How real are you willing to get with your marketing? Sharing your own colorful analogy might not feel too risky. How about adding in a personal experience? Details of your life? Your own beliefs and perspective?
There is a line to be drawn between your marketing messaging and what you’d say on a therapist’s couch.
But that line isn’t the same for everyone.
What feels comfortable for me (like spilling about my secret jitters before I walk on stage at a conference) might feel equally uncomfortable to you. In today’s “attention economy,” you are expected to share a lot more than you were 20 years ago!
When I was invited to join a panel with Justin Castelli of RLS Wealth and Christopher Norton of Potomac Funds at the Jolt! Conference to talk about getting “Unapologetically Real,” we couldn’t help ourselves. We had to dive into the “how much is too much to share?” question. In fact, I think moderator David Armstrong of WealthManagement.com forced the issue!
Ultimately, we all agreed that finding the right balance of sharing without feeling exposed is up to your own gut check. But here are 4 techniques to help make your marketing messaging a little more like the real you.
Get Personal
I spend a lot of my life at a hockey rink. Just ask our clients. It’s not uncommon for me to show up rinkside on an early morning Zoom strategy session. On the other side of the glass, my son’s getting some one-on-one coaching. On the Zoom call, we’re not talking about where the puck is but where the puck is going. You see what I did there? Hockey mom is part of my identity. You better believe some hockey analogies, hockey stories, and hockey photos are going to appear in my marketing strategy.
So what’s unique about you? You might not be a hockey mom, but you definitely have something special about you that will add personality to your marketing. Don’t be afraid to tap into it. That’s what makes marketing memorable.
Need some inspiration? Justin from the panel does a great job including personal details in his website, marketing messaging, and videos. Check out how he gets real here.
(Don’t Be Afraid to) Be Funny
You want to be different from the advisor down the street. I can guarantee that advisor isn’t using humor in his or her marketing messaging. You can get real by just being funny.
Finding humor in the everyday parts of your job isn’t that hard. You only need to pull up an old episode of “The Office” to know that what’s happening around you at work can be hilarious. Especially if you have someone like Dwight on your team.
There’s an added benefit of being funny. It makes you more memorable. A hundred advisors could create a video about saving for retirement. If one of those videos was funny, you’d remember it.
Christopher from the Unapologetically Real panel shared an unforgettable video that had me laughing so hard I cried the first time I saw it. See if this Potomac video gets you inspired:
Face Your Fears
Getting real in your marketing can make you feel vulnerable. Anxiety about being judged often holds advisors back from creating personal videos. At Jolt! the Idea Kit team took 22 advisors through one-on-one video performance boot camp. Each advisor faced their fears and walked away with valuable on-cam performance skills after their 15-minute session.
One last tip I borrowed from advisor Dave Zoller who also spoke at Jolt! is this:
Work Always Works
Dave has been recording videos for his marketing strategy and admitted that he didn’t always love the results. But when you approach it with the attitude of “Work Always Works,” you’re bound to get something out of it. Either you create content that people love or you learn something from the process that helps you get better.
