The leading franchise brokerages explain why shopfronts remain a crucial marketing tool in the digital age
The leading franchise brokerages explain why shopfronts remain a crucial marketing tool in the digital age
Shopfronts tend to have a hard time in this magazine. With the rise of online channels and the general emphasis of elite brokers on referrals and database marketing, no-one wants to talk about walk-in clients anymore. If bank branches are failing, the logic goes, why not brokers’ shopfronts?
The heads of Australia’s three main franchise brokerages confronted this question at the month’s Australian Mortgage Innovation Summit, with interesting results.
For a start, insisted outgoing Mortgage Choice CEO Michael Russell, it’s not about walk-ins. “They’re not looking for the spontaneous homebuyers who’s out looking for bread and milk…they send a message that they’re the owner of the business and hope to remain front of mind for when that the homebuyer or mortgage holder want to transact.”
This “long-term play”, as Russell puts it, was also pointed to by Aussie’s James Symond when describing Aussie’s shift from mobile-only to multiple channel broking. “For us it’s about community; it’s about that 24/7 billboard and awareness, giving the customer the confidence that the brand and the people will be there next month and next year.”
Symond also repeated an earlier comment by Yellow Brick Road CEO Matt Lawler; that brokers’ value stems from being in the job for the long-term, rather than constantly switching roles as is commonplace in banks. Having a shopfront and evident personal investment in that shopfront, he argued, helps reinforce consumer confidence and trust.
Still not convinced?
For the hard-headed out there, YBR’s Lawler spelled out the shopfront’s appeal in dollar terms: “the way we think about shopfronts is when you’re investing in your brand, when you’re letting people know who you are and what you do, you can’t maximise the return on that spend in marketing dollars if you don’t have retail shopfronts.”
The shopfront can ‘trigger’ the consumer to take action, even long after exposure to marketing, he noted.
This article originally appeared in MPA magazine issue 15.04.
Shopfronts tend to have a hard time in this magazine. With the rise of online channels and the general emphasis of elite brokers on referrals and database marketing, no-one wants to talk about walk-in clients anymore. If bank branches are failing, the logic goes, why not brokers’ shopfronts?
The heads of Australia’s three main franchise brokerages confronted this question at the month’s Australian Mortgage Innovation Summit, with interesting results.
For a start, insisted outgoing Mortgage Choice CEO Michael Russell, it’s not about walk-ins. “They’re not looking for the spontaneous homebuyers who’s out looking for bread and milk…they send a message that they’re the owner of the business and hope to remain front of mind for when that the homebuyer or mortgage holder want to transact.”
This “long-term play”, as Russell puts it, was also pointed to by Aussie’s James Symond when describing Aussie’s shift from mobile-only to multiple channel broking. “For us it’s about community; it’s about that 24/7 billboard and awareness, giving the customer the confidence that the brand and the people will be there next month and next year.”
Symond also repeated an earlier comment by Yellow Brick Road CEO Matt Lawler; that brokers’ value stems from being in the job for the long-term, rather than constantly switching roles as is commonplace in banks. Having a shopfront and evident personal investment in that shopfront, he argued, helps reinforce consumer confidence and trust.
Still not convinced?
For the hard-headed out there, YBR’s Lawler spelled out the shopfront’s appeal in dollar terms: “the way we think about shopfronts is when you’re investing in your brand, when you’re letting people know who you are and what you do, you can’t maximise the return on that spend in marketing dollars if you don’t have retail shopfronts.”
The shopfront can ‘trigger’ the consumer to take action, even long after exposure to marketing, he noted.
This article originally appeared in MPA magazine issue 15.04.
