The world is changing quickly. From rapid developments in technology to evolving consumer behaviours, there’s probably never been more things to consider when marketing your advice business to prospective clients.
Whether you’re creating a marketing strategy from scratch or want to make sure you’ve covered all bases, this checklist considers points for effective marketing in modern society.
Checklist: 7 considerations for effective marketing
- Are you targeting the right people?
- Are you using the right channels of communication?
- Are you making the most of technology?
- Are you watching your competitors?
- Have you grabbed the ‘low hanging fruit’?
- Are you demonstrating your value?
- Do you have a user-friendly online experience?
1. Are you targeting the right people?
As the world changes, your client demographic might too. People are starting to live longer – their priorities are changing and wealth is trickling down through generations. This could present an opportunity to refine your target market in line with these new potential clients.
Segmentation and creating customer personas could help you with this. It can give you a better understanding of your target customers and how to appeal to them. For example, marketing to people in their 50s dealing with an inheritance windfall might be different to someone in their 70s trying to make their money last longer than expected. It could require different approaches, from communication styles to the channels you use to reach them.
2. Are you using the right channels of communication?
Following segmentation, make sure you’re using the right channels of communication. Are you still cold calling when someone might prefer an email? Or maybe you’re using email when your audience is more responsive on social media. Not only that, but using those channels effectively is just as important. Here are a few points to think about in some key channels.
Email can still be an effective marketing tool if done well, but you might not find a lot of success by ‘cold emailing’ your database. Consider the points around segmenting your target audience and if you could personalise your emails for different demographics. You might find that some segments are more receptive to email than others, which could lead to you focus your email efforts on that audience.
Following up at the right time is important too – automation could help you with this, which we'll cover in the technology section.
Social media
Social media is an ever-growing part of modern life, and it’s likely that some of your target market is hiding in it. But no, you don’t need an account on every new platform.
Focusing your efforts on posting consistent, valuable content on one channel where your target market is, will likely be far better than spreading yourself thin across multiple channels. For example, Facebook typically has an older demographic. There are also large finance communities on forum-style platform Reddit where you might have a chance to showcase your expertise and value as an individual.
Events
Don’t forget about the power of an in-person experience. Events can be a great way to meet potential clients and make a lasting impression – but they can also be costly to attend. Be selective in the events you go to and make sure you’re getting a good return on investment. Otherwise, there might be more effective ways to spend your marketing budget.
3. Are you making the most of technology?
Technology can be expensive, and it’s moving quickly. But you don’t need to have every latest piece of tech to maximise your marketing efforts. Personalised experiences are in demand, so using technology to your advantage in email or on your website could be a good start. For example:
- You could A/B test different advertising copy, email subject lines or even landing pages of your website to measure what gets the most engagement and leads.
- Implement email automation to follow up with leads at appropriate times to increase chances of a lead turning into a client.
- You could also use technology to automate some processes that might have taken you longer to do manually, freeing up your time to focus on face-to-face interactions to win business.
If you do want to venture a little deeper, it’s worth taking the time to learn about AI. This is a growing topic that isn’t going away any time soon. Learn more about how AI is impacting financial advice in our article.
4. Are you watching your competitors?
When was the last time you did a competitor deep dive? Who else has come into the space and what are they doing better than you?
Knowing who your competitors are and what they’re doing can help you identify things you can improve on, but also the areas where you stand out. You can then capitalise on your unique selling points in your marketing efforts.
5. Have you grabbed the ‘low hanging fruit’?
Some marketing efforts take time. But there may be low hanging fruit you’ve missed that could be a quick win to boost your profile.
For example, on Google, you can create a free business profile, where you can control how your business appears in Google Search and Maps. You can add your phone number, address, post updates and encourage customer reviews. This could help your online presence at the point where people are actively searching for a financial adviser in their area.
6. Are you demonstrating your value?
While attention spans might be dwindling, content marketing is still important. In fact, Google ranks content on being helpful, reliable and people-first. Showcasing your expertise through blogs, hosting webinars and joining community discussions online could help to raise your profile and authority as a trusted adviser.
Don’t forget to be authentic
The human touch is incredibly important. You probably have brands that come to mind when you think of personality and authenticity in marketing. The same can be said for individuals. Your personal brand is important. Whether it’s in your writing, webinars or social media posts, try to inject your personality and values into the experience.
7. Do you have a user-friendly online experience?
Don’t let your marketing optimisations go to waste by falling at the final hurdle. Wherever your marketing leads people – be it a website or a social media page – a difficult user experience could prevent leads from turning into clients.
Make sure that your website is accessible and easy to navigate. Consider what ways you want people to contact you and how you can make this easy for them. Think about what you want them to do on the page and what wording/call to action might encourage them to do so. You could also consider what else might add value to customers here – such as client testimonials, FAQs or a bio about your background.
Not to be forgotten is that in a society where we can search anything in seconds, that websites are expected to function well on mobile and load quickly. Make sure there’s no chunky elements slowing down your page. Google’s pagespeed insights can check the health of your website and highlight any issues that you might be able to fix yourself or get help from a developer with.
Marketing fit for the future
With clients to look after and a business to run, it can be easy to let marketing fall by the wayside. But as the world evolves, your marketing needs to evolve with it.
To explore our pointers in more detail, check out our marketing your business guide, which takes you into more detail of how to carry out and execute your marketing strategy.