Once upon a time, proving your expertise involved talking the talk and walking the walk. But the world’s changed. Prospective clients are vetting you before they’ve ever heard you speak a word or seen you take a step.
To illustrate this point, Rebecca Hourihan of 401(k) Marketing asked attendees of Excel 401(k): The Advisors’ Conference in Las Vegas, “Where do you turn for information?”
A photo of an office telephone and an image of Google’s homepage appeared side-by-side on the projection screen behind her. Point made.
We all do it. We check out (ahem, judge) companies’ websites; we look up (ahem, stalk) people online; and we even seek out others’ opinions (i.e., tweets, reviews, ratings and comments) about businesses and people.
“Reputation is important, but if the internet says you’re an expert, you’re an expert,” Hourihan said during her Monday morning session entitled “How to Gain Recognition as a 401(k) Expert and Rise Above Your Competition.”
That being the case, advisors should focus on becoming omnipresent through content marketing—a strategy centered around creating and distributing content via blogs, videos, emails, social media, search engines, webinars and more. Doing so is a means of demonstrating experience and value as a 401k advisor.
“You are the expert, teaching something to your prospects that they most likely would not have access to,” Hourihan explained.
And although much effort should be directed toward digital content, she assured attendees that print isn’t dead. In fact, people appreciate direct mail nowadays—perhaps because it’s scarce. The average person receives four tangible pieces of mail per day compared to 88 emails.
One final point, relevant to both online and print content, Hourihan stressed the impact of visual presentation.
“Whatever we release from a content marketing standpoint, it actually has to look good too now. We are in this glamification industry, where everything that goes out—because we’re competing with so much shelf space—it has to look nice. It can’t just be a piece of paper with a border around it. It actually has to be designed,” she concluded.
Jessa Claeys is a writer, editor and graphic designer.
