Most Popular ArticlesAugust 4, 2009
If you don’t have a communication calendar for your clients, or you want to reach out to your prospects in a different way than you do with your clients, consider setting up a drip email campaign. There are plenty of email services available that will let you set up automated email campaigns that will deliver messages to your prospects at regularly scheduled intervals. All you have to do is decide what kind of information you want to send to prospects and at what interval you want to send to them. The system handles the rest for you. Aweber, iContact, Constant Contact and GetResponse all offer drip marketing services (also known as autoresponders).
Some advisors are uncomfortable with email marketing because of their own experiences receiving marketing emails. If you fall into this category, you may want to try another approach using direct mail. Services like Vertical Response and SendOutCards allow you to create postcard or greeting card campaigns that can be created and sent directly from your computer. This is a more costly option than email but can still be a good alternative.
To get started creating a drip marketing campaign, begin by pulling out a calendar and writing down the one way in which you will reach out to prospects each month. Educational information will always be more effective than sales messages, so focus on articles and events that bring value instead of advertisements. Also focus on relationship-building activities such as birthday and holiday cards. You will find this is more successful than constantly reminding your prospects of the different services you offer.
Make sure you implement the campaign as scheduled. Try to find a system that will automate this for you so that you don’t have to be involved. Finally, if a prospect doesn’t convert to a client after 12 touches, consider removing them from your list. If your drip campaign does not have much cost associated with it (e.g. email marketing), you can probably leave them on the list. But if there is a cost (e.g. direct mail), consider removing them from the campaign so that you don’t waste any more money.
Remember, you spent your valuable time meeting a prospect. Don’t let your efforts go to waste. Let your marketing help you efficiently convert your prospect to a client.
* Kristen Luke is the Principal of Wealth Management Marketing, a firm dedicated to providing marketing strategies and support for financial advisors. Kristen works with independent advisors to develop effective marketing plans and provides the back office support required to implement the strategies. For more information, visit http://www.wealthmanagementmarketing.net.
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