New Rules for Growing your Book of Business
April 21, 2009
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Establishing yourself as a credible expert is critical in this increasingly competitive environment. Investors are selective about where they get financial information and advice, and an excellent way to differentiate and market yourself is with on-line Public Relations (PR).
Public relations is no longer just for professionals; using the power of blogs, forums and the social web, you can establish your expertise at both a local and national level with little outside help.
The silver lining of the economic downturn is that great businesses and entrepreneurs can increase market share, and financial advisors are no exception. Clients and prospects are scarce—and scared—as a result of the financial market decline. A carefully executed PR strategy can expose your firm to your market through highly credible channels, while providing a calming and much-needed perspective during a period of uncertainty.
The new world of PR
In the new world of online PR, it’s not about who you know, but what you know and what you are willing to contribute. Traditionally, public relations revolved around writers and editors, but today’s PR is driven by bloggers and forum administrators. A growing number of individuals are participating on social networks like LinkedIn and investment forums on Early-Retirement.com. The bottom line: a wealth of potential prospects are within your reach through online PR channels.
Success in online PR is all about content creation. Every day, millions of people share their thoughts and perspectives on the financial markets; the ones who succeed adhere to two best practices:
- Consistency: The absolute key to success is consistency. While creating content that shares your perspective with the world can be interesting at first, it can quickly become time-consuming. Like anything else, your blog and your readership has a tipping point; if you consistently produce high quality content, you will eventually gain a following.
- Marketing tactics: Unfortunately, “build it and they will come" mentalities don’t work on the Web. Certainly, marketing yourself and your perspectives online is much easier than with traditional PR, but it still requires a thorough game plan. A step-by-step plan for conceptualizing and executing on smart marketing tactics will get you in front of your target audience.
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