Why Advisors Should Never Write a Book

Jeff Bezos and company.

Suppose you’d like to:

• establish yourself as an expert in your niche,

• grow your practice, and

• share some of the wisdom you’ve accumulated over the decades.

Good reasons for writing a book!

Yet there are dozens of ways to more productively attract and influence your market.

Consider dozens of low-cost, low-risk ways to gaining new clients

Targeted workshops, COI programs, webinars, article programs, free reports/lead magnets are all examples of low-cost, high-gain marketing tactics.

My recommendation: Try one or more of these in your market before jumping into the book business.

No need to “go big;” Just go marketing

Many advisory practices have goals of leaping from 10% to 15% AUM growth rate.

My studies have revealed that only one in three advisory practices has any kind of marketing, growth plan.

If a jump in growth is your goal, then a targeted marketing plan designed to attract ideal clients will do the trick.

No need to invest hours writing and wait as long as 12 to 18 months for your book launch

Most advisors are not writers.

And while there are shortcuts to producing a book, you likely do not have ready-made content to repurpose.

When people tell you how long it takes to get a book published, that usually assumes the thing is already written.

So why wait a year or more to publish a large chunk of content before attracting your target prospects?

Get 80% of the book benefits at 5% of the effort

Consider your report as an 8-10 page sample of your best content.

Kind of like a book chapter.

It provides many of the same advantages as a book to:

• establish your expertise,

• provide compelling content on your website and in your marketing,

• educate prospects and referrals on your process and the problems you solve,

• serve as a low-risk test of your writing and promotional acumen.

What’s more, it is easily digestible in one brief sitting for prospects, clients, COIs, and referrals alike.

Also, it quickly and cheaply gives you a fast start in the content marketing game.

Now, after all this, if you are still locked into writing that book, I’m not going to stop you.

But here are five shortcuts to get results in the writing game quickly and easily with a free report/lead magnet.

Free shortcut #1 – Transcribe and edit your prospect presentation

No need to sit down and sweat for hours on end to write a free report from scratch.

For example, I took an advisor’s marketing presentation and had it transcribed for $6 using an AI transcription service.

Then I lightly edited it to create their first lead magnet.

If you don’t have a prospect presentation you can use the Free Report for the basis of your talk-track or script.

Free shortcut #2 – Keep it focused and on point

Keep your report to less than eight pages of text all-in for easy consumption.

Spend more time discussing the problem than the solution to gain rapport with your reader.

Have a cover and bio as the first and last pages for 10 pages max.

Use subheads liberally to allow your prospect to scan and well as white space for easier reading.

Free shortcut #3 – A topic that sells itself

Like a book title, your free report topic and title will be your top advertisement to request and read your report.

Be certain that the subject of your free report is also a “money-in-motion” driver for you.

For example, retirement planning, financial planning and estate planning are all proven areas.

If you are looking for prospects who want to delegate investment management, they will be less interested in areas like investment strategies or investment policy statements.

Free shortcut #4 – Digital and social marketing is key

Your free report can be the centerpiece of your social and digital marketing.

For example, by switching from a “Request Newsletter” option to a “Request Free Report” option you can convert up to four times more website visitors to leads.

Also, you can advertise for the free report itself online.

You can place articles on websites your prospect frequent and drive traffic back to request your free report.

And, send your traffic to a landing page which is the “gate” to your free report and is designed to convert website visitors to prospects.

For example, one of my clients doubled its overall marketing lead flow simply by adding the free report request form to its homepage.

Free shortcut #5 – The icing on your marketing plan cake

Fold your free report marketing plan into the rest of your marketing plan.

For example, advisors use a free report as an entrée for speaking engagements and a bonus for attendees.

Promote the free report to your prospect list and send copies to COIs and to stimulate referral, etc.

Hopefully you’ll avoid jumping-in and writing a book.

Try some of my short-cuts to save time and attract more clients from your free report lead generation magnet first.

And, you will find that people who request your free report will reach out to you and hire you as their advisory firm!

See the link to the bio below to check out a sample landing page and free report.

Bob Hanson is a fractional marketer and author of Marketing Power for Financial Advisors. Get his checklist, Nine Questions Advisors Must Ask Before They Hire a Marketing Agency, Fractional or Full-Time Marketer, click here.

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