When rates spike and volume drops, the first thing most loan officers cut is marketing. It feels logical — less revenue means tighter budgets. But it's exactly the wrong move. The LOs who come out of every downturn stronger are the ones who kept marketing while everyone else went dark.
Here's why — and exactly what to do.
Why Going Dark Is the Most Expensive Decision You Can Make
When you stop marketing, you don't just lose today's leads. You lose tomorrow's pipeline, next quarter's referrals, and the brand equity you spent months building. Marketing isn't a faucet you turn on and off. It's a flywheel, and every time you stop, you have to rebuild momentum from zero.
The best time to build market share is when your competitors are retreating. In 2022-2023, the LOs who kept showing up captured relationships that are still paying dividends today.
Down markets thin the herd. Realtors who used to have five LO relationships suddenly have two. Past clients who haven't heard from their lender in a year are open to someone new. Every silent competitor is an opportunity for you.
Shift Your Messaging, Not Your Volume
You can't market the same way in a 7% rate environment as you did at 3%. But that doesn't mean you market less — you market differently.
Stop Leading with Rates
If your marketing only works when rates are low, your marketing was never that good. In a rising rate environment, shift your messaging to:
- Buying power analysis — help buyers understand what they can actually afford today
- "Marry the house, date the rate" — educate on refinance strategies
- Market opportunity — less competition, more negotiating power for buyers
- Creative financing — buydowns, ARMs, builder incentives, rate locks
Double Down on Your Database
When inbound leads slow down, your existing database becomes your most valuable asset. These are people who already know and trust you. Activate them:
- Rate watch alerts — notify past clients when rates drop enough to refinance
- Home equity check-ins — their home has appreciated; remind them
- Referral campaigns — explicitly ask for referrals with a personal touch
- Milestone campaigns — stay in their life with automated touchpoints
Down Market Math
If you have 200 past clients and each one knows 3-4 people who might buy in the next year, that's 600-800 potential referral leads sitting in your CRM. Most LOs never ask. Start asking.
Invest in Systems When You Have Time
Slower pipelines mean something many LOs never have: time. Use it to build the marketing infrastructure you'll wish you had when volume picks back up.
- Set up your marketing automation — build the drip campaigns, follow-up sequences, and workflows you've been putting off
- Clean your CRM data — update contacts, tag properly, remove dead records
- Build content assets — write the blog posts, record the videos, create the guides that will drive organic traffic for years
- Strengthen realtor relationships — co-marketing campaigns are easier to pitch when everyone's looking for an edge
The LOs who used the 2022-2023 slowdown to build their systems didn't just survive — they were ready to capture disproportionate market share when things recovered.
Where to Spend (and Where to Cut)
Keep Spending On
- CRM and automation — your operational backbone. Never cut this.
- Database marketing — highest ROI, lowest cost per lead
- Content and SEO — organic traffic compounds over time and costs nothing per click
- Social media — free to post, and your reduced competition means more visibility
Optimize or Pause
- Paid lead generation — don't eliminate it, but tighten your targeting and reduce waste. Zillow leads at $200 each need much higher conversion rates to justify the cost
- Expensive sponsorships — shift to lower-cost, higher-touch alternatives
- Tools you're not using — audit your tech stack and cut what's not producing
The Mindset Shift
Down markets aren't punishment — they're selection. They select for the LOs who treat this as a business, not a gig. The ones who built systems that run regardless of market conditions. The ones who invested in their personal brand when it didn't feel urgent.
Every down market ends. When it does, will you be the LO who's been visible for 18 months straight, with a full pipeline and a database that remembers your name? Or will you be starting from scratch, competing with everyone else who's suddenly back to marketing?
Build the systems now. Empower LO gives you the CRM, automation, and marketing tools to stay visible and productive in any market — without breaking your budget.