Financial Advisor Marketing: “I Started Thinking”
We love it when our emails prompt financial advisors to mull over their marketing situation.
The other day Mark (not his real name) wrote:
“I started thinking . . . .
“We’re in a rural Southern town where we have to spread our marketing out over a wide area to see results. We have several competitors in our area including banks, brokerages, and independent insurance agents.
“However, as far as we know, we’re the only Registered Investment Advisory firm in the area.
“The big issue I see for us standing out from the crowd is that no one truly knows our firm. We’re lumped in the same category as our competitors until we have a chance to sit down with a prospect. Then, they see how we’re different.
“We want to stand out as a provider of services different from what the other guys provide. We want to let people know that we’re independent thinkers with no obligations except to the client’s best interest.
“On top of that we’d like to dig deeper into web conferencing as a way to reach clients and prospects that are hours away. (Save everyone’s time and gas)
“Seminars aren’t generating results in our area — as a matter of fact we stopped them completely in July 2007.
“We need to revamp our marketing and start doing something, anything, consistently to generate consistent results.
“This may be more than you bargained for, but your emails have had me thinking for the past couple of weeks and I felt like responding. Thanks!”
And thanks to you, Mark. Now it’s my turn . . .
That’s a familiar story. We’ve stopped doing seminars “because they aren’t working in our area.”
So, Mark, what’s next?
We can talk about specific marketing tools in a moment, but I’d like to suggest something else first to help you build your client base.
One of the dicey ways to build a practice is to grasp at one marketing tool after another in the hopes that the next one will work.
The better way is to be strategic and generate a good road map. That’s where a marketing plan comes in.
Now I’m assuming that you don’t want just any prospects, but you’d like to focus on prospects who are like your Ideal Clients. And to do that you need to be able to identify them exactly and have a clear picture in your mind of details from their age to their values around money to their gripping problems. Exactly how can you make life easier for them?
The next element in a plan is differentiation. Being an RIA could be part of it. You would want to spell out, though, exactly what it means to be an RIA.
This can set you apart in your rural area, and it can build trust. I invite you to think deeply about what else you offer that sets you apart?
Then, once you have this foundation, you are ready to add specific tools to your plan. Ads in the local newspaper can work, but only if you have a strategy, which includes targeting your ideal prospects in your ads, getting their attention, and prompting them to take action.
Web conferencing or webinars (web seminars) can work, too. Again, think about how they fit into your plan. The advantage of webinars is that you can make recordings and use them again and again.
A website can be a tool to attract prospects and to shepherd prospects and referrals closer to “yes.”
Mark’s response concluded . . .
“I’m shooting for [a marketing plan] and have been advocating for one for four years now. Ideally, I plan to have action steps that can be refined rather than completely overhauled every 6-9 months.”
We invite you to discover more about a marketing plan with action steps at
http://www.marketingplanfinancialadvisor.com/sample-marketing-plan.html
Add comment July 7th, 2008
