Marketing ideas

[JamesHall174]

I have a financial services business that focuses on helping people ensure they are managing their tax situation effectively, release funds from their pension as well as looking at alternative investments. I am looking for ways to market the business and would be interested in suggestions. I appreciate it is an extremely competitive sector and I dont have a massive marketing budget so how can I compete?

 

[tony84]

Have you tried speaking to your accountant? They might be able to get some leads for you.
Im presuming its older people your after, maybe look at snooker clubs...i went to a concservative club the other week for a game of snooker with someone and there were plenty of blokes in their 50s who sounded like they had their own companies or were quite high up in whatever jobs they did.
Other than that im a little stuck sorry.

 

[JamesHall174]

Have you tried speaking to your accountant? They might be able to get some leads for you.
Im presuming its older people your after, maybe look at snooker clubs...i went to a concservative club the other week for a game of snooker with someone and there were plenty of blokes in their 50s who sounded like they had their own companies or were quite high up in whatever jobs they did.
Other than that im a little stuck sorry.

Its any age group really Tony, plenty of younger people have decent earnings or frozen pensions. I notice you are a mortgage adviser, how do you get your clients? Do you discuss other financial products or just mortgages?

 

[tony84]

Just mortgages and protection. We do have financial advisors but ive not been in a position to be able to refer any work.

I only really went self employed in September so im not really run off my feet with clients, just enough to tick over...although this year ive hit the ground running with a couple of high earning cients.

To be honest there isnt a set place i get my business from, Ive got a couple off here, others have come from an estate agents i do some work for and the rest are from leads ive bought in.

It might be worth you trying to team up with a mortgage advice firm, but ive not come across any referrals yet so im not sure whether it would work or not.

 

[S-Marketing]

Both you guys seem to be in the same position. I would say the mistake you are making is trying to substitute advertising for marketing. You are both in highly competitive markets, and its sound marketing planning and strategy that will get you the work.

 

[JamesHall174]

Both you guys seem to be in the same position. I would say the mistake you are making is trying to substitute advertising for marketing. You are both in highly competitive markets, and its sound marketing planning and strategy that will get you the work.

Thanks Stretchy, I am not really doing either at the moment to be honest, my business comes from introducers and referrals primarily. I am looking to grow my business but not sure that the traditional advertising of financial services works due to the factors you have mentioned, its highly competitive and, obviously, I cannot compete with the big players.

If you have any suggestions on marketing planning and strategy feel free to PM your thoughts, what you charge etc.

 

[S-Marketing]

Thanks Stretchy, I am not really doing either at the moment to be honest, my business comes from introducers and referrals primarily. I am looking to grow my business but not sure that the traditional advertising of financial services works due to the factors you have mentioned, its highly competitive and, obviously, I cannot compete with the big players.

If you have any suggestions on marketing planning and strategy feel free to PM your thoughts, what you charge etc.

Sorry. After reading your post I realise that my post came across as one of those cryptic 'you really need to pm me' kind of posts, and actually wasn't that useful. Ill try again.

From reading posts by both you guys it seems to me that although you have got the right idea regarding finding alliances with other professionally, you seem to have started your businesses and jumped straight into the 'promotional' part of marketing without giving much thought to the rest of it.

As a very rough guide we often quote the fact that there are essentially 7 parts to an effective marketing strategy. Promotions (which covers the communication of your offering to any clients or potential clients) is the very last one of these. I would recommend that at this stage you would be a lot better off working on strategy.

Marketing planning is, in its simplest form, about tailoring your offering to meet a target market. In your sectors it is also really about target market selection, and more importantly, research and identification of opportunities arising from many different factors.

Until you have done the research and planning, you cant possibly hope for an efficient or effective promotional strategy.

If either of you want any further info, feel free to shoot a PM my way.

 

[MediYeah]

On a tight budget, the internet is your best friend. The good thing is that financial advice and planning is one of the biggest markets online as well.

It will require some grafting to set up and some to maintain, but a website, an email newsletter and social networking - and using these to give away lots of free advice and build relationships with the contacts you make, will help you infinitely - it'd be much easier to sell when people trust you and have that relationship with you.

I'm in a completely different sector to you, but it is the one thing that has helped me grow a business more or less out of nothing.

I've created a free online step by step 21 day course (takes between 20 and 40 minutes a day) covering everything on how to set all of that up and make online marketing simpler.

If you'd like the link, please just drop me a PM - won't spam this thread by posting it here.

- Abhi

 

[Ameliepoole]

work with associate companies, and get them to mention you
"perhaps our financial support advisor can call you?"

work with 50 accountants and you are laughing

 

[webstore]

I have a financial services business that focuses on helping people ensure they are managing their tax situation effectively, release funds from their pension as well as looking at alternative investments. I am looking for ways to market the business and would be interested in suggestions. I appreciate it is an extremely competitive sector and I dont have a massive marketing budget so how can I compete?

One solution might be soft selling via social networking and in particular using Google+ (as opposed to Google+ Pages) but I don't think you can search just on UK individuals who have Google+ accounts - but I stand to be corrected on this.

Check my Google+ account at plus.google.com/106031411201444702919 as an example

 

[liongroup]

Second Google+ recommendation. I prefer it to Twitter and Facebook as the replies you get are often more detailed and generally more thoughtful. (Might be a reflection on the user base though as opposed to the site itself)

 

[webstore]

I think Google+ and Google+ Pages are awesome.

You can see at the following BBC report "Twitter unhappy about Google's social search changes" at www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16511794 and at the end of the day it is Google that holds all the cards.

Functionality seems to improve by the day and you can see one day Google+ might have the combined functionality of Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn

'If you ignore Google+ you are ignoring Google'

 

[joliedennison]

I'm in agreement with MediYeah. You can do a lot of online marketing with little to no financial investment. When you're time rich and cash poor, that means a lot! I'd suggest starting a blog and providing relevant hints and tips on a regular basis. People love free advice and will come back if you offer something of value. If you're not likely to stick to it regularly (I know I struggle with that!), then go with a free e-book that people can download from your website. You don't have to give all your knowledge away, just enough to actually be helpful and that will make people want to come to you for more.

Of course, people won't visit your blog just because it's there, so you'll need to network via Twitter, Facebook, etc. Luckily, over the last few years, social networking has become a legitimate resource for those in the financial sector and I know someone who is using it quite successfully. The key is to use those sites to build relationships, rather than pushing your business. The gent I know spends a lot of time chatting, referring other businesses and generally being helpful. Because of that whenever anyone needs his service or knows someone who does, they remember him.

I'd also recommend attending every local business networking event you can. I do that and it's brought me a lot of business. When you go, make sure you're memorable. I usually staple a sweetie to my business card. It's a great ice breaker and people ALWAYS remember me at the next one!

Good luck in your business venture!

 

[RevaxMedia]

I have a financial services business that focuses on helping people ensure they are managing their tax situation effectively, release funds from their pension as well as looking at alternative investments. I am looking for ways to market the business and would be interested in suggestions. I appreciate it is an extremely competitive sector and I dont have a massive marketing budget so how can I compete?

We use a financial advisor and we managed to get in touch with a referral from a good friend. If you are dealing with people at their homes or wherever always push for them to tell their friends, as cheesy as it sounds the potential is massive. Over 68% of people will buy from impulses given off from close, trusted friends.