Whether advisors want to admit it or not, the digital age is here. Technology is transforming our business and changing the behavior of our clients like never before. It has made the world smaller, given us shorter attention spans, and increased the number of ways we learn and connect with each other.
It has also made our clients and prospects hungry for information. The question is, are you doing everything you can to satisfy that hunger when a potential client considers doing business with your firm?
Build A Website If You Don’t Have One Yet
Having a professional website that has an attractive look and feel is vital, especially if your profession requires a positive first impression.
Your website needs to have several elements: a local number or a toll-free number; contact forms; and a combination of text, visuals, and videos. Your site has to also offer easy navigation (user-friendly), and it has to also be optimized for the search engines (SEO-friendly). Also, if your practice is located in a city or metropolitan area with a high concentration of Hispanics, it’s best practice to have a bilingual site as Hispanic Internet users like to toggle between English and Spanish.
Why Is Your Main Site So Essential?
Your website is like your Home – You need to have one in order before inviting your Guests (clients).
Your website is like your digital brochure – You can email pages, including before and after pictures, to potential clients for them to read more about your practice.
Your website is like an extension of your team – It works for you and your team when you are all sleeping, but you have to build it for visitors to come by.
Make Your Website An Interactive Marketing Hub
The process of consumers getting to know you is forever changed. In fact, it has completely flipped. It is no longer about you discovering them; it is about them discovering and learning about you.
The easiest way for prospects to learn about you and your firm is through your website. Many advisors know this, but what you may not realize is that your website serves as so much more than just a static canvas for promotion and education. Your website should be a living, breathing tool that changes and evolves as you do. In other words, it is critical to build a complete human view of yourself and your firm online.
Turning your website into an interactive marketing hub means making it a central location that your audience is directed to no matter how they find you online. It allows your clients and prospects to get to know you through being consistently visible and valuable where they spend most of their time online, through social media, and through their friends (your clients perhaps), in person.
Revamp Your Social Media Approach
Start a company page on Facebook and LinkedIn, write a blog, and set up a Twitter account to communicate with your target audience and showcase your firm.
As the lines between communication and marketing blur, it is becoming more important for advisors to develop a social strategy that serves both of these business functions. The key with social media is to provide valuable content and communication. Without these components, your social strategy will end up like everyone else – unsuccessful and unproductive.
Through blogging and social media, you have a tremendous opportunity to paint a masterpiece that will attract your ideal clients. If you need a push in the right direction, here are three things you can do right now:
Create content that gets shared on mobile devices: Regularly schedule tweets and posts that can be delivered automatically. Link the content you share, like motion graphic videos, articles, and calculators, back to your website.
Let your personality show through: The beauty of social media is that you can demonstrate value while also showing your personality and the culture of your firm. Showcase a picture from one of your client events or of one of your team members in action with a client.
Collect and use information from clients’ social profiles: To make sure your social content is relevant and meaningful to your target audience, collect information from your current clients’ social profiles or those you are interested in prospecting.
Develop Your Digital Brand
In the past few years, marketing budgets for advisors have shifted online from the traditional offline channels. That is because consumer interest and influence has moved to areas like social media, marketing websites, and online news.
With this shift in client behavior, advisors need a better way to manage their digital brand. The pressure to continually differentiate ourselves from the crowd will only get stronger, and developing a proactive plan will prevent you from getting left behind. Here are just a few action items you can implement now to improve your digital brand:
Upgrade your profile on LinkedIn: Of all the social media channels available, LinkedIn will be most productive for you as an advisor. Take a few minutes today and enhance the look and feel of your profile. This step alone is a big one toward developing a stronger digital presence within your professional network.
Get professional video footage on your website: The best way to give your website some personal flare is to add professional video footage. You are the most important element to your website, so showcase yourself in a way no one else can. Greet your visitors with a welcome message, teach a fundamental concept, or discuss your business philosophy.
Make sure every digital outreach appeals to your target market: When developing and distributing content online, make sure the material speaks to your ideal clients. The more your message resonates with your target audience, the more you position yourself as the right fit for those people.
Blog Consistently
Two days a week or more is ideal, but if you can only commit to blogging once a week or twice a month, then do it! Blogging feeds your website with new content, content that attracts visitors and holds them on your page longer. A regularly updated blog shows that your company is active and has valuable information to share. Google will also index your site more favorably if it has regular updates.
Bottomline
It’s one thing to boost your company’s online presence in general. Now you need to nurture it! Make sure you monitor your company’s online reputation, respond quickly to any negativity, and connect with your prospects on a regular basis. You can accomplish all of this by implementing marketing automation software such as Hubspot, Active Campaign, Sharpspring, or others. Another great option is to hire a reputable web design firm to assist you, from creating killer marketing content, managing social presences and campaigns to website upgrades, and to redesign so your company can maintain a competitive edge.
Boosting your online presence can be time-consuming, but it’s effort well spent for the long and short-term vision of your company.
