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For several decades, financial advisors successfully used seminars to introduce themselves to potential clients. Seminar marketing is still the most effective way to present yourself as an authority and knowledgeable resource—two traits investors covet in a trusted advisor. However, thanks to Covid19, live seminar events may be a thing of the past, at least until the country and the world returns to some semblance of normalcy, which is a date uncertain. In their place, financial advisors have turned to webinars, a digital alternative that can generate at least the same level of success as live seminars but much more cost-effectively.
Even for advisors who avoided seminar marketing for whatever reason (cost, effort, resources, no presenter skills, etc.), webinars offer a unique opportunity for any advisor to take their marketing to the next level.
With minimal time, effort and costs, advisors can present to dozens or even hundreds of prospects at a time without having to rent a hotel meeting room or forking over thousands of dollars to a seminar marketing company. Perhaps the biggest advantage of webinars over seminars is you can conduct them from just about anywhere wearing any outfit you choose.
Cost and convenience aside, there are several critical reasons why webinars should be an integral part of an advisor’s marketing plan. Let’s have a look at eight such reasons.
1. Increase your visibility as an authority on a specific subject matter.
Webinars provide a professional and widely accepted platform to demonstrate your expertise. In the digital age, investors are spending more time on the internet looking for information and advice. Webinars are not only a valuable source of information, but they also demonstrate you are tech-savvy, which is appealing to many investors.
2. Attract larger audiences.
Webinars are more widely attended than live seminars because people can view them from the comfort of their home or office. The challenge with seminar marketing has always been filling seats. Many people interested in the subject matter find any number of reasons not to leave their home or office to attend. Now, Covid19 is the only reason they need.
3. Scale your efforts and expand your reach.
With webinars, you can scale your efforts and expand your reach. The content you create for webinars can be repurposed in many formats—as a download from your website, an email newsletter, as a replay on social media. The most popular downloads from advisors’ websites are free webinar replays and eBooks.
4. Find better qualified leads.
People are willing to exchange their contact information for a free webinar they feel will benefit them. That’s the golden ticket every advisor looks for—a new lead with contact information to put in their funnel. And, because they are attracted to the subject matter, you know something about their needs and interests.
5. Easy setup.
Setup is all digital, which beats traveling to a location, arranging the room, setting up a projector, and feeding attendees. Most advisors already have the necessary equipment to conduct a webinar—a computer with two screens, an external microphone, PowerPoint, and a strong internet connection. At some point, you may want to upgrade your external microphone and possibly outsource your slide creation to a professional. Hosting services are often free or substantially less expensive than the cost of a hotel meeting room.
6. Increase your ROI on marketing investment
Seminars have been known to produce a reasonably good ROI over time for advisors willing to spend thousands of dollars on each event. It’s conceivable that you don’t have to spend a dime to conduct a webinar, except that it is a waste of your time without attendees. For a few hundred dollars a month invested in digital marketing, you can produce a constant stream of attendees. With one new account, your ROI can far exceed what you could earn from a seminar. Even better, once you set up your webinar structure, it’s easy to repeat the process, thereby lowering your costs as you go.
7. Educate your clients
Clients feel more empowered when they get the information they need. Advisors who use webinars to educate their clients build stronger bonds and, in many cases, attract additional assets.
As bad as Covid19 is for humanity, it may turn out to be a mixed blessing for advisors. The pandemic has driven investors online in search of answers so, with the right digital marketing tools, they may actually be easier to find. As a result, webinars are enjoying increasing popularity among advisors. As with any new marketing tool, there is a learning curve to understand the medium, and it still requires crafting compelling content presented in a way to optimize the experience for attendees. But, with a little effort and minimal costs, the advantages of webinars far outweigh any disadvantages you might think of.
Related: Three Challenges Advisors Face in the Post-Pandemic World