While an “omnichannel” approach to marketing can be successful, it can lead to overstretched resources and a disconnected approach. Simply stated, “omnichannel” refers to all channels, or marketing platforms. While those in the financial services industry may sometimes want the latest “shiny object” when it comes to marketing platforms and think that more of them always equals more closed leads, this isn’t always true. The blind use of an omnichannel approach is not only impractical, but ineffective without proper strategy: It buys the tools, but not an end goal or a blueprint of how to put them together into a working machine.
Simplicity Lone Beacon’s approach is to put our advisors on more than one channel, but to pick the right platforms based on an advisor’s unique market and business, as well as their budget. And most importantly, we make sure each is connected to an overall strategy. We focus on strategically moving the football down the field four yards at a time rather than throwing Hail Mary passes – we think about unforeseen hazards to a campaign or channel, and how it’s going to work with the other marketing elements.
For example, we’ve learned that having a quality website is crucial for advisors. It’s the digital epicenter of everything they do, the first impression they make, and the place to which every campaign ultimately aims to bring prospects. So, we want to sure up their digital storefront before we focus on all the different ways we will bring people there. We understand that a broken website simply won’t produce good results, no matter how many effective marketing campaigns are running.
A more difficult goal to achieve than presence on all platforms is presence in the minds of prospects at all times. Achieving this “omnipresence” can be hard for advisors who are competing against household names like Fidelity and Charles Swab, but our advisors don’t have to be present to everyone at all times, they just have to be present to their desired target audience. A radio show, for example, helps achieve omnipresence. We spend time researching which radio and TV stations to put our advisors on, based on their reach to the desired audience. It’s not about running a show on as many stations as the budget will allow, it’s about running the show and out of show spots on the right station or stations at the right time. The point of the show isn’t just to get a certain number of call-ins every week, it’s to present the advisor as a trusted expert and reliable source of information to thousands of people. The same themes are echoed in emails and weekly website content, creating an integrated strategy.
An advisor’s hour-long show coupled with emails, social media ads, and the content on their website presents them as a trusted expert and source of information. It’s not just important to have all of these elements, but to also have a consistent message and theme across all platforms. Since we handle all of these marketing components for advisors, we can make sure the same themes appear across all platforms. This connection between platforms is part of what achieves omnipresence. And while using multiple channels is important, we recognize that they must work within a larger strategy which connects all marketing elements. This is the benefit of a full-service marketing company: We understand the product we’re trying to build, devise a strategy for how to build it, and then assemble the necessary tools to get there.
