Originators who rely on mortgage leads supplied by their employers represented 7 percent of respondents. Purchased mortgages leads were the main source of new business for 6 percent of the group.

Advertising
A plurality of responses — 44 percent — to the question What type of advertising do you use most? indicated that the Internet is the dominant medium for mortgage advertising.

Flyers are used most by 15 percent of originators, 6 percent put their ad dollars in newspapers, more than 2 percent utilize television and less than 2 percent invest mostly in radio advertising.

“other” listed marketing that included sending e-mails to “centers of influence,” realtor training and hosting a radio talk show. E-mail was cited several times, and other advertising choices included magazines and billboards.

Social Media
Loan officers are incorporating social media into their marketing at a brisk pace.

Linkedin is used in marketing by 54 percent of respondents to this question, while 48 percent said they utilize Facebook and 22 percent are making Twitter part of their marketing strategies.

But more than a third still don’t use social media in their marketing efforts, and findings from this survey suggest that social media has yet to prove its potency in generating mortgage production.

There were, however, 21 percent who said that between 10 percent and 24 percent of 2011 originations were the result of social media efforts, and 4 percent said that between a quarter and half of their business came from social media.