social media Archives - Don Connelly & Associates

Conducting Client Research to Boost Prospecting Results

May 29, 2023 / by Don Connelly / Marketing Yourself / 0 comments

Highly successful advisors have long determined that the traditional shotgun approach to prospecting using blast emails no longer works. They have found that prospecting with a more targeted approach, focusing more narrowly on clearly defined ideal client types based on a readily identifiable market segment or niche, increases both efficiency and results. These segments or niches are identified by demographics, businesses, careers, interests, or shared financial concerns that distinguish them from others.

We’ve written about the many advantages of niche marketing, including the more efficient use of resources, the ease of establishing one’s authority within a niche, and the built-in networking apparatus of well-connected clients residing in a niche.

However, the most significant marketing advantage is the ease of conducting research to gather intelligence about your market. Through market research, you can uncover critical information enabling you to develop more effective communication methods that appeal to your target market while honing your value proposition to touch their pain points.

For Highly Ambitious Advisors, Influence + Credibility = Thought Leadership

April 17, 2023 / by Don Connelly / Marketing Yourself / 0 comments

Becoming a thought leader enhances your personal and professional stature within your industry and community, making you much more appealing as an authority and person of influence. When an advisor is viewed as a true thought leader, they attract the attention of influential clients who use their influence to refer other influential people.

As previously discussed on the blog, content is the key to building influence. Producing compelling, thought-provoking content delivered through your website, a blog, and emails, is how you establish your authority in the field. The more it is viewed, the more influence you can build, which is where social media comes in. Posting your content on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites expands your potential audience and builds your online influence.

But that’s just the beginning. While influence is critical, without credibility, it can be fleeting. Blogging and social media engagement are essential for building thought leadership, but when you can share your thoughts in high-profile settings you gain invaluable credibility.

3 Types of Prospects Financial Advisors Should Pursue and How to Connect with Them

March 15, 2021 / by Don Connelly / Prospecting / 0 comments

3 Types of Prospects Every Financial Advisor Should Pursue and How to Connect with Them

All financial advisors know that prospecting is the lifeblood of their business. Filling the funnel with a constant flow of qualified leads has long been the biggest challenge facing advisors, regardless of how long they’ve been in the business. Scores of books and articles have been written on “the best” prospecting tips and techniques. Yet, many advisors continue to suffer from the “spinning your wheels” syndrome, feeling as if their efforts keep dredging up the same results—poor-quality prospects or prospects who have neither the incentive nor financial capacity to take action.

Sure, prospecting is and always has been driven by the “law of numbers,” but who says you can’t tilt the numbers in your favor. You’d be foolish not to try. Even if you’ve identified a target market based on an ideal client profile, it’s still a numbers game. However, if you truly understand the type of prospect you’re looking for, you may be able to drastically reduce the number of rocks you need to turnover.

Using Client Personas to Attract Your Ideal Client

March 1, 2021 / by Don Connelly / Marketing Yourself / 0 comments

Most financial advisors are familiar with the concept of creating an “ideal client profile” used to identify the type of prospects they want to target. However, that may not go far enough to attract and directly engage with digitally savvy high net-worth investors in the digital age. Emerging-affluent millennials, in particular, are cautious about who they engage with if they can’t see what’s in it for them.

In a digitally wired world, financial advisors need to be able to identify with their target market and communicate in a way they can identify with you. That requires taking the ideal client profile to the next level by digging deeper into who they are, what they do, how they think and communicate, and why they might want to engage with someone like you.

Digital Marketing for Financial Advisors – How Social Media Can Generate Leads

January 25, 2021 / by Don Connelly / Marketing Yourself / 0 comments

Financial advisors know how difficult it is to make contact with high-net-worth people through phone calls and emails. However, when they reach out to connect with the same people via LinkedIn or Twitter, they are often welcomed with open arms. From there, they simply become part of the conversation, which opens the opportunity to build relationships.

By actively participating in popular social media sites, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, you automatically expand your online presence while building social capital. At the very minimum, your participation provides social proof to your target market that you exist and that you might actually have something of value to offer.

How to Create a Digital Marketing Strategy

December 21, 2020 / by Don Connelly / Marketing Yourself / 0 comments

An increasing number of financial advisors are catching on to the fact that most of their clients and target market reside in a digital world where, if they fail to connect with them there, they risk becoming irrelevant or obsolete. Email, the internet, and social media have transformed the way consumers conduct their lives, and their influence now surpasses all other forms of persuasion, including television and print media. The critical question financial advisors must ask themselves now is, “How much digital influence do we have over our target market?”

6 Tech Essentials for Financial Advisors

October 19, 2020 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

Unquestionably, the advisory industry has been experiencing a significant transformation. Through advances in technology and the democratization of investing, financial advice is quickly becoming commoditized, much to the detriment of Financial Advisors who continue to languish in traditional business models. Today, adopting the right technology is becoming table stakes for advisors who want to maintain the trust of their clients and stand out in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

4 Challenges Financial Advisors Face in the New Digital Environment – And Solutions

August 24, 2020 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

There’s no doubt about it: The past six months have changed our business. It’s not just because those of us in the financial advisory business have changed. Our markets and our clients have changed, too. Their habits and behaviors are different.

Case in point: Those of us of a certain age remember closing lots of sales at the kitchen table – often late at night. But with the pandemic, few people are going to invite a salesperson into their home. That way of doing business was disappearing even before the pandemic. Now it may be gone forever.

Here are four communications challenges your peers are facing – and a few words on some possible solutions. We’ll have more in depth content on each of these topics in the future. But here are the basics to get you started.

Want to Succeed as a Financial Advisor? Do These Five Things.

July 6, 2020 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 2 comments

Helping people achieve their financial goals and provide security for their families is one of the greatest, most rewarding career paths on the planet. But it’s a very tough business to succeed in, especially in your first few years.

Here are the five things you must do, if you want to maximize your chances of surviving your first five years as an advisor.

Financial Advisors and Social Distancing: How to Keep Prospecting and Servicing Clients

March 30, 2020 / by Don Connelly / Marketing Yourself / 0 comments

Traditionally, being a financial advisor has been a face-to-face business. We are creatures of the working lunch, the handshake, the coffee meeting. Appointments are the lifeblood of our business, because we’re in the business of personal relationships. That’s our real advantage over the low-cost robo-advisors, and a big part of how we justify our fees.

But social distancing is changing all that in a flash. I’m optimistic about the economy and the stock market long-term. But this bug isn’t going away anytime soon. We are undergoing a rapid cultural shift where social distance may very well become the norm for a good, long while.

And all of us old-school financial advisors, as well as brokers, planners, insurance agents, all of us, are going to have to adjust.

I’ve talked with a lot of people, and I’ve seen a lot of economic cycles. Here’s what I suggest you do to keep growing your business even with social distancing.

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