Return to flip book view

1THE ADVISOR’S GUIDETO DIGITAL MARKETINGA comprehensive handbook to attracting clients through digital marketingWebsite: consultwithtye.comSchedule a Consult

Schedule a ConsultWebsite: consultwithtye.com2Today’s business is conducted not simply with a handshake and signature, but also with a mouse click, a tweet, and the ping of an inbox. This digital era offers you more options than ever to get in front of more potential clients and to grow your business. Maintain a strong relationship with your current clients. We’ll look at the best practices in this white paper using your website, social media, and email to build your online presence opportunities for marketing and education. You’ll also dis-cover techniques to improve your skills. Reframe your value conversation and improve the client experience to grow your business.Websites That WorkYour website is, above all, a reection of your brand and value offer. It should describe what sets you apart from other advisors and what a partnership with you comprises in a concise and obvious manner. A typical visitor spends 15 seconds on a website before leaving, so you’ll need to grab their attention fast if you want them to spend time learning about you. Start by following the best practices for creating high-quality, engaging websites.Design & ImageryAttractive images will catch the attention of potential customers. According to a Harvard Universi-ty study from 2013, websites are evaluated negatively. Attractive (or pleasant to the eye) are also thought to be as usable and dependable. Put this knowledge to good use taking advantage of: A Modern, Clean Design If your website hasn’t been updated in years, it’s time to do so. It may quickly turn off new visitors. Today’s the best websites use a more simple design. Design that is free of extraneous images or Consider Apple.com, which has pages upon paragraphs of text. Any written content should be simple to read. The colors you use should be consistent with your brand.Imagery That Reects Your Target AudienceClients want to feel included in your practice. Select photos that make your target market feel wel-come. Photos of youthful executives are unlikely to connect with middle-class households.

Schedule a ConsultWebsite: consultwithtye.com3Large, Clear HeadlinesAs users travel across your website, make sure they know where they are. Use the nat-ural tendency of the eye to read from left to right by placing any headlines at the top of the page.Responsive DesignThis implies that your website will work on any device, including mobile and desktop computers, and in any browser. Users are less likely to return if your page does not load or loads poorly on particular devices.Content & ActionMake an emotional connection with your audi-ence by giving them the information they need in a way that they can understand. Users are more likely to spend time reading and sharing content that inspires an emotional response, according to studies. Connect with your audience by incor-porating the attributes and values expressed in your value statement throughout your website. Keep your ideal client in mind when producing and structuring this content: What do they want to know? What concerns or queries might they have? Include the following in your responses:Logically Organized Information Set the tone for potential clients right away by highlighting any information they need to know, such as services offered, investing philosophy, nancial commitment, and loca-tion and contact information. If your site is divided into sections, the ones that provide this important information should come rst. Based on your arrangement and page names, users should intuitively know where to nd what they’re looking for.Concise Content in Relatable LanguageKeep in mind that people’ attention spans are brief, and you just have a few seconds to make an impression. For simpler reading, pages should have shorter paragraphs and bulleted lists. Use simple terms that your tar-get audience will comprehend. Avoid using industry jargon and abbreviations excessive-ly.Search-Optimized CopyConsider how people might nd you on the internet and include those key words and phrases in your website copy. This could include common phrases like “nancial ad-viser,” “wealth management,” and “nancial planning rm,” as well as more specic, long-tail phrases like “Kansas City nancial advi-sor” or “business professionals’ wealth man-agement.” When you optimize your content for search, you increase your chances of ap-pearing higher in search results and attract-ing more users.

Schedule a ConsultWebsite: consultwithtye.com4Regularly Updated, Knowledgeable ContentRegularly add new information to your web-site, such as a blog, to demonstrate your knowledge. You may appeal to a broader spectrum of consumers by including video, photos, and infographics in your material. Adding new content to your website can also help you appeal to search engines and improve your search results exposure.Clear Calls to ActionYour website must lead people down a spe-cic path from visitor to prospect to client. On every page, include a call to actioninstructions on what you want a visitor to do either in the text or as a prominent button. “Contact us,” “Sign up for our newsletter,” and “Schedule an appointment” are exam-ples of calls to action. Users may be direct-ed to a page on your site where they can learn more about your services and skills by clicking on your calls to action. These proof points might help to develop trust and en-courage people to contact you. You must include numerous aspects to ensure your website is compliant, in addition to the in-formation that will interest and educate con-sumers. BrokerCheck must be mentioned and linked to on your website, according to FINRA regulations. Links to FINRA.org and SIPC.org must be included as well.Putting It into PracticeExamine each page of your current website against these best practices, noting any areas that could use some work. Keep an eye out for:Design: Is your website modern, consis-tent with your brand, and easy to navigate? Content: Is your value proposition woven into all of your content? Is it possible for potential clients to quickly discover who you are, what you do, and how to contact you? Have you included key words and phrases in your con-tent that consumers could be looking for? Calls to action: How do you guide visitors through the website? Is it simple for them to contact you? If you realize that your web-site requires some modications, follow the procedures below to make the necessary changes.Hire or Manage In-HouseTake the notes you took while reviewing the webpage and rank them in order of priority. Divide the list into two categories: items that you can nish on your own and those that re-quire assistance. While you may be able to make changes to text or photos, more complex changes, such as adding new website sections or adding blog capability, may require the

Schedule a ConsultWebsite: consultwithtye.com5assistance of a web development professional or rm. Determine who in your organization will be in charge of handling internal updates and who may collaborate with a web developer to guarantee that changes are implemented.Content ManagementA website is never fully nished. It’s your compa-ny’s ever-changing “front door.” Determine how you’ll keep your website up to date on a regular basis. Uploading blog posts or news stories, an-nouncing events, or making short lms are all examples of this. Determine how frequently new content will be posted and who will be in charge of generating and updating the website. To keep your target audience engaged and coming back for more, make sure the information you plan to offer is relevant and engaging to them.Improve How Clients Find You on the WebWhen you enter a search term into a search engine like Google, Yahoo!, or Bing, you’ll be presented with a list of suggestions that may include the information you’re looking for. You may get a list of webpages, photographs, vid-eos, news stories, maps, snippets from promi-nent sources, or even paid adverts, depending on the nature of your search. All of this data is geared at swiftly answering your question, and search engines have gotten really excellent at it. The majority of people have grown accus-tomed to receiving immediate responses that they rarely browse past the rst few search re-sults. In fact, 75% of consumers never look be-yond the rst page. Because people have such short attention spans, appearing near the top of search results is crucial if you want to be found online. Fortunately, there are a number of tech-niques to inuence or even guide your ranking in search results. Search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM) are two tactics that can help ensure that your busi-ness is visible to individuals looking for your ser-vices online. SEOSEM is about paying for your position near the top of search results, while SEO is about earn-ing it. The basic purpose of search engines is to prioritize content that is most relevant to their users’ searches. The better they do it, the more people will use their engine, and they will

Schedule a ConsultWebsite: consultwithtye.com6generate more money. To do so, they sift through millions of pieces of web information, applying algorithms to nd the ones that best answer a given question. Each search engine has its own algorithm, and the rules are fre-quently changed, making “gaming” the system dicult, if not impossible. This is intentional. Certain unethical actors would jam keywords into pages in the early days of search engines to boost their content in irrelevant search-es. For example, a watch store might include words like “Beyoncé” or “Super Bowl” in their site so that when customers search for those terms, the watch site comes up rst. This posed a challenge for search engines, which wanted to provide their customers with only the best, most relevant content. To combat such “black hat” approaches, search engines’ algorithms have developed to place a greater emphasis on high-quality material. Although they keep the details of their algorithms un-der wraps, they do provide some suggestions on the types of content they seek, as well as broad information on how the search engine scans the web.Relevance FirstBecause the search engine’s primary pur-pose is to provide relevant content, relevancy must be your major goal as well. Knowing which queries you can answer and delivering material that answers them is essential. “Financial advisor [your city], for example,” may be a simple question. It’s possible that you’ve previously shown up in these results, but why not? It might be something as easy as your website never declaring that you are a “nancial counselor in [your city].” By including that phrase on your website, the search engine will see it as a relevant result to the query, increasing it in the rankings. Consider your skills and areas of experience to come up with alternative themes where you could be useful. Make sure your website handles trust formation if you’re experienced and knowledgeable in this area. People in your neighborhood will nd you if they search for “establishing a trust.” Quality MattersAs algorithms get more advanced, they will be able to recognize quality and useful content indicators such as page length, word variety, and sentence structure. Because high-quality,

Schedule a ConsultWebsite: consultwithtye.com7useful information is more likely to answer the user’s issue, it will appear near the top of the search results. As a result, longer webpages are becoming increasingly popular, especially when teaching online audiences about a service provided. You may believe that anyone seeking investment advice on life insurance already un-derstands the product, therefore simply men-tioning “life insurance” among your services will suce. Consider that someone looking for “life insurance” could be interested in learning more about the product and why they should buy it. Before content that solely offers a product, a search engine is more likely to deliver content that addresses those informational inquiries.When consumers are looking for information on certain issues, writing high-quality instruc-tive content about your services can help raise your site. Including a blog on your website is a great method to feature often updated informa-tional material.Keep It FreshNewer is better in the realm of search engines. Because blogs and social media feeds are up-dated often, they tend to score well in search results. Consider exploring these strategies to improve your internet visibility.Top DownSearch engines read websites in order, begin-ning with the URL, then the headlines, and -nally the body material. Make sure your page names and headlines are descriptive and in-clude vital keywords to assist search engines understand your material. If your website is about retirement planning, use the phrase “re-tirement planning” in the headline rather than something more general like “We can help you save.” The former will boost your visibility in more relevant searches.Repetition KillsSearch engines don’t want to give a bunch of results that all say the same thing since they want to aid their users. They also don’t want to deliver plagiarized or spam-like results, so re-peating content is one thing they search for. It’s more likely to be downgraded if you copy and paste the same paragraph onto many pages of your website, or if you borrow information from another source.Tools and ResourcesYou’re already ahead of the game if you

Schedule a ConsultWebsite: consultwithtye.com8focus on creating unique, high-value content that speaks to the needs of your target audi-ence. A lot of tools and guidelines are available online to help you dig deeper into SEO methods. The Search Console (google.com/webmasters/tools) is a wonderful place to start because it will assist you with “creating and maintaining Goo-gle-friendly websites.”SEMSEM, unlike SEO, focuses on elevating content by purchasing strategic adverts. Rather than putting time and effort into optimizing your site, which isn’t guaranteed to produce results, you may spend money on advertising that will dis-play in search results for the terms you select. You could be able to appear at the very top of the page depending on the keywords and how much you’re ready to spend. Despite the fact that the result is labeled as an advertisement, many people will click through.You’ll need to decide which keywords and phrases to target with your ads, just like you would with SEO. This will necessitate some study on your part, and Google’s AdWords tool is a fantastic place to start. There, you can eval-uate how often consumers search for specic phrases and decide how to spend your cash, whether you want to target popular terms for maximum visibility or more specialist terms for specic audiences.Although SEM allows you to buy placement without having to perform any optimization work, it should not be utilized as a substitute for offering a high-quality website experience for your clients and prospects; SEM won’t function until you’ve followed the fundamentals of SEO. Because Google ranks advertising based on how relevant the destination is, the content of your ad must match the content of the website to which you’re sending consumers. Even if you decide not to devote resources to SEO, keep in mind the best practices for creating informative and useful websites.Email to Your Practice’s AdvantageConsider the medium when developing your practice’s marketing strategy. Clients and pros-pects may already be checking 74 times per day. The Radicati Group, a market research rm, estimated that over 2.6 billion individuals used email in 2016. By 2020, that gure is predicted to reach three billion, indicating that your clients and prospects are familiar with the medium. Utilize email’s speed and ubiquity to stay top of mind and engaged with your customers by es-tablishing an email marketing plan that provides them with the information they require in a famil-iar format.

Schedule a ConsultWebsite: consultwithtye.com9Create Your StrategyDevelop an email marketing strategy before pressing send to take a tactical approach to how you’d like to reach your clients. For your practice, consider the following:• Whom do you want to reach?• What do you want to tell them?• How often do you want to contact them?• What tool will you use to support your ef-forts?Determine Your AudiencesDo you send out general updates to all of your clients at once, or would you like to connect with distinct groups separately? When considering your target audience, you may discover that you need to create separate campaigns for dif-ferent groups. For example, you wouldn’t want to send your young clients information about xed annuity plans. You might also host events tailored to specic client groups. Build a plan for each audience, regardless of how you stratify them.Create Your MessagingWhat does your audience expect from you? Cre-ate a periodic email about what’s happening on in your practice or a weekly news digest of nancial stories to keep top of mind. You may send a series of Q&A emails if you’ve been get-ting a lot of queries about specic investment techniques. Every message should have a clear objective and reason for contact; this helps es-tablish your trustworthiness as well as the over-all value of the message. Your clients and pros-pects will begin to expect a particular degree of content as your email program grows, making them more likely to return.Decide the Frequency of Your CommunicationYou may be sending out a monthly newsletter, weekly news digest, or other regular publication, depending on the type of messaging you’ve chosen. Find a timetable that works for you and your team and stick to it—just make sure it’s sus-tainable. The regularity of your messages will make your recipients more likely to expect and open your messages.Components for SuccessWhat sets the successful apart from the spam-mers? Consider how many newsletters, notica-tions, or sale emails you receive on a daily basis and how many you discard automatically. Your customers are inundated with emails as well. That’s why it’s so important to break through the clutter in your inbox and make sure your com-munications stand out and bring value (rather than ending up in the trash). When crafting

Schedule a ConsultWebsite: consultwithtye.com10messages that entice your audience to open and engage with your material, keep the following in mind:Subject LineThis is the most important part of your email since it entices readers to read on. Generally, you should keep your subject line within 50 charac-ters to ensure that readers understand what to expect. You might use a direct approach (“Our Top 5 Recommended Articles for February 2017”), a more personal approach (“John: Read Our Top Financial News Picks”), an intriguing phrase (“The One Thing 76 Percent of Investors Forget”), an inquiry, or an urgent reminder. Make sure your subject lines are acceptable for your target, so they’ll be more inclined to open your message, no matter how you write them. Use a repeating element in your subject line to ensure consistency and familiarity (e.g., “Premier Finan-cial’s Weekly Newsletter” or “Financial News to Know from Strategic Advisors”). This, too, is con-tingent on your target audience and message content.Content and Calls to ActionIt’s critical that the substance of your communi-cation is entertaining, accessible, and relevant to the recipient. Email is also a fantastic tool to in-form people about breaking news (like market vol-atility) or impending events (such as a client-ap-preciation event). In each message, demonstrate your worth by reiterating why they chose to work with you and why you deserve their attention. If you want to employ colors in your email design, make sure they match your logo and branding. Based on content type and send day, marketing automation platform Distributor observed the following email performance tendencies in a re-cent white paper.Monday: Light• List-based content• Motivational messagingTuesday: Medium• Research-based information• Guest posts from other advisors in your practice or any centers of inuence you work with on a regular basis• InfographicsWednesday: Heavy• Rich media, such as videos or podcasts• Long blog posts• PresentationsThursday: Medium• Thought leadership posts• How-to videos• News and recent developments

Schedule a ConsultWebsite: consultwithtye.com11Friday: Light• Short, fun contentAlong with the aim of your email, you should always include an action you want your read-ers to take, such as making an appointment, RSVPing to an upcoming event, or even offering comment on a recent review or social gathering. Make it clear what you want readers to do. To increase exposure and conversions, these calls to action should be clearly highlighted with bold writing, a different color, or even a huge button. ImageryUse images and graphics that are no more than 200KB in size and stick to the typical web res-olution (72 dpi). Images can help keep readers engaged and break up long stretches of text, but if you use too many, your email may not load correctly or be labelled as spam. You can utilize images you’ve taken, such as at a recent cus-tomer appreciation event, if they correspond to the email’s content. You can nd stock images on Pexels.com, Pixabay.com, iStock, and other websites, but be sure to follow all licensing rules and industry regulations, as enforced by Mar-keting Regulatory Review (MRR). You may also choose to include your practice name and logo in the message header.Send TimeThere is no one “best time” to send email; thesuccess of your campaigns greatly depends on the habits and preferences of your audience. Finding that magic hour will require experimen-tation. Send just before the workday begins if your au-dience is a morning person. If you have a lot of millennial clients, they might prefer an email that they can check later in the day. A few general guidelines• Send emails during the week, as emails re-ceived during the week perform better than those sent on weekends.• Sending messages in the middle of the night is not a good idea. Most industries’ open rates tend to peak about 10:00 a.m.• Try a few different strategies and track your results until you nd one that works.Ease of InteractionHow can your recipients get in touch with you if they need more information or have any ques-tions? Make sure you have a response proce-dure in place, which includes who will monitor for responses and how quickly you will reply. Attempt to stick to the parameters established in your service level agreements. Make opting

Schedule a ConsultWebsite: consultwithtye.com12out simple for individuals who no longer want to receive your messages. Include instructions in the email’s bottom, such as “If you no longer want to receive these messages, please reply to this email with the subject line ‘REMOVE’.”Mastering Your MessagesDo: • Evaluate the effectiveness of your emails. Measure open rates (how many of your re-cipients open the email), clickthrough rates (what proportion of those who opened the email clicked the internal links), and who forwards it to others using the analytics fea-tures of your email solution. Tracking these metrics will help you ne-tune your plan for optimum results, adjusting things like send-ing timing and content.• Personalization should be used whenever possible. “Hi, Susan” gets a better response from readers than “Dear Reader.”• Make your emails responsive to mobile de-vices. Your clients are likely to be checking their email on their cellphones.• Before sending, test your message. Send the message to yourself rst as a test, and check all links to make sure nothing is bro-ken. Before emailing to your clients and prospects, double-check spelling and gram-mar.Don’t: • Overburden your customers. This refers to both the number of emails you send and the content of those emails. You’re competing for their attention with every other commu-nication in their inbox. Maintain manage-able, relevant, and engaging content.• Be mechanical. Instead, emphasize your personality and the distinguishing charac-teristics that distinguish your practice.• Use fonts that are dicult to read, loud colors, or all capital characters. Make your message pleasant to the eye and simple to read.• Simply include photographs for the sake of having them. Choose images that will com-plement your message. Log in to the Re-source Center and search for “Marketing On Demand” to employ preapproved email mar-keting campaigns in your practice. Search for “Vendor Anity Program” to learn more about the Vendor Anity Program.

Schedule a ConsultWebsite: consultwithtye.com13Attract & Engage on Social MediaFinancial advice is built on strong relationships, and social media platforms play a signicant part in modern interactions. Platforms like Twit-ter and Facebook have expanded far beyond their initial use cases to become advanced me-dia and communications tools, with 317 million and 1.18 billion active users, respectively, during the last decade. These tools are most likely be-ing used by your clients and prospects. They, like millions of others, are following the news, planning activities, exchanging announcements, and entertaining one another. If you ask some-one why they use social media, they are unlike-ly to say it is to share images of food. Instead, you’ll hear responses that all have one thing in common: keeping connected. People use so-cial media to form and maintain relationships, something that great advisors excel at. Relation-ship-building tools present a big opportunity for those in the relationship-building sector. These technologies can help you connect with clients and prospects while also increasing your visibili-ty and preference.The Big Three Although the term “social media” can refer to a wide range of sites ranging from Tumblr to Snapchat to Reddit to Instagram, this article will focus on three big platforms that span demographics and are likely to have people in your target audience: Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Each of these tools has its own tone and set of regulations, so familiarizing yourself with their purpose and tone will help you decide where your presence will be most useful.Before You StartRemember that creating a prole just takes a few minutes, but maintaining your presence is a continuous process. Examine the following be-fore creating a social media account:• What platform (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) do my clients use regularly? • Do I have the time to plan content, post reg-ularly, and engage with followers if they like, comment, or message me?• How much am I willing to invest? Does it make sense to spend money on ads?If you’re new to using social media for business, it’s probably preferable to start with one or two networks that you’re already familiar with to save time and money. Before you create your prole, make sure to review your company’s social me-dia policy.

Schedule a ConsultWebsite: consultwithtye.com14FacebookFacebook is a great place to interact with customers and prospects in a personal way. It’s a fun site with a lot of conversation, in-volvement, and personality. Facebook may be a useful medium to pursue if your approach to contacting clients and prospects is to be easily available.Purpose: Connect with clients and prospects where they already spend time, allowing them to engage with you while also allowing you to give value to your network.Step 1: Determine Your StrategyYou can approach Facebook in several ways:Create a Page You Use to Post Engaging ContentWhen your major audience is on Face book and you have the time and resourc es to devote to engaging them, this choice is appropriate. You can also bring value to your network.Create a Landing Page and Use Ads to Drive People to it and/or Your WebsiteIf your major audience is on Facebook and you don’t have the time to invest in interaction ac-tivities but do have the nancial resources to invest in ads, this technique may be effective.Create a Landing Page and Leave It There as a PlaceholderIf your major audience isn’t on Facebook, but you’d like people to nd your information if they search for you, this could be a nice choice. It’s also benecial if you don’t have the time or money to devote to a more detailed strategy.What’s Value? For the most part, Facebook serves as a plat-form for connecting with others and engaging with interesting and/or relevant content. This includes news, viewpoints, educational content, and entertainment. You have the opportunity to add value if you can add at least one of those to your audience’s feeds. Consider the following strategies:• Share links to articles.• Write a commentary on current events. • Provide tips or other educational content. • Use humor or other forms of entertainment. CAUTION: Because humor is subjective, it is more likely to alienate an audience than

Schedule a ConsultWebsite: consultwithtye.com15other sorts of material.Step 2: Set Up Your PageThe process of creating a Facebook business page is simple and guided. The option to “Cre-ate a Page” may be found on the main menu, under Pages. After that, Facebook will walk you through the process of providing information about your company. Before you begin, make sure you have the following items on hand:• Your value proposition • You’ll need two photos/images to represent your company: one for the main picture that will appear throughout the site, and one for the background/header image.• Facebook recommends the ideal sizes (height and width in pixel) for each image.Step 3: Engage Your Audience You’ll need to plan and create content if you’re going to use an engagement or ad strategy. You could utilize an editorial calendar, or you could set rules for what and when you’ll post and then go with a more ad hoc approach. Consider these examples:• How frequently do you want to post?• What will your tone/approach be (commen-tator, educator, entertainer, etc.)?• Will you refer to outside sources, and how will you know if they’re reliable?• What topics are interesting to your audience?• What current events are impacting your tar-get audience?• Will you prepare content ahead of time and publish it on a regular basis?TwitterTwitter is a great way to develop or express a unique voice and interact with a larger audience. It lends itself nicely to comments on current events and brief conversations with other users because of its short-message structure and re-al-time focus.Purpose: Share a unique and/or engaging voice to enhance your brand and reach a large net-work of potential clients, inuencers, and the media.Step 1: Set Up Your PageThe procedure of creating a Twitter page is sim-ple and quick. You can “Sign up” at twitter.com. Twitter will then walk you through the setup

Schedule a ConsultWebsite: consultwithtye.com16process. It’s a good idea to have the following items ready to go before you begin:• A brief bio—a version of your value proposi-tion that can t in the 160-character limit• You’ll need two photos/images to represent your business: one for the main photograph that will appear throughout the site and one for the background/header image.Business or Personal?You must determine whether you will tweet as yourself (with your name and a headshot) or as your company (business name and logo). Both are viable options as long as you add value to your network. Consider whether your prima-ry goal is to promote the brand or to establish yourself as an individual thought leader. Whatev-er option you choose, keep in mind that Twitter is a medium for engagement, not broadcasting.Step 2: Learn the Rules Twitter is a unique platform that has many rules, both coded into the platform and unspokenCoded rules: • Twitter has released an upgrade that in-creases the length of messages from 140 to 280 characters.• Use the @ sign and their username to ad-dress a specic user.• Only users who follow both of you will see tweets that begin with the @ symbol, some-times known as “@ replies” or “mentions.”• You can follow people who don’t follow you and vice versa in a nonmutual connection.• Your timeline is a stream of tweets from indi-viduals you follow.• When you “retweet” someone, you send their tweet to all of your followers. This explains why you might see tweets from people you don’t follow.• Unless you choose the protected option, which only allows people you approve to fol-low you to see your tweets, they are public (not recommended).• Adding a hashtag (the # sign) to the begin-ning of a word or phrase (e.g., #TwitterRules) links to a feed of all tweets with the same hashtag.Unspoken rules:• The shorter the better. Despite having 280 characters, the fewer characters you use, the more likely your tweet will be noticed.

Schedule a ConsultWebsite: consultwithtye.com17• Context is crucial. When it comes to Twit-ter, timing is just as essential as content, so be mindful of the conversations going on in your network before posting.• Use hashtags with caution. People are usu-ally sensitive to salesy intrusions, so make sure you have a good feel for the audience in any given hashtag before contributing. Hashtags are for sharing jokes, updates, or content about a particular topic in a partic-ular moment, often events, and people are usually sensitive to salesy intrusions.• Be distinct. Although you can link your Face-book feed to automatically tweet for you, this technique adds little value to the Twit-ter community and is unlikely to provide any value.Step 3: Follow and Listen When it comes to a medium as unique as Twit-ter, you might want to take a few days to see how others use it before plunging in. Begin by following people that are using a strategy that is similar to yours, such as other advisers or rms.Following StrategyWhen you follow someone, they receive a notication. Although following someone you want to impress might be a terric method to attract the attention of a prospect, inuencer, or journalist, it’s probably best to wait until you’re more established before doing so. That way, when they come to your page, you’ll have some-thing to show them about yourself and your tweets. People won’t usually click through to your prole and read all of your content; instead, they’ll see your postings in their normal feed, so this rst interaction could be your only chance to make an impression as a unied brand.Step 4: Start TweetingStarting a Twitter feed requires a commitment to keep up with the current debates, as Twit-ter is all about real-time, context-rich material. They’re frequently linked to current events. Your goal is to provide some kind of perspective, whether it’s an original remark or a link to an article, even if you don’t have a revelatory opin-ion. You don’t have to join in every conversation, and certain areas of Twitter will discuss differ-ent issues than other sectors at the same time, so knowing who you’re talking to is essential. There will be times when there is no particu-lar dialogue going on, and you can tweet about whatever you like. Tweets could be:• Links to articles • Commentary on current events

Schedule a ConsultWebsite: consultwithtye.com18• Tips or other educational content• Humor or other forms of entertainment (WARNING: Humor is subjective and has a higher risk of alienating an audience than other types of material.)You might like to set some rules for what and when you post to Twitter. Consider the follow-ings:• How frequently do you want to post?• What tone/approach will you use (commen-tator, educator, entertainer, etc.)? • Will you link to outside sources, and how will you determine whether a source is credible? • What topics are interesting to your audi-ence? • What events are currently impacting your audience? • Will you respond to comments on your posts? (recommended)• Will you actively engage/comment on oth-ers’ posts? • Will you draft content ahead of time and schedule future posts?LinkedIn LinkedIn is a career-focused platform that al-lows you to expand your professional network. It has a tone that is more related to a business luncheon than a family get-together, and it has a tons of features to help you identify and in-teract with people from other professions. You can also share and advertise your skills in your sector by using the platform’s publishing tools.Purpose: To grow your prospect pipeline, dis-play your credentials, and tap into your existing network.Step 1: Set Up Your ProleYour LinkedIn prole is like a résumé, highlight-ing your employment experience, education, and talents. Take your time lling it out com-pletely, as it will be a representation of your pro-fessional knowledge. LinkedIn proles frequent-ly appear at or near the top of search results for a person’s entire name, and an incomplete or unattractive prole can signal a lack of profes-sionalism and turn off a potential client.

Schedule a ConsultWebsite: consultwithtye.com19Step 2: Add ConnectionsWhile some LinkedIn users perceive their net-work as a pool of opportunities and want to add connections in a broad and open manner, others see their network as a mirror of them-selves and prefer a more selective approach. There is no right or incorrect answer. Based on your goals for utilizing the site, choose one feels best to you. If you want to take a cautious approach, avoid any requests from LinkedIn to import your connections from other platforms, such as your email. Removing a link is signi-cantly more complicated than choosing which ones to add.Step 3: Engage at Your Desired LevelBased on their capacity and goals, each Linke-dIn member will have a unique engagement strategy. You could utilize the platform in any of the following ways or a combination of them:• Responding to inquiries • Researching and requesting introductions to prospects • Joining groups and participating in discus-sion posts to boost engagement in your pro-fessional community • Congratulating current clients on career changes to strengthen relationships• Posting links and updates to stay top of mind within your network • Authoring articles to showcase your exper-tise and potentially reach new prospects through shares • Connecting your contacts with each other when relevant opportunities arise (like if your client needs a good accountant) to bolster your communityManaging Your Time If you decide to utilize social media to promote your business, consider how much time you’re investing and whether it’s worth it. Social media is both a great servant and a dreadful master. It is notoriously distracting. Make sure it isn’t taking up too much of your time. When used correctly, social media platforms such as Face-book, Twitter, and LinkedIn have the ability to provide signicant value to your brand and prac-tice, especially when it comes to interacting with your next generation of clients. They’re best em-ployed as supplements to your web marketing efforts rather than as the core. To get the most out of your social media efforts, make sure you have a solid website that people can go to.

Schedule a ConsultWebsite: consultwithtye.com20Reach New Prospects through Online WebinarsFinancial professionals have traditionally uti-lized educational events as a highly ecient recruiting strategy. You may strengthen your brand, increase your referability, and build rela-tionships with new prospects by simply sharing your knowledge with a few dozen people. What would happen if you could reach 100 people all at once and receive the same benets? Those gures are not only attainable but also entirely feasible, thanks to today’s digital tools.You may magnify the potency of your educa-tional events and gain an even higher return on investment by organizing remote, online learn-ing opportunities, sometimes known as “webi-nars.” Despite their unappealing reputation, we-binars continue to be popular among business executives.• People can attend from the comfort of their own desks. • Once developed, content is easily repeatable.• Recorded replays can be shared, expanding your reach. • Hosting services are often free or signicant-ly less expensive than the cost of an in-per-son event venue. • Setup is digital and relatively fast compared to traveling to a location, printing handouts, arranging chairs, hooking up your computer to a projector, etc.• You can reach people across a broader geo-graphical area.They do, however, necessitate more thought. To organize a successful webinar, you’ll need to be familiar with the medium, how to create inter-esting material for it, and how to make the expe-rience better for attendees.How Webinars Work A webinar is simply a stripped-down education-al session with all of the content but none of the ambiance. Attendees of your webinar will most likely be listening in through headphones at their desks, rather than gathering in a room with oth-er interested learners. They’ll hear your voice and see slides on their screen advance as you speak. They may also be able to view your face on some platforms.You’ll be speaking into a microphone and ad-vancing slides as needed on your end. Your screen will be visible, but not the faces of your attendees. You won’t be able to hear them most of the time, either.

Schedule a ConsultWebsite: consultwithtye.com21This lack of audience input might be discon-certing for experienced presenters. Instead of reacting to people’s reactions and modifying in real-time, you must rely on your own self-assur-ance, passion, and exceptional content prepara-tion.Creating Great Content People are kept informed and engaged by suc-cessful webinars. Focus on three crucial areas as you prepare your content: your topic, your slide deck, and your script.Pick an Interesting TopicWhat attracts folks is your topic. Because they won’t be using your event as an excuse to drive across town, drink free coffee, and mingle with a few strangers, the only selling factor is what they will gain by listening to you. In order to ded-icate their time to your webinar, people must believe that they will learn something useful—and that it will not be dull. Great webinar themes provide either unique insight into a topical and relevant event or practical recommendations for resolving any issue that your audience may be experiencing. Use huge, vibrant visuals and fewer words per slide to keep the audience’s at-tention.Invest Time in Your Slide DeckMany webinar platforms limit viewers’ visual en-gagement with your information to your slides. Your audience’s attention may wander to more exciting matters on their screens if they’re bor-ing or unpleasant to look at. Follow these basic elements of engaging slide design to maintain your audience’s attention on your content:Use imagery: Large, vivid graphics catch the eye and provide something to look at for your view-ers. To nd images to support your material, use Google image search and Flickr. Just make sure you respect all license laws and industry requirements (look for Creative Commons pho-tos).Include fewer words per slide: Words are visu-ally unappealing and can cause your viewers to become distracted. If the words on the screen correspond to what you’re saying, they’re su-peruous. If they’re not the same, it will detract from your message because people will try to read while listening, resulting in one or both of them failing. Instead, consider the words on the screen as guideposts to help people understand what you’re saying. You can put more detailed descriptions in the “Notes” section if you’re sending the deck out later.Employ humor (sparingly): A laugh now and

Schedule a ConsultWebsite: consultwithtye.com22then might be a nice diversion from serious sub-jects. Use humor to break up your presentation and keep your audience interested, but don’t go overboard. You won’t be able to determine if your jokes are hitting because your audience will be mued. You risk alienating the audience if you use too many jokes if your sense of humor isn’t resonating.Write a Script and PracticeUnless you’re presenting on a platform that shows your face, the only piece of your per-sonality that the audience can connect with is your voice, therefore the words you choose and the way you use them are especially important. Spend some time planning and writing out what you want to say on each slide, and practice us-ing different tones and inections throughout the presentation. People are more interested when there is vocal variation.Choosing a PlatformWebinar hosting services are available in a range of packages, some of which are free and others that charge a monthly subscription. Free plat-forms are likely to have attendance limits, but they might be a good way to try out webinars to see whether they’re right for you. As your ma-terial becomes more popular, you may need to consider investing in a platform that can accom-modate more people.PromoteTo persuade people to attend your webinar, ad-vertise it on electronic platforms where they may readily access the registration page. Email is a fantastic place to start. Begin by marketing to your current client base, focusing on people who you believe would be interested in the topic. Invite your clients who have small children, for example, if you’re talking about college funds. Include a request that the email be sent to any friends or acquaintances who might be interest-ed in the subject. For more information on email marketing, go here. If you have a social media presence, you can use those platforms to pro-mote your webinar. Look for groups, communi-ties, or hashtags that bring together people who could benet from your knowledge—as long as your offer is real and not spammy. Optimize the ExperienceGreat content is only half the battle; to get the most out of your webinar, you’ll need to make sure people can attend, keep them engaged, and follow up afterwards to increase leads.Make Attendance EasyTo avoid competing with other meetings, sched-ule the webinar around a convenient time, such as during the lunch hour, early in the morning, or late in the afternoon. An hour is a great length—enough time to dig into depth with your issue

Schedule a ConsultWebsite: consultwithtye.com23without making listeners feel rushed or uncom-fortable.Boost Engagement through ExercisesInclude hands-on activities in the webinar to encourage participation and accommodate different learning styles. While visual and aural learners will acquire knowledge easily from your words and slides, verbal and physical learners may require a little more. Both types of learn-ers can benet from an exercise that requires them to write down their answers. If you do in-clude workouts, make them as brief as possible. Many attendees may decide not to participate, and long silences will seem pointless. Simple instructions such as “Write down one or two thoughts” followed by 30 to 60 seconds of writ-ing time should suce.Complete a Practice Run-Through Make sure you’ve tested all of the technology at least once before presenting your rst webinar. Perform the complete procedure, including re-cruiting a practice participant. Check the audio on their end, become familiar with the technol-ogy, and ask for input on how to improve the presentation’s interest and engagement. Extra cables, a backup of your slide deck, an addition-al microphone, if applicable, and other technolo-gies may be useful to have on hand during your actual presentation.Follow UpThanking people for attending your event, as with any other, is an important step. Your webi-nar attendees will likely enjoy, if not expect, an additional bundle of takeaways in a follow-up email:• Your slide deck • A link to the replay, if available (recommend-ed) • Any resources for further study • A reminder of how you can help them further explore this topic via your services• Invitations to connect with you on social me-dia, if applicable • Any upcoming events or related webinars, if applicableSend this email as soon as possible following your webinar, when individuals are most moti-vated by your ideas and eager to act on them. The more value you offer to their lives, the more likely they are to think of you in the future when they require nancial assistance.

I look forward to meeting you.Schedule a ConsultE: Consultwithtye@consultwithtye.com W: consultwithtye.comL: linkedin.com/in/rob-tye-b84123113Contact UsRob TyeConsultant