Broker guide
Mortgage Broker Marketing Plan: Worked Example
When campaign time is limited, a worked mortgage broker marketing plan example connects your audience, budget, capacity and stop rules.
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A mortgage broker marketing plan sets one quarter’s client target, the campaigns that will reach those clients, who runs each campaign and the results that decide whether it continues. Build it from the number of client files your team can assess carefully, then fund only the activity that capacity can absorb.
The blank template below suits a solo broker or a whole brokerage, and a mortgage company or its loan officers can use the same layout for a digital marketing plan. The fictional completed quarter shows one brokerage linking enquiries, appointments and settlements to a budget, a calendar and stop rules.
Define the Commercial Goal
Start by drawing the plan’s boundary from three numbers: the clients you want, the files your team can take on and the settlements you expect. Anything outside that boundary waits for a later quarter.
Name one target client segment for the quarter, described closely enough to write a message for it. “First home buyers in our outer suburbs using a government deposit scheme” gives you an audience and an offer. “Home buyers” gives you neither.
Then count service capacity, which is the number of new client files each broker can assess carefully in a month. A careful file covers the fact find, lender policy research, a recommendation the client understands and lodgement. Count it from your own past quarters, not from the target you’d like to hit.
Subtract the files your existing clients and referral partners already bring. What remains is the capacity a campaign can fill.
Set the settlement objective from that spare capacity and your own history. If 75% of your files usually settle, 18 spare files support an objective of 13 settlements.
Ridgeway Home Loans is the fictional brokerage used on this page, with two brokers named Priya and Tom and a client services officer named Jess. Each broker can assess 10 new files a month carefully, and repeat clients and referrals already fill 14 of those 20. That leaves 6 campaign files a month, or 18 for the quarter.
Ridgeway’s plan for January to March 2027 has this boundary:
- Target client segment: first home buyers in its outer suburbs, many of them using the Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme.
- Service capacity: 18 campaign files across the quarter, with no more than 6 in any month.
- Settlement objective: 13 settlements from the quarter’s campaign files, counted on 30 June 2027 because settlements arrive weeks after a file opens.
Add a Credit-Claim Review Column
Every proposed borrowing message in the completed plan needs a column showing who checked the claim and against which source. That credit-claim review column names the policy source behind the claim, the event that makes it expire and the broker responsible for checking it.
A borrowing message is any line that tells readers what they could borrow, deposit or avoid paying. Examples include a deposit percentage, a lenders mortgage insurance (LMI) waiver or a government scheme benefit.
ASIC’s Regulatory Guide 234 on advertising credit, issued on 9 June 2026, says information in advertisements should be current. It also says advertisers should withdraw advertisements that are no longer up to date, with particular care for social media.
The same guide says an advertisement that contains an interest rate must also contain a comparison rate, under section 160 of the National Credit Code. It warns against terms such as “guaranteed acceptance” or “pre-approved”, because each borrower still needs an individual assessment.
Ridgeway’s three proposed messages show how the column works.
| Proposed message | Used in | Credit-claim review |
|---|---|---|
| “Eligible first home buyers can buy with a 5% deposit and no LMI under the Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme.” | Partner flyer, agent evening slides, guide page | Source: the scheme’s FAQ, as at October 2026. Expires: any change to the scheme’s eligibility rules, price caps or participating lenders. Checker: Priya. |
| “Registered nurses and midwives earning at least $90,000 a year can apply for an LMI waiver with Westpac or St.George.” | February email | Source: Westpac’s healthcare LMI page and St.George’s profession home loans page, both as at October 2026. Expires: either lender changes the eligible roles, the income floor or the maximum loan-to-value ratio (LVR). Checker: Tom. |
| “Fixed home loan rates from 5.49% p.a.” | Proposed search ad | Rejected. An ad that states an interest rate must also state a comparison rate, and the rate dates the ad at the next repricing. Ridgeway’s search ads carry no rate claim. Checker: Priya. |
The nurse message names both lenders because the $90,000 floor is their rule, not a market-wide one. If either lender drops it, Tom rewrites the line for the lender that still offers it or removes it.
Lender policy can change between your reviews, so each expiry trigger needs a way to hear about changes. Bulma alerts you when a lender policy you’ve asked about changes. Each answer also shows the date Bulma last updated that policy, which gives the checker a dated record for the column.
Allocate Capacity and Budget
Include only the campaigns your team can answer on time and fund them from a test budget you could lose without changing your business plan. Both limits apply, and the tighter one decides how much activity goes in.
Response capacity is the number of new enquiries the person on first contact can call back within your standard. At Ridgeway, Jess calls each campaign enquiry within one business day and can handle 25 a month alongside her processing work.
Work back from file capacity to the enquiries you need. Ridgeway’s sample assumptions, taken from its own customer relationship management (CRM) records, are that 50% of enquiries book an appointment and 60% of appointments become a file.
Eighteen files need 30 appointments, and 30 appointments need 60 enquiries, or 20 a month. That sits under Jess’s 25, so the plan has room for a busy week.
Sample Assumptions and Sourced Benchmarks
Keep your own conversion assumptions apart from market figures, and label each one in the plan. A market benchmark describes all brokers or all borrowers, so it can’t tell you how your enquiries convert.
| Figure | Value | Type and source |
|---|---|---|
| Enquiry to appointment | 50% | Sample assumption from Ridgeway’s CRM records (fictional) |
| Appointment to client file | 60% | Sample assumption (fictional) |
| Client file to settlement | 75% | Sample assumption (fictional) |
| Broker share of new residential home loans | 81.6% in the June 2026 quarter | Sourced benchmark: MFAA release of 3 September 2026, using Cotality data |
| New owner-occupier first home buyer loan commitments | 29,319 in the June 2026 quarter, down 2.9% on the March quarter | Sourced benchmark: ABS Lending Indicators, released 14 August 2026, seasonally adjusted |
The benchmarks tell Priya that most new home loans already go through brokers and that first home buyer commitments dipped in the June quarter. Neither changes her conversion rates, which come only from Ridgeway’s own files.
Set an Affordable Test Budget
Fund the plan from an amount you’d still spend if the quarter produced no settlements. Take the marketing line from your mortgage broker business plan and check that losing it wouldn’t push cash below the floor you set there.
Ridgeway’s business plan allows $2,000 a month for marketing, so the quarter’s test budget is $6,000, excluding goods and services tax (GST). Priya splits it across the three activities she has already chosen, using the guide to choosing marketing activities for a mortgage broking business.
| Activity (fictional) | Budget, excluding GST | Expected enquiries | How the budget is released |
|---|---|---|---|
| Referral: accountant briefing and real estate agent evening | $1,000 | 18 | Paid once each event is confirmed |
| Owned: monthly email and first home buyer guide page | $1,000 | 12 | Design and writing, paid in January |
| Paid: local search ads | $4,000 | 30 | Four $1,000 tranches, each released after a checkpoint |
| Total | $6,000 | 60 |
Releasing paid spend in tranches limits a weak campaign to $1,000 before anyone reviews it. Each new tranche needs a paid cost per appointment of $300 or less, with at least 90% of enquiries contacted within one business day.
The expected 30 paid enquiries at $4,000 cost about $133 each, or about $267 per appointment at a 50% booking rate. If the total had exceeded 25 enquiries a month, Priya would have dropped an activity before letting response times slip.
Use the Worked Marketing Plan Example
Ridgeway’s completed quarter links each objective to its activities, owner, cost and measure, so you can use it as a mortgage broker marketing plan sample. The credit-claim review column sits beside each activity, so the person approving a send can see who checked its borrowing message.
| Objective | Activity | Owner | Cost, excluding GST | Measure | Credit-claim review |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 referred enquiries | Accountant briefing on 19 January and agent first home buyer evening on 18 February | Priya | $1,000 | Referred enquiries logged in the CRM | Flyer and slides carry the 5% Deposit Scheme message. Source: the scheme’s FAQ, as at October 2026. Expires: any scheme change. Checker: Priya. |
| 12 enquiries from owned channels | Monthly email to subscribers who agreed to receive it, plus the updated first home buyer guide page | Tom | $1,000 | Enquiries from email links and the guide’s form | February email carries the nurse LMI message. Source: Westpac’s and St.George’s healthcare waiver pages, as at October 2026. Expires: either lender changes the waiver. Checker: Tom. |
| 30 paid enquiries at $300 or less per appointment | Local search ads in four tranches | Jess runs them, Priya approves | $4,000 | Paid cost per appointment and first response time | Ad text makes no rate or deposit claim. Expires: any edit to the ad text. Checker: Priya. |
| 13 settlements by 30 June 2027 | 18 campaign files, no more than 6 a month | Priya and Tom | Covered above | Files opened and settled | Not applicable |
The rows add up to 60 enquiries, which at the sample rates become 30 appointments, 18 files and 13 settlements. Each total matches a limit set earlier: 18 files is the spare service capacity and 20 enquiries a month sits under Jess’s 25.
Stop-and-Review Events
Changes to lender eligibility, government schemes or advertised concessions are stop-and-review events in the plan. When one happens, a named person pauses scheduled material that carries the affected message, and a named broker corrects or withdraws it before it runs.
The 5% Deposit Scheme shows how quickly a message can expire. Its FAQ says that from 1 October 2025 the scheme removed income caps, raised property price caps and removed the limit on places. Any post written in September 2025 that warned places were limited became wrong on 1 October 2025.
| Event | Who spots it | Who pauses scheduled material | Who corrects or withdraws it | Deadline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The government changes the 5% Deposit Scheme’s eligibility rules, price caps or participating lenders | Priya | Jess pauses scheduled emails, social posts and any flyer reprint | Priya | Same business day |
| Westpac or St.George changes its healthcare LMI waiver | Tom | Jess holds the February email if it hasn’t gone out | Tom rewrites the message for the lender that still offers the waiver, or removes it | Before the next send |
| A lender changes an eligibility rule that a campaign message relies on, such as an accepted income type | The broker who owns that message | Jess | The broker who owns that message | Before the material runs again |
Material that is already live needs the same treatment. Jess unpublishes the post or pauses the ad within one business day, and the responsible broker approves the replacement wording before it goes back up.
Blank Marketing Plan Template
Paste this table into a document or spreadsheet and complete the right-hand column for your next quarter. Label every figure as your own assumption or a sourced benchmark.
| Plan field | What to record | Your plan |
|---|---|---|
| Quarter | Start and end dates | |
| Target client segment | One segment, described closely enough to write a message for it | |
| Service capacity | New files each broker can assess carefully a month, less the files existing clients and referrals already bring | |
| Response capacity | Enquiries your first-contact person can call back within your standard each month | |
| Settlement objective | Settlements from this quarter’s campaign files and the date you’ll count them | |
| Sample assumptions | Enquiry to appointment, appointment to file and file to settlement, each labelled as yours | |
| Sourced benchmarks | Market figures with their source and date, kept apart from your assumptions | |
| Test budget | Amount excluding GST and the business plan line it comes from | |
| Objectives and activities | Each objective with its activity, owner, cost and measure | |
| Credit-claim review | For each borrowing message, the policy source, expiry trigger and responsible broker | |
| Stop-and-review events | Each lender, scheme or concession change, who pauses material and who corrects it | |
| Campaign calendar | Dates, approval owners and delivery milestones for every activity | |
| Review rules | The continue, change and stop thresholds for each measure |
Build the Campaign Calendar
Give every referral, owned and paid activity a date, an approval owner and a delivery milestone that someone can check on the day. Work back from each send or event date, so the credit-claim review finishes before anything is scheduled.
Ridgeway’s rule is that a broker completes the credit-claim review at least two business days before a send or event. The calendar below shows Ridgeway’s quarter in date order.
| Date in 2027 | Type | Activity | Approval owner | Delivery milestone |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 January | Paid | Search ad text approved | Priya | Ad text passes credit-claim review |
| 11 January | Paid | Ads launch with the first $1,000 tranche | Priya | Ads live and enquiries tagged by source in the CRM |
| 12 January | Referral | Accountant briefing invitations sent | Priya | Invitations sent to the partner list |
| 12 January | Owned and referral | January email, guide page and partner flyer reviewed | Priya | Credit-claim review complete for all three |
| 15 January | Owned | First home buyer guide page live | Tom | Enquiry form tested from submission to CRM record |
| 19 January | Referral and owned | Accountant briefing held and January email sent | Priya | Attendance and email send logged |
| 29 January | Paid | Checkpoint 1 | Priya | Second tranche released only if both checkpoint rules are met |
| 4 February | Referral | Agent evening invitations sent | Priya | Invitations sent to local agents |
| 11 February | Referral and owned | Agent evening slides and February email reviewed | Tom for the nurse message, Priya for the rest | Credit-claim review complete |
| 16 February | Owned | February email sent | Tom | Sent only to subscribers who agreed to receive it |
| 18 February | Referral | Agent first home buyer evening | Priya | Event held and referred enquiries logged |
| 19 February | Paid | Checkpoint 2 | Priya | Third tranche decision recorded |
| 5 March | Paid | Checkpoint 3 | Priya | Fourth tranche decision recorded |
| 11 March | Owned | March email reviewed | Priya | Credit-claim review complete |
| 16 March | Owned | March email sent | Tom | Sent and unsubscribes actioned |
| 24 March | Paid | Ads end | Priya | Spend reconciled to the budget |
| 31 March | All | Quarter review and partner thank-you notes | Priya | Continue, change or stop decision recorded for each activity |
Send owned email only to people who agreed to receive it. The ACMA’s guidance on avoiding spam says you must have consent, identify your business in each message and honour unsubscribe requests within 5 working days.
Give referral partners the reviewed flyer and slides to pass on. That way, any borrowing claim a partner repeats is one your broker has already checked.
Review Results
Review enquiries, appointments and settlements against thresholds you set before the quarter starts, and record whether each activity continues, changes or stops. Writing the thresholds down first stops a good or bad week from deciding the budget.
| Measure | Continue | Change | Stop |
|---|---|---|---|
| Campaign enquiries a month | 15 to 25 | Over 25: pause the next paid tranche. Under 15 for two months: change the message or offer. | Not used alone |
| First contact within one business day | 90% or more | Below 90%: pause new paid spend until it recovers | Below 70% for two weeks: stop new campaign activity until the backlog clears |
| Paid cost per appointment | $300 or less | $301 to $400: change the ad text or keywords before the next tranche | Over $400 after two tranches: stop paid ads for the quarter |
| Appointment to client file | 50% or more | Below 50%: review enquiry quality and the first call | Not used alone |
| Settlements from campaign files | On track at the 30 June count | Behind: adjust next quarter’s activity | Not used alone |
Settlements arrive weeks after a file opens, so they confirm decisions instead of driving them mid-quarter. Ridgeway counts settlements from the quarter’s campaign files on 30 June 2027 and sets the next quarter’s budget from the cost per settlement of each activity.
When Response Delays Mean Doing Less
Tie the quarter’s campaign capacity to the number of client files your brokerage can assess carefully, and reduce activity when responses fall behind. Chasing the settlement objective with more files than that capacity puts the quality of each client’s recommendation at risk.
Ridgeway’s February shows the decision. The second paid tranche and referrals from January’s accountant briefing brought 31 campaign enquiries, six more than Jess can call within one business day.
Jess reached only 55% of them by the end of the next business day, and some went cold first. February produced 9 appointments and 5 files, and paid cost per appointment rose to $333 because the $1,000 tranche booked only 3 appointments.
| Month (fictional) | Campaign enquiries | Contacted within one business day | Appointments | Client files opened |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 18 | 100% | 10 | 6 |
| February | 31 | 55% | 9 | 5 |
| March | 14 | 100% | 10, including 3 rebooked February enquiries | 6 |
| Quarter | 63 | 29 | 17 |
To stay on 13 settlements, Ridgeway would have needed 7 files in March, one more than its brokers can assess carefully in a month. By the 19 February checkpoint, two rules pointed the same way: first contact had fallen below 90% and paid cost per appointment was above $300.
Priya paused the third tranche and released only $500 of the fourth in March. She kept intake at 6 files a month and lowered the settlement objective to 12, since 17 files at a 75% settlement rate give 12.75.
ASIC’s Regulatory Guide 273, issued in June 2020, explains the best interests duty, which requires a mortgage broker to act in the consumer’s best interests when providing credit assistance. A seventh March file would have taken time from the fact finds and lender research that Ridgeway’s other recommendations depend on.
Ridgeway spent $4,500 of its $6,000 test budget and kept the remaining $1,500 in the business. Set your next quarter’s budget the same way. The enquiries your team can answer on time and the files your brokers can assess carefully decide how much activity to buy.
