Designing Your Marketing Strategy Around Your Ideal Client

This past week I attended the NAPFA Practice Management & Investments Conference in San Diego.  One of my favorite tips was from Tracy Beckes who made the point that advisors should define their ideal client and then design the firm around that client.  Her point was that once an advisor has chosen an ideal client, the services offered, processes developed, people hired, strategy pursued and business model created should all support the ideal client.  This approach is brilliantly simple and provides a clear formula for success.  This strategy makes sense from a marketing perspective as well.  A marketing plan easily falls into place once the ideal client has been clearly defined.

To demonstrate how choosing an ideal client can dictate a marketing strategy, I thought I would use an example of an advisor I met at the conference.  This advisor was considering focusing her practice on women who are currently in the divorce process or recently divorced since she felt she could significantly help this demographic.   If she adopts this ideal client profile, she has the opportunity to implement a focused marketing strategy.  Let’s take a look at how easily a marketing strategy falls into place when the ideal client profile is defined by brainstorming ideas for the different areas of a marketing plan using this advisor’s ideal client as an example.

Potential Marketing Plan:

Direct Marketing

• Host a series of workshops on issues women face in divorce including financial, legal, psychological, family and social concerns.   The advisor could partner with other experts to offer a wider variety of topics to draw a larger audience.

Referrals/Client Marketing

• Host quarterly get-togethers/mixers for clients to meet other interesting women to expand their social and professional network.  Clients would be encouraged to bring friends with them to provide a casual introduction to the advisor.

Centers of Influence (COI) Marketing

• Join associations and attend networking events for divorce attorneys, family law attorneys and family therapists to expand the professional network and develop possible referral sources.
• Partner with other professionals to host the workshops discussed under Direct Marketing.

Social Media & Email Marketing

• Write a blog with articles focused around money tips for women who are separated, in the middle of a divorce or newly single.  Ask centers of influence to provide guests blogs to develop those relationships.
• Share blog articles on women’s groups on Facebook and LinkedIn as well as other women-focused social networking groups.
• Send a monthly e-newsletter to clients, prospects and COIs featuring articles from the blog and invitations to upcoming events.

Marketing Collateral

• Convert blog articles into print handouts to provide prospects with financial tips specific to their concerns that can be included in the introduction kit.
• Create a brochure and website focused on the message of how the firm helps women through divorce and works with them to build happy, successful lives after a divorce and for years to come.

Networking

• Create a Meetup.com group for women facing divorce or newly divorced with opportunities to attend social events to expand their social and support network.  This could be combined with the client get-togethers/mixers discussed in Referrals/Client Marketing and provides the advisor opportunities to meet new prospects.

As you can see from the example, when an ideal client profile is clearly defined, aspects of the business fall into place, including marketing.  As Tracy Beckes said in her presentation, “When your strategy is clear, decisions are easy.”   

About Kristen Luke

Kristen Luke is the Principal of Wealth Management Marketing, a firm dedicated to providing marketing strategies and support for Registered Investment Advisory firms. Kristen works with individual advisors and firms to develop effective marketing plans and provides the back office support required to implement the strategies. For more information, visit www.wealthmanagementmarketing.net.