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Consumers gravitate towards brands they know and trust, so ensuring your personal and professional brand is strong is imperative for success in broking
Branding is everywhere – whether it’s a Mount Franklin water bottle in your Fitness First backpack, a jar of Vegemite on your shelf, or a raft of branded pens on your desk.
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In some cases, the branding may not have been your choice. For example, you often accumulate branded pens and knick-knacks during professional development days, roadshows and conferences.
Incidental branding, however, is no less powerful – it still puts the brand front and centre. Just think how many times you refer to something by its brand name, rather than its product name – Panadol, Band-Aid, Post- it and ChapStick, to name a few.
In other instances, people make a choice between one brand and another – no doubt the fridge is stocked with various ‘brands’ of water, but in the end you will only pick one. Sometimes the primary driver of that choice might be price or convenience.
In a lot of instances though, brand will play a huge role in consumers’ decisions.
Consumers looking for a mortgage or help with their finance needs are no different, and many will seek comfort in the arms of a brand – it could be with a broker who has built a strong personal and professional brand in the local community, or one who is leveraging off the power of a national brand.
Branded brokers
“Branded businesses really give brokers that extra boost they need to grow their business,” says Stephen Moore, chief executive of Choice Home Loans. “Branded businesses provide brokers with marketing and sales support, consumer recognition and leads. All of that is unlikely to be possible for brokers working under their own brand.
“Rather than being a jack of all trades and a master of none, a branded business provides brokers with the support they need to focus on core competencies – your high value-add activities. For brokers, that means providing tailored advice to clients.”
Sandra Abela, a Choice Home Loans broker, agrees and says a brand essentially makes a broker’s life easier.
“Your marketing is worked out for you by professionals, so you don’t have to worry about doing the wrong thing, saying the wrong thing or breaching laws because you’ve used the wrong words,” she says. “You don’t have to go and pay individuals to go out and work out all your marketing. It’s done for you, and it’s done professionally.
“I don’t see why you would want to struggle to do that yourself. I’m a mortgage broker.
I’m not a marketer. I’m not an advertising-guru. Why would I want to spend my hard-earned money paying professionals thousands of dollars when I can get Choice to do it for me?”
Ms Abela says the branded business model has particularly benefited her because she operates on her own.
“The way I see it is, if you’re a one-man band like I am, people aren’t going to know ‘Joe Blow Home Loans’,” she says. “I decided that going with a branded name that was more recognised would give my potential clients the comfort that they’re actually going with a bigger entity.”
Who does it suit?
Bradley Beck, a Choice Home Loans broker, says branded business models have really extended their appeal and shouldn’t just be considered a starting point for new-to-industry brokers.
“I actually think the branded model suits both new and established brokers,” he says. “It would suit a person who has an existing database of clients and is looking to ‘freshen up’ their appearance with those clients, or to give their business a little bit of extra credibility.
“For a new broker, if they have no experience at all, they can come in and start flying. Choice seems to attract people who like to help others, so new brokers are embraced by a small group of people who will assist them – even though there are no monetary benefits to doing so.”
Mr Beck says any broker considering switching aggregators or changing business models needs to research their options before jumping ship.
“I think every broker, or potential broker, needs to really work out what they actually want and then find out who matches that bill. If they join a group who doesn’t offer what they’re after, they will be continually frustrated,” he says.
“It’s like anything in life – you’ve got to know the outcome you want and be able to work out the way to get there.”
Choice Home Loans’ Mr Moore says even though brokers have traditionally been the antithesis of banks and have relied on their own knowledge, presence in the community and ‘independence’ to capture borrowers’ interest, this is now combining with the power of ‘branding’ and transforming the broking landscape.
“More and more consumers shop online and educate themselves online. They share views and seek out other views online,” he says. “Having a strong brand will help consumers break through the clutter that is online.
“We do see a flight to brand. The digital age is driving the importance of brand. Similarly, the industry is evolving, and as it does, I think brand will become more popular.”
