§ NOVEMBER 10, 2017
People visit our blog, download our materials,
and work with our office because they have a problem they need to solve. Maybe
they don’t have the best solution for a client and ask one of our consultants
for help. Or, maybe they have trouble with generating leads for their business,
which they hope to grow and expand. Others rely on our case management team to
ensure the right papers are signed and follow-up procedures are met. Most of
our advisors are people who have a good business strategy, but they just don’t
have enough help on the backend to get them to the next level.
Every now and again, we run in to people who
we just can’t work with; these are people who don’t have a strategy, and worse,
refuse to develop one.
If you are someone who struggles to meet their
sales projections/quota and believe that just adding the latest and greatest
“tool” (email marketing, digital media, radio, pay-per-click advertising) will
help you increase sales, you might want to take a seat (or, swallow your
coffee) before you read on…
THERE IS NO TOOL (OR SERVICE) THAT IS GOING TO
FIX YOUR PROBLEM.
Imagine you’ve just invested hundreds of
thousands of dollars to get your hands on a NASCAR supercar. It is the BEST
racecar that has ever been made. But, you’ve never driven a NASCAR supercar in
your life. You’re not comfortable with how fast the car goes, how it handles,
or how to shift. Heck, you're not event remotely familiar with the track you’re
driving on. When it comes time to race, you might have the best car on the
track, but you’re probably not going to win.
I don't get it, the
marketing team told me this would work, but I haven't seen a single lead yet!
Strategy, Strategy,
Strategy
In The Art of War, author Sun Tzu
states “Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics
without strategy is the noise before defeat.” Impressively, Sun Tzu's work is
still as relevant today for marketers as it was for ancient China's
military.
If you’ve ever met with a marketing team and
thought, “I don’t have time to go over a process. I just need to: meet more
prospects, close more deals, host more seminars, etc.” then it won’t matter if
we:
- Get you a radio show on
the most popular station in town.
- Set you up with a
top-of-the-line marketing automation system.
- Create hundreds of ads to place
in the digital market.
Raiding a marketer's toolbox won't create more
business for you, because you’re not solving your underlying problem: You
have a terrible marketing strategy for generating new business.
But, you don't have to take my word for
it. Insidesales.com revealed in a recent study that smarter pipeline management could result in revenue increases of over 27%. Take a look at your current marketing
process. Don’t have a marketing process/strategy? Keep reading…
“I need to meet with more clients this year”
might be the goal you’re aiming for, but a solid strategy is the arrow that
will help you hit your target.
Fire, Ready, Aim
A list of goals or objectives isn’t a
strategy. A strategy is a clear, specific explanation of HOW you
plan to reach your goal. A good goal is S.M.A.R.T.
- Specific
- Measurable
- Attainable
- Relevant
- Time-bound (or, Trackable).
You can read more on developing SMART Goals
here: https://www.thebalance.com/smart-goal-examples-2951827.
Let’s say you are an advisor who has an email
marketing system.
Every month, you send an email to 1,000
prospects, usually with a guide or white paper that will help your prospect
with their retirement planning or financial future. Through those email blasts,
you are able to book 2 or 3 additional consultations per month.
Now, in an effort to grow your database and
try to get more business, you add all of the new emails you receive each month
to that database, regardless of whether the contact came from your recent seminar, an online form giveaway,
or you just flat-out bought a list of names (which you should NEVER do if
you plan to email them without their permission!).
Take a moment to imagine yourself as that new
contact.
You attended an event to learn how “informed
Social Security choices can give you the best payout options during
retirement,” but you didn’t sign up for a consultation at the end of the
event. Three weeks later, you receive an email from the company that
hosted the event and the subject line simply states, “March Newsletter.”
(How motivated are you going to be to open
that email?)
Or, let’s say you do open the email, and
realize that it didn’t offer any content that is remotely relevant to
you (download your free “Tax Guide for 2017” today!).
What is the likelihood that you would open an
email from that company in the future? (When was the last time you opened an
email from the retail store that required you to input your email address to
get a discount?)
Now, can you see why your email marketing
efforts aren’t working?
A goal without a plan
is just a wish
This is where developing a process/strategy
BEFORE you take action can really help your business. A far more effective plan
would have been to develop lead nurturing emails that were created with a
specific audience in mind (segmentation) and sent in a timely manner
(automated).
In fact, did you know:
- According to Hubspot Marketing
research, lead nurturing emails (marketing automation and email
segmentation) generate nearly three times more clicks than email
blasts
- Jupiter Research revealed that
relevant emails drive EIGHTEEN TIMES MORE REVENUE than broadcast
emails.
Talk about ROI.
Work smarter, not
harder.
To recap, taking the time to strategize and
structure your marketing process can help:
- Increase your sales
- Reduce the chance of good leads
from falling through the cracks
- Shorten the sales cycle
Are there tools and services available that
can help your process? Absolutely! Many of them are worth every penny. But, if
someone is selling you on the latest and greatest marketing craze but can’t
articulate a strategy or process behind it, don’t be surprised if you’re just
hearing a lot of noise before the defeat…
Not sure where to get started? We created this
nifty checklist to help you get organized as you create your marketing plan.
Download it today and start attracting the people who are looking for YOU to
solve their financial problem!
ADAM BLYE -
DMI STRATEGIC MARKETING MANAGER
Graduating Framingham State College
with a B.A. In Communications, Adam quickly discovered his passion for helping
small businesses develop a process/strategy to grow and stand out from their
competition. With over 10 years of experience in working with an array of
industries to help businesses with their marketing and promotions needs, Adam’s
ability to explain the value of strategic marketing lead to an invitation to
the Microsoft N.E.R.D. Center in Cambridge in 2012 to present on the importance
of measuring marketing efforts. When not discussing strategic marketing plans,
Adam enjoys going to music shows and spending time with his wife and family.
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