Ellis Communications, L.L.C.

The Key to Consistent, Effective Marketing:
Make It A Habit

Marketing isn’t every financial advisor’s cup of tea, but this time-honored method for growing one’s practice can be easier to do once it becomes an established habit.

"I saw habit defined on the Internet as ‘the intersection of knowledge, skill and desire,’" says Martin R. Baird, president of Phoenix, Ariz.-based Advisor Marketing and author of The 7 Deadly Sins of Advisor Marketing.  "Once an advisor has basic marketing knowledge and skills and a real desire to do it, marketing can become a habit.”

            Baird offers the following tips on how to make marketing a habit that can generate revenue.

Number 1 – Break some old, less-productive marketing habits and start working on new ones that are more worthwhile.

Number 2 - Stash a few canteens along the trail, some simple things you can do along the way to reward yourself for your effort and progress.

Number 3 - Provide some incentives at the two-, three-, four- and five-week marks for yourself and anyone helping you with your marketing.  "By doing this, you have a dedicated team that is rewarded by your success," Baird says.

Number 4 - Negative rewards also can be motivating.  "If a certain marketing effort is not done by a specific time, agree to volunteer three hours for a local political candidate you do NOT support,"  Baird suggests.  "That’s right.  If you don’t do your marketing, you suffer the consequences."

Number 5 - Don’t roll out a huge marketing project all of a sudden.  Take small strides that will help you reach your marketing goals.  Call 10 clients each day to ask how they’re doing and find out if they have any questions about their investments or the market.  "Distribute a weekly e-mail to clients and prospects with your thoughts or use postcards to make easy contact on a regular basis," Baird says.

Number 6 - Don’t go it alone.  Get the help and support of others.  "You could lean on a marketing partner," Baird says.  "This partner could be an administrative assistant or someone outside the office you hire to help you stay on track."

Number 7 - Organize a group of business people who are all looking for ways to improve their marketing.  They could be from a variety of industries or noncompeting groups with the financial market.

Number 8 -  Use the Internet to develop a global marketing support team.  "I produce an electronic newsletter that’s read by advisors around the world,"  Baird says.  "These same advisors could have great marketing ideas that they would share with you because, for example, most clients in the United States don’t use an advisor in London."

Advisor Marketing provides a variety of services to financial advisors to help them improve their marketing methods and increase revenues, including seminars and conference speaking engagements on such topics as referrals, marketing, client communication and transitioning to fee. 

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.