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Thinking about going inbound, creating content, getting more leads?
Check out these marketing mistakes that RIAs, financial advisors, and investment managers can smartly bypass on the road to raising revenue:
1. Not Going Inbound
Inbound marketing is different than traditional outbound marketing: it seeks to inform, educate, and answer questions when consumers are ready to learn – not, as much traditional advertising does, which is to interrupt. Inbound marketing has changed the way fund marketers can reach potential buyers. It’s all about attracting the right people, educating them with the right content, and converting them into leads at the right time.
2. Creating Content Without a Strategy
Before you create content, you need to figure out what content you need to create that will drive people to your website who might want to buy your stuff. You'll need to map your content to your target audience, create a list of keywords…and then develop the content. So: strategy first, then tactics.
3. Not Committing to a Creating Compelling Content
A successful inbound marketing strategy takes diligence and patience in the creation and distribution. It's important that clear goals are defined on the outset. But the content also needs to be driven by the tone and format that will engage and resonate with your potential investors. How long did it take to build Rome? Or any successful venture? Probably not overnight.
4. Not Focusing on Finishing a Few Things Fantastically
To successfully invest in inbound marketing, you need to build your marketing components gradually over many months, and take each step one at a time. The key is to prioritize.
Do one or two things well, then do more. For example, you may first want to build our your blog to 50 or 100 posts, then repurpose the two best post into excellent eBooks. Or you may want to focus on creating your social media program first. Even with social media, it may be best to focus on one platform first, say Twitter, and become a master Twitterer before developing your Google+ program. Other content, such as infographics, webinars, and email marketing can be saved for the next phase of content development.
5. Not Setting Goals SMART Goals
What’s a “smart” goal? It’s a goal that is specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely. Peter Drucker, in his book “The Practice of Management,” coined the phrase in 1954…it still obtains.
Specific. Every goal should have a number, like "write two blog articles a week" - not "write more blogs."
Measurable. If you want to know if you are reaching your goals, you’ll need a yardstick of real numbers.
Attainable. Fancy hard goals may look good on paper, but if they are not realist or otherwise not attainable, why commit to them? Be honest and true about capabilities.
Relevant. Your goals should actually matter to your business. Let's say you're a unicorn food company that has 100 stores that will only accept 10 boxes of unicorn food in their store. In this situation, your goal likely shouldn't be to "increase production of unicorn food from 1,000 per month to 5,000 per month." While it's great you have more product, if no one is going to buy them, why bother?
Timely. Stick to your deadlines! If you keep pushing it back, your goals lose credibility and the system falls apart.
6. Not Using Content You've Already Got
You don't necessarily have to reengineer your website and marketing materials. Better to simply optimize the material you already have.
If your website is already wonderful, you may just want to add targeted calls to actions and landing page links. If you have a series of brochure guides, you can repurpose it into an eBook, pitch book, blog post, or webinar.
7. Not Having a Blog
Don't have time to start or maintain a blog? Analyze this: a financial blog that educates investors and potential clients about what you can help make you a thought leader. A blog can help show that your firm is knowledgeable about what concerns your clients. And the more posts you have the more authority – and indexed pages - you potentially possess.
Potential clients, if they are not referred to you, will start their research online. Which RIA or financial advisory firm do you think they will choose to contact?
As an advisor for client portfolios, you may often counsel clients how to best invest to meet long-term goals. If one of your long-term goals is to create more assets under management, you may want to consider building your firm’s blog.
8. Relying Too Much on Google Search for Potential Clients to Find You
Compelling content does not create overnight traffic, leads, phone calls, appointments, or new clients. From the time a potential clients first sees you online to wiring that first deposit may take three months, six months, a year, or more. So what do you do in the meantime? Just wait? Should you continue to rely on traditional lead sourcing like referrals, events, seminars, and just being super special?
Well, no, of course waiting is not the answer. But social media and pay per click advertising may provide a quick boost of visibility, recognition, and revenue, both in the short term and the long term.
9. Having an Outdated Email List
How old is your email list? Unless you've scrubbed it in the past three months or so, well, probably not. Expect attrition and you won’t be disappointed. Subscribers will unsubscribe over time, or opt out, or move from one job to another without letting you know, or will simply forget why they were on list in the first place. You’ll always need to refresh the list with fresh fruit.
10. Talking About Yourself Too Much
It’s not about you. It’s about what you can do for your clients. Your marketing should be focused on helping prospects find answers to their fresh needs, questions and concerns. By adding value for your prospective investors, you potentially add long-term revenue to your practice.
11. Asking for the Sale Way Too Early
Not all investors are ready to sign up for one on his or her first visit to your website. But you probably knew that. Some content is better for folks who are in the awareness stage (the know they have a problem, but haven’t quite figured out how to approach solving it). If your typical sales cycle is six months from first content to dotted line with your current marketing methods, the same time might be required for leads brought to you via inbound.
12. Not Analyzing Enough
Track the metrics! But only those that count. How much additional website traffic are you looking to get each month from Twitter, LinkedIn, other social media sites; from pay per click advertising; and from organic search? Are you looking to track specific blog post traffic? Do you know what’s working? Some blog post draw better than others; some tweets are awesome, some fall flat; some eBooks produce phone calls, others not.