Posts filed under 'Financial Advisor Marketing Plan'
Marketing for Financial Advisors,
Whether You Are Building Your Financial Advisory
Practice Today Or Starting A New Practice . . .
Planning is paramount.
For an established advisor, be honest about the clients you really enjoy working with. Also, if you are eyeing a new direction, take the “enjoyment factor” into consideration, too.
As a new financial advisor, you will need to commit yourself to exploring your Ideal Target Audiences. (Look into 3 to 5 target audiences.)
Find audiences you have a kinship with, for example on personal interests, business experience, age, or hobbies.
Committing to your target audiences demands more than a light touch for each choice. It calls for deep exploration.
Recently, I wrote an article for a successful advisor with 17 years of experience. He is prospecting for new clients in a field he has specialized in for many years.
Because he was reaching out to people who did not know him, building his positioning with the prospects was vital. The steps we looked at included:
Four Steps To Prospecting Power
1 - Unique Experience
2 - Credentials
3 - Expert Skills
4 - Your Process For Investing
You can think of them as four steps to assembling your differentiation and enhancing trust.
>> Step #1 - Describe how your past and current unique experience contributes to your practice today.
There’s a story there that only you can tell.
>> Step #2 - Give a rousing fanfare for your credentials.
If you don’t have a CFP(R), for example, or other significant designations, bolster your standing by describing what you do have.
A client, who happens to have 25 years of experience along with a Ph.D. in another field, uses his 7 FINRA licenses to “demonstrate his lifelong commitment to the pursuit of excellence as a financial advisor.” Build your credibility with everything you’ve got.
>> Step #3 - Reveal how you put your expert skills and strengths to work for your clients.
A new advisor, a retired airline pilot, draws on his rigorous training and the demands of being a commercial pilot like this:
“Being a pilot for 32 years has taught me how to solve a problem without allowing emotions to intrude, to develop and follow checklists, and to count on systems that are structured and repeatable. I bring these to my practice along with the sense of being accountable and the need for continual training and education.”
>> Step #4 - Call On Your Process For Investing
If I were looking for an advisor, I’d want to be doubly sure that they have a system in place for working with clients (It isn’t selling the same solution to everyone).
Also, I’d want to be reassured that they have a well-developed process for managing my money. List its steps, and if you can give it a name, all the better.
Positioning Power
Think of your differentiation as more than a 7-word tagline. You might develop a document such as “What Makes Us Effective?” or “How Are We Different?” Draw on these 4 points above and add several more to create your compelling case.
We invite you to a Live Webinar for Financial Advisors with Conference Plus and the Virtual Presenter Roger Courville along with Bob Hanson.
“How Financial Advisors Can Promote and Deliver Engaging Webinars”
It’s for financial advisors new to webinars or those seeking to improve their results.
http://www.MarketingPlanFinancialAdvisor.com/webinar.html
October 4th, 2010
This article is by Bob Hanson
Sometimes we take marketing for granted.
We think we know what prospects NEED and therefore what they WANT. After all, marketing that works appeals to emotions, hopes, dreams, and fears.
Most people buy based on emotion and justify with facts. Hence powerful emotions such as fear and greed drive market movements.
Consider…
A new retiree may fear running out of money, so needs a lifetime income stream.
An affluent accumulator may desire to support his or her lifestyle with retirement savings and so needs financial planning.
A wealthy business owner may want to protect his money from risks and predators, so he needs asset protection and estate and insurance planning.
A big mistake virtually every financial advisor makes in their marketing communications is talking only about Needs. As a result, they wonder why they attract few leads from their website or get low response rates to mailers or seminar invitations.
So what’s a simple way out of this trap? Throw all assumptions out the window!
Imagine you are Marketing to Sasquatch, a creature with wants and needs — but one no (sane) financial advisor has ever met. You can’t just assume this prospect will know the value of, say, a 401(k) Rollover or a diversified investment portfolio.
It forces you to ask questions such as . . .
What does my prospect, in this case, Sasquatch, fear most about this financial situation?
What are the financial frustrations he or she would like to leave behind?
What is stopping my prospects from taking action now?
What questions will they ask to solve this problem?
How will they feel once they have solved this financial issue?
For answers:
- Ask your prospects and people who are close to them,
- Listen thoughtfully,
- Read publications they respect,
- Attend meetings filled with your prospects, and
- Follow blogs and influencers your prospects admire..
That’s how you’ll be able to tap into the dreams, frustrations, and emotions of your prospects with your communications (while keeping compliance in mind).
We invite you to a New, Live Webinar for Financial Advisors
More Assets, Clients in the New CNBC 24/7, Web 2.0 Economy
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/793377739
September 28th, 2010
This article is by Bob Hanson
We have talked in a previous article about email for financial advisors and why most will see diminishing effectiveness unless they embrace what we call Email 2.0.
Email 2.0 for financial advisors is the next step in the evolution of how you can benefit from email marketing to build a community, convert more prospect to clients, and get more referrals.
Let’s imagine it is the end of the year and you are taking advantage of the potential of Email 2.0.
It means you have an (automated) way of building an opt-in email list of prospects (and clients). You are generating new prospects and clients through your website.
Your email database is integrated with your CRM and you can easily run reports on who is a client and who is a prospect.
You can run marketing campaigns such as “prospect meeting campaigns” which get anywhere between 2% and 10% response.
You are driving attendance at events and stimulating referrals from clients. Clients are up-to-date on your latest perspective on the economy and markets.
Sound far-fetched. It is not. Many of our clients and advisors we meet have made this transition — one that has transformed their marketing and the way they communicate with clients.
= = = = =
New, Live Webinar - The 30-Minute Financial
Advisor Marketing Plan
Register now and get your top questions answered!
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/750359331
= = = = =
Want to discuss Email 2.0 or other ways of growing your practice this year so that you reach your yearly income goals in 2011?
Send an email to request a no-obligation consultation to bhanson@marketingplanfinancialadvisor.com or call 1-617-901-6886.
August 12th, 2010
What is an immediate way to demonstrate experience with a given market?
How can you quickly show off your knowledge, skill, and expertise in investment management or financial planning?
What can you do to position your practice ahead of the hundreds of other advisors in your market?
How can you get “Permission” to market to prospects through email?
What is the missing link in financial advisor website marketing?
One strategy gaining popularity and creating results for Top Producers and independent financial advisory firms like Ken Fisher Investments is a “Point-of-View” White Paper.
While Ken Fisher’s firm did not invent this strategy for financial advisors, they are gaining a crowd of clients and broad publicity with White Papers, and you can, too.
Your “Point of View” White Paper
“Generate Prospects And Tell Your Story”
In short, a White Paper is a longer marketing communication — a way of drawing in your best prospects as leads.
It tells the story of how you help clients in a way that engages the very prospects that you want as clients and moves them to call you to set up an appointment.
Register here to get the rest of the story…
http://www.marketingplanfinancialadvisor.com/whitepapers.html
Yours for better and more clients in 2010,
Bob Hanson
March 19th, 2010
Live Webinar Thursday for Financial Advisors: “More Income with Niche Marketing”
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/811270987
- The 7 habits of highly ineffective financial advisor marketing (avoid these for a higher income),
- A simple marketing strategy virtually any financial professional can leverage to gain more clients, at less cost and with little effort,
- The alarming reason why most financial marketing communications, including websites, produce few, if any, new clients.
And, your chance to get your top questions answered.
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/811270987
All registrants will also get a new article, “How to Position Your Practice Ahead of All Other Advisorsin Your Area.” It will be emailed to you right after the event.
Also, for financial professionals and advisors interested in, or currently doing, marketing events, join us for a webinar with Osterman Research next Wednesday for…
Getting More ROI from Your Marketing Events
(Return-On-Investment from your fixed budget.)
Click here to register and get more information.
http://learn.gotomeeting.com/forms/021010-NA-G2MC-WBR-L?ID=701000000005Jc5
- What different types of marketing events cost, the answers may surprise you,
- How to calculate the ROI of your own individual events, and
- How to create a marketing events strategy that gets the most mileage out of your resources.
http://learn.gotomeeting.com/forms/021010-NA-G2MC-WBR-L?ID=701000000005Jc5
How to Promote and Deliver Engaging Webinars
Click here to share your feedback and get an early preview of results:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MSTVDYX
It only takes about 4 minutes.
Yours for greater production and income in 2010,
Bob Hanson
bhanson@marketingplanfinancialadvisor.com
617-901-6886
February 3rd, 2010
This blog is by Bob Hanson
copyright 2010
The end of a year, or decade, is a great time to look back and reflect on the progress we have made.
Almost exactly 10 years ago today, I was spending 6 months helping install a new CRM system at a major mid-west financial services firm (one of the first to offer mutual funds).
When I think back on the features this firm paid 7 figures for, and compare that to what is offered today to an individual advisor or small firm (better technology at less than 1% of the price), this amazing leap is one reason CRM, or Customer Management Systems as they are known (even though they do a lot more than help manage customers) is my choice for Marketing Innovation of the Decade for Financial Professionals.
To explain, let me outline the capabilities available today for people like you and me:
Contact and Marketing Database Management —
Your basic ability to keep all your contacts in one spot. You can also organize them into groups like “A Clients” and “Seminar Attendees.”
Sales Opportunity Management —
You can manage and track individual sales opportunities along with the current sales pipeline and report on how sales conversions have gone historically.
Email Communications —
The ability to send individual emails to prospects or clients and batch marketing emails to groups such as All Clients, All Prospects, or, for example, all prospects who are business owners.
Marketing Campaign Management —
A marketing campaign could be a seminar program, direct mail piece, or Marketing effort over a period of time focused on different audiences or objectives.
Automated Marketing Follow-Up —
A sequence of contacts to a group within a Campaign. White Paper downloaders, for example, may get a series of 5 emails over 10 days to prompt their requesting an individual meeting at your office.
A Full System Delivered Over the Web —
There is no reason to have to install and manage a program locally anymore. You won’t have to worry about making sure you back-up to prepare for inevitable disasters.
And web delivery means access from anywhere including your local Starbucks and, also, cheaper prices. The technical whizzes at your chosen system will manage and improve the system while you sleep.
Once you have a robust Marketing System up and running, you probably will not want to manage multiple CRM systems or even a marketing database plus an email program. You’ll save time by not having to keep the systems up-to-date with the latest data.
This type of all-in-one system is available for generally well under $50 a month and a high of, say, $299 a month for a system which does it all.
The Marketing Innovation of the Next Decade awaits you . . .
So that’s my choice and those are my reasons. What’s your choice?
Bob Hanson
bhanson@marketingplanfinancialadvisor.com
www.marketingplanfinancialadvisor.com
+1-617-901-6886
January 8th, 2010
This article is by Bob Hanson
copyright 2009
You are invited to a . . .
Free Webinar Tuesday, October 13: How to Market and Sell (Financial) Services (through Events) and Webinars
http://learn.gotomeeting.com/forms/101309-NA-G2MC-WBR-L?ID=701000000005FWM
You may be looking to generate new prospects and convert existing names or leads to clients.
I often speak about the three primary ways to generate meetings (qualified prospects coming into your office). They are a White Paper or Article Strategy, Meeting Request Marketing Campaigns, and Events.
Today, let’s turn to Events.
5 Ways To Attract
More Prospects And Clients From Your Events.
1. Profit from the “One-Talk, Different Audiences” Model for more prospects and a higher conversion rate to clients.
This has the advantage of saving your time and enables you to benefit from a proven model.
2. Speak at others’ events.
Many financial advisors are joining with an accountant and estate attorney to get more leads at one-third the cost.
3. Improve the title and invitation copy of your events to be more benefit oriented.
Our tests show that even changing only the copy bullets can improve attendance by 18% or more at each and every event.
4. Avoid being addicted to a compiled list of suspected investors — a list that anyone can rent or buy within target zip codes.
Instead, consider responsive lists and your Influencer lists.
5. Go beyond live, free dinner seminars.
Consider, for example, CD recordings, live webinars, and webinar recordings.
If events are at all part of your growth plans in 2009 and beyond, you must attend our free webinar next Tuesday, October 13.
For ‘How to Market and Sell Services with Marketing Events and Webinars,’ with Citrix Online, QLM has reserved 100 seats for “Client Attraction” subscribers of the 1,000 available.
Click below to register now for this free event:
http://learn.gotomeeting.com/forms/101309-NA-G2MC-WBR-L?ID=701000000005FWM
In this new webinar you will learn:
- how leading services firms are creating a winning event and webinar program,
- 5 easy ways to get more leads from your events and webinars, and
- how services webinars are different from product demo webinars, seminars, and trade shows and what you can do to take advantage of the differences.
Register now so you don’t miss-out.
http://learn.gotomeeting.com/forms/101309-NA-G2MC-WBR-L?ID=701000000005FWM
For more information . . .
Bob Hanson
bhanson@marketingplanfinancialadvisor.com
+1-617-901-6886
October 8th, 2009
The question came from a new advisor. The answer, though, is for everyone who wants to see a hefty increase in production.
“I’m new to the financial advising industry. One question I would ask would be how to get in front of the right people that I would like to do business with?”
But first, a vital question for our questioner . . .
Are You Prepared To Make This Shift?
The shift is in how you answer this key question: What business am I in? Are you motivated to move from seeing yourself as a “financial advisor” to becoming a “marketer of my financial advisory practice.”
That’s a vital difference that can start you off to a productive practice. That outlook sets priorities. The majority of your high-value time goes to your marketing . . . day after day, week after week.
For established financial advisors, that’s also an indispensable shift if you want to break out from the status quo and reach new levels of production.
You may have noticed financial advisors who are exceptional at what they do, yet they never achieve the success they deserve.
In contrast, you may have watched financial advisorswho are good at what they do — good, but not remarkable — who achieve extraordinary success.
So What Makes The Difference?
These six words put it in sharpest focus: The money is in the marketing.
Don’t get me wrong. To succeed as a financial advisor, you do need to be good at what you do. (We are assuming your qualifications are under your belt.)
And that fundamental shift leads to more effective and energetic marketing. We’ll talk about productive marketing in our next article.
Yours for great marketing,
Shirley Hanson
October 2nd, 2009
Christopher Columbus speaks to financial advisors today. Here’s why . . .
For 7 years he tried to persuade the governments of Spain, Portugal, Venice, and Genoa to support his “foolish” scheme to sail west to reach Asia. To them, he held out the vision of discovering a New World along the way.
Through those tough 7 years Columbus called on his strengths.
A big one was his power of persuasion. The son of a weaver, and not well educated, the language barrier could have defeated him. To get a serious hearing, he needed to be able to speak the language of the educated upper classes at the royal courts.
Columbus realized that he had little chance of success unless he could relate to his audience in every possible way.
He went way beyond just learning their languages; he took on their dialects.
According to Michael Gelb in “Discover Your Genius,” he went the extra mile and absorbed the manners and body language of a courtier. Then, he flooded them with the most convincing arguments he could muster.
Another strength was what’s been called his “irrational optimism.” Refusing to take “no” for a answer, he found ways to continue to engage the royal courts.
You know the story: Finally, Spain agreed to fund Columbus’s voyage.
What’s In It For You?
How much of this story can help you build your financial advisory practice?
* How precisely have you identified your ideal prospects?
Columbus knew exactly who his target audience was: The royal courts of Spain, Portugal, Venice, and Genoa. His vision never wavered.
* Have you questioned and listened deeply so that you inhabit your prospect’s world?
Equally important, Columbus took extraordinary steps to relate to them: learning their dialects and taking on their manners and body language. In short, he became a courtier in four “languages” and flavors.
* Can you identify and intensify your strengths — perhaps by practice and noting outcomes, maybe by coaching, possibly by study?
Simply, Columbus drew on his strengths to an extraordinary degree.
What’s more Columbus never stopped learning so that he could become the brilliant navigator he needed to be. He was ready when he had to talk about the fine points of navigation at the Spanish court. He was prepared to make his uncharted voyage with a frightened crew.
For many advisors marketing is an unmapped, uncharted voyage. To create your own map you can go to
http://marketingplanfinancialadvisor.com/sample-marketing-plan.html
September 14th, 2009
This article is by Bob Hanson.
You have probably heard of or read one of the top business books of all time, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Others Don’t by Jim Collins.
Basically, the book looked at the question, “Can a good company become a great company and, if so, how?”
Our client work, interviews, and surveys with countless financial advisors over the years have uncovered a key insight.
Whether you are at $10 million Assets Under Management and want to go to $25 million, $25 million and want to get to $50 million, or $100 million and want to get to $500 million, generally there is one success strategy that is found in those who make this leap quickly, and missing in those who don’t.
Very simply, it is…a Marketing System.
That may just be a fancy way of saying these financial professionals have a way(s) of getting the type of new prospects they want in the office each and every month.
Now with these successful Financial Advisors we find their Marketing System has some common characteristics.
They include:
— Some notion of a target market or niche; after all, if you try to be all things to all people you will likely be nothing to nobody.
— A sense of how YOU are different from the thousands of other financial advisors and professionals in your area.
— Your calling card that gets you out there in front of your desired audience. This could be an article or report, seminar or webinar, or a meeting campaign. Ideally you have 2 or 3 ways working for you at once.
— Support from others in the marketing process such as clients, formal partnerships, co-marketing through influencers, and simple joint referral relationships from others targeting your audience.
— Your marketing hits the mark for the times. Today you need to account for the “new normal” economy. The way you marketed in previous Bull Markets will likely not work well today.
Finally, there is no one path to marketing success. It means everyone has their own personal route to achieve their goals. Think Frank Sinatra’s “My Way.”
So, if you are serious about growing your practice and income in 2009 and beyond, we suggest you take a lesson from other advisors who have gone from “Good to Great” and make sure a marketing system is in place and working for you ASAP.
To discover more you might be interested in Bob’s complimentary recorded webinar “Double Your Assets Under Management In 36 Months Or Less.” It’s at
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/322322251
Bob Hanson, Principal
Client Attraction System for Financial Advisors
bhanson@marketingplanfinancialadvisor.com
www.marketingplanfinancialadvisor.com
+1-617-901-6886
August 17th, 2009
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