In this webinar, Chief Evangelist of Twenty Over Ten & FMG Suite Samantha Russell and President & CEO of YCharts, Sean Brown discussed the four main things that you need to do in order to keep prospects moving smoothly down the sales funnel while ultimately converting more of them into clients.
Question: How many prospects have you actually converted through digital outreach in the last year?
Agenda [4:03]
- Make your clients your best referral source
- Harness the power of email
- Create & send timely, relevant content
- When prospects visit your site, convert them
So, how are you going to do all of these things? Follow Sean and Samantha as they dive right in.
When you say it…it’s marketing. When your client says it…it’s social proof.
Keep this in mind when you are thinking about your marketing.
1. The Digital Referral Shift [6:45]
Start with current clients and make them your best referral source. And people don’t just proactively give a referral, but they ask for one.
The above image shows the new ways that referrals are happening today. And when someone checks out the recommendations, they then will be taken to your website where they can make comparisons and find out more.
Consumers Seek Out Reviews [8:26]
Getting clients to leave reviews is so important in this day and age, especially when you see the numbers below. And it’s an interesting point in time because we take crowd input when it comes to these reviews. It has a lot to do with the shift in the way that we buy things. And keep in mind that before you can work with your reviews, it’s important that you are setting up and optimizing your firm on Google My Business.
Google Reviews: To-Do List [12:41]
- Reviews have a big impact on local SEO
- Check with compliance beforehand
- Never respond or “like” reviews it’s clear that you allowed to engage
- Have a dedicated page with testimonials on your website plus a link out to Google Reviews
Once you start getting reviews, you can pick the top reviews that you get and highlight them on your website on a testimonials page.
Guide To The SEC Ad Rule [13:58]
This is an incredibly handy guide that advisors what they can expect with the updated SEC Ad rules plus how they can implement it into their marketing.
Repurpose Testimonials and Reviews-Social Media [14:59]
- Don’t be shy, share your testimonials! It can go such a long way because getting actual commentary from the actual people that you are helping and using their words is a huge benefit when it comes to using them in your marketing. What’s better is that you can repurpose it in multiple ways, either on your blogs, in a video, email marketing, social media, etc.
How to Add Them to Your Website: [16:12]
- You can choose to only showcase the best reviews on your website
- But you MUST include a prominent link to ALL reviews (on Google, Yelp, etc) to be objective
- Even better if you can include headshots/photos
And make sure you are producing content that your clients can easily share with others. It’s a great way to get even more eyes on your content. You can grow by producing content that people want to read, and the more specific that you can get, the better.
Harness the Power of Email to Best Engage your Clients [20:15]
Email is still king when it comes to connecting with your audience. According to a study from 2019, a majority of clients report that they do not feel engaged by their advisor.
So, clients want to have more engagement from their advisors. If you are communicating regularly with your clients, keep in mind that you may have more of your pieces being passed along to potential clients. And make sure you are segmenting your emails when you send them out. There is a lot of new medium out there, but email is still the best way to connect.
Implement segmented nurturing to create better communication channels [25:40]
Ways to do this are:
- Email Newsletter
- Market Update
- Portfolio Update
There is a 40% open rate for emails that contain timely content, compared to the standard open rate of just 15-25%. Discover trending topics easily to quickly produce eye-catching visuals. The platforms and tools shown in the image below can help people to stay up on trending topics. Using Google Trends is another way to find out the types of topics that people are searching for.
Something to keep in mind is that even if you don’t want to comment on bitcoin or don’t share that type of information with advisors, it’s a good idea to be able to weigh in on this type of topic, especially as it is trending.
97% of Website Visitors Do NOT Convert on the First Visit [38:35]
So, how do you get information from someone who isn’t quite ready to engage with you?
- Have a message that is so hyper-specific to a group of people that is so specific, you feel as though you really need to work with them. On your homepage, explicitly list out how you serve and how you can help them.
1. Once you get prospects to your site, know how to convert them [41:42]
Have 2 calls-to-action on your homepage
- Primary-Ready to book a meeting
- Secondary-Not ready to book a meeting
2. Master the art of primary and secondary CTAs [43:16]
- Primary-bolded and visually grabs your eye
- Secondary-less obvious
But the secondary CTA needs to be incredibly compelling. What would entice someone to give up their email? And the more hyper-specific your message is, then the more compelling it will be.
Recap [45:47]
- Revitalize your reviews and testimonials
- Email marketing is still king
- Utilize leading tools to make all of this easier
- Provide insightful content and visuals for clients to share
- Master your CTAs to convert more visitors
Make sure you connect with Samantha Russell and Sean Brown on LinkedIn.
Samantha Russell: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samanthacrussell/
Sean Brown: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanbrownycharts/
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About the author
Blair Kelly
Blair is a Social Media Strategist at FMG Suite and Twenty Over Ten and has a passion for uncovering what drives online traffic and the highest engagement. She follows more animals on Instagram than humans and her greatest achievement is her daughter, Grey.