New Year, New You pieces are everywhere currently, because let’s face it, many of us see a turn of the year as a reason to make significant changes that we could (or should) be making at any other time to improve ourselves and our lives.
I am not a fan of changing things based on the time of year, more because you have reached a point where you need or want to.
But having said that, there is plenty you can look to change or address in your business now so you can move forwards with more clients or by offering better service to your existing clients, and the start of 2020 is a good time to do it.
There are a number of things happening this year that offer good triggers to engage with clients and to entice new ones; you just need to make sure you are working towards it in the right way.
So, here are five tips to help you get your 2020 marketing right:
1. Understand your clients – you may think you already do – after all, they are your clients.
But do you know what they are really interested in? For example, would some now be interested in ethical investing even though when you first met them they were not?
Or are they at a point in life where they might be interested in additional financial services, such as a pension review, income protection cover, or perhaps even key person cover if they have a business? If you do not know, then find out.
Regularly spending time helping your existing clients will go a very long way to boosting your business. If you do not have time to do this yourself, consider employing someone to work through this information for you, just make sure they know what you plan to do with it so they categorise it properly for you.
2. Understand your offering – again, this is simple, right? You have been doing this for years, so if you do not know what you can do for clients, then who does? Well, you might be right, but it never hurts to spend time working out how clients actually perceive you.
Look through your client communications, your key facts documents, marketing material, brochures or emails and see how clear and crisp your messaging is.
Ask for client feedback or get someone independent to read it for you and ask them to be honest about their feedback.
You may be surprised by what you learn.
3. Embrace constructive criticism.
We all know how annoying it can be when people harp on about something you have done that they do not like and are simply being mean-spirited about it.
But when it comes to criticism that can help your business move forwards, then swallow that ego and listen, because sometimes other people do know better than you.
This is particularly important when you go through the process in point two.You must filter what is constructive and what is not, but do not be too quick to dismiss other points of view.
