The financial planning world loves its acronyms and technical jargon.
From UFPLUS to PCLS, accumulation to crystallisation, the list is endless and does nothing to help consumers engage with advisers and planners.
The same is true in the world of marketing. My profession uses jargon as much as yours.
Unfortunately, it leads to two issues: advisers and planners get turned off by it and switch off from marketing, and it can cause confusion, leading to mistakes and poor decision-making.
In this mini-series, I’ll cut through the confusion and explain in simple terms what some jargon we marketers like to use actually means, grouped by areas of your business.
Let’s start with some general terms.
General marketing terms
Brand
Many people think a logo and a brand are the same thing. They aren’t.
Your logo is the visual representation of your business. Your brand is your culture, values and how people feel about your business.
As Jeff Bezos famously said, your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room. He’s right!
Sales and marketing
You might not think these two simple terms need defining, but they are often confused and used interchangeably, so let’s define them here:
Marketing means creating a sales opportunity.
Sales means turning that opportunity into revenue.
Inbound/Outbound marketing
There are two types of marketing.
Inbound marketing attracts enquiries through the promotion of valuable content, pulling them in naturally.
Outbound marketing pushes messages to potential clients through direct approaches like ads, cold calls, or email campaigns.
Marketing funnel
A marketing funnel represents the stages of a client’s journey, from awareness to conversion.
It’s a journey where people go from learning about your service to becoming paying clients and ultimately, actively advocating for you to others.
ROI (Return on investment)
This is the return you receive compared to the money you invest in marketing.
When calculating your ROI, include the total amount spent on marketing, compare it to the initial fees received and the assumed ongoing fees over the expected length of the client relationship.
KPIs (Key performance indicators)
These are key stats and data points you should measure at each stage of the marketing and sales funnel to understand how effective your marketing is and whether it’s on track to achieve your objective.
Social proof
Social proof is the thoughts and words of others to show the value you add to clients and, therefore, build credibility.
There are two categories of social proof.
Client-driven social proof includes online reviews, survey results and testimonial videos.
Adviser-driven social proof includes awards, accreditations, qualifications, and press coverage.
The life cycle of a client
Suspects
These people know you or your business and believe they might need your services but haven’t contacted you yet.
They’re in the shadows, slowly getting to know you by visiting your website, reading your blogs and social posts, or listening to your podcasts.
