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Make Hay While the Sun Shines On College Funding;
7 Tips On How Advisors Can Market to 529 Plan Investors

          College funding plans, particularly 529 plans, are on investors’ radar screens right now and that offers financial advisors new marketing opportunities.

            "All good marketing starts with identifying a need you can fulfill and 529 plans are definitely a hot topic these days," says Martin R. Baird, president of Phoenix, Ariz.-based Advisor Marketing and author of The 7 Deadly Sins of Advisor Marketing.  "But what is the best way for advisors to market college-funding plans? Fortunately, it’s not that difficult"

            Baird offers the following seven tips that should help advisors market themselves to investors who are interested in college-funding options.  These tips and others are offered on a daily basis by Advisor Marketing through its Web site advisormarketing.com, a site that provides free marketing information just for financial advisors.

Number 1 - The most obvious potential investors for college funding are parents,  but don’t overlook grandparents.  "If you believe what you read about trillions of dollars that baby boomers will inherit in the coming years, then grandparents are a must target," Baird says.

Number 2 - Make a decision about what’s in it for the investor and be sure your marketing addresses what is important to your clients and prospects..  "Parents and grandparents do not care about college funding," Baird says.  "But they do care about saving money on taxes.  They care about making sure the important people in their lives have it better than they did and they see higher education as a way to achieve that."

Number 3 -Roll out a "make hay" marketing plan - in other words, make hay while the sun shines.  "The sun is definitely shining on the topic of college funding, so an advisor’s marketing should hit the target market hard and fast," Baird notes.

Number 4 - Think of ways to share information with clients and prospects as quickly as possible.  That could include sending faxes and e-mails that let your clients know you are the college-funding expert, according to Baird.

Number 5 - Explore the possibility of working with local preschools and grade schools to offer college-funding information to parents.  "Tell parents about tax benefits and compounding so they understand why they need to take action now," Baird says.

Number 6 - Use media relations as part of your marketing.  "The media is interested in 529 plans and this gives advisors the opportunity to be a source of information for reporters and editors," Baird says.  "Through publicity, you can show the world that you are an expert on this subject."

Number 7 - Hold a seminar on college funding.  "The media has generated interest in 529 plans and now is the time to capitalize on that," Baird says.  "You could hold a seminar on critical mistakes grandparents make when helping grandchildren with the high cost of college.  How could your target market resist that?"

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.