Ellis Communications, L.L.C.

Be Outrageous, Fight a Different War, Select the Right Words
To Plow Through Today’s Marketing Clutter and Be Heard

People are inundated with marketing messages every day and cutting through the clutter is critical if financial advisors hope to have any success with their own marketing efforts.

 "The challenge is simply getting noticed," says Martin R. Baird, president of Phoenix, Ariz.-based Advisor Marketing and author of The 7 Deadly Sins of Advisor Marketing.   "In today’s heavy marketing environment, how does an advisor’s message stand out enough to register on the public’s radar screen?"

            Baird offers the following five tips on how advisors can combat the marketing clutter problem.

Number 1 - View all marketing messages as competition for your own message.  "If your message isn’t more interesting than ‘can you hear me now?’ and ‘zero percent financing,’ it will not get the attention it needs," Baird says.  "If your message isn’t compelling and interesting, you’re wasting your money."

Number 2 - If you can’t win the battle for mind share with huge advertisers, fight a new war.  “Most small businesses can’t win hand-to-hand ad combat with much larger companies and their very deep pockets, so the answer is to go around them and talk to your prospects in a new or different way," Baird recommends.

Number 3 - Be outrageous to get noticed.  "It’s easy to be conservative in the financial services industry," Baird notes.  "It’s too easy and conservative may not cut it today.  Now is the time to take risks and get noticed."

Number 4 - Words are enough to fight glitz and get someone to pay attention.  "If they’re the words your target market cares about, they can get the job done," Baird says.  “Carefully selected words can do more than a beautiful picture.  They can educate and tell more of the story."

Number 5 - Sex does not sell.  "Sexuality will get a person’s attention but it won’t sell the product," Baird says.  "The image may stop someone in their tracks but it’s the copy in your message that turns someone into a hot prospect or client."

Advisormarketing.com is the premiere Internet-based source for free marketing advice, information and tools for self-driven, success-oriented financial advisors who are demanding information that helps them market their practice, meet the needs of their clients and increase sales.  It offers such services as a free weekly electronic newsletter, free reports on how to conduct different kinds of marketing and evaluation of advisors’ marketing materials that is provided at no charge when the critique is posted online for all advisors to read.  Advisormarketing.com also offers an electronic forum where advisors can learn from each other by discussing common problems, sharing ideas and gaining new insights from their peers.  Advisor Marketing may be reached at 480-991-6421.