Have you ever been the last person to figure something out? It may have been the punch line of a joke, a family secret or, worse yet, a trick-of-the-trade that everyone is already using. Either way, it can be disheartening to be the last one to find out about it. In the past, that happened to me all the time. By the time I found out about a new way to grab some media attention, get in front of more prospects, or to convert more referrals, everyone else had reaped those rewards and was already moving on to the next thing.
Over time I learned to study a variety of industries, surround myself with company leaders, ask a lot of questions, and more importantly, share it with others. Sharing with others hasn’t always been my strong suit, mostly because this industry is competitive. We’re trained not to reveal to others how we are getting ahead, or what we are doing differently, for fear that they’ll poach our methods and our clients. That’s the pessimistic point of view. The other side of the coin is helping others and pioneering new ways to make a positive impact in the industry. That’s an important path for me, both personally and professionally. So, to make sure you’re not the last ones to learn about them, let me divulge to you several of my trade secrets on becoming a retirement expert.
Become A Media Darling
One of the most important things an advisor can do is have someone in the media endorse you as an expert. Generally speaking, advertising is calling yourself an expert; public relations is the process of getting influential people to refer to you as an expert. That’s not to say you have to abandon traditional advertising methods, but combining it with a media presence can have a major impact on your credibility and your business results. The process starts by asking yourself, what is your area of expertise? Is it retirement planning; retirement income; retirement speaker; retirement advocate? I have found that when I engage media, the simpler the better.
Most advisors understand the power of being quoted in major business publications, but few know how to get on the media map. The first step is to get plugged into the community of journalists, and there’s no better way than through Help A Reporter Out (HARO). Three times each day, this service sends out an e-mail with requests from both small and major media outlets for expert opinions. You get requests from big players, like the WSJ, CNN and Fox News, to smaller outlets and even personal Web sites and blogs.
What’s amazing is the fact that it’s a free service. Signing up is a breeze, and not only will you get a preview of what journalists and major media channels are covering, you’ll have the opportunity to offer your opinion and expertise on the topic. Those of you affiliated with broker-dealers may initially be thinking, “I can’t do it because of compliance,” but let’s move beyond the negative and focus on what is possible. I, personally, have quoted BDs in articles … primarily because they were savvy about the process. After responding to my query, they stated that anything “going to print” would have to be approved by compliance first. They committed to a short turnaround time, and to make approvals easier, suggested that additional questions be completed via e-mail instead of over the phone or in person. The reality is, no one going to be mad about the extra steps if you provide good, valuable content for the article. After all, this is what will make you a retirement expert.
Prove You’re An Expert
Proving you’re an expert doesn’t have to be as difficult as some people make it out to be. It used to be that experts would write 200-page, hardcover books or provide academic articles in only the highest profile journals. But that’s not the case anymore. First, it’s become much easier to publish your first book. Be it through Amazon.com as an e-book or a simple perfect-bound book through a company like InstantPublisher.com, getting your names and expertise out to the general public is easier than ever.
That being said, I have personally switched to almost exclusive online content, primarily in the form of short, and easy-to-read guides that clients, advisors, and prospects can opt into for free or pay a small price through Paypal – after which the content is delivered online.
Two of the most popular guides I have written are How To Prepare Your Marriage For Retirement, and Three Things No One Tells You About Retirement. The goal is to hit hot buttons among those one year or less away from retirement. I address their questions and concerns up front and, after I have added some value, usually include a short pitch for a book, a webinar or my company.
The opportunity here is that you control the information. When you write a book, you don’t always know who bought it or how to get in touch with them. Booksellers like Amazon.com get to keep all that information and don’t share it with authors. But if they request a guide on your website, you have their name and email, and can thus the opportunity to follow-up and offer a financial service. This is important because financial and retirement planning is all about timing. Someone who’s not ready to take a next step today may be ready next month, or a year from now. That’s why it’s important to have a process and material that keeps you at the top of their mind.
Well-targeted guides can also be used as an effective tool in capturing emails from a seminar or workshop. We’ve all had events where several attendees don’t provide any follow-up contact information. Yet, by offering a follow-up guide via email, my contact data grew exponentially. Not to mention it’s easier and less expensive to drip market through guides that are emailed as compared to typing, printing and mailing letters or physical copies.
Making Your Web Presence Count
Another simple opportunity for advisors to establish themselves as retirement experts is in their Web presence. Take a minute to type your name into google or yahoo to see what comes up. You can also put quotation marks around your name to make your search results more specific. What will clients, prospects and people in the media see? Your Web site? A link to a news story? Or some cheesy listing on a Web site full of ads for businesses that you never knew existed?
Unfortunately, a lot of people are trying to cash in on Internet marketing by setting up domains that feature limited information about advisors, hoping to get visitors to click on a paid link. That can leave advisors who aren’t familiar with even just basic search engine optimization (SEO) on the losing end of prospects. This is not something to take lightly, but also doesn’t mean you should just run out and pay some company to try and rank you higher. Instead, start letting everyone know you’re an expert by consistently broadcasting what you know and do with clients.
One approach to consider as you build your Web presence is to purchase your name as a domain (it doesn’t matter if it’s .com, .net, .co or other extension) and then populate it with your company-approved bio, picture, company logo and link to e-mail. Doing so can help you move up in the rankings and it’s an easy way for people to remember your name and contact info (I usually say, “My Web site is my name and my e-mail is easy to remember, it’s just my initials @ my name: [email protected]). You can even take it a step further and look for a domain that classifies your area of expertise, although you may have to get creative and use something like a hyphen in order to secure the domain, for example Retirement-Expert.net or less popular domain extension such as RetirementExpert.us
In the end, one of the best things about becoming an expert is it’s similar to adding a new credential to your name that you won’t regret putting the time, energy and effort into. I hope these tips are helpful in creating a media presence, writing your first book or guide, and making you stand out on the Web.
Follow Robert Laura on Twitter @robertlaura. He is the president of SYNEGOS Financial group, co-founder of RetirementProject.org, and author of Naked Retirement. He can be reached at [email protected].