Marketing may not fix or replace other organizational efforts, but it helps make effective operations exponentially more impactful than they are on their own.
These days, too many agencies seem to think that marketing is some new cure-all and that by simply creating an internal marketing position or hiring a marketing firm, they can then sit back and watch their business grow.
Not so fast, Skippy. Marketing can do amazing things for your business, but it can't do everything. First, let's start with the realization that marketing isn't a project or an optional activity. Like sales and service, it is a critical daily function of running a growth business. Second, we need to recognize that marketing can, and must, do some amazing things for your business. But there are also many things it can't do.
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Related: Why marketing is a critical daily function
Kevin Trokey is founding partner and coach at St. Louis-based Q4intelligence. Marketing can't:
Fix a broken client experience
The client experience is what ultimately determines the success of your business. If you don't deliver an experience that improves your client's business, even in ways they don't necessarily expect, they will move on to someone who does.
Litmus test: You know your client experience is strong when you have clients who voluntarily become promoters, singing your praises and referring you to others.
Be a substitute for a buyer-focused sales process
If your sales process centers on telling your story, getting quotes and trying to differentiate yourself with a capabilities presentation, buyers will file you in the "just like everyone else" category.
They need you to show up curious about their story, what they want to accomplish, what is holding them back, and learn (through a documented plan) what you can do to deliver more impactful results to their business.
Litmus test: You know your sales process is impactfully consultative when someone would be willing to pay for the privilege of sitting down with you. Don't roll your eyes; this is a real thing!
Excuse you from prospecting activities
This is where most marketing confusion lives. Marketing is activities that keep pipelines healthy over the long term and eventually result in inbound opportunities where prospects come to you.
Prospecting is outbound activities (cold calling, for example) that can put opportunities in the pipeline today. Pipelines will never remain healthy without the right balance of the two.
Litmus test: You know you have a healthy pipeline balance when you have specific goals, dedicated resources and are tracking results for both prospecting and marketing.
The real purpose of marketing
Before we talk about what marketing can do, let's talk about the purpose of marketing: to capture a potential buyer's attention, guide them through their buyer's journey, and give them a compelling reason to want to learn more about how you can help them.
Marketing may not fix or replace other organizational efforts, but it helps make effective operations exponentially more impactful than they are on their own.
Marketing validates why a prospect should respond positively to your prospecting efforts.
When your salespeople call on prospects, they will start doing their research. They'll go to your website, read your blog, and go to your LinkedIn profile and company page. What they find, or don't find, will determine if they feel it's worthwhile to have a conversation with you.
Marketing creates an appetite for the value delivered through your sales process.
The definition of successful marketing efforts centers on the number of sales opportunities it helps create. Unless their current broker relationship is broken, most buyers aren't out looking for a better version of what they already have; they're looking for someone in a different category.
Even if you do compete in a different category, buyers won't usually recognize it if your marketing hasn't told them to look for it. They assume you are like other brokers, so those things you say that sound like others is what they will notice most.
Marketing resets the expectations of the buyer.
Effective marketing focuses on the needs of your prospects. When a prospect sees themselves in the topics you discuss, that catches their attention. When your sales process further explores their needs and offers solutions to address those needs, you are teeing up a client experience that is more powerful and impactful because it addresses the needs and expectations of each client.
The bottom line
If you show up at the same time as everyone else; talk about the same things in the same way as everyone else; if your clients say the same things about you as others say about their broker; or even if you remain silent, like so many others, you are assumed to be just like everyone else. Or at least close enough to everyone else that you haven't created a convincing reason for a buyer to take a meeting with you, much less change their advisor relationship.
Marketing may not be a cure-all, but it is a game-changer. It is the elixir that makes everything else in your business more effective, efficient and compelling.
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