It’s hard enough to build trust in your business if you’re selling low-dollar items like candles or chocolate chip cookies. If you’re an asset management firm trying to get clients to let you handle their multimillion-dollar portfolios, you have your work cut out for you.
It’s not rocket science: The more valuable the product or service, the harder you must work to market it. And financial firms are very near the top of the “valuable services” hierarchy.
If you’re asking your clients to not only hand over their hard-earned assets, but also give you complete control over the way those assets are managed, you’d better have a pretty good reason for them to do so. Simply telling them that you’re good at what you do isn’t going to cut it.
You need to build trust — and that’s where your existing fans and followers come in.
Why You Need to Build a Community
There’s Safety in Numbers
As a kid going out to play with your friends, your mother probably told you to stick with your friends. The idea was that if you were all in a group, it was less likely that one of you would get in trouble — and even if one of you did get in trouble, there were others around to help.
As it turns out, that lesson still applies today. People feel safer in a community. If someone considering doing business with your firm checks you out on social media and sees a group of like-minded individuals sparking discussion and bouncing questions off one another, they’re more likely to stick around than they would be if they saw that you had a ton of followers but no real engagement.
Your Community Is Your Biggest Advocate
If a potential client asks why they should give you your business, you’ll probably have a great answer, because you believe you’re great at what you do.
But anyone can say they’re great at what they do. Why should they believe you?
If a potential client asks your community why they should give you your business, it’s a whole different ballgame. Suddenly instead of a stock elevator pitch, that potential client is getting inside information from people who have actually done business with you. That’s worth more than gold to someone who’s on the fence.
Your Community Becomes Your Marketers
We’ve said it a million times: Marketing is hard. So if someone offers to do your marketing for you (especially when they’re doing it for free), our advice is to let them.
Your community won’t just advocate for your brand. They’ll actively promote it — often without even realizing they’re doing it.
Let’s say the topic of asset management comes up in a business meeting or at a dinner party. Someone from your community might say “I have a firm I’m really happy with. Here’s their card.” Or someone will notice your logo on someone else’s coffee cup or pen and ask about you, and your community member will be happy to sing your praises.
Word-of-mouth marketing really does work — and happy, engaged community members are always willing to help you out!
Who’s In Your Community?
Followers are great, but at the end of the day, they’re just a number on a social media page. By constantly engaging with them (and encouraging them to engage with each other), you’re turning individual people into a community that can put your asset management firm head and shoulders above the competition!
Mischa Communications is Cleveland’s premier independent financial services marketing agency. But you don’t need to live in our neck of the woods to benefit from our help. Our long-distance relationships always work out. Get started here.