Your “Genius” Financial Advisor Marketing Plan in 4 Easy Steps

From working with thousands of financial advisors over the years, I have two observations when it comes to successful financial advisor marketing plans:

1. Brilliant sales and marketing plans that never get used due to their weightiness and complexity are less useful than “simple” plans that are easy to execute.
2. If the sales and marketing plan does not have a strong element of “you”, i.e. it’s truly your plan; you aren’t likely to own it. Annnnd…what you don’t own, you don’t do.

With that said, here is a guide to building your “genius” sales and marketing plan in 4 straightforward steps:

1) Assessment

2) Goals

3) Activities

4) Self-Coaching

In today’s installment, let’s discuss the first step, assessment. We will present the subsequent 3 steps again in the near future.

Self-Assessment and Marketing Checklist

From a marketing standpoint, what’s your current reality? Where are you right now with respect to the important components of your sales and marketing plan?

To help jumpstart your assessment of your present state of marketing readiness, we’ve put together a 24-point marketing checklist. Coaching Note: A jumpstart is a jolt of energy that only gets the motor going only, i.e. the rest of the driving is all your responsibility. To ensure the success of your marketing plan, you’ll want to make it your own by adding customized elements to this checklist.

Marketing Checklist:

1. Defined target market
2. Strong personal brand and/or reputation within the target market
3. Relevant professional designations
4. A marketing budget
5. Value proposition
6. Presentation deck
7. Positioning statement
8. Brochures and marketing materials
9. Updated website
10. Business cards
11. Clear and courageous goals
12. Marketing calendar of events
13. A system to develop proposals
14. A system to track progress against goals
15. A referral approach and process with clients
16. A referral approach and process with centers-of-influence and other professionals
17. Pipeline management system
18. A documented marketing plan, reviewed and updated regularly
19. Research on your target market
20. A process for following up on leads and opportunities consistently
21. Professional attire
22. Your “story”
23. A “noble cause” and core values
24. Accountability partner, i.e. coach, mentor, colleague, whose partnership propels you to still greater success

• Add your own marketing bullet point here
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Marketing Self-Assessment: Learn and Adjust                              

1. Referring to each bullet point of the marketing checklist above, score yourself on a scale of one to five with five being the highest. Where are you strongest? What would you like to change or improve?
2. As it relates to finding new clients, what do you know about yourself?
3. As it relates to finding new clients, what do you really want?
4. What new learning do you need to claim for yourself as it relates to finding new clients?
5. What immediate changes or improvements do you need to make to move closer to your goal to find new clients?

Conclusion

I trust this helps. One of the key behaviors that we find amongst the best-of-the-best financial advisors is their ability to reflect on past successes and challenges. To ensure the development of a powerful financial advisor marketing plan that inspires you and propels you forward, take the time to think ON your business. This might include reflecting on what’s worked for you in the past, what hasn't, and taking to bold action to change and improve upon what you’ve already accomplished.

Follow the steps above. Take some time to build your own checklist. Spend additional time thinking ON your current marketing reality. These are the critical first steps in building an effective marketing plan that reflects your own genius.

Stay tuned. More to come… 

For a ClientWise Learning Tool that describes public relations strategies that you can implement in conjunction with your marketing plan, please download below: