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If I could have one wish that would help advisors and clients alike, it would be for advisors who focus on long term planning to stop sending out market commentaries.
For years I have heard advisors gripe, “My clients are so focused on performance. I am a planner!”
Well what do you expect? Someone somewhere at one point in your career, convinced you that sending 100 touches a year is the right thing to do. To get to that magical and completely arbitrary 100, you can get about 50 (on average) by sending a dry, terribly written, market commentary (which is usually wrong) to your clients.
The same piece of crap hundreds if not thousands of advisors send out to their clients.
So you're sending your clients communications that aren't your voice, and on the topic of one of the many things you can't control in your clients life (I hope your clients know you don't control the market, but hey, weirder things have happened).
But if you're sending them commentary on the stock markets every week, and that is the majority of your communication with your clients... can you blame them for focusing on market performance?
So, how do you get your clients focused on the longterm and not on performance?
First off, let's get it back into your voice.
I know it is hard to write. I know it is hard to deal with compliance. But sending market reports says to your clients - this is my top priority.
And are you thinking about the markets all the time? Most likely not. You are working on solutions to help your clients live the retirement they have worked so hard to achieve.
I have a great solution that works so well for our advisors. Podcasting.
It is not the marketing solution that will get you hundreds of new prospects. But it IS an innovative way to communicate your thoughts to your clients, and get them focused on the right things.
You might say, “My clients don’t listen to podcasts.” And you might be right. But listening to podcasts isn't the only point here.
Here is the equation:
Podcasts = Social Media Posts + Blogs
All in your own words!
Plus, if they listen to your podcast, that is even better! They can be trained over time, as a part of your client culture, to listen to podcasts. They already listen to music on their phone. It's not a large leap to get them subscribed to your weekly podcast.
And since most of you are numbers people, here are some statistics on podcasting in America.
If you say, “Well those are really low numbers! Only 12% of my clients would listen to podcasts.”
Check your open rate for that crappy weekly market commentary. My guess is it's around 2%. And podcast engagement is growing on average 20% a year!
Related: Why Digital Dollars Are Winning for Financial Advisors
Every year your client demographic changes as some of your clients pass on, and your roster is filled with younger clients.
Podcasting for millennials requires no training (most of them are already listening to podcasts anyways!). So don't miss out on the opportunity to influence and grow with new and younger clients.
Podcasting is easy.
Podcasting is fun.
It is less money that you would expect.
Here is a link to a free whitepaper on “How to start your own financial podcast.”