How to Create Content for Different Commercial Mortgage Borrowers

Author : JYoung Associates | Published On : 07 Oct 2026

A director buying the building they already rent, and an investor refinancing a rental property both need commercial finance but have almost nothing in common. One is concerned with disruption to trading and the use of funds, the other with yields, rental income and the speed of drawdown. The needs of both would be poorly served by a generic article on 'commercial mortgages'. This guide explains how to structure blog content to address the audiences who read it, giving each the benefit of being written for someone in their situation.

Know Your Reader Before you Write the Brief

Brokers sort their knowledge into products and processes: valuations, underwriting, completions. Readers sort content by context: what's happening to them and the sorts of deals they're considering. The starting point for content creation should be personas: brief sketches of typical readers, with their goals, reservations, knowledge and questions. At least three or four personas is a good start for many organisations, because it's too hard to write enough content for everyone and too few start to blend together. Evidence is better than guessing in these, so look at the interactions with enquirers in the last 3-6 months. How did they describe what they were looking to do? Where did the conversation end? What were the early questions about (e.g. deposit requirements) and the later ones about (e.g. how a particular lender viewed rental income)?

Newcomers to a topic often need more general information before they can understand the detail, so a foundational post (such as the introductory What Is a Mortgage Broker can act as the starting point for everyone, to which more detailed posts are added as supplements. This avoids repetition and lets more experienced readers skip over background info that less experienced ones need.

Ask for What they need at that point in their journey

A single reader will have different needs at different points in their journey: becoming acquainted with the basics, preparing to make a choice, researching alternatives and waiting for a decision to be made. All of these stages need content, but different things are of interest or benefit to readers at different points. Early on they need simple explanations of how things work and what sort of things lenders are likely to consider, later they need detail on processes, timelines and costs; when comparing options evidence that the writer has considered the same issues is more important.

Content creation should be planned around these points. A simple table in a spreadsheet can help by allocating posts to each reader type and stages they're at, with columns for each post and rows for each audience. It's common to be short of content for the earliest stages in the journey, simply because few people consult a broker until they're close to making a decision.

Use examples to illustrate different approaches

Illustrations of different situations and outcomes help most readers put theory and generalisations into a real-world context and to recognise themselves (or someone they know) in the writer's thinking. When a business owner reads an article about a company buying their own premises, it's helpful to be able to understand how that applies to a business like theirs and to see the issues that someone in a comparable situation might face (e.g. ownership of the land or the interaction of rent reviews and loan repayments). When an investor reads about a buy-to-let mortgage, it's helpful to see how a lender might consider rental income in the context of the loan.

Examples should be realistic but anonymised and should avoid giving the impression that particular outcomes are guaranteed. Where there are common variations (e.g. the usual deposit for a particular type of deal) these should be identified as such. It's often possible to give an indication of a typical range based on experience, as long as it's made clear that this reflects general experience rather than a promise for any individual deal, because outcomes always depend on the circumstances of the borrower and the willingness of the lender.

Where a reader is new to property finance generally, they may benefit from comparisons with other sorts of finance with which they may already be familiar. For example, First-time buyer mortgage advice from a mortgage broker who also advises residential buyers can be helpful to many business owners considering their first ever buy-to-let purchase.

Vary the style and depth of explanation

Business owners who aren't accustomed to thinking about property finance tend to prefer straightforward explanations with short paragraphs and readily identifiable next steps. Investors and developers may be more tolerant of technical language and detail, although most people benefit from explanations that use proper terms correctly. Writing at two levels talks down to one group and fails to engage the other. A useful test is to read content as each type of reader and note terms that they might not know. Either explain them in context or omit them. It's important not to patronise the less financially savvy by using overly simple language, since someone considering a six-figure investment still needs to understand the details.

Acknowledge assumptions that different audiences bring

Most people approaching a mortgage broker have some ideas about what they want and some misconceptions about how it will work. Many business owners assume that personal finances are more important than the finances of the company or vice versa; many investors assume that a lender will value a property the same way they do. It's important to acknowledge the assumptions that different readers bring to a discussion, since they're likely to influence how they interpret information. A post in the style of Mortgage Myths can be helpful, naming assumptions, explaining why they might be wrong and outlining what tends to happen in practice, noting the areas where these trends don't apply in all cases. A lender's approach is rarely universal and few factors are always relevant in a deal, so posts for these sorts of readers should avoid pretending that one lender acts consistently or that any individual factor always matters.

Structure the website to help different readers find their own posts

Content that's relevant to several types of reader can be isolating if those readers aren't aware of it, so posts should be grouped into different hubs that make it easy for a reader to browse content that applies to them. For example, this site's guidance on mortgage broker blogging suggests organising content around similar audiences. Articles on the same topic can be clustered together, with one main post and a number of supplements that expand, clarify or give further info on related subjects. This helps avoid the problem of having two articles (and two writers) competing for the same search term.

Titles should reflect the perspective of the reader: most people who run businesses will understand a post about 'business owners buying their own premises' much better than one about 'commercial mortgages'. Every topic should have a single primary post that serves as the main source of information on the subject, to avoid duplication and improve navigability.

Measure the impact on each audience

It's hard to assess the impact of new content within the first three months, and most content strategies are based on evidence, not instinct. Google Search Console indicates what queries led people to particular posts; Google Analytics 4 can track the conversion rate of different posts (or lack thereof). Asking new enquirers how they found the site and what they read helps enormously in understanding what has reached whom, since a simple question on the enquiry form can be more enlightening than any analysis tool. If one type of reader comes to a post but doesn't convert, it's worth looking at the next step in their journey to see if it's clear. If another type of reader doesn't come to a post at all, it's worth asking if the title and topics match what they were looking for.

There are sometimes additional compliance considerations, depending on the regulatory status of the firm and the nature of the content, so time should be allowed for reviews before posting.

What You Should Do Now

Pick the audience that you want to attract most and create a persona based on your most recent 10 enquirers. Then write a post answering the question that most of them asked first. One post will give you much more insight than planning a whole content calendar based on guesswork.