How does your 401k marketing stack up against the competition?
In a “highly interactive experience” at Fi360’s annual conference in San Diego last week, speaker Rebecca Hourihan distributed workbooks, guiding attendees through a self-assessment of their current marketing efforts in order to help them identify strengths and weaknesses and develop strategies for improvement.
“You need to know where your marketing is today, so that way we can help you move towards tomorrow,” began Hourihan, founder and CMO of San Diego, Calif.-based 401(k) Marketing.
Hourihan wasted no time emphasizing the importance of having a solid web presence. Using a fictional case study to illustrate her point, she encouraged the audience to consider what “Robert, CEO of Kensington Group,” would do first upon receiving three referrals for retirement plan advisors for his company’s $5 million retirement plan.
“Is he going to drive in his car, walk into those offices, shake hands?” she rhetorically asked. “Or is he simply going to just take his mouse and click?”
Digital first impressions are more common than ever, Hourihan explained, with 86 percent of prospects performing an internet search on an advisor or company before reaching out.
In turn, she recommends overhauling websites approximately every three years, optimizing web pages for different screen sizes (like mobile phones, where 51 percent of searches occur), and ensuring LinkedIn and other social profiles are up-to-date (with an accurate name and current headshot).
“Marketing is a direct extension of your firm,” Hourihan said, before delving into subsequent quizzes meant to assess physical marketing materials, CRM management and client touchpoints. “The moment that you leave the room, how does your marketing represent you and how does that continue the story of exactly the way you’re going to be able to service and support those firms?”
Other key takeaways from the 401k Marketing presentation included:
- Provide clients with brochures, service calendars, PowerPoints, branded folders or other physical materials so that prospects are not required to recall complex details
- Build up a CRM of 500+ contacts and take care to ensure data is clean and accurate
- Leverage technology to stay in front of clients with blogs, newsletters, emails, webinars, digital ads, press releases and more
With more than 20 years serving financial markets, John Sullivan is the former editor-in-chief of Investment Advisor magazine and retirement editor of ThinkAdvisor.com. Sullivan is also the former editor of Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor magazines, and has a background in the insurance and investment industries in addition to his journalism roots.
