Happy New Year! As many of you may already know, January kicks off Financial Wellness month. This is not only a great opportunity for you to ensure your clients are working toward financial wellness, but also an opportunity to give yourself a wellness check… an e-marketing wellness check!
As we enter the new year, now is the perfect time to review your current marketing plan to ensure you are integrating e-marketing strategies. Did you know that 88% of people will look up an advisor online after they are referred and 63% will make a decision based on their findings? Additionally with technology continuing to advance each and every year, it’s more important than ever to ensure your online presence is up to date, robust, and SEO (search engine optimization) friendly. Are you utilizing e-marketing best practices to help you stand out amongst your competitors and boost your web visibility?
Let’s review three simple e-marketing checks to help you stand out and stay top of mind with your clients and prospects.
Website check
When is the last time you dedicated some time to review your website to ensure it is up to date with the most current information? If by looking at your website you realize your photo looks nothing like you do today or it looks like it is straight out of the 90’s, you know it’s time for an update! Simply Google “Best Financial Advisor Websites” to get a feel for what some of the best advisor websites look like today.
Some best practices to consider to enhance your site and boost SEO include:
- Having a responsive design so your site works correctly on all devices
- Hyperlinking social media icons and contact information for easy connections
- Adding a call-to-action page (CTA) on every page with an accent color that stands out
- Using video for an interactive and educational component to keep viewers on your site longer
- Blogging to drive traffic to your website and boost SEO (1800-2400 words ideal)
- Sprinkling key words you want to be known for throughout your site
- Listing your NAP (name, address, phone) consistently at every mention to satisfy algorithms
I’m sure you are thinking right about now… who has time to blog? No time? No problem! Think outside the box and leverage LPL’s pre-approved articles available on Marketing on Demand for content that’s ready to go.
Incorporating the elements above will not only improve your visibility and credibility, but will also give your website a nice update as well!
Social Media Check
Similarly to your website, having a current, high-resolution headshot along with up-to-date information on your approved social media profile pages are equally as important. A 2021 study with Think Advisor showed that 86% of advisors who use social media reported gaining an average of $5 million in business. Having your social media profiles up-to-date is essential is helping you work towards growing your business.
There are several best practices to implement on your approved social media platforms that can give you an SEO boost so you appear higher up in online searches that include:
- Updating your headline (LinkedIn) and summaries (LinkedIn and Facebook) to include key words you want to be known and describe what it is you do, who you do it for, what you can help them with, and in what geographical location
- Customizing your URL
- Posting at least 2x a week
- Adjusting privacy settings within your profile (LinkedIn) so you don’t give away free advertising to your competitors
LPL’s social media content library, “Gainfully”, makes it easier than ever to set up pre-approved messaging to post to your social media accounts. Don’t have time to look through their library? Set up your admin as a delegate to manage on your behalf.
Email Marketing Check
What email marketing efforts are you implementing and how are you using them? Are you just setting up email campaigns including the Weekly Market Commentaries and blasting to everyone? Being strategic with your messaging and sending to segmented groups will yield better results. Think about the impact you could have by sending targeted emails to the contacts that would truly benefit from the selected messaging.
The Automated Campaign Tool (ACT) allows you to create groups to segment your contacts so you can drip on each with messaging tailored to their likes. Through ACT you can send:
- LPL Weekly Market Commentaries
- LPL Outlooks
- Popular Client/Prospect Letters
- Birthday/Holiday Greetings
- Financial Topics
- Lifestyle Topics
Don’t feel like you are limited to emailing only what you come across through ACT, you can also send your own pre-approved content through this tool. Marketing on Demand as well as our own exclusive marketing resource library (accessible through our website) will lead you to further content you are free to send out. You can also reach out to your designated Marketing Account Manager to create a completely custom piece as well.
Enhance Your Online Presence Today!
Implementing these three simple e-marketing checks will go miles in helping you enhance your online presence, stand out amongst your competitors and stay top of mind with your prospects and clients.
To learn more about applying these e-marketing checks into your business, please contact your dedicated Marketing Account Manager today!
