Wishing and hoping is not a marketing plan

In a recent conversation, we asked a client advisor, “What’s your marketing plan?” They said, “We don’t have any.

If this sounds like your business today, no worries, you’re not alone. It was found that 77% of advisors do not have a defined marketing strategy.[1] So, in this article, we’ll tell you why it’s essential to have a basic marketing plan and teach you how to craft one.

If you have a marketing plan, good job. We’ll also share some ideas on how to strengthen your existing plan and increase your marketing results.

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As an individual, what random things do you do? Do you get in your car and guess the directions to your date? Do you open the kitchen cupboards and arbitrarily mix ingredients hoping it’s tasty? Do you go into major situations and just drive them? Chances are you won’t. So why would you do this with your business?

A marketing plan is a roadmap for growing your business. It is a strategy that helps you achieve your business goals. Each marketing campaign brings you one step closer to achieving your desired results.

Something is better than nothing

Whether your marketing plan is small or mighty, something is better than nothing. To understand where you should invest in marketing, start by writing down what you want your business to look like in three years.

In three years from today, my business will look like:

Now take five minutes and create your vision.

Congratulations, you have just identified a destination.

Turn your goals into an action plan

You have a destination, but now you need directions. It’s your marketing plan. Start with these basic checkpoints. If you answer “No” to any of these questions, stop. This is your new marketing objective.

1. I have a logo and a business name that I like.
2. My company’s website has been updated within the last 3 years.
3. I like my company’s website.
4. My LinkedIn profile is our best digital first impression.
5. I regularly post interesting and relevant topics on social networks.
6. My clients feel appreciated and well treated.
7. I communicate regularly with my clients, prospects and centers of influence.
8. My centers of influence can clearly explain how we serve pension plan clients.
9. My pitch deck looks organized, professional, and demonstrates my pension plan experience.
10. My marketing campaigns educate my target audience on important retirement plan topics.

For any statement that sounds like a “maybe” or “no”, that’s fine. This is your starting point. Gather your team and go through this list until each statement yields a confident “YES”. These 10 action items will produce strong results and increase revenue for your business.

Optimize your diet

For consulting firms with a marketing plan—exceptional! To help you optimize your plan, review the data.

Read more comments from Rebecca Hourihan here.

Open your Google Analytics account and view website visitors. Where do they come from ? What are the trend lines? If you notice a flat line, chances are you need to optimize your content marketing for SEO. This task can be delegated to your website team. Send them an email stating that “Our content is not indexed by Google. Please optimize for SEO. They should know what this means. In the future, your content may be found online and will help generate more incoming traffic to the website, which you can convert into leads.

Open your email marketing platform and examine your deliverability rates, open rates, and click-through rates. Aim for deliverability above 95%. This helps keep your emails out of spam filters and places your emails in the intended inboxes.

Next, look at your open rates. Our industry’s open rate statistics vary widely, so aim for more than 10%. This means that 10% of your contact list opens your emails. Take a look at these names.

Finally, look at click-through rates. These are the contacts who open, read and click through your email to get more information on your specific topic. Look for trends over time and start refining your pipeline for interested leads. PRO TIP: Connect with these leads on social media.

Track social media connections. Take a look at how many connections you have on social media. Has this number increased or decreased from last quarter? An easy way to boost your social media network is to connect with all of your email campaign contacts. Here’s a simple tip, if you have 1,000 email contacts, you should aim for 1,000 LinkedIn connections.

Be patient

When the leading indicators are pointing up, it means your business is positioned for upward growth. By evaluating and optimizing these metrics quarterly, you can improve the results of your marketing campaigns. Remember that marketing takes time and results don’t happen overnight, but as your marketing campaign numbers increase, your business growth is sure to follow.

Thanks for reading and happy marketing!

Rebecca Hourihan, AIF, PPC, is the founder and CMO of 401(k) Marketing, which she founded to help qualified experts run a professional business with professional marketing materials and ongoing awareness campaigns.