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5 Recipes for Marketing Success

Sales & Marketing

From appetizer to dessert, here is your five-course marketing menu to prep, cook, and plate your 401(k) advisory brand, so you can be the Iron Chef in your retirement plan community. 

Appetizer: LinkedIn Profile

Did you know that 86% of people are going to Google you before they will agree to a meeting? That is why we begin with one of your first impressions, your digital appetizer – your LinkedIn profile. It’s the first course because your profile has the ability to set the table for the rest of the meal. 

Prep 5 min; Cook 1 hour

Instructions

  1. Open your LinkedIn profile.
  2. Look at your profile picture. If your photo is more than three years old, that ingredient has expired and it’s time for a new one. 
  3. Add a banner image. 
  4. Click the pencil icon above your company name, then scroll down to the Summary and Media section. Update your summary and add media. (Compliance review might be required.)
  5. Scroll down. Look under Experience. Confirm that your company has a logo. If you don’t, simply click the pencil icon, search for your company, and link your profile. 

Follow these instructions to immediately improve your social media profile and entice your dinner guests to want more. 

2nd Course: Brochures

Everyone is gathered together and it’s time to uncover your next course. It’s an old recipe, but it’s still a goodie.

Prep 30 min; Cook 1 hour

Preparation 

  1. Send an email to everyone at your firm and ask them to email you their marketing brochures.
  2. You want to receive the kitchen sink. 
  3. Schedule a meeting for the entire team to review the brochures that you are gathering. 

Ingredients 

  1. Print out all of the brochures. 
  2. Place them on your conference room table.
  3. Look at them.

Cook

  1. Read the brochures to confirm they are still relevant.
  2. Update all referenced statistics if they are over three years old. 
  3. Review the design of the brochures. Are they consistent? If you’ve gone through a logo change, do any of the brochures still have the old logo? If they do, update them. 
  1. Reflect on the materials. Then as a team decide which pieces to keep and which to recycle. 

Note: Remember, “you eat first with your eyes.” How are your brochures presenting your professionalism, retirement plan knowledge, and years of experience? 

Main Course: Website

Next on the menu is your website. Most plan sponsor prospects and centers of influence are going to view your website. They want to know more about you, your experience, and how you can service their retirement plan. Let’s make sure that your next dish lives up to your trusted professional reputation. 

Prep 3 hours; cook ongoing

Preparation 

1. Ask seven trusted professionals to review your website. Then ask them:

  • What do they think of our website?
  • What type of services do you think my firm provides?
  • Do you have any feedback and/or areas that you feel we could improve?

2. Gather their feedback.

3. Think about how you want to express your expertise and valuable services.

Ingredients 

1. Contact your website provider.

2. Share what you want your website to look, sound, and feel like. 

3. Explain to them what you would like your website to convey. 

Cook

1. Update your website.

2. Modern websites usually have design elements including parallax scrolling, videos, gradient colors, and the newest trend: designing “off the grid.” 

3. Partner with your compliance team.

4. Press Publish.

Serve

  1. Send an email to your contact list announcing your website refresh. 
  2. Post on social media with your new homepage preview image. 
  3. Congratulations on your enhanced website! 

Read more commentary by Rebecca Hourihan here


Side Dishes: Email Campaigns

A meal isn’t complete without savory side dishes. By serving different types of information throughout your email campaigns, you are maximizing the dining experience. You are offering your guests different types of information, so they can truly plate their best experience. 

For example, the prospect that is worried about compliance would consume more information with compliance deadline checklists, fiduciary process videos, and cybersecurity articles. Whereas, the CFO that is worried about cost management, they might consume articles about fee benchmarking, videos on stretching the match, and webinars discussing the TCJA and cash balance plans. 

By having side dishes of retirement plan information, you encourage your clients, prospects, and centers of influence to consume the portions that align with their current flavor palette. 

Prep 1 hour; cook ongoing

Preheat Oven

Before beginning an email campaign, it’s important to preheat the oven. Contact your home office and ask them which bulk email providers are approved for use (such as a Constant Contact, MailChimp, Salesforce, InfusionSoft, etc.) and then subscribe.

Preparation

Search for an email template and then customize with your office’s brand standards. That includes your office’s logo, colors, fonts, imagery and disclosures. 

Cook

  • Once you have updated the template to look like your office, it’s time to add valuable content marketing materials, such as an infographic, blog article, video, checklist, webinar invitation, and/or other content marketing. 
  • With your content marketing materials, set up an email automation campaign to continuously drip on your contact list. 

Dessert: You

That’s right — you are the icing on the cake! Your experiences, knowledge and personality are what make you unique. Be yourself. Whether you are walking into a prospect meeting, posting on social media, or at a networking conference, it is important you are reflecting your genuine self to build a personal brand. Are you the king of funny dad jokes? Don’t be afraid to let one — or maybe two — come out when it’s appropriate.

From appetizer to dessert, keep them coming back and wanting more. By sharing consistent content marketing with your target audience, the clearer it becomes that you are an authority in your field. You are the Iron Chef of the retirement plan profession. 

Thanks for reading — and happy marketing!

Rebecca Hourihan, AIF, PPC, is the founder and CMO of 401(k) Marketing. This column originally appeared in the Winter issue of NAPA Net the Magazine.

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