When you first start a business, it can be easy to view the world through rose-colored glasses. Your business idea is excellent, you have the expertise you need, and you’re going to provide the best customer care possible! Who wouldn’t be excited about signing up for your services?
But as the reality of business ownership starts to set in, you may find yourself wondering how to make people as excited about your business as you are. Read on to discover some basic marketing strategies that can help you better connect with customers and grow your client base.
1. Create a Client Profile
Whenever you get ready to launch a new marketing strategy, one of the first things you need to do is create a profile of your target client. You need to have a specific idea of who your clients are, so you know who to direct your marketing towards. The more specific this profile can be, the better you’ll be able to target your marketing.
Start with basic information about this ideal client – how old they are, what their gender is, how much money they make per year, whether they’re married, etc. Then move into more detailed information about what publications and social media platforms they read, what sorts of jobs they have, and where they live. Aim to create a specific persona that you can keep in mind when you’re creating marketing content.
2. Host a Client Event
One great way to engage potential clients and make your current customers feel valued is to host a client event. Set up a virtual meeting where potential clients can ask any questions they may have about your services. Adding giveaways can also help entice people to attend these virtual events.
Ask all your clients to bring a plus-one with them to the virtual event. Letting them know they’ll get another entry for a giveaway drawing may be a good incentive. These guests can see how you interact with your current customers and may become interested in signing up themselves.
You can also offer referral discounts to your current clients to encourage them to promote your company to their friends.
3. Build a Strong Website
Your website should be the center of all your marketing strategies. Your blog and social media posts and email should include all point back to the website, and your site should give all the information clients need to sign up for your services. Your site needs to be easy to navigate, quick to load, and beautiful enough that it represents your company well.
Your website should align with and set the standard for your branding, using your logo, colors, and fonts throughout. It should be mobile-friendly and needs to load in fewer than three seconds. Your site should also be intuitive to use; if customers have to search for information, they’ll turn their attention elsewhere.
4. Start a Blog
One great way to engage with your customers is to start a blog. Share your expertise with advice about financial investing and common mistakes that people make. Not only will this give potential customers valuable content to keep coming back for, but it will also establish you as a trusted expert in the field.
Your blog can also serve as the centerpiece of your other marketing efforts. You can link to it in your email newsletters and post excerpts from and links to posts on your social media. This will drive people back to your website, where your sales funnel can take over.
5. Focus on SEO
When you’re building your website and starting your blog, you need to focus on search engine optimization. As of this writing, there are more than 1.8 billion websites on the internet, and that number is constantly growing. SEO can help you get the attention of potential customers by improving your rankings in search results.
Find high-volume keywords that get a lot of traffic in your industry, and use those throughout your website and blog. Link to reputable non-competitor sources, so you establish yourself as a reliable website in your industry. And make sure you keep your writing light and readable – no one wants to stare down an enormous wall of text.
6. Use Social Media
Social media is one of the best tools you have available to you for marketing your financial advisor business. Nearly 70 percent of American adults have a Facebook account, and another 37 percent use Instagram. There are very few other platforms that can help you reach that large a market share of your target customers at once.
Start social media pages for your business on all relevant platforms. This should include Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and may also include Pinterest, Snapchat, TikTok, LinkedIn, and Tumblr. Stay active on these profiles, posting original content from your website and blog and reposting relevant, interesting content from non-competitor pages.
7. Start an Email Newsletter
Email marketing is also a fantastic tool for you to incorporate into your marketing strategy. With social media marketing and a blog, you’re putting content out into something of a void, hoping it makes contact with an interested party. But email marketing allows you to speak directly to people who are already interested enough in your business to have given you contact information.
Send out an email newsletter at least once a week with updates from your business. This can include links to your latest blog posts, subscriber-exclusive financial advice, and company updates. Make sure to email on a regular basis, but not so often that subscribers start to feel like you’re junking up their inboxes.
8. Embrace Technology
One of the best things about living in the digital age is all the opportunities for creative marketing. As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept our world, we’ve been able to stay more connected than ever before, thanks to video chat, virtual reality, and long-distance communication software. Make sure you’re using these tools to your advantage when you’re planning your marketing strategies.
Set up Q&A sessions on Facebook or Instagram Live so you can engage with your clients and leads. Advertise with podcasts, work with influencers, and find other innovative ways to reach new segments of your customer base. Your marketing team should always be looking for new, creative ways to engage your clients and grow your audience.
9. Watch Your Metrics
With any of your marketing strategies, it’s critical that you keep an eye on your metrics and adjust accordingly. If you don’t look at your marketing data, you’ll have no idea what’s working and what isn’t. You might as well be flinging spaghetti at the wall and hoping something resonates with your customers.
Keep a close eye on things like your social media engagement rate, your email open rate, and, of course, your client conversion rate. Watch how they change in response to certain strategies versus others. When you find a strategy that has a strong impact one way or another, adjust your future plans using this new data to guide you.
10. Join Think Tanks
If you get a chance in your business to join a think tank, you should always jump at the opportunity. Think tanks are groups of like-minded business owners all operating in the same industry who get together to share ideas. You can network, brainstorm business strategies, and share experiences to help all of you succeed.
Think tanks aren’t a marketing strategy in the direct sense, but they can absolutely help to improve your marketing strategy. Your fellow business owners will have tried different strategies before and will be able to let you know what works and what doesn’t. You may also be able to put your heads together and come up with better ideas than any of you could have generated on your own.
11. Grow Your Network
Of course, one of the big advantages of joining a think tank, aside from the brainstorming opportunities, is the chance to grow your network. In the investment industry, having a strong network can be crucial for growing your client base. You can get more referrals, gain more brand ambassadors, and increase overall awareness of your business.
Aside from a think tank, look into joining professional organizations within the investment industry. Find or start a group of other small business owners in your area, and work with them. And, of course, use connections in your personal network that may overlap with your professional life.
Discover More Basic Marketing Strategies
Marketing an investment business can seem tricky, but some basic marketing strategies will always serve you well. Ensure you have a strong website at the core of your marketing efforts and use social media and email marketing to your advantage. Build a solid network for yourself, and always take any brainstorming and collaboration opportunities you get.
If you’d like to discover more great marketing strategies for your business, check out the rest of our site at Stephen Oliver’s Advisor Wealth Mastery. We can help you lead your business off its plateau and breakthrough to the next level. Contact us today to start creating the business you deserve.
