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Articles

The Value Of Integrated Marketing Initiatives

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More than ever financial advisors are looking for new marketing programs that will take them to where they want to go – down the road to success. There is no question that there is more competition now than ever. Many different companies and services are being offered to many different target groups.

Articles

By Kirk Lowe, President
Freedomarketing

Marketing effectiveness is key!

In order to be competitive, not only survive but prosper, advisors are in search of the most effective marketing strategies available. In spending thousands of dollars annually, most advisors are closer than they might think to having the most effective marketing program. Equally important to having an effective marketing strategy is to have one that is efficient.

Why is marketing efficiency important?

Efficiency implies it is easy to implement and most importantly easy to sustain. Sustaining your marketing strategies is the biggest factor in achieving marketing success.

Efficiency also means that your strategies are inexpensive. This can be a huge contributing factor as well. Expensive initiatives tend to wear thin if they don’t achieve immediate successes. They may be expensive to manage, update and run. They may be draining your budget and staff’s time. An inexpensive and easy to mange program will most likely stand the test of time, provided it does its job.

Finally, marketing efficiency can mean how well your different initiatives integrate with one another.

Does your marketing program integrate different initiatives well?

INTEGRATION: to make complete by adding parts

Having an integrated marketing strategy simply means having different marketing initiatives that come together to achieve one common goal. A good example is conducting a seminar where at the end you ask for people’s names and addresses so you can not only contact them, but continue to market to them in another way. This is one of the most common forms of integrated marketing among financial advisors. Of course you need to follow through with DRIP campaign or the effort of getting addresses was wasted. We have all been here before, having collected addresses, phone numbers and so on, only to fail to follow through or commit to dripping on these people. This is where marketing efficiency becomes a valuable tool in your marketing arsenal. If your marketing initiatives are easy to implement, you’re more likely to sustain them.

To Achieve Value You Must First Plan

In order to maximize your marketing efforts it is always best to plan ahead. You should always begin the year with a thorough Marketing Plan, but not everyone, in fact few, actually commit to writing a marketing plan or having a consultant write one for them. This makes writing one a good place to start.

By focusing on organizing and writing your marketing plan, you will better understand your vision and how each marketing component fits into your plan. You can focus on marketing initiatives that will help you sustain your marketing efforts for the long-term. But the most important component of your marketing plan is the integration between various marketing initiatives.

Marketing Initiatives That Work Well Together
By focusing on marketing initiatives that integrate well with one-another you can create marketing synergy and you can also extend your marketing dollar. This will also give you the effectiveness you need at significant cost and time savings. Here are several options that work well together:

	Web site as marketing HUB which leads to all other initiatives
	Email newsletter to keep in touch and lead to other initiatives
	eBooks to build credibility and generate traffic on site
	CD business card that has links to web site
	Seminars (online promotion and registration, get email addresses)
	Postcards and direct mail to drive traffic to web site
	Promoting marketing initiatives in meetings and on phone with clients and contacts (you and your staff)
	Public relations referring back to your web site and email newsletter
	Sending out eCards to supplement regular greeting cards

Below is a description of several marketing initiatives that work well together and why.

Marketing Initiative	Description of Integration
Web Site	Your web site should be the HUB of all your marketing efforts - everything should lead back to it. It’s inherit qualities make it perfect for this: accessibility, dynamic, effective step in sales process, convenient, current, etc.
eNewsletter	Your eNewsletter integrates many initiatives We will promote new products or services through articles, promote upcoming events and seminars, encourage referrals, communicate with clients on more personal level with comments from you, thanks them for their business, remind them of important planning dates (taxes, etc.), and brand you and your message.
CD Business Card	This can be a highly effective tool for personal introductions where discussing your services in details may not be appropriate. You can simply hand the prospect a CD Business Card and let them learn more on their time. They will appreciate your professionalism in both being appropriate and in the quality of the CD presentation. The CD will load onto their PC and provide information and links to other marketing initiatives such as your web site and signing up for your eNewsletter.
eBooks	Electronic books are a great way to build instant credibility among clients, prospects and peers. There not as difficult to write as you may think.
Seminars	Seminars can be used to gather email addresses for your eNewsletter, promote your web site, hand-out CD business cards, and promote other seminars and events.
Postcards/Direct Mail Ads	Postcards can be used to promote products and services, your web site, your eNewsletter, your weekly report, seminars and events as well as help brand yourself.
Client/Prospect Contact	You can use meetings and phone conversations with clients/prospects to promote your eNewsletter, your web site, get email addresses from friends and colleagues and engrain your brand in them so they become your sales team.
Public Relations	Promote initiatives you are involved with including your affiliation with the Planned Giving at SMU. Whatever your are publicizing you can always provide your email address and web site URL so people can learn more about you easily.
eCards	Sending greeting cards has long been a positive relationship building or sustaining marketing initiative for financial planning professionals. Try sending eCards once in a while for a change of pace, but only use them for simple occasions such as birthdays. They should never replace regular greeting cards, they are meant to supplement only.

What Synergies Will Arise From This Integration?

SYNERGY: the bringing together of numerous ingredients to form something that is more than the sum of its parts.

As you can see from the above table, there are many initiatives that work well together. Alone many of them are not tremendously effective but together they present a powerful marketing strategy that will be in front of people through various mediums and methods that will help brand you and create a significant sales force in doing so.

Marketing synergy comes from the promotion of several initiatives and one common message in each medium. In each medium you are basically promoting your message (brand), providing alternatives to learning more about you and your services. Most large corporations market this way, so can you. Obviously, you’ll have to do it with much less of a budget.

The marketing initiatives noted above give you the opportunity to communicate effectively and efficiently with your clients and prospects on a regular basis, providing alternatives to learning more about you and your services and most of all creating brand awareness.

By combining technology and traditional marketing you’ll extend your marketing dollar. But most of all you’ll create marketing synergies that will lead to more effective overall marketing.

Kirk Lowe is President of Freedomarketing, a marketing consulting firm that specializes in helping financial services professionals build their businesses through integrating technology with traditional marketing and communications. He can be reached at (888) 677-8946 or kirk@freedomarketing.ca.