Time has become such a valuable asset that people have coined the phrase “Time is Money.” Because of this, financial advisors have to plan how much time they’re willing to devote to different aspects of marketing. They must choose to focus more heavily on strategy or execution. This choice can be the difference between success and failure.
In fact, our tactic for marketing involves more focus on strategy and less on execution. This means spending more time planning out the important aspects of your campaign and less on execution using automation. Allowing you to perfectly fine-tune your strategy and make running your campaign as easy as pie. Using automation allows your team to focus their resources on more pressing matters while still making an impact with your marketing.
This blog contains a list of what should be prioritized in-house and what can be outsourced to automation. Using this will help you learn how to manage your marketing time more wisely because don’t forget, “Time is Money.”
How Much Time You Should Devote to Marketing
One of the most commonly asked questions by financial advisors when they start marketing is how much time they should invest. This depends on the campaign they’re involved with, but the average advisor devotes ten hours a week to marketing. This is always subject to change, but what really matters is what the time is spent on.
For example, if an advisor dedicates three hours to planning a marketing campaign and the other seven to running the campaign. It’s more than likely going to be a little substandard because they put too much time into running the campaign. What’s been found is that focusing on strategy over execution produces higher quality content. In simplest terms; devote more time to strategy and less to execution.
Pro-Tip: Allocate more time to strategy. Focus on elements you enjoy — automate and outsource the rest.
What You Should Prioritize
You need to prioritize what to spend your time on. Including projects that tend to require more strategy and can’t easily be automated. In this case, these tasks will need more beforehand planning and manpower.
A note on priotization: Don't feel the need to tackle each item on this list at one – focus on what will bring you the most benefit now, then move on from there.
Video Creation
Advisor-created videos allow businesses to engage with their audience. Include a spokesperson when you create videos to be “the face of the company” as it adds in the all-important personal touch. Use someone who speaks comfortably in front of cameras and is engaging. Since videos require an active participant and an editing process they can’t and shouldn’t be done automatically.
Hosting Webinars, Events and Workshops
Planning and hosting an event of any kind requires lots of forethought and attention to detail that automation just doesn’t have. Events present advisors with a list of problems that they need to solve. From picking a venue to selecting which caterer has the best french onion soup. It’s a complex task that requires one to really hunker down and plan everything out.
Networking
Networking is an essential part of expanding your contact list and growing as a business. The more businesses, advisors, and people you know the better. And this is absolutely not automatable as it requires a personal connection. You can’t just send out an automated email to a list of people you want to network with and expect great results. Networking allows advisors to show off their personality and leave a lasting impact on potential clients, other businesses, and the local community.
Develop Partnerships with COI (Centers of Influence)
Much like networking, developing partnerships and COIs requires an advisor to strategize, plan, and interact with their local community. In this situation, the best way to develop a prosperous partnership is to develop a strategy that shows off who you are as an advisor and why you should be trusted and respected. Subsequently, being part of COI means that you’re well-known and trusted in the community which can only be done if you personally put yourself and your advisory out there. No amount of online ads, automated emails, or directory listings is going to trump human interaction.
What You Could and Should Outsource
Outsourcing is one of the best ways to save time, usually done by automating tasks that can easily be completed. Things such as email campaigns and social media posts are some of the most common places to automate.
Social Media Scheduling
Social media is a great place to increase engagement and attract current and potential clients. It’s also one of the best places to start automating or outsourcing to save time during execution. Even better, FMG offers a social media service that will help increase social media frequency and engagement. Providing content that captures attention, highlights your expertise and shows you’re on top of timely topics.
Email Campaigns
Another great content piece for outsourcing to automation is email campaigns and marketing. Especially with 80% of customers of all ages preferring email. Automating email is an easy way to save time and keep in contact with current and potential clients. This can be done through a plethora of different email marketing services. Of course, we recommend FMG which offers tools, templates, and content to make connecting with prospective clients and nurturing existing ones easier than ever.
Online Ads
Scheduling online ads for future posting helps to keep things running smoothly with financial advisor marketing. It allows businesses to keep ads on the back burner for future automatic posting. There are plenty of services that will allow you to save ads for later posting.
Search Engine Optimization
Lastly, SEO is a great way for companies to rank higher in local search results. Results show that SEO helps locals find new businesses. Worked on by experts who know the best way to boost your search results rankings. FMG even offers a suite of SEO tools that help you stand out in search results.
The Wrap Up
As any financial advisor can see, marketing is a balancing act of planning and execution. We believe that a majority of your time should go towards planning and executing projects that must be done by hand and letting automation take care of the rest. Allowing you to increase your impact and engagement while missing no beats.
Related: Video Marketing Best Practices for All of Your Marketing Channels