Jorge's Thoughts: Innovate Your Marketing with Direct Mail

Of all the marketing vehicles, direct mail marketing gives you the most opportunities to specifically target your ideal prospect, to be innovative and to be more personal. 

From new technology in printing to the delivery of fresh ideas in messaging to the ability of addressing your prospects in a creative and personalized manner, direct mail allows you to drive response and drive engagement with your most ideal audience in a way that can powerfully impact your business.  

Here's how:  

1. Personalization:  Personalized mail stands out and gets attention. For your target audience to receive a direct mail piece from you shows that you have taken the time to deliver a customized message based on their potential needs. 

Additionally, 73% of American consumers said they prefer direct mail and 62% said they enjoy checking their mailbox. Give your target audience not only something to look forward to but also something that is personalized and will help you develop an initial impression.  

2. Packaging:  Direct mail response rates are higher than all digital media. Before your prospects respond to your direct mail, they first have to open it. You've got a small window of time to make that happen: 5-7 seconds. Make sure you stand out in the mailbox with creative packaging. 

Maximize response by using the latest print and imaging innovations to create the best looking and highest impact invitation in the mailbox. Take advantage of live stamping, handwritten fonts, full color graphics, odd size envelopes and other techniques that will help you avoid that dreaded look of junk mail. 

Pro tip: Postcards are for coupons and local general advertisers. All important and personal mail comes in envelopes; just ask Hallmark! 


3. Digital components:  Digital vehicles on their own may not generate enough response to keep you interested. You are targeting that guarded 50+ age group who still like traditional media, so you will need to reach with a mix of personalized direct mail, TV , radio, social media and internet ads. That approach will cover more ground, expand your message and give you more reach - what we call “critical mass” in the marketing world. It’s a combination of all or some of these that gives you maximized exposure, more opportunities to generate a higher response and stand above your competitors.

I've created a series of podcasts on this and other marketing tips to help you reach your target audiences. If you have suggestions for topics you'd like for me to cover via this type of content (or any type of content), tweet me at @JorgeVillarRME! 

By: Jorge Villar, President and Founder 

#howdoyouinnovate

3 Tips to Develop Connections through Digital Marketing

Earlier this week, our founder and president Jorge Villar shared his thoughts on the value in adding digital marketing to your prospecting strategy, specifically in the boomer market. He noted that it is just as important for advisors to understand how boomers respond to today's digital marketing as it is to understand their various - and diverse - financial concerns. 

As you begin to connect with your target audience more effectively through digital means, here are some tips to follow up with Jorge's:

Use data. 

The growing volume and range of information that come with data will help you make critical decisions about how to improve client engagement with social and web content, how to increase website and landing page visits, how to convert more sales and how you measure up with your competition. (Hint: Monitoring your competitors on social media can provide you with data on how their content resonates with clients and prospects.) 



Know your audience.  

Clearly identify the audience you want to serve. The needs, problems, challenges and goals as well as how that audience uses digital avenues will shape your messaging. Having just one marketing message and hoping everyone hears it doesn’t work, but diversifying your messaging and how it is delivered according your audience will allow you more opportunity to earn a greater ROI.



Personalize your marketing. 

Communication across all digital avenues should be personalized and relevant to your target audience. You are competing for people’s time; yours is one of hundreds of messages that are being delivered every single day all day long via social media, websites, emails, landing pages, display ads, etc. Clients are likely to pay attention only to those that create impact and establish a personal connection.









              Which digital avenue has had the greatest impact on your brand?

Tell us below or tweet us:

@RME360

             By: Susan Gail Taylor, Social Media Manager and Copywriter at RME360

Jorge's Thoughts: Add Digital Marketing to Your Prospecting Efforts

77 million. 

That's how many baby boomers reside in the United States today, a powerful generation that makes up a significant part of financial advisors' target audiences. 

While it is easy to lump boomers into one large category, it is crucial for today's advisors to realize that boomers have diverse concerns and needs and respond differently to various types of marketing. Just as crucial? For advisors to understand how boomers respond to today's digital marketing strategies.

1. Select the appropriate social media channels. 

Not every social channel will be an effective avenue to market your brand to boomers. Consider the needs and concerns of the boomer audience that you want to target as well as how the sector(s) of your targeted audience use social channels. For instance, 70% of online boomers actively use their Facebook accounts, but only 39% of them actively use their Google+ accounts. 

2. Use visual content. 

There is no doubt that visual content grabs attention, but what does that mean for your digital marketing? By creating and distributing pictures and videos, your content will more than likely earn more interactions and drive more engagement, which can earn you more leads and more referrals. For instance, visual content on Pinterest generates more referral traffic for businesses than Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn combined, and consumers who watch videos about a product are 85% more likely to make a purchase. 

3. Provide an omnichannel experience. 

Social media channels and other digital marketing avenues can be effective ways to begin conversations with future clients, but an omnichannel experience can help you seal the deal. 41% of those aged 55 and over who are online prefer to talk to someone on the phone before making a purchase. Include your phone number - as well as other contact information such as as email address and social media links - on your digital marketing materials. Each point of contact should be able to provide prompt and clear answers about your target audience's needs and concerns. 

Adding digital marketing to your prospecting efforts should be a critical part of your overall marketing strategy. I've created a series of podcasts on this and other marketing tips to help you reach your target audiences. If you have suggestions for topics you'd like for me to cover via this type of content (or any type of content), tweet me at @JorgeVillarRME! 

By: Jorge Villar, President and Founder 

#finservdigital 

Happy Senior Citizens Day: Why Seniors Attend Social Dinner Events

As we salute seniors today for Senior Citizens Day, let's take a look at how financial advisors can help them enjoy their worry-free golden years with 

financial freedom. 

Social dinner events provide seniors - a crucial part of your target audience - with a level of comfort to talk to you about their financial goals and concerns. 

Hear Jorge Villar, our founder and president, share his insight on why seniors respond to this important strategy in your marketing toolkit. 

For more on seminar marketing and much more, 

listen to Jorge's podcasts here. 

Want to hear about a specific marketing topic from Jorge? Tweet him! 

@JorgeVillarRME

Jorge's Thoughts: Content is Critical to Advisors' Marketing Strategies

"Content marketing entails understanding exactly what your clients need to know in order to supply them with the most useful resources without seemingly wanting to sell them something." 

-Attach Media

As advisors, creating and distributing content can not only help to inform your target audience about their financial concerns but it can also help you build a strong reputation as a trusted expert. And if your target audience includes boomers - which it most likely does - you're in luck; boomers spend more time consuming content that any other generation. 

So what types of content should you create? Think about what you find compelling, what prompts you to stop scrolling online and read further. 

Infographics: Brafton notes that this type of content is critical for the financial services industry to consider, as it focuses on "delivering valuable information to online audiences that love real-time information and interesting visuals." (See Attach Media's example above.) 

Videos: The Weidert Group notes that "the average person can retain 95% of video after 72 hours." 

Social media: CNBC notes that "an effective social media strategy can single-handedly create a following of thousands—and a flow of prospective clients—in just a short period of time." 

Podcasts: Business 2 Community notes that "while podcasts have been around for about a decade, there’s been a surge in listenership in the last couple years that’s getting a lot of attention from business owners, celebrities, advertisers, and consumers alike." 

I've created a series of podcasts on seminar marketing and how to reach your prospects. If you have suggestions for topics you'd like for me to cover via this type of content (or any type of content), tweet me at @JorgeVillarRME! 

By: Jorge Villar, President and Founder 

#finservcontent

Make Your Customers Fall In Love Every Day

Oh, Valentine's Day. That doe-eyed darling of a holiday that evokes both swoons and shuns depending on how one feels about love and if one sees the day as mere commercialism. We here at RME360 are Team Swoon and have focused our social media content this week on things businesses love as a tribute to dear ol' Cupid.

Out of the many things we as a business love, our customers have planted the largest flag on our collective heart. As a consumer, don't you love when your favorite business appreciates you? When you feel valued and have no doubt that you'll receive tip-top customer service? Of course you do! We all want to spend our dollars with businesses that go above and beyond to show us that we matter to more than just their bottom lines. 

So how can we make our customers fall in love with us every day of the year? Here are some ideas. 

1. Interact with customers promptly and pleasantly on social media. 

I am Starbucks' #1 brand advocate. Well, at least in my mind I am. Besides my favorite drink there, I adore how the company interacts with its loyal fans. Here's an example: 

Nice, right? A fan felt compelled to not only pass the love for paying it forward but also to tell Starbucks about it. Within an hour (promptly), Starbucks tweeted the customer back their response (pleasantly). The company's Twitter page is full of such conversations as well as conversations with customers who are upset and Starbucks promptly and pleasantly addresses their concerns. 

Now, do I think every business has the social media team, power and presence that Starbucks does? Absolutely not. But it's easy to model your strategy around Starbucks' strategy when your business is ready to maintain a consistent connection with fans via social media. Why not learn from the best, right? 

2. Be there for your customers before, during and after their buying experiences. 

Before:

GE Capital Retail Bank's Major Purchase Shopper Study found that 81% of consumers go online to research products they are interested in before buying them. What does that mean? You need to be digitally present at the stroke of your customer's fingers. A website is a good start, but it isn't enough in 2015. Be consistently present on social media, post various types of content, including videos and images, start a blog, and use display ads as well as remarketing ads. Leave a digital trail for your customers to follow. 

During: 

Put yourself in your customer's shoes. What is excellent customer service to you? How would you want a company to earn your business and possibly a long-term connection with you? What would qualify as going above and beyond? What would inspire you to choose one business over another? Answer these questions and then do those things for your customers. 

After: 

One transaction does not equal a relationship. If you want to build a long-term connection with your customers, provide them with ongoing support. Call to check in with your customers after their purchase, provide online support chat, create multi-channel promotions targeting new customers and/or go old school and send them snail mail like thank you cards, birthday cards, etc. Recognize them as valuable to your business even after the transaction is over and they will remember you when it's time to buy again. 

3. Listen to your customers' suggestions. 

 "Wow, I wish they had..." is a phrase we've all finished with lengthy lists of our suggestions for businesses. Your prospects and customers may have that same phrase in their minds from time and time and may follow up by contacting you about their ideas. Listen to their ideas and implement them when you can. Don't be so in love with the way you do business that you ignore plausible suggestions that will satisfy customers. Starbucks has an additional Twitter profile and a website for the sole purpose of accepting such suggestions. Fans get to vote on ideas they like and get to take part in the discussion of changes with Starbucks leaders. 

4. Shine the spotlight on your customers. 

Has a customer given you an amazing testimonial? Have she said something thought provoking on social media? Does he have a success story that involves your business? Turn the spotlight over to customers with stories like these and give them the fame they deserve. You might highlight them on social media, in your newsletter or in your advertising. This will resonate not only with those customers but also with new prospects who are considering your business for their needs. 

What tips would you add to the list?

By: Susan Gail Taylor, Social Media Manager and Copywriter at RME360

Lead Generation Tips for Today's Marketing Landscape

According to findings in the B2B Content Marketing 2015: Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends survey, lead generation is second only to brand awareness as a major goal for content marketers in 2015. But what strategies should you use? What small tasks can you accomplish each day to earn more qualified leads?

Let’s take a look at 6 ideas that can help you begin your sales cycle. 

1.      Embrace social media.

This concept isn’t rocket science, but it does mean more than just creating a Facebook page. Embracing social media to generate leads means selecting channels that your target audience uses, creating and curating content daily that works for those channels and that is compelling and relevant to your audience, developing a reputation as a thought leader in your industry and talking with your followers, not just to them. While you won’t see an immediate train of quality leads pulling into your brand’s station, you will begin to connect with those interested in your services and begin to foster relationships.

2.      Send direct mail.

Yes, you read that correctly. Direct mail may have its detractors, but don’t count it out when it comes to your lead generation strategies. HubSpot notes that 18-34 year olds prefer direct mail and that it’s an effective lead generation investment when targeting hyper-local communities. Many marketers focus solely on email to generate leads, so direct mail has more of an opportunity to stand out. Work with professionals who understand how to create the right content and who can target the right audience for your brand.

3.      Hold contests on social media.

There are several ways to hold contests on each social media channel, but for the purpose of lead generation, focus on email-gated contests. Followers will need to enter their email addresses before they can successfully enter your contest, and you can also ask for a follow or a retweet in addition to their contact information. If your contests include the submission of videos or photos, you can collect user-generated content (UGC) as well.

4.      Test and use hashtags.

In 2015, using hashtags should be a no-brainer. What some marketers tend to overlook is the need to test hashtags. Having your brand be a part of the conversation on trending topics and participating in Twitter chats are good ways to be seen as a thought leader, but as you become seen as more of an expert, you also want to create your own content and your own hashtags. Ensuring those hashtags will stick means ensuring your message will amplify its reach. 

5.      Create original content for LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is giving its members access to its long-form blog publishing privileges as a way to create a stronger community of professional insights. These blogs can be great resources for lead generation and can be posted to your company’s LinkedIn page as you further establish yourself as an expert in the industry. Create content that is helpful and interesting to your target prospects. Include a specific call-to-action to subscribe to your company blog or YouTube page and to follow your company’s social media accounts. You can also include a CTA to sign up for a webinar or download a white paper, but be careful not to leave your prospects with the feeling that they are being sold to. 

6.      Revise your strategies as needed.

Your marketing strategies are living, breathing entities; as the behavior and needs of your prospects change, so should your marketing. Measure the results of each activity regularly and revise accordingly. There is nothing about your target audience that is set in stone, so how you interact with them and earn them as leads must evolve as needed.

By: Susan Gail Taylor, Social Media Manager and Copywriter at RME360

Make the Multi-Channel Approach Work in 2015

Yearly mail volume sent in 2007: 212 billion

Yearly mail volume sent in 2013: 158 billion

Weekly average of business and marketing emails read by consumers in 2007: 304

Daily business and marketing emails sent in 2013: 100 billion

While email and all things digital remain powerhouses in marketing, direct mail is also an effective medium when it’s part of a multi-channel approach. The numbers above clearly reflect a downturn in print mail pieces, but they also speak to a key direct mail strategy: the use of effective targeted marketing. What does this mean? The age of big data stepped in. For marketers, that meant targeting their messaging to more than mere demographics. For consumers, that meant fewer pieces to sort through and a greater likelihood that targeted pieces received were considered.

In 2015, the intersection of effective targeted marketing and integrated print and digital messaging can optimize consumer engagement with your brand. Here are a few tips to help you plan your marketing and make a multi-channel approach work for your brand:

Personalize your campaigns.

Data selects such as age, ethnicity, gender and zip code are the fundamental bits of information needed to begin any direct mail campaign, but big data is about more multifaceted information. Who are your prospects? What do they like? What are their buying patterns? What are their lifestyles like? This level of data will help you better target your ideal audience.

When you can more strategically target your ideal prospects, you can more effectively personalize your marketing. When your ideal prospects receive personalized marketing, they are more likely to respond to your offer. MindFireInc®, a direct mail tracking software company, studied 650 multi-channel marketing campaigns and found that personalized campaigns consistently and overwhelmingly beat out static campaigns in generating a high response rate from recipients. 

Tell your story.

Brand advocates are the most powerful force in marketing. Do you have customers who can attest to your brand’s way of doing business? To your brand’s products and service? Using their testimonials on your direct mail pieces can not only tell your story but can also build your credibility.

What other stories are meaningful to understanding your brand? Think about marketing pieces you connect with: what types of stories do they tell? Solidify your relationships with your target prospects by evoking emotional responses; sharing your brand’s stream of stories that create its overarching narrative is crucial when earning connections with your prospects.

Mix your marketing.

Print marketing has more than earned its place at the table, and so has digital. 2015 will see this integration pushed further, making both mediums work for your brand. Use your social media footprint on your print pieces to encourage your prospects’ engagement with your brand. Conversations on these platforms build brand awareness as well as brand advocates. Also, track responses with personalized URLs (PURLs). This gives your prospects a way to respond online and gives them a more unique experience with your digital identity than merely sending them to your company website. 

By: Susan Gail Taylor, Social Media Manager and Copywriter at RME360

RME360 Celebrates Our 20th Anniversary

2015 is an exciting milestone for us as we celebrate 20 years of success. 



We will celebrate the past and look forward to 20 more years of bringing our clients face to face with new prospects. 

Stay tuned to our blog and our social media for anniversary promotions and exciting announcements in 2015!

RME360 Facebook

RME360 LinkedIn

RME360 Twitter

6 Tips for Building Lasting Client Relationships

 Do your favorite brands interact with you on social media? Do they show their appreciation of your patronage? Do they give you the "wow" factor at each point of service?

If they want to build lasting relationships with you, then they should be doing these things and more. And if you aren’t providing such things in an effort to build meaningful relationships with your clients, then it’s time to make immediate changes. Use the following tips to help you provide amazing service so that you can wrap the story and reputation of your brand around each client and prospect.

• Celebrate milestones with clients. This sounds simple, huh? But often we find ourselves too busy to remember birthdays, anniversaries or other important milestones our clients celebrate. Make time to send a card or to send a VSnap video via social media or email for such dates. (VSnap allows you to record 60 second personalized videos, a technique that can help you establish a connection and create trust.) 

• Remember that not every call should be a sales call.  If a client thinks you only call to sell her something new, you won’t be able to establish a meaningful relationship.  Find other opportunities to call clients and provide value to your service. Invite them to lunch to say thank you for their business, send them links to articles relevant to their businesses or call them to discuss best practices for a product or service you provide. Try to have multiple client touches throughout the year. 

• Don’t hinge your entire relationship on digital communication.  It’s very easy to rely on e-mail as the primary relationship tool, but remember that clients need to hear your voice and see your face, both of which add a personal touch and go a long way toward deepening client relationships.

• Exceed your clients’ expectations with the “wow” factor. One of the best ways to develop a meaningful relationship with your clients is to give them 1) exceptional service and 2) exceptional results. Don’t oversell yourself and don’t promise more than you can deliver, but set expectations that provide you with opportunities to excite your clients. Think about the last time a brand left you saying “wow.” Did a representative call you by your first name? Did he tweet about your business from his company’s profile? Did she deliver a product or document to you because you couldn’t come into the office? Did he send you a goody basket with a handwritten note? Remember how you’ve been dazzled by exceptional service and recreate such moments for your clients.

• Inspire your team with best practices. So now that you’ve recalled how you were dazzled, inspire your team to do the same by discussing best practices. One of the most powerful ways to continue with providing the “wow” factor is to share ideas on how to do so with your employees and/or colleagues. Bring in breakfast one morning and sit down with your team to listen to their ideas and to pass on yours as well. Talking about these ideas can increase the chances that providing “wow” factors become a standard for your brand.

• Find common ground. Do you and a client both love sports? Do you both have aging parents? Do you both enjoy the same activities outside of the office? Talk with them about such common ground issues; having something to talk about other than the business you are collaborating on makes working together on both sides much more gratifying.

By: Susan Gail Taylor, Social Media Manager and Copywriter at RME360

Summertime and the...

...marketing's easy!

Yes, summer is in full swing. And if you're like many financial professionals, you've throttled back your marketing and lead generation activities - this despite the fact that it's a proven fact that consumers continue to respond to direct marketing campaigns. (See my June 2nd blog post: Debunking the Myth about Summer Seminars).

If you're among the savvy minority of producers who are keeping up their marketing momentum and continuing prospecting efforts throughout the summer months - BRAVO!If, however, you're "taking the summer off" and aren't investing in your marketing, at least take this time to review your marketing results from the first 6 months of 2014. Marketing and prospecting, like investing, is a process and cycle. If you aren't tracking what you're spending your marketing dollars on - and the results of those investments - this is the time to do so. Then, calculate your ROI.

If the ROI on your marketing dollars is 200% or more, you're doing things right and you should use the summer to set in place a marketing plan and strategy to capitalize on your past results. 

If the ROI is less than 200%, something's broken. Identify what's not working and consult with a trusted colleague or marketing professional to help you find out why a specific marketing campaign failed and then put in place a plan to fix it. 

REMEMBER THIS: When it comes to direct mail (be it lead generation, appointment setting or seminar marketing), if consumers aren't responding, they are sending you a clear message: your offer stinks!

There is a myriad of reasons why a campaign fails. Perhaps you promoted a seminar and didn't offer a free meal or held your seminar at a library. What list did you use? Is the list accurate and up-to-date? Did you offer something as an incentive to respond? (Note: a "free consultation" isn't an incentive; a gift card is an incentive!)

If you're not sure what to do, find a person or company with experience in financial services marketing and ask them to review your failed campaigns. If they're worth their salt, they will be able to give you feedback and recommendations that can improve your results.

Bottom line? Use the summer months to develop a marketing plan that will help you finish the year strong. Collect and analyze data from your marketing and use that data to drive your marketing investments. Finally, find a marketing partner to help you with lead generation activities. Focus on what you do best and outsource tasks that take you away from getting face-to-face with motivated and qualified prospects.

Marketing is an investment - treat it like one!

Have a happy and safe summer!

Publish or Perish!

Social media is undoubtedly a powerful tool for business-to-business (B2B) marketing, but businesses that aren’t using it strategically are missing out on opportunities to engage with their prospects and clients and to meet and exceed their business goals. One way to leverage the power of social media is to publish meaningful original content. The culture of search engine optimization (SEO) almost demands such content; thin content and unfocused lists of links once served as ways to boost your search rankings, but search algorithm changes now highlight quality content as the preferred method for improving users’ experiences with search results. To get your piece of the marketing pie—or the marketing cupcake in this metaphor—compose your own content and publish it in optimized digital spaces so you can earn the cherries on top: the clients.

Give your marketing a credible foundation. Content is king, and your content should provide substance to your business as a brand. Differentiate yourself from your competitors and establish your credibility by taking a stance on issues of interest among your target audience and by sharing your expert opinion. Think of the content you share now and why you do so. Is it because you trust the source of information and want to pass it along? Why not be the trusted source of information instead? Speaking of a trusted source of information, Ryan Roslansky, Head of Content Products at LinkedIn, notes that members should publish because the content “will become a part of their professional identity. So if someone looks up your profile, it’ll be there. It’s a great way to show your knowledge and expertise.” Be the expert. Be the cupcake.

Use multiple social media platforms that make sense for your business. Consider your objectives with social media and what others in your industry are doing with it before you select and strategically use your profiles. Do you want to use your content to engage with prospects, clients and industry leaders in real-time dialogue? Use Twitter to quickly interact with those audiences and to contribute meaningful information to industry-focused dialogue. Do you want to use your content to connect with decision makers? LinkedIn is the gold star standard when it comes to professional networking. Publish blog posts about trends, news and issues that may impact your prospects and clients. Identify companies you’d like to meet with and join LinkedIn groups to which decision makers belong.  Do you want to use your content to give your business a more human feel? Facebook provides a digital space to post videos and videos, allowing more personal and/or targeted interactions with your audiences. The platform’s Boosted Posts promote your business to more targeted audiences that you define. While these platforms can be used for a variety of reasons, these ideas serve as the icing on the cupcake when it comes to connecting with your audience.

Optimize your digital space.  Merely having online real estate as a place to house your content is not enough in today’s digital age. You want prospects and clients to actually find your content, not for it to be lost among your competition’s attempts to bake their own marketing cupcakes. Search engine optimization is crucial to promoting that space and connecting with your target audience. Your website should be accessible to not only that audience, but also search engine robots; those robots can’t see web pages like your audience can and SEO helps the engine discover what your site is about and what information will be most helpful to users. Your business’ name, address and phone number should be located on each page of your website and on your Google+ Local listing.  This information should be in text format, not in a picture file. Your city and state names should be included in the title tag, meta description and in the content pages as appropriate. Google uses a combination of positive reviews, proximity to the searcher, number of citations and other factors to order local results.  Improve these elements and your local rankings will improve, driving more prospects to your website and other digital real estates where they can view your content. If optimization is something you are unfamiliar with, a marketing expert specializing in digital strategy can help you implement these sprinkles on your marketing cupcake.

Stay current and relevant in your industry. The content you compose and publish can include information on your company’s mission, products and services as well as experience you bring to the industry table. Keep your content professional and targeted; don’t post content that is not focused on building an audience, relationships and a reputation as an expert in the field.   Earn your cherries on top of your cupcake and ask that your company support you in doing so.

Don’t let the dessert ruin the supper! Your online integrity is sacred. Your content should reflect your actual business philosophy and practices. Social media and content marketing are not like movies with building facades but no real substance. In the same way that videos can go viral on the web, your reputation can go viral as well – but that knife cuts both ways. So, put together a strategy for your social media and content marketing, and if you’re not sure how to get started, find a social media strategist to help you. It’s worth the investment and can make the difference between a strategy that drives new customers to your business or the loss of revenue and reputation – both online and off.

By: Susan Gail Taylor, Marketing Coordinator and Copywriter at RME360

Debunking the Myth about Summer Seminars

For as long as financial advisors have been using social dinner seminars to get in front of a consistent flow of qualified prospects, there has been a persistent myth: “People don’t go to seminars during the summer.” Good marketers listen to consumers and base their approach on data, behaviors and trends. 

HERE ARE THE FACTS: A comprehensive review of seminars marketed for the months of June, July and August in both 2012 and 2013 shows that over 90,000 reservations were taken!

Your target audience does not suspend their financial planning needs, concerns or issues during the summer - or at any other time of the year for that matter. They need your help, advice and solutions year round.

Makes total sense right?

When I recently asked a group of advisors their motivation to conduct summer seminars, the overwhelming response was, “Because they work.” The next most common reason was because so many other advisors take the summer off and that gives them a big advantage!Another theme that emerged in these discussions was the importance of maintaining production momentum. One advisor confessed the obvious, “I know from personal experience that it takes an average of 30 to 60 days to convert a seminar prospect to a client. If I was to take two or three months off during the summer I’d be hard pressed to meet my personal and business goals.” 

One advisor added, “Marketing and lead generation is all about being consistant. Starting and stopping my marketing based on months of the calendar is short-term thinking. I know that marketing is an investment. I need to be in front of prospects every month of the year. After all, if they (prospects) aren’t meeting with me, chances are, they are meeting with someone else.”

Bottom line, financial advisors who continue their marketing efforts throughout the year will see more prospects, increase their client-base and generate the highest revenues. Avoid the “summer seminars don’t work” myth. Listen to the consumer –all successful marketers do.