 1. What types of on-line marketing and promotional techniques have you seen financial advisors using recently?
[ A note to the reader – I am not a web marketing expert. My experience is drawn from marketing financial advisor and investment advisor coaching, speaking and training workshops through my web site, daily blog and monthly e-newsletters that started in December of 2004. Since that time I have written nearly 1700 blog posts and 71 monthly e-newsletters. ]
Non-Web 0.0
To answer this question, let’s go back to the Non-Web 0.0 promotional techniques to remind us of what has worked in the past;
Advertising;
- Ads; Print & Radio
- Advertorials
- Data base marketing
- Direct Mail
- Fax broadcasting – you may scoff, nobody is doing it anymore and a professional fax will get traction
- Newsletters
- Telemarketing
Asking For Referrals
Sending Cards;
- Birthday – some say don’t send baby boomers a card to remind them of yet another birthday
- Thanksgiving – cards remind them to give thanks that they are still alive!
Client Appreciation Events;
- Cooking Classes
- Dinners
- Movies
- Plays
- Sports attend / give free Tickets
- Wine Tasting
Community Service Work;
- Associations
- Charities
- Clubs
- Church
- Politics
Events;
- Conferences and Tradeshows; Attending, Exhibiting, Networking
- Lunch & Learn and Seminars
Networking;
- Networking Centers Of Influence
- Networking Community Service
- Networking Events
- Sports Events
Public Speaking
Web 1.0
Web 1.0 marketing includes; web site, newsletters, and blogging using key words and search engine optimization.
Web 2.0 marketing includes using or linking the big three of FaceBook, LinkedIn and Twitter to your Web 1.0 actions.
To do Web 1.0 and 2.0 right, you are going to need a team because your job is still STP – See The People – because the financial advisor and investment professions require a consultative sales approach combined with Web 1.0 and 2.0.
The team looks like;
- Graphic designer
- Web designer
- Video producer
- Social media manager
If the investment of this team frightens you, your vision isn’t big enough.
FaceBook, LinkedIn and Twitter are considered to be pull marketing versus the Web 0.0 push marketing of the past which included; direct mail, fax broadcasting and cold calling. I suppose that one can use push web marketing by using Google to search for prospects but then you are right back to push marketing, and that is all you will ever do is push. Doesn’t it make more sense to invest in great web marketing and have prospects come to you? In the October 2010 world of Leading Advisor I’ve had invitations to coach, facilitate workshops and speak from Sydney, Australia through to Boca Raton, Florida.
It amazes me how many financial and investment advisors don’t have cutting edge Web 1.0 marketing engaged while Web 2.0 marketing is skyrocketing.
But skyrocketing where?
It is likely skyrocketing with the twenty or thirty something’s that are still working to create their wealth and they might inherit the wealth from their baby boomer parents.
For now, the wealth may not be on-line as demonstrated by this quote;
“What’s more, there was the additionally sobering and confounding fact that an online consumer continued to be worth significantly less than an offline one.” – Michael Wolff -Wired Magazine, September 2010
Having said that, consider this; while some traditionalists and baby boomers may be on the fence about Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 marketing, it is said that “if the heir’s of your client’s estate can’t find you on-line or on FaceBook or on LinkedIn or on Twitter, you don’t exist.”
Here is an excellent example of a financial advisor web site from a Google search of “Financial Advisor Vancouver” that uses key words and search engine optimization – meaning that they are not using pay-per-click;
http://www.rogersgroup.com/
I say excellent because they are on the first page of Google and their site has all the components of a great website.
Web 1.0 marketing has other steps.
Out of curiosity, I Googled “financial advisor blog” and “financial advisor blogs” and I’m almost sorry to say that Leading Advisor came up number one on page one of Google as an unsponsored link
and here are the very few that I found;
Why so few?
One reason is that blogging is really on the Web 2.0 side of things.
Another reason why is the same reason why 90% of financial and investment advisors don’t ask for referrals; they have not found their voice, they don’t know what to say and they don’t know what to do.
Another reason is that while some financial advisors and investment advisors may be blogging, they might be doing a poor job of using key words and search engine optimization.
Click here to read a great story about how a financial advisor is marketing outside of the box office combined with using their e-newsletter for marketing.
Web 2.0
Financial and investment advisors are using LinkedIn the most because it is perceived to be more compliant, to some FaceBook has a bad rap for having security problems and baby boomer financial and investments advisors view Twitter as “Tweets are for Twits” because they don’t understand Web 2.0 marketing .
I believe financial and investment advisors are in early days with Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 marketing.
One can’t have Web 1.0 marketing without Web 2.0 marketing because Web 2.0 marketing is the viral engine that drives the traffic and network to Web 1.0.
My evidence for this, you could be reading this e-newsletter because;
- Leading Advisor uses key words and search engine optimization
- You are subscribed to our e-newsletter
- You read my blog
- You saw the link to my e-newsletter on FaceBook, LinkedIn and Twitter
That being said, don’t even bother with Web 2.0 marketing if you don’t have Web 1.0 marketing in place.
Again your Web 1.0 on-line marketing includes a web site, newsletters and blogging using key words and search engine optimization.
These must be built on one – three specialized niches so that you can drive your marketing roots deep into these
niches or your Web 2.0 marketing roots will be spread too thin and your message may be fragmented and your energy will be the same as you cannot be effective marketing to anyone and everyone.
Your niche must be built around; you have identified a group that has problems and you have the solutions to their problems. For more on creating a niche click here for The 19 Rules Of Niche. |
