In today's Quick Wins segment, I want to share a few steps with you that you can take to leverage an article. In a recent episode, I talked about how you can get free PR - and let's assume you follow through on that, or maybe you were published in a publication somewhere else, and it's great. You saw your name in the byline and all right, now what? I want to share with you a few things that you need to be thinking about and looking at doing.
The first is, obviously we want to amplify it using social media. Post it on all of the outlets that you currently are leveraging. I encourage you when you make that post, ask a question around the topic to promote discussion. If you got published about something on Social Security, maybe you can ask the question, "Hey, I just was published in this article in such and such publication. Topic was this. Question for you - When do you plan to take Social Security? Or, if you've already taken it, when did you decide to take it and why?" Something that pertains to that article that will stir up some engagement and activity. You could even post a really quick 30-second video along with that article, essentially discussing why you felt the need to write about that particular topic and why that's important to the clients that you serve. And certainly I would encourage you to tag the publication that published you in that social media post. It can help to elevate and make the algorithm gods happy, if you will. So that's idea number one, amplify it using social media.
I want you to share it with clients as well. Strengthen that relationship, solidify why it is that they hired you, let them know you can help others surrounding that particular topic. It's kind of a subtle nudge to stay top of mind from a referral and introduction standpoint.
The third thing is, obviously, you're going to want to share it with prospects. You can do that through email. You can certainly do it through your different social channels. We'll talk about some other ways that you can share it with prospects in a moment, but this is going to do nothing but enhance your credibility. And I would encourage you when you post that or you send an email out around it to offer a consult or a conversation around that particular topic and/or similar topics. Maybe highlight some of the big questions people have as it relates to that topic - just something to plant that seed and get their mind thinking around, yeah, maybe I do need to talk to this advisor.
A big thing is when you get published, make sure you're updating your profiles. Maybe you're going to update or reference it in a social media profile. Maybe you're going to update your bio on your website. If you do any event marketing or anything along those lines, make sure that it is factored in there. And make sure to draw attention to the fact that you were published in XYZ publication. We don't want this publication, this effort that you landed, and this opportunity to just kind of die once the publication date has passed. So that's a big one.
I also want you to think about using it in any future media outreach. Create a little media kit. Especially once you get a few of these articles or other media opportunities published, create a little media kit so that when you do reach out to the next journalist or somebody locally, you can share with them that these other publications sought me out. I was published in XYZ. I was published in ABC. I was featured on this broadcast. It helps to cement whether or not they would consider you newsworthy or trustworthy and credible when they're considering having you do something for their publication.
I also want you to make sure that you add it to your website. Create a little "As featured in" section. You could also add it in your office. Put a little blurb out or maybe frame an article or something along those lines to make sure that that lives on forever. On the website, it should be a simple banner image, or you could create a separate page that is "Featured in" or "In the Media". That it is something that people, as they're exploring you and considering whether or not you're the person that they want to do business with, they can see some of that third-party credibility. "If XYZ sought him out enough to publish this person or quote this person in a publication, that must mean something. There's a little bit of psychology there that I want you to think through. I also want you to blog about the coverage. We want to leverage that content and reuse that content as much as possible. So beyond just posting the link to it, I would encourage you to blog about it. Why did you decide to write about that, or why were you featured, and why is that important to your clients? And once you blog that, that can be another thing that you share on social. The big thing that we want to do is repurpose content efforts. You go through the effort of creating this content or writing an article or getting featured. How can we repurpose that two, three, four different ways in different media sources or opportunities?
And then lastly, I encourage you to include your article in any sales collateral or handouts that you create for prospects. If you're doing event marketing, make sure there's a reprint of that article inside of the folder. Or, maybe you're gonna have a screenshot of it up on the PowerPoint as you're going through certain things, especially if it lends credibility to what you're about to talk about in that presentation. You know, if you were published in the Wall Street Journal on the topic of Social Security, and now you're delivering a presentation to a room full of prospective clients on that very topic, if they see that you were published in the Wall Street Journal on that topic, they're going to immediately elevate you in their vision of you from a credibility standpoint. "Wow. This person really must know what they're talking about if the Wall Street Journal either featured them or quoted them." So, make sure that you're including that. Maybe it was a part of an introductory kit. If you're sending something out to them there, or at the very least, if your initial outreach is to send a kind of welcome introduction email, maybe you're going to include that as part of getting to know you and the type of work that you do. So that's it. I hope this was helpful.
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The Financial Advisor Marketing Playbook is a podcast/video series for high-performing financial planning professionals that are committed to improving their craft, helping their clients, and growing their business. Hosted by Mark Mersman, Chief Marketing Officer at USA Financial, this series contains a wide variety of content – from quick win ideas to long-form interviews, each episode provides actionable marketing ideas and insights that can be implemented easily into your practice. From digital marketing to traditional direct-response marketing, each episode delivers straight-forward and engaging content that any financial professional can use to improve their bottom line and grow their practice.
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