To be successful with any marketing strategy, you must use a mix of channels, platforms, and persona-specific messaging to ensure relevancy and awareness across multiple touch points. In other words, you have to view your marketing strategy as a key piece of the entire client lifecycle, not just a one-time program to drive a few leads.
I discussed growth hacks with a couple of the best marketing heads in the industry — Tyrone Ross, Chief Executive Officer at Onramp Invest, and Samantha Russell, Chief Marketing & Business Development Officer at Twenty Over Ten.
Together, the trio shared their most strategic tips for financial advisors to improve the reach and ubiquity of your marketing strategies. Here are four growth hacks that are bound to bring your personality front and center.
Get personal with your approach
While personalized marketing to your audience is all the rage right now, making sure your unique story is told is just as important. What does this look like in practice? Lead with your personality. If you have a niche, tout your expertise in this specialized space. If you have a specific hobby or interest that will lend itself to building new relationships, introduce yourself with this piece of information first.
In Tyrone’s case, personal branding has changed the trajectory of his career, and to somewhat of an extent, his life. He encourages financial planners to be authentic and lean into their uniqueness. Samantha agrees that it’s important to let your personal life bleed into your professional life. For example, she uses motherhood as a way to connect with her audience.
Be your (real) self
When you present your real self, you’re more likely to bond with your audience. In fact, forming connections with your clients will not only help with client retention but may also help you grow your book of business.
For example, if you have young children and know many of your clients are also parents, try incorporating some of your personal stories of parenting during a pandemic into your email marketing strategy or social media posts. Allowing yourself to open up and show your real self will enable you to create more meaningful connections.
Just because you’re in the financial industry doesn’t mean you have to dilute your message in an effort to be professional.
Give before you get
While lead magnet pieces and investing in content that attracts prospects is a key piece of your marketing strategy, it’s also important to remember to give before you get. This means giving away valuable content, for free — no form submissions, no sign-up for my newsletter, no follow me on social media — simply share your expertise.
What you’ll find is, your target audience will appreciate this initial offer and continue coming back to you for more. As you attract your ideal client type through free content, you can nudge them into your marketing funnel and continue engaging with them, while starting to extract more information about them as well.
Create (even) more content
While the idea of producing a ton of content can be overwhelming, if you have a strategy in place to create it, you can remove much of the pressure. Use tools like an editorial calendar to plan ahead and stay on track for developing as well as publishing content. Don’t have the time to sit down and write your stories? Try recording yourself speaking, using voice-to-type technology, or repurpose a presentation you’ve already created into a video or article. Creating content doesn’t have to mean investing hours into it; you can also leverage the help of a professional writer to ghostwrite or consistently produce content for your audience.
Not sure what kind of content to publish? Take a cue from conversations you’re already having and create content based on what prospects and clients are coming to you for currently. This is also a good way to showcase your tone and voice. Most of the time, your prospective clients aren’t in the financial industry and might need you to explain complex terms and concepts in plain language. Being able to speak (or write) in a way that your audience understands is how you can connect with them.
At the end of the day, there’s one best practice that universally applies to all types of marketing: Time. More specifically, the earlier you start and the longer you give your marketing programs to grow, mature, and evolve, the better the results. That’s why the sooner you implement your marketing strategy, the more likely it is that your brand will be the one people remember.
About Grow
Grow by Altruist is a show dedicated to bringing business growth advice to advisors, by advisors. I'm your host Dasarte Yarnway and each week I sit down with industry professionals as they share their best ideas around attracting new prospects, building a successful firm, and keeping clients happy. Watch more episodes here.
