Mike Byrnes, who's worked in the financial service marketing space since 1992, has seen his fair share of marketing mistakes among financial advisors.
"[Advisors] didn't grow up in the marketing and sometimes sales world," he said.
"There's definitely a lot of mistakes in the marketing world," he said. "[Advisors] need to be very strategic about what they're doing and be focused. And then just have the right tactics — even if they're a mistake, learn from it. If they're the right tactics, they're going to be really happy and they're going to increase their business size or whatever goal they're trying to accomplish."
Byrnes founded his own marketing consulting firm, Byrnes Consulting LLC, in April 2008. His services include business planning, marketing strategy, business development, client service and management effectiveness. He spoke with ThinkAdvisor about these five specific mistakes he sees in advisors' marketing strategies:
1. Not defining their target market
If advisors narrow their focus and define a target market, they're going to be more successful, according to Byrnes.
"It really is obvious the firms that struggle with marketing if they just say 'we want a client to come in that has $500,000 or more, or a million or more.' To me, that's too broad," Byrnes told ThinkAdvisor. "They need to get more specific."
If advisors can visualize the type of client they want to walk in the door — the prospective client — then they're more likely to be successful with their marketing to get that client.
Byrnes used the example of widows versus corporate executives as prospective target markets. And how with target markets, advisors can be strategic and develop alliances.
For example, with widows, advisors could market to a grief counselor to build out a strategic alliance. Meanwhile, with corporate execs, advisors may want to partner with a business coach or headhunter.
If advisors know their target market, they can also hold targeted events to attract the prospective clients they want.
"For widows, you could have a widow's group, a travel club — because they're really sad because they lost their significant other so they stop traveling — or a Valentine's Day party — because they're pretty sad on Valentine's Day," Byrnes explained.
Meanwhile, an advisor could hold an "How to Deal with Corporate Stock Plans" event if he or she is trying to attract corporate execs.
"If you did the Valentine's Day for corporate executives, that would seem a little creepy maybe," Byrnes said.
2. Not having a strategy with specific tactics that will deliver results
Advisors need to have a plan and "stick to it," Byrnes said.
"Too often we see that if things are too generic, [advisors] don't know where to focus their efforts," he told ThinkAdvisor. "There's a limited amount of resources — which I always say is time and dollars — and if they know what kind of client they want, their strategy can be … more specific."
Their plan should include marketing tactics and tools, like event marketing, direct mail, email, online marketing, social media, PR and advertising.
"If they have a really well thought out plan, the marketing is very trackable so you can see if those tactics are working, and each year your marketing plan should get that much better and better," Byrnes explained. "You learn and see what worked and what didn't work."
So how do advisors come up with a strategy with specific tactics?
According to Byrnes, this strategy loops into the larger business plan.
"So if they have a goal to grow, let's say, 20% year after year. How are they going to grow?" he explained. "Are they going to do it from client referrals? From strategic alliances? From new business? From mergers and acquisitions? And then they need to make a plan specific to all those different buckets."
According to Byrnes, advisors should be asking themselves the following questions to determine what strategies and tactics to use.
"If it's referrals, what are [advisors] doing to get the clients to introduce them?" he said. "If it's strategic alliances, are there things like joint mailings or shared PR or events that [advisors] could do together [with these alliances]? And are [advisors] building the right relationships?"
3. Not having a mobile-friendly approach
