The multi-channel adviser advantage

IN Partnership with

As online marketing becomes more saturated, advisers using the playbooks of the past are struggling to stand out. It’s time for a cohesive approach

MORTGAGE ADVISERS across the country are familiar with the story of burning time, energy and budgets on marketing efforts that barely move the needle. Many have dived head-first into running ads, posting content online, even cycling through multiple digital agencies, then back to YouTube tutorials and doing-it-yourself. Precious hours, budgets and emotional energy are invested, yet the promised refinance leads and first home buyer clients never materialise. To make things worse, every dabble in DIY marketing, every agency pitch, onboarding and hand-off only delays genuine growth and takes advisers away from their core mission − helping clients secure the right mortgage and achieve their financial goals.

Orchard Financial Marketing is a New Zealand-based marketing consultancy purpose-built for financial advisers. Founded to meet the growing demand for trust-driven digital marketing in the advice industry, Orchard partners with advisers to implement cohesive, multi-channel marketing systems that attract quality leads and build lasting client relationships. With deep expertise, Orchard is helping advisers shift away from fragmented tactics toward scalable systems that drive consistent growth.

Find out more

“No single marketing tactic holds up on its own. Sustainable results come from holistic strategy, not scattered efforts, and advisers are learning that the hard way”

Jared Laidlaw, Orchard Financial Marketing

Here’s the truth: online marketing has become a lot harder in recent years. The days of running a Facebook ad or sending out a generic ‘time for a mortgage review’ email blast and seeing results are gone. People are bombarded 24/7, making it hard to cut through the noise online. The playbooks from before? The scattershot marketing tactics? They just don’t cut it any more. They may attract attention for a moment, but they rarely lead to an opportunity to build trust or to a booked call. A strategic approach The modern borrower now demands a different approach, one that conforms to a holistic, multi-touch, multi-channel communications strategy.

people portraits symbolizing connections

Published 04 Aug 2025

Resources

News

Specialty

Best in Mortgage

Mortgage Industry

Companies

People

Newsletter

About us

Authors

Conditions of Use

Terms & Conditions

Sitemap

RSS

News

MORTGAGE INDUSTRY

BEST IN MORTGAGE

SPECIALTY

Resources

Companies

People

Newsletter

About us

Authors

Conditions of Use

Terms & Conditions

Sitemap

RSS

News

MORTGAGE INDUSTRY

BEST IN MORTGAGE

SPECIALTY

Resources

Companies

People

Newsletter

About us

Authors

Conditions of Use

Terms & Conditions

Sitemap

RSS

“Successful marketing isn’t about doing more, using more tools. It’s about doing the right things − aligned, connected and built to convert”

Jared Laidlaw, Orchard Financial Marketing

In fact, studies show that when brands engage across three or more channels, engagement jumps by over 250%. That’s why an integrated, multi-channel approach isn’t optional − it’s mission critical for advisers wanting to generate new leads and grow their book. That’s where Orchard Financial Marketing steps in. With a tailored framework that aligns your website, ads, social media, email, content and follow-up into one unmistakable journey, you don’t just attract leads − you convert them. Referrals don’t just view your pages − they engage and book with you. The strategically orchestrated approach is rooted in Google’s

7-11-4 rule, which shows it takes roughly seven hours of engagement across 11 touchpoints in four different digital locations to convert a lead. No wonder all those other tactics haven’t worked in the past. With experience across the spectrum, from boutique advisories to national firms, Jared Laidlaw, managing director of Orchard Financial Marketing, has gathered a wealth of insight into the industry over recent years. “I’ve spent millions of dollars generating leads for advisers,” Laidlaw says, “from single-person firms to 20-plus employee operations. I’ve been through full website rebuilds, marketing CRM overhauls, social and blog content machine creation, and one thing stands clear: no single tactic holds up on its own.”

Leveraging that experience, Laidlaw founded Orchard around a mission: to grow adviser books through smart, scaled marketing systems that build trust, drive leads and turn expertise into impact. “Lead generation is a battle most advisers lose every day,” he says. “How can you compete using Google ads or Facebook ads when the banks, or the bigger advice companies, are literally spending hundreds of thousands of dollars each month? They have entire marketing teams, analysts and advanced software to rinse every cent of return they can. That’s why advisers need to focus on nimble systems that generate efficient marketing results, rather than using brute force or spray-and-pray tactics.”

Winning the lead-generation battle Laidlaw recently surveyed a variety of advisers across the country about what they’re doing to generate leads, and the results were eye-opening. Referrals, he found, are still the backbone of most adviser businesses − they’re trusted and cost-effective. But they’re feast and famine. When is the next one coming in? How can you get more of them? He also saw examples of innovation in lead generation: some advisers are experimenting with giveaways like Prezzee cards, or even competitions to win an entire mortgage payment via an online entry form. Others forge tight relationships with strategic partners such as building developers or real estate agents, using these connections as a reliable source of prospects. But Laidlaw’s findings weren’t all positive. A striking number of advisers said Facebook ads attract ‘tyre kickers’, people who fill out forms but don’t convert into clients. In fact, many advisers said they spent more time chasing Facebook leads than they did having actual meetings with them. The survey also touched on lead buying as another common tactic, but one that rarely delivers game-changing results. The feedback was consistent: purchased leads didn’t equate to the quality conversations or referral-ready relationships that advisers expected. Another survey is planned for late Q3/early Q4 to measure changes that advisers experienced during the heavy refinance period in the winter and to find out how they plan to stay busy through spring and summer. If you’re interested in taking part or seeing the results, let Orchard know here. Across the board, for both large firms and solo advisers, one theme is undeniable: fragmented tactics, broken follow-up and a disconnected prospect journey yield frustration and confusion, all while advisers continuously hunt for marketing answers that just never seem to stick. That’s why Orchard Financial Marketing’s holistic framework aligns a firm’s website, ads, social media, content, email and follow-up into one cohesive system. Each element is designed to work in harmony, not in isolation, delivering what modern borrowers expect: consistency, clarity and credibility. If you’re done spinning your wheels, it’s time to partner with Orchard. Let them architect a marketing engine that builds trust, drives quality leads and turns referrals into real growth, so you can focus on what matters: your clients.

Every month, over 20,000 Google searches are made in New Zealand by people looking for mortgage brokers, advisers, rates and home loans. The demand is there − you just need to have a system to capture some of it.