Advisors know that marketing is important, but it never seems to be as important as landing prospects, calling clients, and closing business. Its effectiveness can be hard to quantify so it can seem like a non-optimal use of time no matter how often we are encouraged to devote twenty or thirty percent of the week to marketing.
Creating a marketing and content calendar can streamline and automate much of the work, saving you time. Advisors do not need to be Pulitzer winning wordsmiths to achieve this. You can post news articles and images as well as composing newsletters and offers.
In sales you need to be persuasive, persistent, and organized. The task here is initially adding these skills and expertise to paper (or a laptop). Think about what you want to achieve as a business, where you have success, and how you can help people.
Planning your content ahead weeks or months in advance will help you stay on top of the process. For example, if you know that June is Annuity Awareness Month, you can prepare that copy or video and have it ready to publish around Memorial Day. And there is no excuse for not being ready for tax season!
If you need cues, the clues are everywhere. The holiday calendar is your friend here: not just official US holidays, but financial and “holidays” too—anything can be your starting point. For example, Sons or Daughters Day, you might blog or social post about legacy planning, or share a story of how you have successfully helped families in that area.
It is important to plan a mix of formats for your content periodically. If you are looking to explain some complexity in an annuity’s crediting strategy, then a video with simple infographics can communicate that more effectively than dry text. Similarly, do not be afraid of using a post you may have used previously—content can be eminently reusable (see the Son/Daughter Day example above).
Devoting time to planning your marketing is not a zero-sum game. By doing so you are burnishing your brand and reputation while positioning yourself as an authoritative voice in your market. The online marketing space is as competitive as your business of selling financial products. And, similarly, you have to be out there, or you risk missing future sales.
The old joke goes that “Half of life is turning up”. It’s critically important for modern advisors to show up on more than a business card. It does take work, but if you can develop a content calendar—and stick with it! — you will find that creating the content becomes second-nature. Future you will thank you for the healthy pipeline, enhanced brand, and improving sales.