Controlling Our Market Brand and Perception

Marketing experts see plenty of companies begin a public relations campaign and then leave it in the hands of the media. When it comes to reverse mortgages one can safely say the media has done its share of harming the reverse mortgage’s reputation with half-truths, inaccuracies and outright misleading statements. Sure some media outlets have given balanced or positive coverage but are we controlling and shaping the message. The good news is that our industry is taking action. The National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association in cooperation with several lenders is launching the “Extreme Summit”. Its a PR effort focused on geo-targeted advertising, driving positive impressions in the news and rebranding the HECM product itself.

The idea was born from a brainstorming session held at NRMLA’s 2012 annual meeting in San Antonio led by Liberty Home Equity Solutions CEO Otto Kumbar. Lender participants are putting there money where their mouth is committing over $2 million dollars to date. Such a campaign is critical since the perceived typical reverse mortgage borrower is becoming more scarce in light of reduced lending ratios and the financial assessment. If we let the media and general public push the erroneous notion the loan is only for the house rich and cash poor our marketshare stands to take another cut. Rather than playing damage control…