Guest: John Wernz, one of the top marketers on the planet. John was the Chief Marketing Officer of Wealth Enhancement Group (WEG) (listen to my podcast with WEG CEO Jeff Dekko) as that company grew rapidly through some sophisticated organic marketing programs. He’s currently Executive-in-Residence at Great Hill Partners, Executive Director and Board Member at Datalign Advisory, and Board Advisor at Testimonial IQ.
In a Nutshell: Before recording this episode, I prompted ChatGPT-4 to “Play the role of a financial advisor marketing expert. Lay out a detailed marketing strategy for a $5 million annual revenue RIA firm that wants to grow 20% per year.”
The results were … pretty good! (Download the ChatGPT-4 Marketing Plan.)
But effective marketing requires more than blindly following a GPT-generated plan — you have to target, personalize, and differentiate your message to reach your intended audience and turn clicks into clients through both marketing AND sales.
On today’s show, John Wernz and I use the GPT-4 marketing plan as a springboard to discuss all aspects of the marketing process and identify actionable ways for you to improve every step of your marketing program.
.
.John Wernz and I discuss:
- Understanding the difference between sales and marketing.
- When — if ever — should your firm start spending money on paid marketing?
- Who should your first marketing hire be?
- The effectiveness of various marketing techniques, from newsletters (good!) to sponsorships (usually not great).
- How I used SEO and better web design to dramatically improve my Google search ranking for “top financial advisor coaches.”
- Identifying ideal client personas. (Download a free example.)
- Why the quality of your company’s website is every bit as important as your social media presence. (Learn how to build a high-performing website.)
- Using a “face of the firm” to broadcast your company’s personality and strengthen its brand.
- The truth behind conversion rate metrics.
- Why you can’t turn companies that don’t refer into referral partners.
- Are your clients just satisfied or are they true advocates?
- Strategies and metrics for creating a better marketing budget.
- How marketing can build an infrastructure to help your firm grow organically.
