How Should Financial Advisors Think About Marketing During a Crisis?
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Earlier in the week, I had the opportunity to do a live Twitter chat with InvestmentNews.
We talked about (you guessed it) what financial advisory firms should be doing during a major disruptive crisis to communicate with clients and prospects in what we called the “new normal.”
Here’s a summary of our chat.
6 Ways to Approach Your Marketing Right Now
Matt Ackermann, Director of Digital Content at InvestmentNews, filed our chat into these six core takeaways.
I’ve added some additional thoughts to each to further explain them and why they’re important.
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Think Inside Out
Start your communication internally by reaching out to clients. This is the time to prioritize those closest to you. Make sure clients are taken care of before you put your focus on continuing to market to prospects. -
Be Education-Centric
This isn’t the time to sell. Your marketing should begin with this question: “How does this help/provide value to prospects and clients?” This is true all of the time but it’s especially important right now. -
Be Positive
No one likes a Debbie Downer. You need to be realistic, but also look for opportunities to share positivity and be a light for your clients. -
Be Proactive
You want to be the main source of information for the people following you. Get out in front of the important news. If you’re going to err on one side or the other, you want to overcommunciate right now, not under communicate. -
Email is (still) King
Your social media presence is always important, but email is still the number one way to reach people who want to hear from you. Send important updates by email and make sure you have a solid plan in place for continuing to reach out to those already in your marketing funnel. -
Listen More Than You Talk
Look, money is emotional. When the market is down 30%, telling clients not to panic isn’t a productive line of reasoning. Hear them out, let them feel their emotions, and then help them work through those emotions. In order to move past fear, you first have to acknowledge it.
Those were the big ideas we covered. Here’s a quick rundown of some other highlights from the chat.
Q: How can advisers communicate in this “new normal?”
A: Advisor communication is this new normal begins with empathy. Everyone wants to know if they should market less or market more, but the biggest adjustment is going to be tone and intent–and it all starts there.
The advisors who communicate well, and really put client education at the forefront, are going to come out of this stronger.
The ones who don’t communicate well, or don’t communicate at all, are going to struggle.
Q: How do you think we are all going to adapt, change, evolve and be better advisers/people as a result of this new normal?
A: Your communications are an extension of who you are and what you value.
My hope is that advisors embrace the idea that great marketing should center on giving value to others and building real relationships, not trying to make a sale.
Q: How can you be proactive in your communication without being tone deaf?
A: Don’t pause all your communications—but do adjust what you’re doing. Three quick tips: Give prospects more time to respond before you follow up (including extending time between drip emails); Speak into the current situation, don’t ignore it; Personalize your communications as much as you can, even if that means dialing back some of the automation you’ve set up in favor of more custom outreach. Lead with empathy and authenticity, always.
Q: What tools should advisors be using to communicate?
A: Email is still number one, but personalized video is also a must. I even recorded a video response to this question to show how simple it can be to incorporate into your communication strategy.
— Johnny Sandquist 📖 (@johnellert) March 24, 2020
And one final thought:
It sounds a little odd in the middle of a crisis, but this is probably the best time to be education-centric, people-first advisor.
The content you produce has to start in your heart. And you have to be OK with educating people and giving them value without them ending up as an “acquisition” at the end.
When things get bad, that’s when the value of an advisor becomes most clear.
At the end of the day, you have to put people first. Always. If you approach your marketing, and your business, from that perspective, you’ll come out stronger in the end.
How has your firm changed your communications with your clients and prospects during this time?
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Featured Image: Photo by Kristopher Roller on Unsplash