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The 52: Dictate Your Blog
Use Microsoft Word’s dictate feature.
Dictate Your Blog
Do you struggle to write a blog consistently? Consider dictating your first draft. By talking through your article and having it transcribed, your blog becomes an editing exercise instead of a writing exercise.
There are plenty of speech-to-text services available, but it can be as simple as opening a Word document. When the dreaded blank page appears, instead of typing, click the “Dictate” button on the home menu and start talking. You’ll soon find your blog being typed in front of your eyes.
The 52: How to Use Text Message Marketing
Text messages can have impact but are easy to overdo.
How to Use Text Message Marketing
While not widely used by financial advisors, text message marketing (also known as SMS marketing) is of great interest to many advisors. This is because text messages have higher open and response rates than emails.
If you plan to use SMS marketing, a good rule of thumb is to employ it for important or time-sensitive messages such as:
Appointment or event confirmations and reminders
Reminders for documents you are waiting on from a client or prospect
One-time follow-ups after an event, appointment, or download of an ebook or other resource
Outreach during urgent or catastrophic events (e.g., hurricanes, pandemics, 2008-style market crashes)
Upcoming financial deadlines (e.g., quarterly taxes being due, Medicare open enrollment period)
While SMS marketing can be impactful, it’s important not to overdo it. Otherwise, people will opt out or, worse, form a negative impression of you. Make sure to avoid:
Sending unsolicited messages
Promoting your content (e.g., weekly marketing commentary)
Overdoing it (e.g., don’t send a series of texts after a prospect downloads an ebook)
The 52: How Much Does It Cost to Self-publish a Nonfiction Book?
Be prepared to spend $20K-$60K if you want to be a published author.
How Much Does It Cost to Self-publish a Nonfiction Book?
In her guest post, “Why Self-publishing a Nonfiction Book Is So Dang Expensive,” book-writing coach Stacy Ennis reports that her clients spend anywhere from $15,000 to $100,000-plus publishing their books. Many spend around $20,000 to $60,000.
Self-publishing is supposed to be cheap, right? But when you factor in all the tasks and people required to “self-publish”—such as book coaching, content editing, copyediting, proofreading, cover design, interior book design, copywriting for marketing materials, ISBN, e-book conversion, audiobook production, website design, marketing, and publicity— you can see how the price tag adds up.
The good news is, most advisors who publish a book 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.
In other words, “a book is worth a million dollars in revenue.”
The 52: “Marketing Is Far Too Important to Be Left to the Marketing Department”
Want your marketing to be successful? Take ownership!
“Marketing Is Far Too Important to Be Left to the Marketing Department”
This quote from David Packard, Co-Founder of HP, sums up the importance of marketing in your business.
The most successful financial advisory firms I have worked with over my career have been highly engaged in their marketing. While they hired marketing professionals or internal staff to help guide and implement their strategy, the companies’ leadership always took ownership.
Many advisors don’t like marketing and would prefer to outsource it and forget it. But marketing is the lifeblood of your business. It’s how you bring in revenue and grow your business. While you should hire experts to help you, always be engaged in your marketing. That is the best way to guarantee marketing success.
The 52: Plant Seeds in Your Content
Help your audience envision working with you.
Plant Seeds in Your Content
When writing blogs, creating videos, presenting to groups, or recording podcasts, lay the groundwork to encourage your audience to hire you. Do this by planting seeds throughout your content that help your audience envision working with you.
For example, when presenting, you can drop phrases like:
“When I implement this cash management strategy for my clients …”
“If we were to work together, we would create a cash management plan for you.”
“A new client hired us just last week to solve this exact problem.”
You’d be surprised how many people who consume your content don’t know that you are accepting clients. Overcome this by planting seeds throughout your content to make it clear you work with people just like them and are accepting new clients.
The 52: Don’t Bad-Mouth Other Advisors
Paint yourself in a good light, not your competition in a bad light.
Don’t Bad-Mouth Other Advisors
You probably don’t bad-mouth your competitors by name, but have you ever said something to the effect of “Some advisors will sell you an annuity you don’t need,” or “Widows are vulnerable to predatory financial advisors"?
When you disparage other advisors, you plant a seed of doubt for all advisors, including yourself. How does the prospect know you aren’t a predatory advisor? They don’t, and you may end up scaring them into inaction.
Instead of painting your competition in a negative light, paint yourself in a positive light. For example: “We find that 9 times out of 10, there are better, less expensive options for our clients than annuities, which is why we don’t recommend them.” Or: “Our clients choose us because they want a financial advisor they can trust to look out for them during this vulnerable time.”
The 52: "Never Confuse Movement with Action"
Spending time on marketing with no results? Here’s why.
"Never Confuse Movement with Action"
This quote from Ernest Hemingway serves as a warning for how to spend your marketing time. Action is the process of doing something to achieve an aim,[1] while movement is the process of moving.[2]
In marketing, action comprises activities with clear outcomes, like calling a center of influence, pitching a topic to present to an association, or following up with a prospect. Deliberate action takes you closer to your goal and produces tangible results.
Movement, on the other hand, is going through the motion of low-impact activities such as changing minor wording on your website or writing superficial comments on social media posts. Because movement fills your time, it can deceive you into feeling satisfied that you took action, but the truth comes out when you don’t see results.
If you aren’t getting the marketing results you hope for, ask yourself, are you confusing movement with action?
Sources:
1. https://languages.oup.com/google-dictionary-en/
2. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/movement
The 52: How to Generate Content Marketing Topics
Stop struggling to come up with blog and video topics.
How to Generate Content Marketing Topics
Struggling to come up with topics for your blogs or videos? Take notes after you meet with prospects about the situations they face. This information will direct what to address in your content. Specifically, make note of:
Triggering events. What life event triggered them to reach out to you in the first place?
Primary financial concerns. What is their primary financial concern or frustration?
Goals and aspirations. What is their ultimate goal or aspiration?
Services and solutions. What services or solutions do they say they need, even if you don’t offer them?
Words and phrases. What specific words and phrases do they use to describe their situation?
The 52: What Does the Ideal Podcast Look Like?
With so many options, what should your podcast look like?
What Does the Ideal Podcast Look Like?
If you listen to podcasts, you know they can come in all lengths, frequencies, and formats, leaving financial advisors to wonder what the best option is for them.
In his work with financial advisors, Matt Halloran, partner and podcasting expert at podcasting company ProudMouth, has found that the ideal podcast length is between 26 and 28 minutes. The ideal frequency is twice a month, and the ideal format is to have a guest on each show.
This combination allows financial advisors to get the most impact from their podcast most efficiently.
The 52: Take Advantage of Online Profiles
A low-cost, low-maintenance marketing strategy.
Take Advantage of Online Profiles
A simple, low-cost, low-maintenance online marketing strategy is to be listed on all the “Find an Advisor” websites that prospective clients might use to search for a firm. These online profiles are usually charged in one of three ways: (1) as part of your membership or association with an organization; (2) as an annual fee; or (3) as a per-lead fee. We find listings that charge you an annual fee or are included as part of your association with the organization are generally a better value for the money than listings that require you to pay per lead.
Here is a list of sites to take advantage of if you are eligible:
Having links from these sites to your firm’s website helps with your own search engine optimization.
