The 52: Are You a Cover Band or an Artist?

Are You a Cover Band or an Artist?

In their book Become Known for a Niche You Own, the Category Pirates use a great metaphor to describe the value of those who niche:

“There are a total of zero cover bands in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Anyone who has made it into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame became known for a niche they owned. Notice how differently the world values musicians who write their own music versus musicians who play covers.”[1]

I bring this quote to your attention because I find a lot of financial advisors fear focusing on a niche because they are afraid it will lessen the value of their business. In reality, by niching, you’ll be seen as more special and as a result more valuable to your audience.

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1. Category Pirates, Become Known for a Niche You Own: Why Legendary Writers Use Languaging to Design New & Different Categories, 2021, Kindle Edition.

The 52: Being Better Isn’t Better. Being Different Is Better

Being Better Isn’t Better. Being Different Is Better

When I ask firms, “How are you different?” I get similar answers:

• We have better customer service.

• We offer better financial planning.

• We have a better investment strategy.

But there is a problem with differentiating yourself as being “better”: It is easy for someone else to swoop in and be better than you.

This approach means a constant race to be the best. When you differentiate on being better, another firm can easily dethrone you by offering slightly better customer service or adding one more financial planning discipline.

When competing for clients, being better isn’t a sustainable strategy. Instead, be different in some defendable way (e.g., have a niche specialization) because it is hard for the competition to also be different in that same way.

The 52: Don’t Obsess About Vanity Metrics

Don’t Obsess About Vanity Metrics

I often see advisors obsess over marketing metrics such as website visitors and social media followers—or what we call “vanity metrics.” These numbers make you feel good, but they aren’t leading indicators of your business’s future success. Nor do they provide information to inform your strategy.

Here are examples of vanity metrics:

• Website visitors

• Social media followers

• Number of attendees at your client event

Instead, you want to focus your analysis on metrics that truly help inform your strategy:

• Number of people who scheduled appointments

• Number of new people added to your marketing database

• Lead source (e.g., website, referral) of new prospects

• Conversion rate

The 52: Leverage the Networks of Others

Leverage the Networks of Others

When you start working with a niche, it is unlikely that you will have a large personal or professional network of people who fit your niche. Sure, you could spend time trying to build your network through social media or traditional networking tactics, but that is a long process. To get traction with your niche immediately, leverage the networks of people and organizations that already have built the potential client bases you want to reach.

Here's what that might look like: You can ask existing niche clients to have you speak in front of a group of people they know. You can submit guest articles to websites or publications your niche reads. You can ask existing clients to share your content on online forums they belong to that you can’t join. Or you can be a guest on a niche-focused podcast.

By focusing on leveraging the networks of others, you will both get in front of your niche and build your own network faster.

The 52: Quality or Quantity? Which Is Better for a Blog Post?

Quality or Quantity? Which Is Better for a Blog Post?

If you have limited time and resources, should you focus on quantity or quality when it comes to blogging? The answer depends on your goal.

Exposure

If you are trying to get name recognition as quickly as possible in a niche, blog as much as possible (1+ times/week) and then share the blog through as many channels as you can (e.g., social media, email, other websites). This focus means writing shorter content (600-750 words) to keep up with the frequency. In this case, quantity is more important than quality.   

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Research shows that the companies blogging more frequently generate greater website traffic than those posting less frequently[1] (assuming similar blog quality). That being said, Google gives preference to higher-quality content over lower-quality content, which generally means longer posts (approximately 2,000+ words). Our experience has been that long-form content on our clients’ websites generates significantly more traffic year after year than short-form content. So if SEO is your goal, focus on quality first and quantity second.

1. https://neilpatel.com/blog/blog-post-quality-vs-quantity

The 52: Can You Have More Than One Niche?

Can You Have More Than One Niche?

One of the most common questions I get about niche marketing is, “Can I have more than one niche?” The answer comes down to your available resources. Each niche requires its own marketing plan and its own champion to spearhead the effort. The more niches you have, the more champions you need and the more plans you must implement.

With that in mind, here is my general rule of thumb for whether you can have multiple niches:

• RIAs with a solo advisor: You must focus on one niche—end of story!

• RIAs with a few advisors: You would be best served by having one niche for the entire firm. However, if not all advisors are equally suited for the same niche, you may decide to have multiple niches. This is not an ideal scenario, so you should have as few niches as possible, with each advisor focusing on only one niche.

• Large ensemble RIAs: Unless you started with a niche, it’s unrealistic to assume you will ever transition to just one focus. Instead, you can have multiple niche specialty areas. The key to success is having advisors dedicated to just one niche.

The 52: Qualify Your Prospects Using Your Scheduling Software

Qualify Your Prospects Using Your Scheduling Software

If you get a fair number of leads from your website, you’ve faced the rude awakening that most web leads don’t meet the minimum requirements to become a client. So how do you quickly identify the people who are not a fit and refer them to another advisor before you spend your valuable time on a call or in a meeting?

The answer! Use your calendaring software to ask basic qualifying questions. Many systems allow you to add custom questions to gather this kind of information.

To learn the questions to use on your scheduling software to screen your prospects, read our latest blog.

The 52: The 12-Week Marketing Plan

The 12-Week Marketing Plan

If a financial advisory firm creates a marketing plan, it’s usually done on an annual basis. The problem with an annual plan is that it tends to be objective-based (e.g., implement a client referral program) instead of action-based (e.g., ask 10 clients for a referral). It’s also easy to procrastinate with an annual plan because you have months to complete your objectives. The result is that you rarely accomplish what you aimed for.

Instead of developing an annual marketing plan, consider a quarterly plan as described by Brian Moran in the book The 12 Week Year: Get More Done in 12 Weeks than Others Do in 12 Months.

By developing a quarterly marketing plan, you are more likely to complete the action items you commit to, you can more easily adapt your strategy as opportunities arise, and you are more likely to hit your goals.

The 52: How to Expand Your Niche

How to Expand Your Niche

When I talk to advisors about niching, the conversation is usually about narrowing the niche to become more specialized. However, there may be times when it makes sense to expand your niche. For example, you may have dominated your market and need to expand just to continue growing your business.

When you are ready to expand your niche, start by looking at markets that share a similar problem to your existing niche. For example, if you work with widows, you could expand into divorcees since both groups share the problem of being solely responsible for their household finances for the first time. Or if you work with tech employees, you could expand into biotech and pharma employees who share the problem of managing their equity compensation.

When it’s time to expand, the key is to find a new market that shares the same problem as your existing niche.

The 52: Market Solutions, Not Services

Market Solutions, Not Services

Many financial advisor websites highlight the services they offer—financial planning, investment management, estate planning, tax planning, retirement planning, education planning, etc. But most prospects don’t know what service they need. They just understand the problem they have.

Instead of marketing your services, market the solution to the problem your prospect is facing. Here are some examples:

• Education planning: “Put your kid through college.”

• Tax planning: “Keep more of the money you earned.”

• Estate planning: “Protect your family even after you are gone.”