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If your 2017 marketing results didn’t generate the leads you wanted, you were probably guilty of some of the problems below. As you put together your marketing strategy for 2018, here’s how to avoid screwing up.
In decreasing order of their seriousness, they are as follows:
1. Relying on your own followers
Many advisors wrongfully conclude that social media doesn’t work because it didn’t generate leads for them. But I look and see that they have 343 followers among all their social networks.
Folks, you would never expect to catch a 20-pound Peacock bass by fishing in the puddle of a lake next door? No. You’re going to get the same old trout. You’ve got to go to the big lake if you want to score the big fish.
There are literally 30,000,000 postings over all the social media and messaging networks every single minute. If you’re not doing social media in a big way then you’re not doing it at all.
If you have a following of fewer than 5,000 people, you have simply got to find your audience somewhere else. Someone else already has your following. Go get on their social media. This is called “influencer marketing.” Have them shout you out in a posting. Write a blog post together. Put a guest blog on their site. Attend an event they hold and then have them post the picture to their networks. Use Facebook ads to get in front of the people who follow them on Facebook.
There are many ways to do this. I’m just getting started.
2. Being namby-pamby
The second biggest screw up I saw in 2017 was the persistence of wishy-washy marketing. If you haven’t realized this by now, the industry is becoming more commoditized. It’s not like 20 years ago when clients didn’t have the Internet and they needed to call their broker to get in on a trade.
Being a generalist is the wrong way to go. Take a big, bold position and defend it.
Examples:
- I can help you invest without ever touching an IRA account. Forget about tax efficiency – let’s just get bigger gains and pay tax on them.
- I am the financial advisor for anyone who has kids who are opioid addicts.
- The market is going to crash this year, let me help you protect yourself.
- I will work with any Microsoft employee in the country because I know all that can be known by any human being about your benefits and 401k plan.
If it doesn’t work, then at least you know that you tried and it wasn’t the right thing, and you’ll know better for the next time. But straddling a million market verticals and trying to be everything to everyone is just going to dilute your power.
I dare you.
3. Being overly verbal
In case you haven’t noticed, we are becoming a world of pictures and videos, where YouTube is changing things on a level similar to that of the Gutenberg printing press.
It goes back to our roots as a civilization. In the dark ages, communication was verbal and in person, not through Constant Contact newsletters. With the popularity of video we’re getting back to visually-driven contact. It’s getting harder and harder for people to pay attention to the written word. It’s even harder for people to sit down and actually write anything – have you noticed how popular voice search is getting?
As I’ve said before, most advisor copy is so bland, jargon-rich and devoid of personality that it’s not worth paying attention to anyways.
Some people say that they’re not suited for public speaking or they are camera shy.
Get over that or get left behind.
4. Not persisting like a toddler
Marketing tactics don’t work 100% effectively the first time around. It’s just too hard to get people’s attention, and you’ve got to perfect your techniques.
Anybody who has worked with me knows that I’m very results-focused. If something doesn’t get results after one month then I apply the tactic in a different way. With my own marketing I had limited success for a few months, and then I hit the jackpot with one tactic I am using.
There are 100 different ways to do something. Stop doing something once in a limited way and then claiming “it doesn’t work” just so you could cross it off the list and give up.
I don’t know where in life we seem to lose our persistence about getting what we want. I think it is after childhood. I have a two-year old boy and, trust me, he insists on getting his way or else there is Armageddon. I turn off the light at bedtime and next thing I know he’s pushing the Pamper box over so he can prop himself back up and turn it back on so he can watch Thomas the Train for 10 more minutes with his older sister (who by the way is three years old and yes I do have my hands quite full).
Be like my two-year old son. Be willing to tear down walls or throw things the minute you don’t get what you want and resort to screaming at everyone around you until they offer to assist you.
You will achieve remarkable marketing results by acting like you are in the Terrible Twos.
Anyone with questions about how to make 2018 dramatically better than 2017 should comment on this article via AP Viewpoint or send me an email.
Sara Grillo, CFA, is a top financial writer with a focus on marketing and branding for investment management, financial planning, and RIA firms. Prior to launching her own firm, she was a financial advisor and worked at Lehman Brothers. Sara graduated from Harvard with a degree in English literature and has an MBA from NYU Stern in quantitative finance.
Read more articles by Sara Grillo
Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.