The 52: Do the Marketing Activities You Enjoy

Week 26

Do the Marketing Activities You Enjoy

In last week’s tip, I introduced the concept of simplifying marketing to make more of an impact. One way to do this is to focus your marketing on the activities you love, such as nurturing relationships, teaching financial concepts, or optimizing your website. When you do something you love, your marketing becomes easy, and you are more likely to implement consistently. When you do things you don’t enjoy, it’s easy to put them off or do them poorly, neither of which leads to success.

The 52: Do Less Marketing

Week 25

Do Less Marketing

I’m a fan of Greg McKeown and his books Essentialism and Effortless. In a nutshell, his philosophy is to do only the things that matter and then make those things easier. This philosophy can easily be applied to marketing. In an industry that always tells you to do more marketing, maybe the secret is to do less but do it better. Here is what happens when you attempt to do too much marketing:

• You fail to implement consistently and never gain traction.

• You focus on volume over quality and just add to the noise.

When you simplify your marketing, you can dive deeper and focus on quality so that your marketing becomes more controlled and can have more impact. In the coming weeks, I’ll talk about how you can simplify your marketing to get better results.

The 52: Go with the Marketing Flow

Week 24

Go with the Marketing Flow

Marketing effectiveness ebbs and flows with the seasons, and your marketing activities should match the natural rhythms. Here are the times when you should accelerate your marketing and when you should let your foot off the gas:

• Winter through early spring (January–May): This is a prime marketing window. Take advantage of it by focusing on serious educational topics for your events and content, and include strong calls to action to schedule an appointment.

• Summer school break (June–August): This is a less effective time for marketing, so keep your activities light, such as social events and fun content topics. Spend your extra time planning for the marketing you will do in the fall.

• Early fall (September–mid-November): This is another prime marketing period. Take advantage of this short window to do as many campaigns as you can before the holidays.

• The holidays (mid-November–New Year’s): This is probably the least effective period to market your business. Focus on relationship activities, such as sending cards, gifts, and invitations to social events. This is the perfect time to strategize next year’s marketing plan.

The 52: Build Your Email List

Week 23

Build Your Email List

Your email marketing list is one of your most valuable marketing assets. While social media sites can be a good way to reach new audiences, you have little control over those channels. The social media companies can change their algorithms or policies, nullifying your previously successful marketing efforts. Alternatively, your contacts can decide to reduce or quit their use of social media, making it impossible to reach them. But with email, you own the list, you control the message, and somewhere between 30% and 50% of the people on your list will open your email. Make building your email list a marketing priority.

The 52: Don’t Focus on SEO If No One Is Searching

Week 22

Don’t Focus on SEO If No One Is Searching

I’ve been writing a lot about search engine optimization (SEO) lately, but should SEO be a priority for every advisor? The answer is no. Here are two examples when SEO will not do you any good:

1. You are in a smaller community where people aren't searching online to find a financial advisor.

2. Your niche doesn't know to look for a professional like you (e.g., a financial advisor for veterinarians).

Basic keyword research will tell you if people are searching for “financial advisor [your area]” or “financial advisor for [niche].” If the search volume is low, that means no one is searching for you. Don't spend more time on SEO other than standard website best practices. Instead, focus on creating high-quality content that people in your network want to consume and share.

The 52: Qualify Your Prospects Before Scheduling Meetings

Week 21

Qualify Your Prospects Before Scheduling Meetings

Meeting with unqualified prospects can be a huge time suck. To avoid this, screen your prospects to see if there is an initial fit before scheduling a formal hour-plus meeting. Here are some ways to do this:

• Embed a qualifying questionnaire to your calendaring software or web form.

• Make the first step be an initial 15-minute phone call to ask qualifying questions.

• Have the receptionist/admin/junior advisor gather information using a qualifying questionnaire for prospects who call in.

If you determine someone is not a good fit, point them in the direction of someone who can better take care of their needs.

Interested in learning more about this topic? Join the conversation today at 11 a.m. PT on Clubhouse.

The 52: Make Client Events Social in 2021

Week 20

Make Client Events Social in 2021

As more states reduce COVID-19 restrictions, in-person client events will likely be an option again in the near future. But before you start your monthly “Lunch & Learns” back up, rethink your event strategy. I predict that after being cooped up for the last year, clients will be looking for social connection and entertainment (instead of education) when they decide on which events to attend. So plan your 2021 in-person client events to be fun and engaging, and keep your educational events online. And just to be safe, plan your in-person events to be outdoors as well!

The 52: Five Components of a Local SEO Strategy: Paid Ads

Week 18

Five Components of a Local SEO Strategy: Paid Ads

The final area of the five components of a local SEO strategy is paid ads. While not technically considered local SEO, paid ads are one more way to show up on the first page of search results, which is why I include them as part of an overall SEO strategy.

There are two possible options for advertising on search results:

1. Paid Search Ads are the pay-per-click ads that look like organic search results and are found at the top and bottom of the page but are labeled “Ad.”

2. Local Services Ads are Google’s new pay-per-lead ads available in some geographic markets that are prominently displayed at the very top of the page.

Even if paid ads are not part of your long-term strategy, they can provide a quick way to help you appear in search results while your other local SEO efforts come to fruition.

P.S. Interested in learning more on this subject? Join me on June 3 at 11:30 a.m. PDT at the FPA NorCal Virtual Conference for my session, “Local SEO: How to Optimize Your Online Presence to Attract Local Prospects.”

Five Pillars of a Financial Advisor’s Local Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Strategy

Search engine optimization (SEO) techniques are an important part of increasing your company’s visibility in search engine results such as Google. But for most financial advisory firms, unless you focus on a narrow niche, it is not essential to rank nationally in search results. It’s more important to show up in search results in your local communities.

Think of it this way: If you live in Los Angeles and search for “outdoor dining near me,” you don’t want to see results from restaurants in New York. The same is true for people who search for a “financial advisor near me.” They want to find an advisor within driving distance.

That’s where local SEO comes in. Local SEO strategies are those techniques that increase your visibility in search engine results in your local geographic area.

“Local SEO: Strategies that increase your visibility in search engine results in your local geographic area.”

While there is some overlap in traditional SEO and local SEO techniques for optimizing website content, local SEO requires a significant number of strategies not determined solely by your website.

Assumptions Made for this Article

For purposes of this article, all recommendations are directed at increasing your rankings on Google since the site accounts for 92% of the global search market share.

Some of these strategies are not technically considered local SEO in the marketing world (i.e., ads) because they don’t help your website’s long-term organic rankings. From a practical standpoint, I include ads because they show up on the first page of Google results and provide yet another opportunity for a prospect to find you in their search.

Why Should You Have a Strong Local SEO Strategy in Place? 

According to UC Davis, 92% of consumers use the internet to search for local businesses. While many advisory firms have clients spread across the country, most new prospects are within driving distance of a company’s headquarters or satellite office. This is because most firms just do not have the financial resources to make a real impact nationally.

Unless a firm has expertise with a niche that naturally attracts prospects from around the country, local marketing is still the best use of time, money, and energy. If you want to increase leads generated from your website, implementing a comprehensive local SEO strategy is crucial.

How to Improve Your Local Search Rankings

If you want to rank on the first page of Google in your local area when a prospect searches for “financial advisor near me” or “financial planner [your city],” then you need to do more than just have the right keywords on your website.

You need to address five areas to optimize your local search engine presence:

• Local pack (e.g., Google My Business)

• Advisor listings (e.g., NAPFA’s “Find an Advisor,” FeeOnlyNetwork.com)

• Review sites (e.g., Google My Business, Yelp)

• Organic rankings (e.g., website optimization)

• Paid ads (e.g., Google Search ads, Local Services ads)

The best way to understand why you need all five of these areas is to examine the first page of Google results, as shown below.

When people think of “getting on the first page of Google,” they think of organic rankings, meaning their website appears in the general search results. But if that is all you are focused on, your firm is missing out on many other opportunities to be found on the same page of search results.

Let’s take a look at all the ways a prospect may find an advisor on the first page of Google search results, starting at the top and working our way down.  

Paid Ads

In most cases, paid ads sit at the top of all search results. Google consistently shows Google Search ads and, in some markets, is testing a service called Local Services ads. Except in the rare instance when no ads target a specific search term, the only way to show up at the top of Google is through paid ads.

Local Pack

The next section of Google search results is the Local Pack. This is the map you see with three businesses listed underneath. To be listed here, your business must have a Google My Business profile. Client reviews on Google and other factors will increase the chances of your business getting listed here.

Review Sites, Organic Rankings, and Advisor Listings

The meat of the search results is what you traditionally think of as search results. They are websites that Google displays because its algorithm has determined that these sites are the answer to your search query.

This is where the search engine optimization work you do on your website comes into play. If you have optimized your site well for a specific search term, it should show up in the search results, though not necessarily on the first page.

Other websites will also appear here and not just those of your competitors. Review sites such as Yelp will often rank. Advisor listing sites will also show up—both general listings such as FeeOnlyNetwork.com or FPA PlannerSearch and paid lead services such as SmartAsset and Zoe Financial.

Having listings on some of these sites provides an opportunity for prospects to find you even when they clicked out of Google Search and onto a different link. It’s usually worthwhile to be on the sites that apply to your business and make financial sense.       

The 52: Five Components of a Local SEO Strategy: Organic Rankings

Week 17

Five Components of a Local SEO Strategy: Organic Rankings

The fourth area of the five components of a local SEO strategy is organic rankings. This is when a search engine like Google ranks your website on search results. When people say, “I want to be on the first page of Google,” this is the strategy they are talking about.
Optimizing your website for organic SEO is a complex topic, but in short, you need to:

1. Conduct keyword research to discover which local words people are using to find a service like yours

2. Optimize one webpage on your site for each of your keywords

3. Establish backlinks by having other websites link their content (e.g., articles, press releases) back to your site

There are other technical aspects as well that you should discuss with a web developer to implement.

P.S. Our next Niche Starter Kit starts next Friday! Take the next steps here.