Marketing Tips

Search Engine Optimization

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Learn the top factors that affect your search listings, tips for website construction, how to develop and organize SEO-friendly content, how to use Google My Business, and the importance of social media on SEO.
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Email Marketing Tips

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Learn about compliance, how to build your list, get suggestions on how to create a strong cam-paign, master the art of creating a powerful email, get tips on lay-out, learn how to create strong calls-to-action, and get subject line DOs and DON’Ts.
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A Niche Is A Need – Avoiding The Biggest Mistake Of Marketing

 

Most advisors make the biggest mistake in marketing before they ever begin.
Maybe you've heard that successful marketing starts with defining your niche; know who you will market to before you start.  But the people they target are not a niche at all.
 
Here is the challenge: a niche is not actually a demographic or a profession or an affiliation. A niche is a need. A successful niche identifies a tribe of people who share a common need that is not shared by the general population. It is what separates one group from the rest of us in terms a financial advisor can address.
 
It is not a description. You can describe a lot of groups that share a lot in common but do not have a unique need. If they don't have a need, what you can do to appeal to them is limited. My favorite is advisors who tell me that their niche market is women. Women is not a niche (I spoke with Mark Tibergien of Pershing Advisor Solutions last weekend, and will write more about that soon.) Women make up 52% of the population – that's not a niche, it's the Grand Canyon. There is nothing I can think of that could meaningfully tie together the needs of my 18-year-old daughter, a 45-year-old corporate executive, and an 87-year-old widow. And unless there is a common need, it is difficult to design an advisory solution for them. It is pointless to define your target market based on the restroom they go into.
 
A niche is certainly not a bank balance. I hear some advisors say they specialize in high net worth individuals with over $1 million to invest. That is not a need but a resource. People don't define themselves by what they have in the bank. There is nothing in particular that I need simply because I have $1 million. I think of myself a lot of ways – husband, father, someone with kids of a prior marriage, a small-business owner, a cook, a dancer. I don't think of myself as someone who has $1 million.
 
Another common "niche" is retirees. But, like women, that is just too big a segment with too many varied needs. There is a big difference between a 42-year-old who no longer has to work because he just sold his Internet company and a 67-year-old former plumber. They are likely looking for very different things from an advisor. "Retirees" is not a niche. People who retire from a specific company, or from a certain profession, or who still have teenage kids after they retire could all potentially be niches. I work with one practice who has made significant strategic decisions to highlight their expertise in the benefits plan of a major local employer. When that employer declared bankruptcy, this practice sent out a single e-mail saying they would have a seminar on the implications of that filing on the company’s 401(k) and retiree health benefits and put 600 people in a room. Retirees that share a common challenge is a niche. But just being retired is not.
 
All marketing begins with the niche. When you choose yours, make sure that what you have selected describes a group that will respond to the special solution you have to offer them. What do you describe as your niche? I would love to hear some of your ideas in the comments.

 

Questions?

How and why does the Advisor Products system work?

In today’s times, when consumers have become more demanding and tech-savvy, financial advisors must use content marketing to attract, inspire, engage, and convert their prospective customers.

A good content strategy is focused on developing and distributing consistent, valuable content to engage and retain prospective customers and target audience, via your website. Our content library provides financial advisors with fresh, high-quality financial content that is updated regularly, improving SEO along the way. And our automated e-newsletter and social media tools allow advisors to reach out to clients and prospects in an easy-to-use manner, providing frequent touch points for optimal brand building.

  • Differentiate you from competitors
  • Expose clients and prospects to your brand message more frequently
  • Build an ongoing relationship with customers
  • Increase your follows and fans on social media
  • Drive more prospects to your website
  • Help convert prospects into leads
  • Increase number of pages indexed in Google
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