Did you know that you are 42% more likely to achieve your goals when you write them down? If you’re thinking about what you want to accomplish for 2020, we highly recommend taking the time to write it down and plan it out. This is especially true for marketing. Creating a documented, actionable marketing strategy will help you achieve your goals and mark things off your to-do list all year round.
As a busy financial advisor, marketing probably falls off your radar as the year goes by. When you take time to write down your strategy and set goals for yourself and your team, you’re much more likely to stick with them.
In our broadcast, Master Marketing With a Documented Marketing Strategy, we provided a plan for planning your best 2020. The five areas we suggested focusing on were:
- Refocusing Your Brand
- Updating Your Website
- Planning Your Custom Content
- Delivering Value to Your Clients
- Defining Your Social Strategy
#1 – Refocusing Your Brand
A good digital marketing plan needs a foundational understanding of who you are targeting and what you have to offer them. Often, business owners make the mistake of starting with what their business does and build their marketing around that. But author and marketing expert Simon Sinek advises business owners always start with why your business does what it does. What are the values that drive your business?
Once you have your values determined, you can make sure your marketing messages communicate those values. This will help you better attract your ideal client, so you can have more meaningful conversations with qualified prospects.
By focusing on the why, you can build your brand promise. There are four brand pillars that will help you put this together;
- Definition: How do you define your brand promise?
- Expression: What are the ways you communicate your brand promise?
- Delivery: How do clients and prospects receive or find your brand promise?
- Experience: How satisfied are your clients and prospects with your brand promise?
Before you kick off your marketing strategy for 2020, take the time to sit with your team and come up with your brand promise. If you aren’t aligned, it will be challenging to plan your content and campaigns, because you won’t know whether it speaks to your clients and prospects. After all, marketing that doesn’t serve value is just selling.
#2 – Updating Your Website
Once you’ve defined your brand promise, you need to make sure your website reflects it. Your brand promise should be instantly apparent when a new visitor hits your homepage. It also helps to make sure your website has a fresh and modern look to help communicate your professionalism. To make that happen, we suggest updating the following:
- New professional headshot
- Clear and meaningful logo
- Recent company photos
- Web copy that speaks to your value and addresses your unique ideal client
In addition to including this updated branding, a great website is also modern, responsive, mobile-friendly, and well-designed. Investing in a powerful FMG Suite website will provide your clients and prospects with a great online experience.
#3 – Planning Your Custom Content
Businesses with blogs generate 67% more leads than those without. 2020 is the year you should launch your custom blog, with articles that communicate your unique brand promise and appeal to your ideal client.
Custom content is key for standing out and connecting with your clients. Combine compliance approved content from the FMG Suite library with custom content on your blog to cover all the bases. You’ll have a full resource library to establish you as an expert, as well as original content to boost your SEO and set you apart.
Your content marketing plan should be varied and full. It could include:
- Blogs
- Videos
- Webinars
- Social media posts
- Infographics
- Podcasts
- Ebooks
#4 – Delivering Value to Your Clients
Don’t create content just to create it. Instead, make sure it delivers value. The best way to do that is to solve a problem. Your content should address client pain points and their common questions and problems. While providing specific advice could be an issue with compliance, staying general with grander financial insight is a great way to provide value.
When you sit down to create a new blog or video, ask yourself two questions:
- What is the problem?
- What is your unique solution?
If you’re new to creating your own content, download this ebook for a step-by-step guide to creating, publishing, and promoting your first original piece!
Build a Marketing Calendar
When planning out all your content for the year, it can be very helpful to put it in a marketing calendar. This template will help you schedule your year, including blogs, social posts, events, and email newsletters. You don’t need to fill out the entire year right away, but schedule your regular posts and annual events now to keep yourself accountable.
And if you haven’t heard, the FMG Suite dashboard now includes a 2-week calendar view, so you can see everything you’re scheduled to post and send in the coming days.
#5 – Defining Your Social Strategy
Starting off the new year with a solid social strategy will ensure you keep your marketing machine moving.
Start by optimizing your social profiles for your brand name. We suggest starting with Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Claim your brand name across these channels and fill out your profile in its entirety. This includes:
- Professional and updated photos (cover and profile)
- “About” section that speaks to brand promise
- Accurate business listing information (phone, email, address, website)
Make sure everyone has admin access who might be posting this year. Giving someone else in your office the ability to post will make sure your profiles are still active when you go on vacation or get too busy.
Social Post Types
Our top recommendation for your social media strategy is to diversify. If you only ever post links to Forbes articles, your followers will get bored and stop engaging. Instead, post a variety of posts ranging from financial updates to facts about your team. Not only should the subject matter vary, but so should the media type. You should try posting videos, links to your website, links to trusted 3rd party resources, photos, designed graphics, and text-only updates. You never know what might be the key to unlocking engagement from your audience!
Challenge yourself in the new year to experiment and have fun on social media. After all, it’s meant to be social! If you enjoy finding things to post, your audience will enjoy seeing them.
Creating 3+ custom posts every week can be overwhelming, so supplement your feed with FMG Suite social media content. From one-off financial posts to series that offer weekly golf tips, you can find the right content to speak to your brand promise.
Master Marketing in 2020
Starting your year with a documented strategy will help you make this next year a success. By taking the time to think through and write down your strategy to communicate your company’s values, you’ll build stronger relationships with clients and prospects alike.
