Four Marketing Mistakes Every Advisor Should Avoid

I recently attended my local Financial Planning Association (FPA) quarterly meeting.  When I introduced myself to my table as a marketing consultant for financial planners, everyone wanted to know which types of marketing were working these days and which were not.  I get this question quite often, with advisors anxiously anticipating for me to give them the answer that will solve all of their prospecting woes.   The problem is that there is no one marketing strategy that is guaranteed to drive hundreds of prospective clients into an advisor’s office.  If there was, everyone would be marketing the same way.

When asked which marketing strategies work, my answer is, “The advisors who are most effective at marketing these days are the ones who focus on relationships and education and who consistently market their businesses.” This is never a popular answer, but it is the truth. While I can’t tell you which marketing campaigns will definitely work, I can tell you the mistakes advisors make that ensure a strategy will fail.

Mistake #1: Failing to Define a Target Market
Every marketing book you will read will tell you that the first thing you need to do before starting any marketing campaign is to define your target market.  By identifying your target market, you are able to focus your marketing efforts to achieve maximum results.  Too often advisors ignore this important step and market to anyone who meets the minimum investable assets requirement.  When I ask advisors why they don’t narrowly define their market, they tell me they are afraid to limit their client base or are afraid of turning away business.  There are two problems with this strategy.  First, by not identifying a niche market, it makes it difficult for your clients and strategic partners to tell people what you do and who you serve.  This will hinder your ability to generate referral business.  Second, in order to reach everyone who has more than a minimum amount of investable assets, you will have to spread your marketing dollars thin to reach them all.

Mistake #2: Failing to Write a Marketing Plan
Writing a marketing plan can seem like a burden, but it is imperative to the success of your business.  Consistency and repetition are two important keys to marketing success, but in order to achieve these, you must write out and follow a plan.  So many advisors I talk to will host a public workshop “here and there,” hold a client appreciation event when “they feel like it,” and send a newsletter when “they get around it.”  Advisors with this type of muddled marketing plan will wonder why their marketing “doesn’t work”.  It’s not necessarily the techniques that aren’t working; it’s the implementation and inconsistency that’s not working.  By writing a plan, you can set deadlines for each campaign and ensure you are consistently marketing on a weekly or monthly basis.

Mistake #3: Not Allowing a Sufficient Time Frame
So many advisors tell me they are frustrated with their marketing efforts because they just aren’t paying off.  When I ask how long a campaign has been executed, it’s not uncommon for the answer to be “a few weeks” or “a couple of months”.  It is common for advisors to evaluate their marketing efforts too soon and conclude a strategy is not working only to move on to the next “great idea.”  In reality, if the campaign was given a few more months, it might have proven to be profitable.  As I mentioned earlier, much of a campaign’s success depends on consistency and repetition, so give it some time for this to happen.  I don’t recommend you keep doing what doesn’t work, but I do recommend you give any campaign a minimum of six months before concluding it doesn’t work.

Mistake #4: Getting Caught Up in the ‘Next Big Thing’
Too often, advisors get caught up in the next big marketing idea because they think it is going to be the silver bullet.  I see this happening right now with social media marketing.  Each week I write a blog and the posts that are the most popular by far are the ones that address social media marketing strategies.  This concerns me because it shows that so many advisors are looking for “the next big thing”.  Social media marketing works for the same reasons other marketing techniques work: an advisor has clearly identified a narrow target market and consistently and regularly implements the campaign.  Shifting efforts to the next big thing will not guarantee your marketing will be a success.  In fact, it could ensure your marketing will fail if you don’t already have the fundamentals down.   Only shift to the next big thing if it makes good sense for your business and you have the discipline to see it through.

Now that I have identified many common mistakes, the question is, “How can you be a successful marketer?”  The answer is quite simple –  Use the same disciplined approach you recommend to your clients about their investments.  Define your goals, create a plan, follow the plan and be patient.  Remember, there is no silver bullet in marketing.  Stay focused, remain disciplined and be consistent and you will be on your way to being a marketing success. 

Kristen Luke is the Principal of Wealth Management Marketing, a firm dedicated to providing marketing advice and support for financial advisors. Kristen works with independent advisors to develop effective marketing plans and provides the back office support required to implement the strategies.  She has recently started developing custom marketing plans for advisors with step-by-step instructions giving the advisor the tools to implement the plan on his or her own.  For more information, visit www.WealthManagementMarketing.net.