As 2020 draws to a close, we are all left wondering, what will 2021 look like?
With the uncertainty in our world today, your role as a financial advisor is more important than ever. At Trust Financial Services, we strive to continually provide you with fresh Grab & Go Marketing materials. But how you use them is essential. That’s where a marketing plan and a handful of tools becomes crucial.
CREATE YOUR MARKETING STRATEGY WITH THESE IMPORTANT STEPS
STEP 1: MARKET RESEARCH
To expand your reach, your book of business, and your opportunities, you will first need to know your market. Understanding who you are trying to reach is fundamental to fine-tuning your pitch and your offerings. Knowing your market lets you find where your prospects are and how to reach them.
Download this handy guide to navigate communication across various generations. How you approach Millennials is very different from how you approach Baby Boomers.
Research your competitors and gain an understanding of how they are reaching your marketplace. Take a moment to learn about posting on social media, running a Google ad, or studying the analytics of your website and in the process, you will find your customer and what they want.
STEP 2: DEFINE YOUR VALUE
Once you understand where to find your audience and what they are looking for, it is time to reflect on the value you are providing them. Define your value proposition using the knowledge you’ve gained from researching your market. Check out this guide for writing a Value Proposition. Strive for clarity of message, relatability with your audience, and differentiation from your competitors.
STEP 3: SET YOUR GOALS
Goals allow you to keep your campaign focused on a few key metrics that are achievable, measurable, and actionable. Set realistic milestones, with measurable outcomes, and decide on actions that should be taken at each level.
STEP 4: MAKE A PLAN
A solid marketing plan allows you to know what to do and when to do it. You may include some or all of these strategies in your plan. Remember to stay flexible and be open to feedback as you discover which strategies work best, which need modification, and which need to be discarded.
- Creating or updating your website
- Crafting and testing ads
- Creating a social media posting schedule
- Email campaigns to existing clients
- Direct mail campaigns
STEP 5: GET ORGANIZED
You will want to be able to quickly analyze all of the information that you receive from your marketing campaign. Getting organized is nearly as important as the campaign itself. There are countless free and paid tools to help you track your progress as you achieve your marketing goals.
From email scheduling systems to Google Analytics, you will want the ability to quantify each aspect of your campaign so that you can capitalize on every opportunity.
Read on for invaluable resources that will help keep you organized.
FIVE ESSENTIAL MARKETING TOOLS YOU CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT
WEBSITE
If you don’t have a website then your first item of business is to make one. There are so many tools today that allow you to craft a basic website that showcases your product and your approach to client service. The website is the focal hub of the majority of your marketing efforts. Tools such as WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, and Unbounce provide intuitive drag and drop interfaces to let you create a beautiful storefront with minimal to no coding experience, so don’t be overwhelmed by the prospect of starting from scratch.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media has become an essential part of modern marketing campaigns. Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn are where your audience lives online which means that marketing to them on these platforms is a fast way to connect them to your services. Maintaining a presence on these platforms yourself allows you to let people know what your business is about and more importantly, what it is up to. Posting regularly on these sites creates an opportunity for a conversation within your niche.
The goal of social media marketing is to create relationships with your audience. From a marketing perspective, this boils down to consistency. Post and respond to comments consistently.
SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS
Trust Financial Grab and Go Graphics
Beginnner’s Social Media Guide
Canva – graphics
Hubspot – CRM and tools
HootSuite – social media management
Email is still one of the best ways to communicate with your existing audience and letting them know about additional services and products you’re offering. It’s also an opportunity to check in with them about upcoming events, policy reviews, and paperwork status updates. Seeing as you don’t want to spend time emailing each and every client individually, there are fantastic tools to help you manage and organize your communications effectively and intentionally.
While nobody wants to receive solicitations in their inbox every day, a well thought out email marketing campaign that respects the reader’s time can be immensely successful when you want to get a new product in front of your current clients and website subscribers.
DIRECT MAIL
It may sound archaic to send physical envelopes to the homes of your audience but in reality, 18% of B2B marketers’ budgets are assigned to direct mail marketing and print advertising. While digital marketing can be easier to implement, direct mail has the advantage of getting your message into peoples’ homes. It’s an incredible way to let people know that you are in their neighborhood and open for business. Additionally, there are so many ways to brand yourself with direct marketing. From a simple business card, to a refrigerator magnet, direct mail remains in the home long after an email is deleted from your client’s inbox.
DIRECT MAIL
Vistaprint – business printing
NextDayFlyers – online print flyers
Canva – print graphics and design
ANALYTICS
You’ll need to be able to understand the data that you receive from your marketing efforts. There are countless tools to assist you with this but the key takeaway here is that you look at the data often and respond to trends that emerge. Statistics on your website, social media, and email campaigns may each require different tools. Understanding which ones to use and taking a tutorial on how to use them will help you stay on top of your target and below your budget. The amount of data can be overwhelming but there are a few key metrics that will let you know how the marketing of your website is performing.
ANALYTICS
Google Analytics – site traffic and behavior
Facebook Insights – visitor interaction
Twitter Analytics – visitor interaction
LinkedIn Analytics – visitor interaction