When you first begin to create a marketing plan, you might find yourself overwhelmed at all of the options before you. Do you need all of the bells and whistles that large companies often use to get attention? Or will something more simple work for you?
That all depends upon your budget, of course. But we’ve learned that for most financial advisors, there is no need to attempt to compete with large national companies. They have entire marketing departments devoted to national campaigns, and you should have much different goals.
Your strategy should match your goals.
If your goal is to grow your local clientele base, then your strategy should reflect that goal. Set aside your notions of an expensive, time-consuming, complicated marketing campaign, and think about your strategy in more simple terms. In order to attract new clients, you should focus on three main objectives:
- create brand awareness
- increase your website traffic
- build a core group of loyal clients
Narrowing your ideas down to three objectives makes it a lot easier, doesn’t it? Now here’s the really good news: You can accomplish all three of those objectives with social media.
Because it’s cost effective, social media is a top choice for smaller businesses. When you compare it to other forms of marketing, it’s easy to see that social media provides the ideal avenue to reach your target audience, but with a smaller investment of your resources. In fact, a recent survey found that 92 percent of marketing firms working with smaller businesses say that social media is crucial to their overall marketing strategies.*
Create brand awareness. All marketing campaigns, large and small, seek to create brand awareness. Your target audience needs to understand who you are and what you do, and brand awareness helps you establish that identity.
To see brand awareness at work, log into the dashboard of your social media account. From there, you can track these statistics:
- Impressions and Reach – How many times have your followers seen your posts in their news feeds?
- Follower growth – This is a direct reflection of how many people understand what your practice is all about. If you see that certain posts appear to draw new followers, that will tell you what provokes a response in your viewers.
- Mentions – Investigate how often your business is mentioned on social media. This will tell you how you are impacting current clients, what they like about you, and what you could change.
Drive traffic to your website viagra 25 mg filmtabletten. You can also use social media to drive traffic to your website. There, your prospects can learn more about your practice. Remember, your website might be the hub of your marketing strategy, but it won’t help you much if no one sees it. That’s why posting links to your website along with your social media updates can boost your overall results.
When you use social media to direct traffic to your site, make sure your audience knows what to do when they arrive. Bring them to a landing page with a clear call to action, which asks them to fill out a contact form or sign up to follow your blog.
Then, from your analytics program, you can monitor conversion rates (the percentage of visitors who follow your calls to action). Take note of which social media posts draw more visitors, and you can replicate those results in the future.
Build a core group of loyal clients. You already know that loyal clients will help you by providing free word-of-mouth advertising, when they refer family and friends to you. But that relationship works online as well, and they can help you maximize your reach on social media!
First, remember that loyalty develops slowly over time, so keep offering your clients valuable content that they want to read. Invite them to share their thoughts and experiences, and ask if you can use their feedback in future blogs. You might also ask clients to “check in” to your business on social media when they visit you. Everyone likes to get a little attention, and to feel that their feelings and concerns are heard. Over time, your loyal clients will help you by sharing your posts or directing their friends to your social media page. It’s basically a free fringe benefit of your social media campaign!
Last, but not least… Social media provides the ideal platform for advisors to launch their marketing campaigns. But it also provides the perfect way to keep an eye on the competition! Watch the pages of other financial advisors, and take notes on their strategy. Are they doing something that appears effective, because they have a large number of followers or their posts receive a lot of likes? Seek to create similar content, while putting your own spin on it. Social media gives you an easy, transparent way to keep an eye on the competition, learn more about your target audience, and continue to develop your own marketing strategy.