A client recently told me that the value of the advice he gives is all about filling in the knowledge gaps for his clients: ‘You don’t know what you don’t know’. I feel much the same way about what I do with my own marketing clients. I know they know something about marketing. I also know they don’t have the time, resources, energy and sometimes even interest to know and do everything.
Like financial and other professional advice providers, I also recognise the value of what I do. In this article, I want to share 5 ideas with you about how a marketing agency can help you build a stronger financial planning business.
1. Help define your target audience.
‘At our financial planning business we do everything’. That’s great and I’ve heard financial planners tell me that often. The problem with this from a marketing perspective is that everyone doesn’t necessarily want or need everything you do. A marketing agency can help you define your ideal client(s). An ideal client is simply a specific kind of client that your business can work with to achieve great advice outcomes for them as well as great outcomes for your business. To read more about this idea, click here.
2. Help set your marketing goals.
As the old saying goes, ‘If you don’t know where you’re going, how will you know when you get there?’ Setting marketing goals can be confronting, especially if you haven’t set them before. A marketing agency can help you analyze past performance and set goals. Typical financial planning marketing goals might include:
• Complete all annual client reviews by the due date with all existing clients.
• Build awareness and reputation around helping ideal clients with their financial advice needs.
• Attract 24 new prospective ideal clients who attend first meeting appointments over the next 12 months.
3. Create and document your marketing plan.
Just like a financial plan, any marketing, promotion or business development plan should be documented. A marketing agency can complete a plan for your advice business. You review and add the plan before implementation. Typical contents of a marketing plan would normally include:
• Situation analysis (SWOT)
• Goals
• Strategy and actions
• Calendar
• Budget
4. Implement your marketing plan.
An idea is just another idea if it’s not implemented. The same can be said for the financial plan that you write for your clients. A marketing agency will be able to take the plan and implement it for your business. They might work with other providers too, depending on your needs. These might include photographers, videographers, graphic artists, web developers, merchandise providers, event managers and venues… there could be a long list depending on what it is that you’re trying to achieve.
5. Evaluate the results.
Just like you do with your own clients at annual review time, a marketing agency should spend time as a part of the marketing planning process to review the results from implementation. What KPI’s were achieved? What should we do differently? Evaluation can help identify areas for change and development, the ability to learn and the opportunity to reach your goals more efficiently going forward.
There’s a lot that good marketing and good financial planning have in common. If you’re looking for a marketing agency to work with, we invite you to explore our services.
