The Internet is the greatest marketing resource for an advice-based professional. Don’t be passive with your on-line presence. If you are not Internet savvy, someone on your team needs to be. It is a looming marketing disaster if clients are more Internet savvy than the practice and its advisers. Clients expect a professional Internet presence for their advisers. Go on the offence and use th..... Read More

The Internet is the greatest marketing resource for an advice-based professional. Don’t be passive with your on-line presence. If you are not Internet savvy, someone on your team needs to be. It is a looming marketing disaster if clients are more Internet savvy than the practice and its advisers.

Clients expect a professional Internet presence for their advisers. Go on the offence and use the 7 unparalleled marketing benefits of Internet and social media marketing:

1. Reach – avoid the traditional boundaries of geography, limited financial resources, and limited market data, to reach prospective clients. Identify client micro-niches and market directly to them using targeted messages. A priority is to reach prospective clients outside existing client and referral networks.
2. Presence – establish a powerful on-line presence 24 hours, 7 days a week, in target client communities, i.e. where clients are active on-line. Have professional profiles where clients are on-line and where prospective clients conduct searches. Create a library of organic content to be found by prospective clients – this not only creates a strong presence but protects the on-line reputation of the practice and advisers. This is the basis of Inbound Marketing.
3. Engagement – engage clients and referral sources on social media to be up-to-date with changes and special events in their lives.
4. Influencer Marketing – leverage the on-line presence of thought leaders and influencers to engage and share content with their audiences. Become an influencer in your areas of expertise.
5. Low cost distribution of educational content – publish free, high quality content using Education Based Marketing and email. Consistently publish content to build a personal brand.
6. Viral distribution and Drip-feed Marketing – digital information is easily shared and forwarded by clients to their expanded networks. Schedule regular publication of items to target markets.
7. Social proof – clients provide positive endorsements through their Comments, Shares, Likes, Retweets, etc., on social media accounts. These actions support traditional testimonials.

Being active on-line means using the best marketing practices of 2018 to complement traditional off-line marketing and sales methods. Note: this information is taken from my free PDF download 'Financial Planner's Marketing Blueprint' available from my website.

There are four different types of objectives every financial planner must consider when developing their on-line marketing strategy. These objectives aim to create opportunities with existing clients, prospective clients, Centres of Influence (and other referral sources), and build the brands of the practice and advisers. Note: this information is taken from my free PDF download 'Financial Plan..... Read More

There are four different types of objectives every financial planner must consider when developing their on-line marketing strategy. These objectives aim to create opportunities with existing clients, prospective clients, Centres of Influence (and other referral sources), and build the brands of the practice and advisers.

Note: this information is taken from my free PDF download 'Financial Planner's Marketing Blueprint' available from this website.

Examples for each type of objective are listed below:

1. Existing client – objectives

• Strengthen client relationships with regular communication of tailored messages using on-line platforms, e.g. websites and social media networks, best suited to engaging them.
• Reinforce the Client Value Proposition and the central role of advisers in the financial decision making and well-being of clients.
• Regularly encourage client feedback to improve the client service experience and identify advice triggers for individual clients.
• Promote new areas of advice and solutions to existing clients.
• Achieve the budgets and targets for existing client revenue, uptake of advice packages, client communication, and response to calls-to-action in the marketing items.
• More referrals. Includes publishing content which is shared by clients with their networks.
• Provide insightful information and commentary on the financial issues relevant to clients.
• More active involvement in the on-line lives of clients, particularly sharing milestones and significant events in their lives.

2. Prospective client – objectives

• Achieve the practice’s budgets and targets for the number of new clients, new business fees, uptake of advice packages, etc.
• Recruit new, higher fee-paying clients matched to the target client profiles.
• Establish a powerful on-line library of educational content on the topics relevant to target clients. This content is published and shared where prospective clients are active on-line.
• Make it easy to be found through search engines and social media searches on the topics relevant to target clients.
• Launch Education Based Marketing campaigns to leverage the reach of the Internet with target client markets.

3. Centres of Influence (COI) and referral source – objectives

• Strengthen existing COI relationships by delivering greater value to referral sources and their clients. This includes providing educational content that is shared by COIs with their clients and networks.
• Build new COI relationships through a COI Referral Model and value proposition that targets the gatekeepers (influencers) of target clients.
• Develop existing clients as word-of-mouth referrers and on-line influencers.
• Grow the Internet as an effective referral source using Influencer Marketing.

4. Practice branding and adviser personal branding – objectives

• Brand the practice as a professional advice based firm across all on-line profiles. This strategy uses a Positioning Statement which details all marketing and branding messages.
• Apply the latest marketing strategies of professional fee-charging firms.
• Ensure the practice has an Advice Model Statement that fully details the features of the advice and services delivered to target clients.
• Each adviser has their own personal branding and Elevator Speech which focuses on their expertise and value contribution to clients.

In summary, promote the personal branding of advisers based on their expertise and client solutions, publish content that demonstrates the tangible value of adviser expertise and advice, and proactively protect the on-line reputation of the practice and advisers.

Use marketing objectives to focus your promotional activities. Marketing is a tool for achieving the financial objectives in the business plan. Whilst each marketing campaign is directed at achieving specific outcomes, it also contributes to building a strong brand and presence with target clients.