The 52: Dictate Your Blog

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.

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.

The 52: How to Use Text Message Marketing

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:

1. Appointment or event confirmations and reminders

2. Reminders for documents you are waiting on from a client or prospect

3. One-time follow-ups after an event, appointment, or download of an ebook or other resource

4. Outreach during urgent or catastrophic events (e.g., hurricanes, pandemics, 2008-style market crashes)

5. 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:

1. Sending unsolicited messages

2. Promoting your content (e.g., weekly marketing commentary)

3. Overdoing it (e.g., don’t send a series of texts after a prospect downloads an ebook)

How to Fix a Niche that is Too Narrow or Too Broad

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.

The 52: How Much Does It Cost to Self-publish a Nonfiction Book?

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.”

Your Niche is More than Who You Serve

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.

Design Your Business Model Around Your Niche

Advisors who successfully develop a niche practice design all aspects of their business to serve that niche. A niche is not only the “who” you work with but also the service you specialize in to help your target market. It is the “who” plus the “what.”

A niche is a deeper commitment to your ideal client in that it dictates the brand you select, the message you communicate, the services you offer, the content you create, the technology you implement, and the staff you hire. 

Let me give you an example of what it truly means to niche.

Many firms describe their ideal client as business owners who are 55 to 65 years old, within five years of retirement, and delegators. They have at least $1 million in investable assets, with more assets coming in after the sale of their business. 

Some firms will offer their standard retirement planning and investment management services to these business owners. There isn’t much the firm does differently for business owners than for other clients. The client just happens to be a business owner. The presentations the advisors give are on general economic and financial topics that would appeal to a mass market.

While these firms have a clear idea of “who,” I wouldn’t consider them focused on a niche. They don’t combine the who with the what.  

In contrast, a firm that has designed their entire service offering around business owners would look something like this: They offer business valuation services and exit strategies in addition to investment management and financial planning. Their process and services are intentionally designed to meet the unique needs of their niche. They bring in speakers specific to the topics business owners care about, such as business succession options. They make introductions to business brokers who can help list the businesses. They offer software for business owners to do basic business valuations each year to see how they are progressing toward their goals. And they hire staff who are passionate about and have experience in serving small businesses.

In this second scenario, business owners receive greater value because the solutions are tailored to their needs and concerns.

How do you develop a business model tailored to the exact needs of your niche? There are four elements:

Proprietary Process

A proprietary process is the unique path that your company follows to achieve transformative results for your clients. Most financial advisors take their clients through a similar process: information gathering, goal setting, analysis and recommendation, implementation, and monitoring.

Your proprietary process should offer a unique way of achieving results, even if it is just changing the names of the process steps to speak the language of your niche.

Client Experience

Working with a niche will also give you the opportunity to create a unique client experience. The client experience includes your office, staff, deliverables, and technology.

What type of office environment, if any, does your client want to visit? What skills does your staff need to have? What deliverables does your niche want to see? What special technology will best serve your niche?

Services 

Not all services falling under comprehensive financial planning (e.g., investment management, financial planning, retirement planning, tax planning, estate planning, and risk management) apply to your niche. There also may be some services important to your niche that most advisors don’t offer. For example, if you work with business owners, you may need to provide business succession planning.

Customize your services and how you describe them to be most impactful for your ideal client. For example, if you work with multigenerational families, you may want to include “family legacy planning” instead of estate planning.

Pricing 

Your pricing should reflect what makes sense for your niche. For example, you may have a niche that is high earning but doesn’t have investable assets. A traditional AUM fee model won’t work unless you are willing to take a loss for several years, hoping they’ll eventually have the assets to be profitable.

If you want to get paid for your advice when you give it, you may need to develop a creative pricing model for your niche to be profitable. You may have to consider options outside of AUM, such as hourly, project-based, subscription, commission, flat fee, and percentage of net worth.

Final Thoughts

Your goal as a financial advisor serving a niche is to become uncomparable, meaning no competitors can even compare with you in the eyes of your prospective clients. To achieve this, you need to combine the who (your niche) with the what (how you serve your niche). When designing your “what,” look at your proprietary process, client experience, services, and pricing. By specifically designing these four elements for your niche, you create an uncomparable business model.

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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.

The 52: “Marketing Is Far Too Important to Be Left to the Marketing Department”

“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.