Read all about it: Print advertising is not out-of-date

Think about all the topics your clients and prospects come to you for: estate planning, tax reduction, investment planning, income planning, etc. Knowing why prospects come to you and what they are looking for will help you to develop resources that are more likely to elicit a response. For example, white papers, reports and videos on these topics of interest make great lead capture pieces. Remember, an exchange of value-for-value must take place: Your valuable information in exchange for their contact information for follow up. Why would they give you their information if they have nothing to gain?

Also keep in mind, when constructing your CTA don't just send them to the homepage of your site; create a page on your site that reflects the offer and even how they found out about you. If in a newspaper or magazine, make sure it reflects that. For example, it may say, "…As seen in (name of newspaper or magazine)." Use an image of the newspaper or magazine so there's brand consistency and no disconnect.

Keep in mind you are not spending marketing dollars simply to build general-brand awareness. Just because people see your logo a thousand times doesn't mean they will call you. General awareness equals passive advertising as well as passive results, and most advisors can't afford to maintain a passive campaign long enough to realize the benefits.

Also, make it easy for people to connect with you. Most people are too hesitant to engage in a phone conversation with someone they've never met. However, if you give them the option to check you out online first or text-in to receive something of value, you've given them a much less threatening and very comfortable way to respond, and as a result you'll realize a much higher response to your campaign.

Key points to remember:

• Include multiple offers in your print advertising for people at each stage of the buying process.
• Make sure your print advertising is professionally designed. While that sounds like a no brainer, many people still use generic ads or do them in-house to save money, thus hurting their credibility.
• Brand consistency is a huge piece of any successful marketing campaign.

In the upcoming weeks, we will continue to expand on the different elements of lead capture. We'll explore how to fine-tune this concept and how it works with different marketing mediums. In the meantime to gain access to some free video content on this concept, please visit www.AutomatedAdvisor.com.

For more from Brandon Stuerke, see:

• Lost sales leads: 4 common problems
• Mass Marketing vs. Strategic Marketing
• Why your social media may be failing