This year alone, I’ve met and spoken with dozens of financial advisers who claim that their financial marketing isn’t working.
Often they are looking for that “silver bullet,” that magical marketing method, which will reach their target market and bring in the sales.
Is it email marketing? Ads in local publications? What about social media, that’s up-and-coming isn’t it?
Well, I’m sorry to say there is no magic or one-size-fits-all solution for all financial advisers. As you, the reader, will know very well, all financial firms and their clients are different. Not only are the people involved different, but the business objectives and culture can vary quite widely.
So what is the answer? How can you make your financial marketing work?
To begin to get to a solution, I point you to three key letters:
OST
What is this exactly? Objectives, strategy, and tactics.
Think of it like this (I often like to use military analogies, so bear with me). Does a commander enter a war without a set of military objectives? Do they implement military tactics (e.g. bombing raids) without an overarching strategy?
Only the very poor ones do.
Yet financial firms often make these exact errors. They take a “scatter gun” approach to their marketing, throwing out an advert here and there in a local magazine. Or maybe they invest in some purchased leads; crossing their fingers and sending out an email blast. In other words, they are jumping straight to marketing “tactics’ (e.g. paid ads and e-shots) rather than framing them, first, within an overall set of objectives and strategies.
Your objectives, specifically, are “Where” you want to go. For instance, one financial firm might have the following objectives:
- Increase clients with a pension over X amount
- Become the most visible financial planning brand in Hertfordshire
Your strategies are “How” you plan to get there. For the hypothetical financial firm above, this might include the following:
- Grow business partnership with accounting company X
- Increase online visibility in the search engines
Within this framework, our hypothetical firm might therefore apply some appropriate financial marketing tactics.
I could give you more, but if you want that privilege then you’ll have to pick up the phone and get in touch!
As the Marketing Coordinator at CreativeAdviser, Phil is responsible for devising marketing strategies for his clients, generating engaging and informative content, and ensuring brand consistency across all of CreativeAdviser’s communications. Phil has a passion for digital marketing and a borderline-unhealthy addiction to Google analytics.
In his spare time, Phil can be found powerlifting at his local gym, watching action movies, or playing acoustic guitar at open mic nights.
