Kick your marketing strategies up a notch

Seasonal strategies
Watch for promotional opportunities throughout the year. "Local communities always have senior-oriented events at regular times during the year, such a senior expos and holiday dances," Urban says. "Advisors need to stay connected to the senior services community to know exactly when these events are and how they can become as involved as possible. Planning ahead like this helps advisors keep their marketing budgets organized. Also, staying connected within the local senior services community keeps networking efforts alive."

Replenish your referrals
Are you actively recruiting 'centers of influence,' like CPAs, attorneys and bankers, that you can team up with to share referrals and combine marketing efforts? Are you maximizing your time and money in your involvement with groups like the chamber of commerce? Do you consistently ask your customers for referrals? To increase his referrals, Martin recently hosted both a luncheon and dinner for groups of CPAs. Martin gave a talk geared toward tax and retirement issues related to IRAs and 401(k)s. The meetings attracted more than 50 CPAs, all of whom have the potential to send referrals Martin's way.

Reevaluate the marketing 'mix'
"Marketing strategies are as diverse as the businesses and organizations with whom we partner," Rockey says. "The variables that enter into the marketing mix strategy are numerous and unique. For instance, we serve many great nonprofit organizations that focus their yearly fund-raising activities around just a few key events. With limited marketing budgets, it is important that they allocate resources towards those premier events.

"On the other side of the equation, we serve businesses that must continually compete for market share and for whom name and product recognition must be nearly immediate. Awareness and promotional campaigns serving that community of clients require repeated, consistent branding and messaging. In my more than 20 years of experience developing, implementing, measuring, and managing marketing strategy and efforts for a very wide range of industries and organizations, those who have performed the best were those who planned and executed a precise ongoing marketing strategy and then supplemented those efforts with well-planned and intentional special events."

Gratitude and good prospects
"I hold quarterly client appreciation lunches for my customers and their colleagues," Martin says. "[The Society of Certified Senior Advisors] helped me put it together, and I assembled a group of professionals focused on helping seniors in the community: an attorney, a reverse mortgage specialist, an accountant, a home health agency, a realtor that specializes in the senior market and a medical equipment expert. We work together and offer presentations on social and health issues in the senior community."

Martin's last luncheon attracted 36 people, and the experts split the catering expenses. Martin presented a half-hour program supplied by CSA entitled "American Crisis in Living," about the challenges posed by Americans' longer life spans. He then introduced the panel and led a question-and-answer session. After the presentation, one-third of the attendees scheduled private consultations. (Also, Martin notes, the attorney on the panel became a client.)

Stay focused
"I think that one of the most important areas that marketing managers and strategists need to focus on is the area of intelligent targeting," Rockey says. "The return on the investment one makes on analysis of their client base, identifying their best target candidates based upon that analysis, and focusing a message and offer to that group is outstanding. Through intelligent targeting, any organization – from businesses of any size to nonprofits to government agencies and universities – can increase the efficiency of their marketing spending and in turn spend less on production and fulfillment costs and still increase qualified lead generation, closed sales and greater revenue."

Martin sums it up: "You can't keep throwing money at things that aren't working," he says. "Salesmanship and the days of calling 50 people to get five appointments are gone. I've seen a lot of changes in 31 years. The bottom line is, we have to be good marketers. It's not about products any more, it's about ideas."