We've all been there — minding our own business, surfing the Web, watching videos, and then from out of nowhere, bam! We're interrupted and forced to watch a commercial (or at least the first 15 seconds) before the video will play or we're allowed to press "skip ad."
These interruptions are frustrating. Why do companies pay to market this way? Well, because it works, at least on some large scale. As an advisor you would probably never consider marketing your practice this way simply because it doesn't fit with your business model. However, did you realize you're probably leveraging "interruption marketing" in other formats without even knowing it?
Consider the following methods of marketing: direct mail, radio ads, billboards, email marketing (of the spam variety), and on and on I could go. These types of marketing methods fall into the interruption marketing category because the prospects receiving these messages are neither looking for them nor asking to receive them. No one is asking you to send them your direct mail invitation or interrupt their listening on the radio with another ad. We utilize these marketing tactics in hopes of attracting those who are looking for what we have to offer.
So what's the point?
Why should you care to understand interruption marketing? Because if you don't transition to more opt-in-based marketing methods, you could potentially waste thousands of dollars marketing to people who aren't interested in your offer. At the same time, you could miss out on the opportunity to dramatically increase your response from those who are interested.
What exactly is opt-in marketing? Opt-in marketing is marketing exclusively to those who have "raised their hand" or shown interest in your products and/or services. It is marketing to those on your list. "But I don't have a list," you might say. Ah! Therein lies the first challenge you need to overcome.
It is critical to your long-term success that you begin building your list of interested prospects as quickly as possible. Your list does not simply mean anyone you've ever met with who didn't become a client, although they do count. Moreover, you need to purposefully identify those in your market who qualify to do business with you and have an interest in your services. "Then what?" you're probably wondering. Once you've begun to build a list of interested prospects, you can begin nurturing them. And that is where you will begin to see the real power of opt-in marketing.
Next week I'll go into more detail on nurturing leads and more importantly how you can automate that process so it doesn't eat up your time. For this week though, let me give you a couple of ideas on how to begin building your list to get you started.
