Every financial adviser needs to be creative. It is in the job description. In our hypercompetitive environment, new and innovative ideas provide the foundation for effective marketing.
It is the ability to think creatively that determines how well advisers are able to market themselves. Advisers need creative marketing approaches to generate the marketplace understanding and positive perceptions that will help them build successful business development practices.
In aid of that, it is well to examine creativity and how you cultivate it.
QUEST FOR GOOD IDEAS
In the 1940s, James Webb Young, an advertising professional, published “A Technique for Producing Ideas.” His pragmatic process still serves as the standard for the process of idea creation.
Mr. Young said: “An idea is nothing more or less than a combination of old elements.” He thought that what distinguishes the creative mind is the ability to put things together in new ways, to find new relationships and juxtapositions.
For example, I heard about one adviser who turned a Saturday morning movie “play date” into a successful prospecting initiative for Section 529 college savings plans. She invited all the children and parents in her kid's elementary school class to a movie theater on a Saturday morning (which was inexpensive to rent).
While the kids were watching the movie and gorging on popcorn and gummi bears, she gathered the parents in another space in the multiplex and talked about how 529 plans work. A wholesaler paid for the whole thing.
I thought that was a very creative approach.
MAKE IT INTERACTIVE
Creativity, then, is the ability to imagine new ways to use existing elements or ideas. More and more, the power of individual involvement is at the center of innovative marketing approaches that can be successful for advisers.
“Interactive marketing” involves the client or prospect in a structured and creative experience that provides strong identification with the adviser. Although advertising, direct mail and other forms of marketing promotion certainly can communicate effectively with prospects and customers, the communication flows only in one direction.
Interactive marketing allows an adviser to listen, as well as be heard. It facilitates a dialogue that focuses on building relationships.
For example, it is a common practice for advisers to send greeting cards to their clients. I met an adviser who very successfully took this idea to the next level.
Whenever one of his high-net-worth clients is retiring, he offers to throw a retirement dinner at a nice local restaurant. The client simply has to name the date and invite 12 friends.
The adviser attends the party but makes no attempt to solicit business. Invariably, the clients voluntarily brag that the adviser is throwing the party for them, and the guests wonder why they don't get this kind of attention and consideration from their advisers.
Reportedly, each party produces, on average, one new client at a very low cost of acquisition in this very competitive market segment. The adviser attributes significant new business to the success of this interactive-marketing/client appreciation program.
A customized interactive-marketing experience that is meaningful for prospects and customers separates an adviser from marketplace clutter and the need to fight for attention in a commoditized marketplace. The dual goal of such a program is to showcase the adviser's capabilities and involve the target markets that the adviser looks to serve.
It is important to avoid the pitfall of getting so involved in the experiential components of the program that the marketing message becomes obscured or lost.
The key to developing a successful interactive experience is to use creative approaches, and focus on marketing to an individual rather than to the marketplace.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Successful marketing, branding and promotion begin with creativity — a combination of deliberate idea generation, persistence and serendipity. In the financial arena, cultivating a well-defined and disciplined process for creativity no longer is a marketing option; it is a requirement.
Today, more than ever, advisers need creative marketing ideas to create visibility and competitive differentiation in a cluttered marketplace.
Jay Nagdeman is president of Suasion Resources Inc., a marketing consulting firm for the financial services industry. This article was adapted from his book, “The Professional's Guide to Financial Services Marketing” (John Wiley & Sons Inc., 2009).
