One of the biggest marketing roadblocks we hear about from financial advisors is planning. The reality of marketing planning, for many, looks like dusting off last year’s plan, updating the dates, and developing a budget from there. While it’s helpful to look back at past initiatives for learnings and ideas, simply repeating last year’s marketing plan misses opportunities to re-align business goals with marketing ones. If done well, your marketing plan creates alignment internally and leaves no question in the minds of clients and prospects about the value you bring.
Developing a strong marketing plan becomes challenging for many leaders because:
There is no simplified or consistent process describing what building a successful plan looks like or where to start.
It is often unclear what details are needed, where to find them, and how to interpret them.
Our three-step marketing planning checklist helps you overcome these challenges and guides you through setting goals, developing a strategy for achieving those goals, and crafting a vision of success.
Set Your Goals and Lock Down Your Marketing Foundation
Develop your business and marketing goals for the coming months. Set goals around Assets Under Management (AUM), number of new clients, premium production, team growth, brand awareness, and any upcoming milestones you’d like to hit. Write down each goal and discuss with your team the first steps to make it happen. For example, don’t just write “improve client experience.” Instead write, “improve client experience by templating all onboarding communications and sharing with the team by next quarter.”
Re-segment your clients. Revisit your segmentation definitions and refine them as needed to ensure they reflect your future goals. Pay special attention to lifestyle, not just financial considerations, when defining or re-defining your ideal client.
Revisit your overall positioning language and messaging. Based on your segmentation, ideal client evolution, and business goals, does your messaging need to be tweaked? Ensure your messaging clearly articulates the value you bring and why you are still the firm of choice.
Evaluate the Last 12 Months of Activities & Develop a Plan
Evaluate your marketing activities for the past 12 months. Which activities yielded the best results and brought you the most value? Based on your evaluation and future goals, decide which activities you will start, stop, and continue in the coming year. Use our Marketing Funnel Checklist to map out your current and future state.
Develop your marketing budget. Begin with a look back at the last 12 months of your budget and how it was spent. With your goals in mind, decide where you will dial back or invest more. Check out this short video on creating a goals-driven marketing budget to help you get started.
Evaluate the past year’s marketing commitments. Consider media agreements, advertising contracts, sponsorships, etc. Which will you start, stop, and continue in the coming year? Do you need to re-negotiate terms, re-sign deals, and/or terminate contracts? Ensure your commitments will help you achieve your business goals!
Develop your marketing plan. Now that you’ve aligned your business and marketing goals, revisited your target market, and reaffirmed your overall positioning, it’s time to lay out your marketing plan to transform ideas into actions. When deciding what strategies to employ, play to your strengths. If one of your marketing goals involves thought leadership, but you hate public speaking, scale it back and provide education in smaller group settings such as a business owners’ breakfast.
Don’t be afraid to test new initiatives and employ the three m’s of marketing: monitor, measure, and modify. Not every activity will give you the desired results at the desired time you want. Some of the best marketing strategies take shape and gain momentum over time before fully taking off. And don’t give up on a strategy just because you didn’t acquire a year’s worth of new clients from one initiative. Remember the marketing rule of seven where someone needs to hear, see, and experience your marketing message at least seven times before they buy from you. And, that message needs to be consistent to both keep their interest and earn their trust.
Ensure a Consistent Digital Presence to Support Your Goals
Update your website. Did you partner with a new philanthropic organization you want to add to your community page? Is your team page and information still accurate? Ensure your website is accurate, consistent, and still reflects your ideal client, value proposition, and goals.
Update your LinkedIn profile. Did you receive a new designation this past year and forgot to add it? Have you recently been featured in any media and want to add it to your Featured Links section? Is your About section still relevant and compelling to those you’re looking to attract? Ensure your profile, look, and feel are reflective of your brand messaging and other client-facing media.
Develop an Editorial Calendar for the coming year. Add in holidays, firm and company events, awards seasons, service benchmarks, key financial planning dates, timely topics for ideal clients, and more.
We know that planning for marketing often feels complex and nearly impossible to coordinate, especially for advisors and their firms. You agonize over choosing the right activities and might wind up throwing a bunch of things against the wall waiting to see what sticks. Don’t just do marketing for marketing’s sake. Explore all of the meaningful and unique activities you are already doing with your clients, and build up from there.
Now, get out there and start marketing!
Whole Growth Partners and Your Business
Are you confident you’re investing in the right marketing strategies? Enlist the help of a strong marketing partner who focuses on the growth of your whole business. Let’s talk; we’re here to help.
