Chasing Leprechaun’s Gold

We’ve all heard a thousand times about the old tale about finding a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.  We all know it’s just supposed to be a humorous and interesting “old wives tale”.  But I find that many financial advisors are constantly chasing after “Leprechaun gold”.

Now don’t get mad at me.  I might not be talking about YOU.  It’s probably another financial advisor or an insurance agent.  But I see too many advisors thinking that some marketing or lead generation “rainbow” will lead them to a “pot of gold”.  I don’t mean to imply that you shouldn’t be doing “marketing”.  Far from it.

Great marketing is what can grow a firm’s AUM massively.  We’ve seen that with The Mutual Fund Store, Ken Fisher, and even Wealthfront.  Unfortunately too many advisors get caught chasing after something that isn’t going to work, or that is just the latest “snake oil” being peddled by another salesman.

“Internet leads” comes to mind.  Firms that promise to send you qualified leads from the “internet”.  How many advisors and agents have been burned by this rainbow?  Even if someone is a lead, it is being sold to 20 other advisors so that the end result is one annoyed “prospect” that isn’t going to want to talk with you, much less meet with you.

“Templated Websites” also comes to mind.  You may even have one yourself – a cookie cutter website that thousands of other advisors have a similar version of.  Google hates any duplicated content, so when it sees the same “articles” and “calculators” on 18,967 financial advisor websites, they will not rank your website.  Thus, you won’t ever get any organic traffic.  You can try to buy traffic but the “template website” has no lead generation or opt-in capabilities.  And even if it did most advisors don’t have any backend follow-up mechanism to nurture those prospects.

Assuming prospects want to “meet with you” as a first step is a huge pot of Leprechaun gold, something akin to thinking people enjoy getting their teeth drilled in the dentist chair.  (fact is most don’t).  You have to ask people to take some baby steps first.  You can’t get married on the first date!

Most advisors need even the most basic core marketing elements.  I see advisors in need of a new website that is not a template.  They need multiple ways of enticing people to ask for more information and “raise their hand” as a possible lead.  They don’t have any way to capture leads, much less a way to do backend email nurture to those leads.

For those that have some or all of that in place, most advisors have no idea that they could generate their own leads using Youtube, Google, Facebook, webinars, etc.  Or perhaps they know “about those” but don’t know how to go about it.  Many advisors don’t have a clue what a “marketing funnel” is, or how to implement and manage one.

If you can learn how to do some basic marketing strategies, you can create your own real pot of gold, not a fake mirage at the end of a rainbow.  And if you don’t have time or can’t figure it out, find someone that can help you.  And do it one piece at a time as you can afford it.  Or get a “marketing coach” that can direct your efforts monthly and keep you on track.

If you need help, please contact Torrid Tech to see if we have any openings.  Our marketing services have been in high demand lately.  And meanwhile, watch out for the luck ‘o the Irish… most of the time it isn’t really “luck” after all that takes you.

Tim Turner