching) of your lead campaign and roll it out incrementally to preserve capital. Once the ROI can be demonstrated, the campaign can be scaled. Ongoing refinement and testing of offers "A" against "B" is necessary to stay ahead of competition. This is one area that is fiercely competitive. Creativity and experience are premium assets.

A Comprehensive Approach

HUG provides a full-service PPC solution. We manage everything from account set-up/overhaul, keyword research and expansion, to ad copy creation and bid management. We continually test keywords, ads and landing pages to gain incremental improvement.

FACT: The mortgage category is extremely competitive. Approximately 10% of Google’s ad revenue comes from lenders and insurers. It requires a great deal of experience to create a campaign that delivers cost-effective leads.

PPC can produce a steady stream of fresh leads every month.