In the early days of the internet, it was enough to build a very basic website to advertise your services. But as internet use has grows and changes, so should your marketing strategy. Nowadays, you need more than a simple advertisement in order to compete with other financial advisors in your area.
The internet offers massive potential to cultivate a professional image, make valuable contacts, and gain new clients. And surprisingly, many of your marketing goals can be accomplished by blogging.
Why aren’t you blogging? Maybe because you haven’t realized the massive potential blogging can offer to your marketing campaign.
Did you know…
Blogging helps with search engine optimization (SEO). When you regularly update your website with keyword-rich, original blogs, you’re giving search engines exactly what they love. This will boost your ranking in search results, and help more people find you online.
Your blog defines your brand. Have you stopped to think about what differentiates you from every other financial advisor in your area? Is it your level of expertise? Your areas of specialty? Your friendly, approachable personality? Your blog is the perfect way to showcase your personal approach to financial planning, and helps you create a brand for your practice.
Blogging keeps you on top of your game. Writing blogs on a regular basis forces you to think about your clients’ needs, your own image, and the services you hope to offer. In this way, blogging forces you to stay focused on your business priorities.
Your blog works as a conversation starter. You wouldn’t walk up to a potential client at a party without an opening line, because you know that you have to get someone interested in conversing with you. When you’re online, a blog allows you to start a conversation, and lets your audience members have a voice in the comments section. Everyone likes to be heard!
Your blog gives you important marketing data. We tend to think about blogging in terms of what we have to offer, but your blogging can gather information, too! When you study stats such as likes, shares, comments, click-through rates, and time spent browsing your site, you can learn quite a bit about your target audience. You glean this valuable information for free, and you can use it throughout your marketing campaign.
Blogging is the central component to a successful online marketing strategy. Once published, you can distribute links to your blog via social media, or in more personal direct emails. Blogging gives you content and a reason to reach out to your audience.
Blogging makes you competitive. More and more financial advisors are realizing the value of blogging. If you aren’t blogging yet, the guy across town might beat you to it – and make the first impression on potential clients.
Your blog demonstrates your value within your industry. When you Google a professional’s name and discover that he has written scores of informative articles, this commands respect. It tells you that this person is passionate about his career, and that he is an expert in his field. This is how your audience will view you!
Blogging is cost-effective. Whether you invest your own time into writing blogs, or hire someone to do it for you, your blogs become valuable property for your marketing campaign. As long as they are published on your website, blogs work around the clock, seven days per week, boosting your SEO ranking, building your reputation, and earning you new clients.
According to numerous marketing studies, blogging has helped a majority of financial advisors gain new clients. So tell me again… Why aren’t you blogging?