In what is now a very digital society, we need to let go of outdated, analog business development strategies and adapt to reach new consumers on their phones, tablets, computers and any number of devices with internet access.
It will, hopefully, come as no surprise that millennial HNWIs prioritise convenience over face to face transactions.
In lieu of any lingering doubts about the need to adopt digital strategies to engage with your wealthy prospects, an excellent PwC report - aimed at financial advisors- detailed that 98% of HNWIs use the web everyday and that 68% prefer using digital platforms to engage with their advisors.
For those new to the idea of marketing to HNWIs online, we’ll go slow. For those who have attempted, we hope you’ll find new, thought provoking strategies. We have done our best to keep it concise. Each of the 4 suggestions are introductions to the strategies. If any readers would like help with how to implement then please get in touch.
1. Blogs.
Whether you’re a financial advisor, lawyer, broker (or any other professional for that matter) blogs and other forms of content marketing (infographs, videos etc) are key to allow you to stand out from the crowd and to gauge and monitor new prospects.
For example, a financial advisor could write a blog titled “5 top investing tips for complete beginners”. This type of blog is known as a ‘lead magnet’ and is used to find interested parties who are likely looking for you products. E.g. if they read your blog titled, “How to invest in real estate for complete beginners” then you can be pretty certain they’re an inexperienced investor looking to get into the real estate game. Make sure that you have contact details in your blog and an “Opt-in” so that you can capture contact details of interested readers.
Once posted to your website, the idea would be to crosspost in all your different online platforms for maximum exposure. From here it's recommended that you install a tracking “pixel”. This a piece of code given to you by the advertising platform e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn, Google which is inserted in your website. Your tracking pixel logs readers data and you can reach them with more personalised adverts i.e. “Did enjoy our article on investing in real estate? Here’s another on the best locations to invest in”. The idea being the more QUALITY content they consume from you, the more likely they are to buy your product or service. This is known as ‘re-targeting’ and increases the chances of converting readers by up to 50%.
Note* There's an age old principle (stemming from 1930's cinema marketeers) known as the Rule Of 7. The idea is that prospects, on average, need to see your ads 7 times before they'll buy from you. This is what makes the Pixel and retargeting so brilliant. You can be sure who has seen your ads and the frequency of views (thanks to the unrivalled, real-time analytics provided by online advertising platforms). Pretty cool right?
Blogs can vary in length, style and content. We suggest producing at least 3-4 blogs per week if you intend to use them to generate leads. This will drive you further up Google searches as well.
BuzzSumo is an excellent site for finding blog ideas. Simply type the subject matter in the search bar and it will display the highest rated blogs by social media shares. If you see a blog you particularly like called “3 top investment ideas for 2018”, then simply write a blog which titled “5 of the best investment ideas for 2018”. This is known as the “Skyscraper” technique. It’s fair game and garners great results.
2. Groups
Groups are an unbelievable way to capture leads. Whether on Facebook, Linked or now Whatsapp, you can find a group for ANYTHING and if you can’t find it, then start one. It’s very simple.
For example, as a marketing consultancy we do lot a of work for yacht brokers, so we joined every group we could which are likely to involve yachtbrokers. We then get involved in the conversation and promote the other members posts by leaving helpful comments.
Beware, if you don’t have anything nice/helpful to say- then don’t say anything at all. If someone posts with a question, help them answer it. Even better, leave a link to one of your blogs which gives a solution.
Also, LinkedIn allows you to message other members directly. So write to every relevant member, introduce yourself and offer free advice or, again, give a link to your articles etc. Check out Linked Helper. We use it religiously to automate the majority of our LinkedIn work- the best tool in our kitbag.
3. Competitors
Here’s a fab way to poach some of your competitors traffic.
Go to their site and start leaving comments on their blogs. Don’t leave negative comments but rather, add to their blog. “I see you take the approach XY. Well, why don’t you try Z as well?” Even better, leave a link to your blog which gives further advice.
The idea is their readers will see your comments and it can leave quite an impression if your seen to be advising the author, particularly if its done well.
4. Webinar
Some of you may have signed up for a “Webinar” before. They’re a great way to sell. It’s a pre-recorded video which describes your product or service. Basically, record the best sales pitch you can, back it up with testimonials, results etc and you can then advertise and invite people to view it.
It's a no brainer to produce a webinar- why would you save your sales pitch for face-to-face meetings when you can show it repeatedly across the web?
The best tool to use here is Webinarjam. It allows you to schedule your webinar to run every 15 minutes and gives you various “pop up” options to capture contact details throughout. It also allows viewers to comment and discuss through a group “chat” which is displayed at the side of the screen.
Hope you found this useful.
If you would like to discuss some of these strategies further then we offer a 30 minute free strategy call. You can schedule you call here: https://calendly.com/euan-mackenzie/30min/11-16-2018