Stop! Did we really just say that? Yes, it appears it is nearly the end of 2014. Ready to roll your sleeves up? Great, because in this article regular contributor Rachel Staggs shares some simple yet highly effective marketing strategies that other advisers are using to attract and retain clients…
1. Focus more on what you can give than get from clients
No one likes to be marketed to! Today’s buyer is extremely savvy to the ways of marketing which means things have changed! In today’s world we can sniff out a ‘taker’ from a mile away. The people we appreciate and resonate with are ‘givers’. Do your newsletters, videos, emails, brochures and any other client communications position you as a giver or a taker?
The secret to becoming a giver is to focus on giving at every step of your marketing process. Check in and ask yourself: “How can I give more than I am right now?” Conduct a stock-take of all your marketing and review things like your tone, copy, and follow up messages and decide whether you’re offering really valuable information.
2. Support your clients
I’m sure that by now you will have connected with all your clients on the obvious social media platforms: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google+. So, keep a look out for your clients’ posts and make sure you share their content and support their causes; like, share, retweet, and comment on their posts! Remember to be a giver not a taker.
Caring = Business Success!
3. Get over wanting to market to everyone
I’ve lost count of the number of times advisers tell me they can help all Australians and that they are specialists, in the same sentence! Sure, you might be able to help everyone if they are introduced to your business, but when you are marketing it’s important to remember the following: one message = one market. That’s if you want to get found, of course. The Internet powers our networking nowadays. It’s a great thing because it’s so accessible to us, but one of the biggest challenges is being found on the World Wide Web by your target audience. Imagine you are an adviser who markets themselves as being able to help every single Australian. Now compare that with the advice business who markets themselves as being specialists with expats. Who do you believe will get found more easily? Remembered more easily? Introduced to others more easily? If you answered the expat business, you are correct. Stay true to your marketing strategy and take good care of your clients; they’ll remain with you for life and introduce others just like themselves to your business.
4. Recognise that your email list is your best asset
Your digital strategy should really incorporate email marketing and social media marketing. Having a list of Twitter followers, Facebook fans and so forth is fantastic, but it’s not best practice. Never underestimate your email list.
Email is still one of the more reliable, affordable and easiest ways to stay connected to your ideal client
I’ve written about it before: social media is here to stay, but those social media platforms ‘own’ the terms and conditions under which you communicate with your followers and fans and they can change those conditions whenever they wish (and they do!). You own your email list and you own the terms and conditions of how many people receive your email communications.
Email is still one of the more reliable, affordable and easiest ways to stay connected to your ideal client. It’s a fantastic way to become a regular, welcomed presence in their life. It’s a fabulous way to create communication campaigns to up-sell and cross-sell, and a great way to convert those C and D clients into B and A clients. If you have decided to keep your C and D clients, don’t ignore them. Instead, develop a series of regular communications targeted specifically for them.
5. Create and share
Out of sight, out of mind! Best practice is to keep communications to your audience regular, relevant and valuable. But you don’t need to create all the content yourself. You can be a curator or a creator of content – either is absolutely fine. Your content also doesn’t need to be long; in fact these days, the shorter the better – get to the point! Remember, the better connection you have with your audience (and by audience I mean existing clients, potential clients and centres of influcence) the more impact you’ll have on their lives.
One of the easier ways to leverage this digital world is to create brilliant information (content) and share it with your audience. If it’s any good, your audience may share it too. Success comes from making your content useful, entertaining or inspiring – blend all three and that’s excellent!
Choose which platform is best for you – it could be video, blogging, podcasting or it could be through your newsletter – but but remember to enable people to share your information by including social media icons and inviting your audience to share your content. It’s important to include a call to action.
6. Take stock of your own business
When was the last time you actually experienced your own advice? It’s a serious question! When was the last time you were subjected to the client experience you put your clients through? I acknowledge that it’s probably a little challenging for you to go through your own advice process, but what you could consider is putting one of your staff members through it. The important thing you want to uncover through this exercise is how each process made them feel. Then, you can look at improving the experience, stage by stage. Remember, you are in a service driven industry; it’s the experience that people have with you that they judge you by – they have nothing else yet to go on.
In her regular Practice Marketing column, Rachel Staggs provides insights to help advisers market their business to potential (and existing) clients.
Rachel Staggs is the founder and Managing Director of SRS Coaching & Consulting, a specialist financial services consulting firm.
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