Using Calendar-based Events in Your Financial Marketing:
From the Holidays to Milestones… Don’t Miss a Timely Opportunity to Be Seen, Heard and Hired
‘Tis the end of the year and all through your town people are scrambling to maximize their taxable deductions, among other things. From tax deductions and capital gains strategies to retirement account contributions, required minimum distributions and charitable gifting (and everything in between!)—it’s a race with the clock to get finances in order by midnight 12/31/2017. What a great opportunity for financial services professionals!
Advisors often miss the unique opportunities that come with calendar-based marketing. Calendar-based marketing is not only applicable for end-of-year planning but also applies to the start of a new year, during tax season, financial-related federally observed weeks or months (i.e., National Save for Retirement Week or Life Insurance Month), and even yearly milestones that apply to your target demographics. Marketing, in all sense of the broad term, is possible around every calendar-based scenario. It can be as simple as:
- Sending postcards or emails out to your clients and your database letting them know that you can help them with “these three often overlooked tax deductions” at the end the year
- Sending press releases out to the media letting them know that you’re available to help with setting financial resolutions for the new year
- Creating digital marketing and social media campaigns alerting people about a milestone and action steps to consider
- Or even hosting an event inviting clients, prospects, centers of influence and the media in your community to celebrate the holidays and raise support for a worthwhile charity
Calendar-based marketing can be an added layer to any and all of your current marketing initiatives or can be a standalone marketing strategy promoted through all the traditional platforms, including direct mail, digital marketing, social media, public relations, advertising, blogging, speaking, events, video, and even your branding.
Here are three calendar-based scenarios that should be part of your financial marketing now, and into the future!
#1: Seasonal marketing. Right now, you should be promoting your services and expertise in financial advising for end-of-year planning as well as strategies for the new year. You likely are already reaching out to your clients letting them know that you can be of assistance during these times of year for any additional planning necessary, and they’re likely very receptive. That’s why the hired you, after all. But how do you get the attention of new clients?
An effective messaging approach is problem-solution; they have the problem, and you have the solution. For example, you need to alert people that if they do not take the time to meet with you today, they may:
- Likely overpay on their taxes
- Not maximize all of their deductions
- Pay too much in capital gains
- Get hit with fees for not taking their RMDs—the list goes on.
Each advisor may have their own benefit statement, but the objective is to identify it and then market it during the time that will garner the most attention from new prospective clients.
And then there are those that know they need to do something but aren’t even at the point yet that they know “it” is. This is where financial resolutions can be powerful. How are these people feeling? Address that in your marketing. Perhaps:
- They’ve gotten to a certain point on their own, and now they need a professional
- They have financial goals, but now need a plan to reach them
- They have a broker, but now they need an advisor
- They want to save and invest more in the new year
- They’re now five years out from retirement, and it’s time to get serious
January 1 marks the start of wanting to make a positive change for millions of Americans. Letting them know how you can help them can be your ticket to a new client.
#2: Situational marketing. Different times of year spark different “situations” for different types of people. During the holiday season, people become more charitable. During tax season (Feb – April), people become more interested in their tax liabilities. Being in the right place at the right time with the right message will help you to get noticed, heard and hired.
For example, hosting fundraisers during the holidays for quality causes in your community not only creates good will and a positive image, but can also provide a great opportunity for you to get an introduction to somebody who could potentially benefit from your services. We often see this in the forms of:
- Toy drives
- Collecting supplies for homeless shelters
- Adopting families or
- Simply raising money for worthy cause
If you consider yourself charitable, this is a great opportunity to host and market one of these types of events. This is something that everybody in your network can feel good about coming together for a worthy cause.
Another season that is quickly approaching is tax planning. If you have a tax practice, January is when you need to get started on your marketing initiatives. Once people start receiving those W-2s, tax-preparation begins right away. Identify what your benefit statements are and get a game plan in place for how you’re going to maximize tax planning and preparation season:
If you do not have a tax practice but have a relationship or want a relationship with a CPA, consider a marketing strategy that appeals to them. We’ve seen a lot of success with CPA survival kits, which are essentially gift baskets filled with some of the things that CPAs might find of use during their long hours of tax preparation season. This can include hand sanitizer, Advil, snacks, coffee, Kleenex and similar, along with a quick note on how you can help them and their clients. A thoughtful gift like this will be noticed and appreciated.
If you as an advisor have a specialty in any tax planning or preparation topics, the media is interested in discussing these topics at lengths during tax season. Digital posts about tax-preparation topics can be effective, whether through blogs and social media, or digital marketing driving people to a dedicated page on your website are great ways to draw awareness to your firm, too. People are already thinking about it; we just want them to think of you when they need assistance with tax planning and preparation.
#3. Milestone marketing. Calendar-based marketing can also come in the form of milestone marketing. We all heard about the Boomer’s turning 65, and again when they started turning 70. A timely example of milestone marketing is next month, January 2018, marks the 20-year anniversary of when Roth IRAs were made available to consumers. What a great opportunity to share information on Roth IRAs all month long, which can be especially impactful for your ideal Boomer clientele who still may not have fully embraced the Roth conversion. I’ve seen this done most effectively through Ed Slott & Company where their affiliated advisors have an array of resources to use to maximize awareness of this milestone. Communicating a milestone on all platforms not only creates awareness but gets people talking and asking questions about their own financial accounts. If they want answers, they’ll likely turn to the person who has publicly identified that they are the expert on that subject or demographic.
Don’t let a good calendar-based event go unmarketed. When you start viewing your marketing for 2018 and setting your own resolutions, focus on calendar-based events. You may start to see a variety of opportunities you can promote within your firm in the new year. The objective is to stay timely, relevant, ahead of the crowd and constantly in-the-know.
For more information about calendar-based marketing and how to incorporate it into your branding, public relations, advertising, digital marketing or social media, let us know how we can help, AdvisorPR call (866) 888–5333 or email us at Info@advisorpr.com.
