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If
You're the Weakest Link in the Marketing Chain,
You Can Fix It
by Martin R. Baird |
I'm sure you've
heard about the reality TV show called Weakest Link.
It's very likely you've seen the show itself.
The woman who was host on the original show had a very
specific way of telling people exactly what she thought
of them.
As I do marketing programs around the country, I'm
repeatedly asked what advisors are doing wrong. The
answer usually is that they themselves are the weak
link. Please don't be offended. I don't
think you're the weak link because you want to
be. It happens because of the system.
Most financial advisors receive years of training on
financial issues that they need to understand so they
can help their clients. The problem is they only get
a couple hours of training on marketing. If you have
learned how to do marketing, you know it can be very
challenging.
So if you are the weakest link in the marketing chain,
what can you do about it?
We use an assistant for some of our marketing. This
person is in charge of making sure our clients and prospects
are contacted at predetermined times. The great part
is that it happens even if I'm not available to
do it. Having someone else take care of it is a great
way to get yourself out of the daily marketing grind.
You can also improve your marketing by understanding
your strengths and weaknesses. If you hate marketing
and don't do it, find someone who will.
If you boil marketing down to its very essence, it's
all about spreading your word to the right people, the
people you have identified as those who need your services
and that you want to work with. Have you thought of
doing presentations for trade associations as a way
to spread the word and make your marketing a little
easier? They take care of the marketing for you. All
you need to do is focus on giving them great information
in a fun way.
Trade associations aren't the only organizations
that want speakers. Local community groups are always
looking for good educational presentations. They want
to hear from people who can make their members'
lives happier and easier.
If you can put together a couple of presentations that
your target market wants to hear, it shouldn't
be too difficult to get invited to speak to a few associations
and organizations.
Here are the nuts and bolts of spreading the word by
speaking to these groups.
1. Identify your target market.
2. Identify what your target market wants and needs
to know. Keep the program simple. The more direct
and easy to understand you make the presentation,
better it will be for them and you.
3. Contact the groups that your target market belongs
to. When you do this, you need to explain how your
program will benefit the members. If they think you
will give a big sales pitch, they will not invite
you. Your presentation needs to offer value. In other
words, WIIFM (What's In It For Me).
4. Develop your presentation. What are the key points
that your target needs to learn and how can you present
them in a fun and interesting way? This is not the
time for a 45-minute lecture. It needs to be fun,
interesting and educational.
5. Practice the presentation several times before
you have a live audience. The more time you spend
practicing, the easier it will be to do before a real
audience.
6. Decide what materials you need to hand out. Do
you need a workbook? Brochures? Business cards? Don't
overwhelm people but make sure you have the information
they want.
7. Give a great presentation. The better you are at
presenting yourself, the more often you will be invited
to speak.
One other great advantage of doing programs this way
is that you are not responsible for getting people to
attend. If it's a good organization, they will
have a certain number of people who attend regularly.
This helps relive the marketing headache of getting
people to show up for one of your private seminars.
Marketing is too important to be swept under the rug.
You can avoid cleaning out the refrigerator. You can
skip arranging your sock drawer. But if you don't
do marketing, you could have serious, long-term problems.
Martin
R. Baird is president of Advisor Marketing
and author of "The 7 Deadly Sins of Advisor Marketing,"
a book that offers easy-to-implement marketing ideas
for financial advisors. Advisor Marketing is a full-service
marketing management firm that provides a variety of
services to financial advisors to help them improve
their marketing methods and increase revenues, including
seminars and conference speaking engagements on such
topics as referrals, marketing, client communication
and transitioning to fee. The company also provides
a service that tests multiple variables of a marketing
campaign simultaneously so advisors will quickly know
which elements of a marketing effort offer the best
opportunity for success before they launch the campaign.
The firm's Web site, www.advisormarketing.com,
is the premiere Internet-based source for marketing
advice, information and tools for self-driven, success-oriented
financial advisors who are demanding information that
helps them market their practice, meet the needs of
their clients and increase sales. It offers such services
as a free weekly electronic newsletter and reports on
how to conduct different kinds of marketing. Advisor
Marketing may be reached at 480-991-6421.
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