By Shirley Hanson
copyright 2007
What's a “Mail Moment?”
The “Mail Moment" is a term the U.S. Postal
Service coined to describe that special moment when
people check their mail and discover personal mail that
“makes their day.” It's
about those feelings of hope, anticipation, and eagerness
when you approach your mail.
A ‘Mail Moment” can attract more clients for
financial advisors. . . but only if your mailing gets noticed.
And getting noticed is a lot more difficult now because
everyone is overloaded with mail.
Your mailings, though, can reproduce that “Made My
Day” feeling and get results for your financial advisory
practice. Here’s how . . .
SIX STEPS TO A PROFITABLE MAILING
Financial Advisor Mailing Step 1 -
Have A Real Person In Mind
Of course, you don’t do everything equally well.
And your services and products don’t appeal to everyone.
Specifically, who benefits most? Ultra
high net worth individuals? Owners of closely held businesses?
Teachers? Individuals thinking about retirement? Attorneys
in a small practice? Executives in large pharmaceutical
companies? Or another category?
You do want your message to be personal. One way to accomplish
that is to put the person in “personal”
so that your message has a chance of getting through.
Financial Advisor Mailing Step 2 -
Do What It Takes To Know Your Prospects
No assumptions, conjecture, or guesswork, please.
Pinpoint their demographic data.
A favorite story comes from Young & Rubicam, the ad
agency. The firm invested two million dollars to win the
Sears account. The agency hired researchers to go out in
the field and see who was buying. The results were astonishing:
84 percent were women. Women even bought power tools. And
their research won the account.
Go for psychographics, too.
Demographic data often is simply not enough if you want
to duplicate that “Mail Moment.” You may also
need to grasp their psychological traits such as feelings,
beliefs, and fears (psychographics)
- What are the biggest fears and problems that keep
them awake at night?
- What are their hopes and aspirations?
- If they are in business, what are the changes and
developments battering their business right now?
Financial Advisor Mailing Step 3 -
Be Sure Your Mailing Gets To Your Desired Audience
It may be helpful to think of your mailing as an invitation
that must get into the hands of very specific people. That
list wouldn’t be vague or haphazard. Every individual
would meet your criteria.
This may mean breaking up your own list into segments and
addressing each segment separately with a "personal"
message. If you are buying a mailing list, select characteristics
that match your desired prospects.
Financial Advisor Mailing Step 4 -
Speak To Them In Their Language
Jargon and technical talk are NOT welcome here.
Enter your Ideal Prospects world. Be sure there is plenty
of "You" and "Your" language, and that
it outweighs “me,” “ours,” and “us.”
Caution: In addressing engineers, software developers,
and other technical types you’ll also have to back
up the personal touch with logic and facts.
Financial Advisor Mailing Step 5 -
Reveal Yourself
Do you believe you need to be“professional”
at all costs? Have you sterilized, disinfected, and sanitized
your words of every trace of that amazing personality .
. . YOU. Then, your message is lifeless.
The cure is be your unique self. Call on the real words
and stories that are yours – ones that relate to your
prospects needs and wants.
Financial Advisor Mailing Step 6 -
Do What It Takes To Get Your Mail Opened
You could execute the first five steps flawlessly. But
that doesn’t matter if your mail is abruptly tossed
away.
So what does work?
I can’t tell you what will separate your mailing
from everyone else’s in your market. I can, though,
direct you to finding the answer in your particular target
audience.
A guest at a seminar we conducted, who worked at a large
networking corporation, told as that mail had to come through
FedEx before she would open it. Not Priority Mail from the
Post Office. Not UPS. Only FedEx.
Your target audience may NOT be so single-minded. Perhaps
lumpy mail with an item inside tied to your message, a brightly-colored
envelope, an expensive looking box, a humble post card,
or a simple hand-addressed envelope may get opened.
These six steps arm you with a good chance of
sparking that happy “Mail Moment” for your
audience. And that's how your own “Mail
Moment” will arrive, too: that happy time when your
mailings bring in qualified prospects to your financial
advisory practice time and time again.
About the Author:
Shirley Hanson is a direct marketer who specializes in
financial advisor marketing to help advisors attract more
clients. For help to breakthrough to a higher level of production,
call Shirley at 215.753.2620.
