Local Listings Refresh

Have you relocated or rebranded your business? If so, it’s important to update your online presence. Outdated addresses or business names lingering on the internet can lead to confusion and lost opportunities. Here's a step-by-step approach to enhancing your local search results:

• Audit your online listings: Begin by checking the status of your business listings. You can use a website tool like Moz Local Listings Score to quickly find where your business is listed.

• Initiate the cleanup process: Once you identify the outdated listings, start updating them with your current business information.

• Consider maintenance services: Websites like Moz.com and Yext.com offer subscription services to continuously manage and update your listings. Investing in such services can save time and ensure your business information remains accurate across the internet.

By taking these steps, you'll enhance your visibility and provide prospective clients with up-to-date information.

The 52: Choosing the Right Marketing Support: Part 3

The 52: Choosing the Right Marketing Support: Part 3

Last week, we explored three types of marketing providers: consultants/coaches, full-service agencies, and specialists. Now let's consider whether to outsource marketing, manage it in-house, or adopt a middle ground.

• In-house marketing: Managing marketing internally gives you full control and allows for extensive experimentation. It also reduces your dependence on external experts. However, this method may lack varied viewpoints and miss the expertise that seasoned marketers outside of your company offer.

• Outsourced marketing: When you outsource marketing, you delegate the workload to professionals, which can accelerate the development and execution of your marketing. This hands-off approach guarantees professional management but might lead your company to overly rely on outside businesses. Such dependence could restrict your flexibility to quickly adjust strategies in response to the changing environment.

• Hybrid approach: A hybrid strategy merges the best aspects of both approaches. Begin by working with an independent consultant to craft your strategy, ensuring impartial advice. Then execute this strategy through either a full-service agency or specific specialists. For ongoing tasks, blend in-house management with outsourced help. This method enables smart budgeting, focusing investment on high-impact areas like SEO while saving on regular activities. It also provides more adaptability for making adjustments or replacements.

While in-house and outsourced marketing have their advantages, a hybrid method often offers a well-rounded, adaptable, and cost-effective solution.

Choosing the Right Marketing Support: Part 2

Choosing the Right Marketing Support: Part 2

Last week, we started to figure out the best marketing help for your business. This week, we’re looking at the three main kinds of assistance you might consider based on your needs from last week: consultants/coaches, full-service agencies, and specialists. Here’s a quick look at each option:

1. Consultants/coaches: These professionals offer advice on creating your marketing strategy and give you a plan and support to keep you on track. They’re great for those who want to stay involved in their marketing and need specific help with their challenges. But remember, you or your team will need to do the actual marketing work.

2. Full-service agencies: These agencies handle all your marketing, from strategy to execution, which can be a big help if you have a lot to do. They can be expensive and might not be the best at everything they offer. You’ll need to think about whether the ease they provide is worth the cost for your business.

3. Specialists: If you have a strategy but need help implementing certain parts, like web design, branding, content, referrals, or SEO, specialists are the way to go. They’re generally very good at what they do. But it’s up to you to make sure they all work together to fit into your overall marketing plan.

Think about your current needs and future goals. Do you want to lead your marketing with some expert guidance? Are you looking for a team to handle everything for you? Or do you just need help in certain areas? Your answers will help you choose the right marketing support to make a difference in your business.

Stay tuned for the final installment of this series next week, where I’ll discuss the pros and cons of keeping marketing in-house or outsourcing it.

Choosing the Right Marketing Support: Part 1

Choosing the Right Marketing Support: Part 1

Are you feeling overwhelmed because your marketing isn’t delivering as expected, and you’re unsure who to turn to for help? Over the next three weeks, I’ll guide you on selecting the right marketing assistance for your business.

First, identify your needs. Are you searching for a comprehensive strategy, help with marketing setup, or assistance in sustaining regular activities? Let’s explore each:

1. Strategy: Unsure where to start? Before embracing new technologies or services, pause and reflect. Engaging someone to shape a strategy is crucial in ensuring your time and money target impactful actions. While advisors play a key role in molding their marketing direction, external experts can inject fresh perspectives.

2. Setup: If you’ve defined a clear marketing strategy but hesitate about its execution, it’s time to enlist specialized assistance. Engage marketing services designed for this stage. Whether you require programmers, graphic designers, writers, digital marketing experts, event coordinators, or an all-encompassing agency, they should align with the strategy you’ve developed.

3. Maintenance: If you have a strategy and infrastructure in place but need consistent implementation, look into maintenance-focused solutions. While marketing agencies can address maintenance, virtual marketing assistants are highly competent. Alternatively, think about training an existing team member for a broader marketing responsibility.

Once you’ve determined your marketing requirements, you can better select which type of service provider aligns with your needs. Stay tuned for more insights next week.

LinkedIn Engagement: Cultivating Networks vs. Direct Marketing

LinkedIn Engagement: Cultivating Networks vs. Direct Marketing

With shifts in other social platforms, LinkedIn has witnessed a surge in user engagement (source). The advisors I work with are increasingly leveraging the site when appropriate. Typically, I observe two different approaches:

1. Cultivating a network. Rather than pushing for immediate sales, the focus is on building a reputation and fostering trust over time. The primary objectives of this approach are:

• Genuine connections: The financial advisor connects with people in their niche and focuses on depth of connection, emphasizing real conversations and mutual value.

• Consistent value: Advisors regularly share insightful content to position themselves as thought leaders in their niche.

• Engagement: An advisor actively engages with their connections through comments, shares, and direct messages.

2. Direct marketing: This approach is geared toward generating leads and appointments as quickly as possible, often using automation tools. The primary objectives are:

• Immediate CTA: Either in the initial connection message or shortly after, the advisor sends a call to action (CTA). This could be sharing a valuable resource or proposing a meeting.

• Volume: This approach plays the numbers game, prioritizing a high volume of connections and messages. Advisors often use automation for extensive outreach and to send multiple follow-up messages with the aim of generating leads.

• Efficiency: While this method comes off as impersonal to some, its ease of execution means it requires minimal time investment.

Before increasing your LinkedIn engagement, decide on the approach you want to take. Neither approach is inherently right or wrong; you simply need to choose the one that aligns with your overall marketing strategy.

Fish from a Small Pond

Fish from a Small Pond

I’m not an angler, but a bit of research on Google suggests a consensus: It’s easier to fish from a small pond than a big lake. Why?

• It’s easier to access a larger percentage of the water in a pond than a lake, so you are more likely to encounter fish.

• You get to know the pond well, learning where the good spots are, as well as the best times, conditions, and bait to use.

• Once you identify the right spots and methods, you simply repeat the same actions.

When thinking about your marketing, consider how you can “fish” from a small pond. Can you physically create a smaller pond by relocating your office to a small, close-knit community and focusing your efforts there? Or can you artificially create a smaller pond by concentrating on a tight-knit niche community that swims together? Master the small ponds before tackling the big lakes.

Seeing the Forest Through the Trees in Your Marketing Strategy

Seeing the Forest Through the Trees in Your Marketing Strategy

“You can’t see the forest for the trees.” This adage is likely familiar to you. When you’re immersed in your business, gaining a broader perspective or considering fresh ideas can be challenging.

Earlier this year, when we launched our new program, OnNiche™, we opted to hire a naming and branding firm despite our in-house capabilities as a marketing agency. Why seek external help? Because we needed a perspective beyond our team’s preconceptions and viewpoints.

Recently, I engaged a consultant to scrutinize the client experience for OnNiche™. Within days, she provided insights and proposed strategies we could never have conceived on our own.

If you've been steering your own marketing strategy for a while without seeking external input, you might be overlooking innovative ways to market your business. Seeking help doesn’t imply incapability; rather, it facilitates a clearer view of the “forest” amidst the “trees” of your business.

Kick-start Your Holiday Marketing Campaigns Now

Kick-start Your Holiday Marketing Campaigns Now

Now that fall has arrived, it's time to start planning your holiday marketing initiatives. Here are some ideas to consider:

• Holiday cards: Sending holiday cards is a timeless tradition. Mailing them between Thanksgiving and New Year’s not only conveys your warm wishes but also keeps your name at the forefront of your clients' minds.

• Gifts: Treating your top clients with thoughtful gifts can go a long way in strengthening your relationship. It's an expression of gratitude for their loyalty and trust in your business.

• Holiday open houses/parties: Hosting an open house or party at your office is a fantastic way to foster community. It offers a relaxed environment for networking, celebrating the holidays, and setting a positive tone for the upcoming year.

• Community involvement: The holiday season is also about giving back. Participate in or sponsor local community events, charity drives, or fundraisers.

Whatever your plans are for this holiday season's marketing, the key is to start early. Planning now ensures you have ample time to execute your strategies effectively, order necessary supplies, and make any adjustments as needed. Dive into the festive spirit and make this holiday season memorable for your clients!

Unlocking the Secrets of Lead Generation with Alex Hormozi's Framework

Unlocking the Secrets of Lead Generation with Alex Hormozi's Framework

In his new book, “$100M Leads: How to Get Strangers to Want to Buy Your Stuff,” Alex Hormozi lays out a simple framework for reaching out to leads.

He explains that there are two types of leads: people who know you (warm audience) and people who don’t know you (cold audience).

Additionally, there are two ways to reach out to your leads: one-to-one (private) or one-to-many (public).

Depending on your relationship status and outreach method, you can determine the best tactics to engage your audience as follows:

• Warm Audience, Private Outreach: Warm outreach (e.g., emails, phone calls, text messages, direct messages)

• Warm Audience, Public Outreach: Content posting (e.g., blogs, videos, podcasts, social media posts)

• Cold Audience, Private Outreach: Cold outreach (e.g., cold calls, cold emails, cold direct messages)

• Cold Audience, Public Outreach: Paid ads

By using Hormozi's framework, you can better select and optimize your marketing approach for lead generation and conversion.

Will 2024 Be a Repeat of 2023’s Successes or a Year of New Opportunities?

Will 2024 Be a Repeat of 2023’s Successes or a Year of New Opportunities?

Fall is traditionally the time when financial advisors begin planning marketing for the new year. It provides an opportunity to reflect on the successes and learnings from the past year, and to strategize about new opportunities for the year ahead. By starting in early fall, you have time to put foundational pieces in place and hit the ground running as the new year begins.

As you formulate your strategy for 2024, consider the outcomes of your 2023 tactics. Will you replicate the strategies that led to success? Or is it time to innovate and try a different approach?

You’ll want to be intentional about your strategy for 2024, whether you decide to maintain the status quo because it proved successful or to pivot and make necessary changes.