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I frequently get calls from advisors with this request: “How do I make the phone ring?”
I wish I knew.
I am highly motivated. If I had a glib answer, I could make a fortune.
But I have four tips you should consider when deciding how to spend your marketing budget.
Secret #1
Don’t spend money on marketing strategies that don’t work.
If a vendor tells you they have a digital marketing formula that will generate tons of leads, ask them to provide at least five references of advisors who used them and earned a positive return on their investment.
I’m approached by vendors constantly who claim to have the magic bullet. None have ever complied with this request.
Secret #2
If you serve a niche market, you may have success with social media ads. If your demographic is broader, you’re probably wasting your money.
Be skeptical of automated marketing campaigns that use bots to skim prospects from social media websites. Using them may violate the terms of service of those websites and could result in the termination of your account.
Being active on social media is an important part of your marketing strategy, but many of the claims I’ve seen are overhyped. There’s often little correlation between social media “likes” and prospect inquiries.
Social media marketing may drive more visitors to your website, but here’s what vendors may neglect to tell you:
- More visitors doesn’t mean more qualified leads; and
- “Doubling” or “tripling” website traffic is only meaningful in context. A website that goes from 1,000 visitors to 2,000 a month, is impressive. One that doubles from 100 visitors is less so. When I verify claims made about increased traffic, they are often with websites that had few visitors initially.
Secret #3
Beware of bundled providers.
There are some very successful companies serving advisors who bundle digital marketing with website design.
The result is often a cookie-cutter website and generic content.
No wonder advisors have trouble differentiating themselves. Their websites are indistinguishable from their competitors.
There are other disadvantages to using these providers.
You are tethered to them for maintenance and changes to your website, since only their designers are familiar with their platform. They use that reliance to justify charging you a hefty monthly fee.
While there may be a place for shared content, it shouldn’t be the foundation of your content marketing.
Google values high-quality, original content. According to one expert, “If you see a drop in rankings it doesn’t mean your website has any major flaw but it just means that somebody has better content published.”
According to a digital marketing firm, “First is Google’s requirements for original content. You cannot download content from a library and expect it to rank on Google. That’s because Google has already seen the content – perhaps thousands of times.”
If your website has predominately shared content, it’s likely your competitors have “better content” because theirs is original.
Secret #4
Focus on what works.
In order of priority, here’s what works:
Marketing Services For Evidence-Based Advisors...and a New Book!
We offer consulting services on how to convert more prospects into clients through Solin Consulting, a division of Solin Strategic, LLC.
We offer a full range of digital marketing services exclusively to evidence-based advisors through Evidence Based Advisor Marketing, LLC. You can see examples of our work here.
My new book:
Ask
How to Relate to Anyone
Is now available in all formats. For more information, click here.
Schedule a call with Dan here
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A unique website, using a popular, non-proprietary platform like WordPress or Webflow. Millions of designers worldwide use these platforms. Monthly costs for both platforms are modest (Webflow plans start at $12 a month). You can be trained to maintain these websites and make non-material changes yourself, or you can use one of the many vendors who compete for this business.
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Content marketing which includes website content, blog, social media posts, white papers, digital marketing brochures, newsletters and books. The lament I hear most often is, “I don’t have the time, ability or inclination to do this.” Then outsource it. There are many firms (including ours), that provide this service. It’s not inexpensive, but having high quality, original content, regularly posted on your website will increase your organic ranking. It may only take one new client to more than justify this expense.
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Basic SEO. I often ask advisors this question: Is your website content SEO optimized? Usually, they have no idea, which likely means it isn’t. SEO doesn’t have to be expensive, but it’s important. Your goal is to make it easy for Internet visitors to find you.
Try this test. Google the keywords you believe prospects searching for you are likely to use. Where are you in the organic rankings? If there’s room for improvement, it’s time to focus on SEO.
Dan trains executives and employees in the lessons based on the research of his latest book, Ask: How to Relate to Anyone. His online video course, Ask: Increase Your Sales. Deepen Your Relationships, is in production.
Read more articles by Dan Solin
Photo by Kristina Flour on Unsplash
Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.
