W. Edwards Deming said Marketing and innovation are the only source of value in business, everything else is a cost. And he was right.

The only thing that adds to your bottom line is demand for your product. Demand is created by offering people products they want (innovation) and effectively communicating the benefits they will enjoy once they own your product (marketing).

As a mortgage broker you have very limited control over the innovation part of your business because the loan products available are offered by your lenders without your input. So that leaves marketing as the only way for your to add value to your business.

Once you understand this, it becomes a simple matter to organize your business into a marketing driven brokerage. Start by carefully evaluating your marketing and sales skills. Identify your strengths and weaknesses. Take your time with this exercise. Write notes. You will need this information later.

Next, identify your target market. Start small and narrow. Specialize and you will be able to offer better service and expertise than other brokers that will do any loan that comes to them.

The easiest way to do this is to find a specific type of loan program that you think will be profitable. Learn everything you can about this market segment. Identify every loan provider in this market. Search for the best deal for your clients and you will have powerful ammunition when it comes time to market your product.

Now use your strengths and your target market profile to select three marketing strategies from the following list.

Friends and Family - Direct Mail - Flyers - Telemarketing - Press Releases - Broadcast Advertising - Print Advertising - Articles - Networking - Premiums - Seminars - Surveys - Ethnic Communities - First-Time Home Buyers - For Sale By Owner - Internet Marketing

These three strategies should form the basis of your marketing efforts.

Develop a marketing project for each strategy. Carefully write you advertisements, define where you will run them and set your goals. Then develop a process for keeping track of your expenditures and your results.

Once you have a clear definition of each marketing project you should pick the most promising one and put it into action. Once its up and running move on to your next marketing project.

Once you get your three strategies up you should change your mindset into one of gathering market data. Always evaluate the performance of every ad. Make small changes and compare results. The goal is a process that delivers constant, incremental improvement of your advertisements.

Over time you will develop very effective ads and thereby reduce you cost per prospect. Marketing is a slow and tedious process when done correctly. You must have the patience and perseverance to keep meticulous records.

But when you do, you slowly develop a huge repository of customer behavior data. There is no more accurate predictor of how a customer will act tomorrow than looking at what they did yesterday.