Transforming Market Norms: Kristen Luke’s “Uncomparable” Empowers Financial Advisors to Finally Stand Out

SAN DIEGO—July 25, 2023—Kristen Luke—financial advisor marketing expert and President of Kaleido Creative Studio—is thrilled to unveil her new book: “Uncomparable: The Financial Advisor’s Guide to Standing Out Through Niche Marketing.”

A strategic approach to financial services marketing, Luke's new book is now available across all online retailers and can be requested at both local and national bookstores.

Having carved a successful career in enabling independent financial advisors to secure their expert niche status, Luke now channels her extensive industry experience in “Uncomparable” to challenge established norms and motivate financial advisors to redefine their market position.

“The book challenges the traditional notion of striving to be the ‘best’ in the financial services industry,” Luke said. Instead, she encourages financial advisors to become “uncomparable” by owning a niche and becoming an expert in solving one problem for one type of client.

Through a refreshing perspective and actionable steps, “Uncomparable” helps financial advisors stand out in a crowded marketplace and establish themselves as experts in their area of specialty.

The book offers practical advice for identifying a niche, building a business model, and meeting the unique needs of an advisor’s chosen clientele. It outlines the six components of the Uncomparable Framework and provides a comprehensive three-year plan for launching a niche.

“This book is an invitation to financial advisors to redefine their space in the market. The journey to becoming 'uncomparable' is transformative, and the book provides advisors with a clear roadmap to differentiate themselves and stand out,” Luke said.

For more information, visit https://onniche.com/book.

About Kristen Luke

Kristen is a marketing strategist who excels in defining the ideal niche for each advisor and developing a marketing strategy that attracts their target audience. She guides advisors through the process of identifying their areas of expertise and crafting a unique value proposition that resonates with their niche. Kristen's expertise in niche marketing and strategic planning is critical in guiding advisors to succeed in their marketing efforts to become “uncomparable” in their market.

About Kaleido Creative Studio

Kaleido Creative Studio is a marketing consulting firm that specializes in helping Registered Investment Advisors and their employees differentiate themselves through niche marketing. The company’s president, Kristen Luke, is a leading authority in niche marketing for financial advisors and has extensive experience in helping professionals position themselves as experts in their field. For more information, visit kaleidocreative.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

Kaleido Creative Studio Launches OnNiche®: A Niche-Based Marketing System for Financial Advisors

SAN DIEGO—June 1, 2023—Kaleido Creative Studio, a marketing consulting firm specializing in financial advisors, is proud to announce the launch of OnNiche®, a marketing system designed to help advisors stand out in a crowded market.

Launching July 1, OnNiche® guides individual financial advisors and Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) in developing a niche-based marketing strategy to consistently attract ideal clients. More information is available at OnNiche.com.

According to Kristen Luke, President of Kaleido Creative Studio, “We understand that the marketing efforts employed by many RIAs often fall short of producing tangible results. That’s why we’ve developed OnNiche®. This niche-based marketing system will help position advisors as in-demand experts in their specific niches.”

Luke added: “By implementing a niche strategy, advisors can change their marketing approach forever, working only with clients who value their expertise.”

With 15 years of experience working with hundreds of independent financial advisors, from firms just starting out to multibillion-dollar AUM enterprise RIAs, Kaleido Creative Studio has developed a niche-based marketing system based on its most successful engagements. The collaborative, done-with-you, OnNiche® system is built on four main steps: identifying a niche, building a marketing platform, establishing authority, and becoming “uncomparable.”

OnNiche® is ideal for RIAs and advisors who are frustrated with traditional and trendy marketing efforts that fall short and are seeking a more effective way to market their business. By adopting this niche marketing approach, financial professionals can stop wasting time and money on ineffective strategies and start seeing tangible results.

“We are excited to launch OnNiche® and help RIAs and financial advisors differentiate themselves through niche marketing,” Luke said. “Our niche-based marketing system can help advisors become ‘uncomparable’ by positioning themselves as experts in their niches, ultimately leading to more meaningful client relationships and business growth.”

For more information, please visit OnNiche.com.

About Kaleido Creative Studio

Kaleido Creative Studio is a marketing consulting firm that specializes in helping Registered Investment Advisors and their employees differentiate themselves through niche marketing. The company’s president, Kristen Luke, is a leading authority in marketing for financial advisors and has extensive experience in helping professionals position themselves as experts in their field. For more information, visit OnNiche.com or kaleidocreative.com.

Referrals vs. Word of Mouth: What’s the Difference and How to Leverage Them as a Financial Advisor

As a financial advisor, you know that building trust and credibility is crucial in acquiring new clients. Two of the most powerful tools to achieve this are referrals and word-of-mouth marketing. Although they share some similarities, the two approaches have key differences that can influence how you tailor your strategy to grow your client base. Let’s dive into these differences and explore how you can use both approaches to your advantage.

Referrals: Personal Connections and Direct Recommendations

A referral occurs when one of your existing clients recommends you to a potential new client, often based on a positive experience the current client has had working with you. This recommendation is rooted in a personal connection between you and the existing client. Since the potential client is receiving a trusted recommendation, it can be a strong motivator for them to give you a try. Referrals are often the result of excellent client service, relationship building, and exceeding client expectations.

To encourage referrals, make it a priority to build strong relationships with your clients. Maintain regular contact with them through various client communication channels and by hosting events. You can also ask for referrals directly. Keep in mind that the key to getting referrals is to provide exceptional service that makes your clients want to recommend you to others.

Word-of-Mouth Marketing: Creating a Buzz and Reaching a Wider Audience

Word-of-mouth marketing is about creating a positive reputation and buzz around you and your company. This can spread organically through various channels, both online and offline. Word of mouth is often less personal than referrals, as it can reach a wider audience without necessarily having a direct connection to the person recommending you.

To generate word-of-mouth marketing, start by demonstrating expertise in your area of specialty. Create valuable content, such as blog posts, white papers, and social media updates, that showcase your knowledge and insights. Engage with your target audience on social media platforms, and join online forums and groups where potential clients may be discussing their financial concerns. By offering helpful advice and sharing your expertise, you can build trust and credibility with a larger audience.

Offline, consider presenting at local events or seminars to network and share your knowledge with potential clients. This can also help establish you as a trusted resource within your local or niche community. Encourage your clients to share their positive experiences with you with their friends or review websites, as this can help spread the word about your services.

Combining Referrals and Word-of-Mouth Marketing

To maximize your client acquisition efforts, consider using a combination of referral and word-of-mouth marketing strategies. Referrals can help you reach a targeted audience through personal connections, while word-of-mouth marketing can create general awareness and attract a wider audience.

Monitor the effectiveness of both strategies by tracking the sources of new clients and adjusting your efforts accordingly. This may involve tweaking your content strategy, ramping up your client touchpoint calendar, or refining your referral program. By continually adapting and optimizing your approach, you can increase the flow of new prospects.

Final Thoughts

Referrals and word-of-mouth marketing are distinct yet powerful methods for financial advisors to acquire new clients. By understanding their differences and leveraging both approaches, you can build trust and credibility and ultimately grow your business. Focus on providing exceptional service and demonstrating your expertise, and watch as your client base expands through the power of personal connections and positive reputation.

Written in collaboration with artificial intelligence (ChatGPT-4). Edited by humans.

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About Kristen Luke

Kristen Luke is the president of Kaleido Creative Studio, a marketing consulting firm that helps Registered Investment Advisors and their employees position themselves as experts in a niche, making them “uncomparable” to other advisors.

Her book, Uncomparable: The Financial Advisor’s Guide to Standing Out through Niche Marketing, is expected to be published on July 25, 2023. Financial advisors associated with an RIA can request a free copy here: https://www.kaleidocreative.com/book.

An Uncommon Approach to Implementing Multiple Niches

If you follow my writing, you know that I generally recommend that RIAs focus on just one niche. However, for some firms, that approach can hinder growth. An RIA managing more than $1 billion in AUM may find it too limiting to market to a single niche. While being a generalist firm is one option, a second solution is to adopt a multiple-niche approach.

A multiple-niche approach can take several forms. The most common strategy is for an RIA to look at its book of business and categorize its client base. For example, here are some common niches I’ve seen when firms pursue a multiple-niche approach: business owners, executives, women in transition, and the health care industry. The firm then begins executing marketing tactics for each niche.

While this approach certainly can work, it is challenging to weave one compelling company message through all the different niches without resorting to something cliché like “Helping Affluent Individuals and Families Achieve Peace of Mind” or “Helping You Achieve the Retirement of Your Dreams.”

A second, less common approach is for the firm to focus on multiple niches that have a throughline connecting them. Let’s say the common theme is helping executives manage their equity compensation. One advisor team can focus on executives in the biotech industry, another may focus on the oil and gas industry, and a third may focus on the telecommunications industry.

Let’s see how you would implement this second approach.

Step 1: Pick a Common Throughline

The first step is to pick a throughline connecting the different niches you will serve. What is the one problem that you want to solve for all your niches? Do you want to help executives navigate the complexities of their equity compensation? Do you want to help professionals with pension plans maximize their benefits as they retire? Or do you want to help people in high-stress careers become financially independent and retire early? You will use this common throughline as the core company message that ties all the niches together.

Illustration by Ana Popović.

Step 2: Identify Niches

With a common theme identified, you want to pick the niches that fall into that theme. If you are helping professionals with pension plans maximize their benefits as they retire, you may work with employees in the federal, state, or local governments and publicly traded companies that still offer pensions. If you are helping people in high-stress careers become financially independent and retire early, you may choose niches such as law, health care, and tech.

Step 3: Assign a Team and a Leader

Once you have defined your niches, assign an advisor team to focus on each niche. The senior advisor on the team usually leads this effort, but it can also be led by a more junior advisor with ambitions of becoming an equity partner. The leader should have some experience with the niche and be dedicated to this marketing effort. They should also receive the time and resources needed to make the niche succeed.

Step 4: Add Niche Webpages

Before you start marketing to a particular niche, add a page to your website dedicated to the niche, and include that page in your main navigation menu. This webpage reinforces your specialty to prospective clients who research your firm. This step should be repeated for each of the niches.

Step 5: Create Tailored Marketing Campaigns

With webpages in place, build tailored marketing campaigns for each niche. This can include creating targeted content, such as blog posts or videos, addressing the specific needs and concerns of the niche. The step can also include social media, email marketing, and direct mail campaigns to reach potential clients in each niche. Finally, you may choose to have live or online marketing events for each of your niches.

Step 6: Network and Build Partnerships

The final step is for each advisor team to network and build partnerships within their niche community. This can include attending industry events and conferences, joining industry groups and associations, and building relationships with other professionals in the niche for referrals.

Final Thoughts

Pursuing a multiple-niche approach can accelerate growth for RIAs managing more than $1 billion in AUM. However, the danger is that the messaging will get watered down. Creating a throughline connecting all the niches will inspire more effective messaging. Once the connecting theme is identified, you can then give your niches the resources they need to succeed. The focused effort becomes a win for your firm as you now stand out from the competition with a profitable multi-niche approach.

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About Kristen Luke

Kristen Luke is the President of Kaleido Creative Studio, a marketing consulting firm that positions Registered Investment Advisors and their employees as experts in a niche, making them “uncomparable” to other advisors. Over the past 17 years, Kristen has consulted with hundreds of financial advisory firms and shared her marketing expertise via industry conferences and publications nationwide.

ChatGPT: The Marketing Silver Bullet You’ve Been Looking for?

If you’ve followed the news over the last few weeks, you probably heard the buzz about ChatGPT. If you aren’t familiar, ChatGPT is an AI chatbot that is astounding users everywhere. As described on the Forbes website, ChatGPT gives “human-like, detailed answers to inquiries—like drafting a contract between an artist and producer and creating detailed code—and could revolutionize the way people use search engines by not just providing links for users to sift through, but by solving elaborate problems and answering intricate questions.”[1] 

Explaining the technology doesn’t do it justice. You need to experience it for yourself. Go to the website and ask it to “write a Seinfeld episode about a stolen car,” and be ready to be amazed by what it can do. 

ChatGPT is exciting from a marketing perspective because it can write marketing articles. And it can do an article in a matter of minutes. For example, I asked it to “write a 750-word article on the taxation of RSUs,” and it produced a decent article in less than two minutes. When I showed the article to one of my financial advisor clients, he said the content was equivalent to what the junior advisors in the firm would have produced. That’s remarkable for a technology in its infancy.

From testing ChatGPT, I have observed the following:

1. Articles written on general financial topics tend to be quite good. Advisors may find the output to be an acceptable alternative to canned content.

2. I ran each article through plagiarism software, and nothing significant was flagged. That being said, I wouldn’t feel comfortable using content generated by ChatGPT without running it through a plagiarism check.

3. While I didn’t find any factual errors in my tests, a known limitation is that the technology may produce incorrect information. You will want to double-check any content generated before using it for your business.

4. Because the technology is in such high demand right now, I’m often unable to log on. Also, it sometimes produces an error before finishing an article, and I have to start over. I’m sure this will improve as the company builds more capacity.

5. From a compliance perspective, you usually can’t claim content you have not written as your own. You should check with your compliance officer about the disclosures you need to attach to a ChatGPT-written article.

While ChatGPT is still in its infancy, I see a real opportunity for advisors over the next few months. 

The Short-Term Opportunity

I believe there is a window of opportunity for advisors who are early adopters of this technology. This AI will allow them to create large volumes of content quickly. More content on an advisor’s website can increase their search engine rankings, especially if optimized for their local geographic area or niche. 

ChatGPT also means that advisors can create more content to share and get noticed on social media. For example, I asked the AI to “write a tweet about RSUs,” and here is what it came back with, hashtags and all: 

RSUs are a great way for employees to build wealth and align their financial interests with their company. They provide a sense of ownership and can be a valuable part of a compensation package. #RSUs #equitycompensation

This window of opportunity reminds me of similar periods I observed when I worked with advisors who were early adopters of social media, SEO, and Google reviews. Those advisors who took advantage of these technologies early on reaped the rewards. But as more advisors entered the market, the advantage became harder to defend. I expect the same to be true with ChatGPT. 

The Long-Term Consequences

While I believe early adopters of this technology will see tremendous benefits in the short term, I predict serious marketing consequences for all advisors in the long run whether they use the technology or not.

The ease with which ChatGPT creates content means that there will be more of it. And everyone who uses this AI to create content will convey the same information. The result? It will be even harder to get noticed through your content marketing.

Another issue is that if a prospect can get their question answered using ChatGPT, they won’t need to do a Google search. This means the content on your website currently attracting prospects will no longer see the same amount of traffic. 

The Long-term Solution

If ChatGPT or a similar technology becomes ubiquitous, original thinking will be even more critical. You’ll no longer be able to write basic articles on topics such as Roth conversions or Social Security strategies because AI can do it just as well in mere seconds. You will have to create content that is different. The clearest way I see to do this is to focus on a niche market where there isn’t a lot of information for AI to pull its knowledge from.

For example, I asked ChatGPT, “What are the executive benefits available at [company name]?” and got this response: 

I’m sorry, but I am not able to browse the internet and therefore cannot provide information about any specific company’s executive benefits. In general, executive benefits are a type of compensation package that is offered to top-level executives at a company, and they can include things like stock options, performance bonuses, and additional retirement savings plans. However, the specific executive benefits offered by any given company will vary depending on a number of factors.

AI’s current inability to create niche content is a good opportunity for niche advisors. Will AI learn this information in the future? I’m sure it will. But right now, it appears unable to replace expertise in niche areas of financial planning, and this is where the opportunity lies. 

Marketing influencer Seth Godin summed up the impact of this technology in a recent blog, stating: “Technology begins by making old work easier, but then it requires that new work be better.” 

It has always been hard for generalist advisors to differentiate themselves through content marketing, and artificial intelligence will only make it harder. If you want to differentiate yourself, you will have to be different. You will have to offer value that no one else offers. You will have to become an expert in a specialized niche. In other words, you will need to become uncomparable—so different no one else can compete with you, not even AI.

[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/ariannajohnson/2022/12/07/heres-what-to-know-about-openais-chatgpt-what-its-disrupting-and-how-to-use-it

About Kristen Luke

Kristen Luke is the President of Kaleido Creative Studio, a marketing consulting firm that positions Registered Investment Advisors and their employees as experts in a niche, making them “uncomparable” to other advisors. Over the past 17 years, Kristen has consulted with hundreds of financial advisory firms and shared her marketing expertise via industry conferences and publications nationwide.

Find Your Patient Zero

You’ve decided to focus your business on a niche. But now what? How do you get the word to spread?

While there are many options for generating awareness about your business, one quick way is to find your patient zero. What’s a patient zero? It’s “a person identified as the first to become infected with an illness or disease in an outbreak.”[1] Usually, having a patient zero may be a negative, but it is a positive in your case. Every business would love to have viral growth. This rapid growth starts with “infecting” one person who will then spread their enthusiasm about your work.

Who is the one person you know that is well-connected to your niche? Who is the person who will make introductions to others in your niche to jump-start your growth? 

I recently spoke with an advisor whose patient zero was a friend and client who was a partner at a prominent consulting firm. This one person loved what the advisor was doing for him and introduced the advisor to a few colleagues. This started the ball rolling with this niche. After working with three or four more partners from the consulting firm, the advisor wrote a white paper specific to their needs and shared it with these clients. And those people shared it with their colleagues. Business took off from there, and the advisor has struggled to keep up with demand ever since—with very little additional marketing.

How to Identify Patient Zero

So how do you find your patient zero? First, you need to identify people with the right characteristics and relationships. Your patient zero is likely to be someone who:

• Is highly connected to your niche

• Is a connector by nature

• Has professional or personal experience working with you (a client is the best option if possible)

You will have the most success with someone you have a long-time relationship with because you don’t have to spend months (or years) developing trust.

New clients are also good candidates for patient zero because they are usually enthusiastic about the advisor-client relationship in the first months of working with you. These people are likely to tell others about you during this euphoric stage.

For example, I spoke with an advisor who told me her niche got off the ground after she met a wealthy woman at a club she belonged to. This woman became a client and referred enough people to kick-start the niche.

How to Evaluate Patient Zero

Once you’ve identified a list of possible patient zeros, you’ll need to explore which ones have the capability to infect others with your message. To do this, conduct informational interviews commonly used by new college graduates exploring career options. With this approach, you ask people to meet with you one-on-one to get their feedback on your business. You are honoring them by asking them for their opinion and expertise while planting the seed for introductions and referrals. As you wrap up the conversation, ask them these two questions:

1. What other opportunities do they recommend you take advantage of to get in front of your niche?

2. Is there anyone else in the niche they suggest you speak to?

If their response is positive, probe further by asking them to provide you with introductions to the people and opportunities they mentioned.

By the end of the interview, you’ll be able to gauge which people have the potential to be your patient zero. If you are lucky, you will uncover a few options to pursue.

How To Engage Patient Zero

Once you’ve determined someone has the potential to be your patient zero, you need to help them infect others. While you hope they will just shout from the rooftops about your amazing work, realistically you need to provide them with tools to make it easier on them. You do this by giving them something to share, like an ebook, a recorded webinar, a podcast episode, a video, or an invitation to an event you are hosting.

When you give them the marketing asset, be clear that you hope they will share it with their friends, colleagues, and contacts who fit into your niche. If you have identified the right patient zero, this should not be a difficult ask.  

Final Thoughts

I’ll be honest. Relying on one person to drive clients to your business is not a smart long-term marketing strategy. But when you are just starting with a niche, a patient zero can lead to quick wins and jump-start your efforts. You can eventually build a more solid marketing foundation on top of your early momentum, but in the meantime, identify the patient zero who will help drive that initial momentum.

[1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/patient%20zero

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About Kristen Luke

Kristen Luke is the President of Kaleido Creative Studio, a marketing consulting firm that positions Registered Investment Advisors and their employees as experts in a niche, making them “uncomparable” to other advisors. Over the past 17 years, Kristen has consulted with hundreds of financial advisory firms and shared her marketing expertise via industry conferences and publications nationwide.

Are You Selling Life Rafts or Sailboats?

If you have read any of my articles over the last few years, you know that I strongly advocate that financial advisors focus their practice on a niche market. The reason is that it is much easier to reach a small group of people with similar needs and mindsets and persuade them to work with you than it is to do the same for a broader audience with diverse needs.

That being said, most advisors still cater to everyone who will meet their minimum fee. One of the marketing challenges these advisors face is finding one marketing message that connects with people facing different life experiences.

Let’s say you are a generalist Registered Investment Advisor working with widows, retirees, and people experiencing sudden windfalls. What message would you use that applies to all three of these groups?

Messaging is difficult because some of these clients come from a place of survival, while others come from a place of abundance. To reach all three of these groups, you have to use a generic message like “Helping you achieve your financial goals.” But this message doesn’t deeply resonate with any of these clients, which means you lose out on your chance to connect with your prospect through your marketing.

Instead, let’s consider the messages you could use if you worked with just one of these client types:

Widows: Helping You Regain Your Footing After Your Loss

Retirees: Helping You Understand If You Will Be OK in Retirement

Sudden Money: Helping You Thrive Using Your Newfound Wealth

In financial services marketing, a lot of emphasis gets placed on aspirational marketing messages—for example, “Live the Retirement You’ve Been Dreaming Of.” There is no question that everyone wants to live happily ever after. But some people are so far from that outcome, they can’t even imagine it. They aren’t in the headspace to consider aspirational goals. A recent widow doesn’t want to re-envision a life she loves. She just wants to know if she will end up as a bag lady or have to live with her kids.

If you aren’t willing to niche, at least decide whether you are trying to help your clients thrive or survive. Then build a message around one of those themes. Are you selling them life rafts (survive) or sailboats (thrive)?

Below is a list of scenarios where someone may be looking for a life raft versus a sailboat.

Life Raft

• Loss of a spouse

• Eldercare

• Divorce

• High debt

• Retirement with limited savings

Sailboat

• HENRY status

• Sudden windfalls

• Legacy planning

• Retirement with significant savings

These are generalities that would need adjusting for your clients. For example, retirement may be an exercise in surviving for some, while it is an exercise in thriving for others. For most, the death of a spouse requires a life raft. However, there may be cases where a 22-year-old is in a marriage of convenience with an 80-year-old. The death of their spouse would put them into the sailboat category. Or there may be multimillionaires planning their legacy but have such complicated family dynamics (e.g., blended families, children with special needs), they feel like they are drowning and need a life raft.

Whether a person needs a life raft or a sailboat has nothing to do with how much money they have. It has to do with their mindset. Do they just want to know that they’re going to be OK, or do they want to achieve something greater than what they’ve already accomplished?

Your marketing needs to communicate the message your prospects want to hear today. And if you are trying to sell both life rafts and sailboats by “helping you get the boat you need,” neither group will hear your message.

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About Kristen Luke

Kristen Luke is the President of Kaleido Creative Studio, a marketing consulting firm that positions Registered Investment Advisors and their employees as experts in a niche, making them “uncomparable” to other advisors. Over the past 17 years, Kristen has consulted with hundreds of financial advisory firms and shared her marketing expertise via industry conferences and publications nationwide.

Marketing Strategies for the Introverted Financial Advisor

The stereotypical advisor portrayed on TV and in the movies is a fast-talking, extroverted salesperson. But in my experience consulting with RIAs, many financial advisors are actually the opposite. They can be quite introverted and prefer the work of financial advising over the selling and self-promoting aspects of the business. But these advisors, who prefer to stay under the radar, often struggle with marketing.

Introverted advisors don’t always see themselves as marketers because so many of the people held up as “good marketer” role models are extroverts. You know the ones. They constantly self-promote on social media and can be seen at every event, and you feel like they are literally everywhere.

If you are an introverted advisor, this type of marketing can be exhausting. You would rather spend your energy meeting with clients one-on-one or analyzing different financial strategies. You prefer to attract prospects because of your reputation for the good work you do for clients, not because of your sales and marketing skills. The last thing you want to do is to publicly and frequently put yourself out in the world.

But a problem arises if you use your introversion as an excuse not to market your business. You not only hurt yourself but also the people who never get the benefit of working with you because they don’t know you exist.

As an introvert myself, I understand that the marketing approaches used by extroverts are not a good fit for introverts. But being an introvert doesn’t mean your marketing has to be less effective. I have consulted with plenty of introverted advisors who are successful marketers. The key is to use marketing strategies that play off your strengths as an introvert.

If you want to become a good marketer as an introverted advisor, the first thing you need to do is to change your mindset about marketing. The goal of marketing is to connect the person who has a problem with the person who can solve their problem. It’s not about tricking or manipulating people. It’s not about being entertaining or controversial. While these tactics work for some, you don’t have to follow their lead. Your job is to find the people who have the problem you want to solve and let them know you can solve it.

Here are three strategies introverted advisors can follow to be successful marketers:

Strategy 1: Focus on a Niche

The first strategy is to focus your marketing efforts on one niche. When you focus on a narrow set of clients that all share the same problem, finding the people who need your service becomes easier. In other words, you take a rifle, not a shotgun, approach. You conserve your energy by focusing on only the most promising opportunities instead of spreading yourself thin by chasing every opportunity. For example, it is much less effort to find the people in your area who are blue-collar workers in the oil and gas industry and want to retire in the next 10 years than to locate everyone in your area needing retirement planning.

By focusing on a niche, you narrow the size of your potential client pool. This may sound like a negative, but it is actually a positive, especially for introverts. The smaller community means it is easier for you to become known. Word of mouth about your expertise spreads more quickly. As you get to know people in your niche community, it is easier to meet more members of the niche through warm introductions. You’ll find that your efforts spent interacting with people in the niche community will multiply much faster than if you targeted a broader market.

Strategy 2: Take Advantage of Content Marketing

Introverts tend to be more comfortable listening and thinking than talking. You can turn this tendency to your advantage by using content marketing—such as blogs, videos, podcasts, and presentations—to showcase your expertise. Remember, the goal of marketing is to connect the person who has a problem with the person who can solve their problem. Listen to what your niche says is their problem and create content educating them on the solutions to their problem.

Many forms of content marketing allow you to think through what you want to stay instead of feeling forced to do it off the cuff. Content marketing enables you to refine and iterate your work before you present it to the public. For example, most introverts are well suited to written content. It gives you the time to think through your topic and have an editor perfect your work before the world sees it. Scripted videos can be another good medium because you can plan what you want to say, record multiple takes, and have an editor cut out any blunders. I’ve also seen many introverts who are great public speakers because they can practice their material dozens of times before giving it.

Content marketing allows your expertise and knowledge to shine, helping you overcome the extroverted characteristics usually associated with good sales and marketing people. You’ll also find that prospects who follow your content will reach out to you “pre-sold” on what you do, making the sales process easier.

Strategy 3: Utilize Digital Channels

Digital channels such as social media or online forums can be great places for introverted advisors to find their niche and connect. These channels allow you to network from the comfort of your home or office without having to attend networking events, often dreaded by introverts. Interacting on digital channels also gives you the opportunity to think before you “speak” and delete anything you regret posting.

Most introverts prefer one-on-one or small-group interaction, so the strategy for digital channels is the same. Find online groups of people representing your niche, and join the individual conversations that are taking place. Comment on posts of people you know or want to get to know. And respond to comments on the content you post.

Final Thoughts

Being an introverted advisor doesn’t mean you are at a disadvantage. It just means you need to take an approach suited to your strengths. When you use marketing that plays to those strengths, prospects will come to you “pre-sold,” making the sales process much easier for you.

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About Kristen Luke

Kristen Luke is the President of Kaleido Creative Studio, a marketing consulting firm that positions Registered Investment Advisors and their employees as experts in a niche, making them “uncomparable” to other advisors. Over the past 16 years, Kristen has consulted with hundreds of financial advisory firms and shared her marketing expertise via industry conferences and publications nationwide.

How to Remedy a Niche That Is Too Narrow or Too Broad

Choosing a niche can be a difficult decision to make. When you say “yes” to one niche, you are essentially saying “no” to clients who don’t fit your niche. While advisors who have successfully niched know that you actually end up with more opportunity in the long run, it can be quite scary to think you are turning off the faucet of potential new clients in the short term.

Once you’ve moved past that fear and committed to a niche, the question you have will either be “Is my niche too narrow?” or “Is my niche too broad?”

In my experience, advisors are more likely to pick a niche that is too broad rather than too narrow. Most of the conversations I have are about narrowing the niche to become more specialized. Rarely do I find an advisor who has chosen a niche that is too narrow.

If you are worried that your niche is too narrow or too broad, let’s look at how you can remedy the situation.

When Your Niche Is Too Narrow

I never worry that a niche is too narrow because the advisor can always expand it (i.e., niche up). You may even find that your niche naturally broadens as you dominate your market.

Let’s say your niche is employees working at a specific athletic shoe company in the Pacific Northwest. While your marketing focuses on employees of that one company, you also live in the athletic apparel capital of the U.S. Your clients often switch from one company in the industry to another. As your clients change jobs, you inevitably learn the ins and outs of the equity compensation and benefits of these other companies. And because your clients love the work you do for them, they refer colleagues at their new companies to you.

While you started a niche at the company level (one specific shoe company), you end up with a niche at the industry level (athletic apparel). The expansion is natural.

A second scenario is that your niche is no longer viable and you need to expand to continue attracting new clients.

Let’s put a different spin on the example above. In this scenario, the shoe company is acquired by one of the other athletic apparel companies. Your knowledge about the shoe company’s equity compensation and benefits is no longer needed. However, many of your clients now work for the acquiring company, and you have the opportunity to learn the ins and outs of the new employer’s benefits programs. Your other clients got laid off from the shoe company and now work for other athletic apparel businesses. You can now expand into these companies as well.

When Your Niche Is Too Broad

In many cases, you will decide your niche is too broad and you need to narrow your specialization (niche down). This may happen because competition has entered your market and you need to further differentiate. Or maybe the niche you chose has too many variations in their needs to service efficiently, and you find a subset within the niche that you serve best. 

For example, your niche is newly single women, either divorced or widowed. While you’ve successfully worked with this niche for years, you realize dozens of other advisors in your area are now claiming the same specialty. You are feeling the competition because the once active flow of referrals from your divorce and estate planning attorney relationships has slowed to a trickle. You realize it’s time to niche down to differentiate yourself from the other advisors specializing in newly single women.

Because you have a broad niche, your clients are very different from one another. Some are 75-year-old widows in charge of their household finances for the first time. Others are 50-year-old divorcees who gave up their careers to raise a family and now must build a new life different from the one they had planned.

You’ve learned that your favorite clients are the divorcees who were the primary breadwinners in their marriages—usually executives or business owners. In addition to splitting half of the assets that they primarily earned, they find themselves providing financial assistance to their former spouse. They are financially sophisticated and want to rebuild their wealth and reduce their ex’s financial dependence on them.

By niching down to this new audience, you differentiate yourself. You specialize in a more unique and complex financial planning strategy than the other advisors working with newly single women offer.

Final Thoughts

Serving a niche will provide you with opportunities in the long term, but the niche may require some adjusting. Although it’s rare, you may find that you have too narrow of a niche and need to expand it. Or, more commonly, you may find that your niche is too broad and you need to niche down. Either way, review what’s working and what’s not and adjust accordingly to continue differentiating yourself and attracting your ideal client.

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About Kristen Luke

Kristen Luke is the President of Kaleido Creative Studio, a marketing consulting firm that positions Registered Investment Advisors and their employees as experts in a niche, making them uncomparable to other advisors. Over the past 16 years, Kristen has consulted with hundreds of financial advisory firms and shared her marketing expertise via industry conferences and publications nationwide. This article is an excerpt from her upcoming book, due out in 2023.

Why Self-publishing a Nonfiction Book Is So Dang Expensive

This is a guest post by best-selling author, coach, and speaker Stacy Ennis.

Writing a book is a lifelong dream for many. Part of what keeps it in the "dream" category is the sheer amount of effort, time, and cost.

That said, for those looking to write a nonfiction book to help them reach the next level of their business and impact, the investment is worth it. While the investment of time is substantial—and powerful!—I'll keep this discussion focused on what publishing a book might look like in terms of money.

On average, my clients spend anywhere from $15,000 to $100,000+ publishing their books. Many spend around $20,000 to $60,000. Yes, you read that right: tens of thousands of dollars to publish a book.

Say whaaaat?

I know it sounds crazy. But in certain situations, that kind of dollar amount makes sense. For them, a book is a marketing spend for their business or a catalyst for their next level of impact. Their investment includes world-class design, strategic marketing (including PR), and other smart spending.

You might be thinking, “But even $15,000 sounds wildly steep!”

I get that too. Spending the equivalent of a used car on a book sounds . . . well, ridiculous. But if you have the funds and a clear purpose behind the investment (and path to ROI), let me assure you it’s not.

Here’s the thing: you can spend almost nothing to publish a book. If you totally DIY everything, you can get by with a few hundred dollars.

But if you want to publish a best-seller quality book, it requires an investment. Just consider this short list of some of the support you may need to hire:

• Book coaching or education

• Substantive/content editing

• Copyediting

• Proofreading

• Cover design

• Interior book design

• Copywriting for book jacket and marketing materials

• ISBN (the unique numbers that identify your book for sale)

• E-book conversion

• Audiobook production

• Website design (and copywriting, proofreading, etc.)

• Marketing and publicity

• . . . and the list goes on

Each of these tasks are performed by humans who earn their living doing the thing you hire them for. Editors edit for a living. Designers design for a living. So just as you’d expect to pay a doctor for her expertise in medicine, expect to pay an expert for her expertise in books.

The thing is, for most of my clients, they will make back their investment many times over. Not through book sales but through the many doors a book opens for them: speaking engagements, new clients, and more. A client once said to me, “A book is worth a million dollars in revenue.” I have seen that to be true time and again.

(A side note: publishing a novel is a different discussion entirely, so please know I am speaking specifically to nonfiction books that have a tie to a bigger purpose—a catalyst to your impact.)

Let me encourage you with this: that investment doesn’t happen all at once. On average, when done efficiently and with excellence, a book takes nearly two years from start to publication. So don’t expect to plop down $20,000 today. Take it one step at a time and at the pace of cash, with a clear view of how that book will return your investment.

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About Stacy Ennis, M.A.

Stacy Ennis is a best-selling author, coach, and speaker on a mission to help leaders clarify their ideas and harness their unique story to make an impact. She’s written or ghostwritten 17 books, coached dozens of authors, and impacted thousands of people through her work. Learn more at stacyennis.com.