Rebecca Hourihan brought her marketing expertise to Excel 401(k): The Advisors’ Conference on Tuesday to teach advisors how they can best position themselves as “retirement readiness experts” with authority marketing.
Hourihan, the founder of 401(k) Marketing, began by reminding the audience that the simplest of marketing steps is just a keyboard away.
“Eighty-six percent of people will Google you prior to contacting you—and what will their search say about you?”
(Side note: a flurry of searches ensued as attendees quickly Googled themselves.)
For authority marketing to succeed, Hourihan advised attendees to “own your name” online and ensure that the first items that appear include your firm biography, LinkedIn profile and articles that you wrote or were featured.
If a prospective client searched for you and saw many pages of relevant results, they equate that with quality.
“Who you are helps strengthen your conversation immediately” she added.
She provided a series of tips to help create a robust online presence and suggested that liking and sharing articles or even writing a blog can help increase results.
In a cluttered media space that exposes to 5,000 advertising images each day, Hourihan said it’s more important than ever to find ways to make your brand stand out.
She stressed the importance of a well-designed website and while it may not bring your business, it can definitely “lose your business” if it’s poorly laid out and confusing.
Hourihan said your brand can follow you into a meeting with a plan sponsor.
“Do you walk in with a yellow notepad and a smile? Or do you bring in a quality brochure that is a reflection of your brand?” She reminded that marketing pieces are an “extension of your brand and show what it’s like to work with you and what you bring to the table.”
A brand needs ongoing attention, she cautioned, and advisors need to maintain its standards and consistency.
Hourihan explored a newer marketing theme with the growing popularity of financial wellness.
While 85 percent of employers think that financial wellness programs are “the right thing to do,” advisors need to also help plan sponsors understand the bottom line benefits such as lowering health insurance premiums, decreasing absenteeism and productivity — all items that have been linked to financial stress.
Advisors should ask plan sponsors “what does financial wellness mean to you?” because Hourihan said the answer can eventually help craft a program that directly aligns with their desired outcome and measurements of success.
She identified different stages of plan sponsor readiness including preoccupied, not-yet, considering and ready to sign on. To implement a financial wellness program, advisors need to be prepared to “have a system” to market to each stage, and increase efforts as the plan sponsor moves through the spectrum to the “ready” level.
Marketing can be overwhelming, and she has simple advice to help advisors get started: set a budget, create a marketing calendar and implement a process.
Hourihan concluded if you manage it accordingly, “all marketing works!”
Lynn Brackpool Giles is a contributing editor to 401(k) Specialist. Giles is a former Managing Director of Communications and Consumer Services for the Financial Planning Association (FPA), where she oversaw all corporate, legislative, and consumer communications. In her current journalistic practice, she is a frequent contributor to numerous financial services industry publications.
