Using technology to improve client communication

March 10, 2017 by Dave Kirkeby

About the author

Dave Kirkeby

Account executive

Dave has nearly 15 years of operations management and sales experience in small business and client service organizations. An avid sports fan and aspiring musician, he received an MBA with Distinction from the University of Wisconsin-Parkside and a Bachelor’s of Science in Business Management with concentrations in Operations and Human Resources from University of Wisconsin-Parkside. He studied international business while attending school in China and also completed a sales certificate program at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside which is only 1 of 2 programs accredited by the University Sales Education Foundation in Wisconsin, and 1 of 55 nationwide.

Do you feel like you do not have enough time to create your own content to deliver to clients? Are you sending your client base content that does not relate to them? These are concerns with which we see many advisors and firms struggle. Advisors want to deliver content to their clients but need to add value by doing so. Often enough, there is a technology solution available to solve these problems. Are you leveraging technology to overcome your communication problem?

Leveraging content marketing technology to improve client communications

Many advisors use marketing technology that includes a vast array of educational content. I speak with many advisors on a daily basis that believe they are making their lives easier; however, they are actually experiencing a very low return on investment (ROI).

Some content marketing platforms we see offer service aspects of the solutions, rather than simply a library of content. By this, I mean that everything from automatic delivery to content selection is available. The fact of the matter is that advisors are convinced that they found a solution that saves them time and increases their reach, when there is actually very little value added by these services.

Content providers often have large content libraries but offer very little selection. Many programs will set up automatic marketing campaigns and send things to an advisor’s clients on their behalf. Advisors feel like someone is taking on their marketing for them and are more than willing to pay for that service. Advisors must be wary, however, of a program that has them choose a handful of articles to send to their entire client base throughout the year — without segmenting the clients.

While these solutions save time by sending the material, they are providing clients with a single topic that is likely irrelevant for many of them. Advisors can do the same thing as the technology by sharing an article on social media or blind copying every client on one email. Therefore, advisors are not seeing much benefit if they can complete the same task as the program in less than five minutes.

Selecting a comprehensive marketing communications tool

What if an advisor wants educational content on their website? Advisors often receive a pre-arranged content package that is identical to the content on the websites of hundreds of other advisors. This does not help an advisor add value for clients and prospects if the other advisors in town have the same content to deliver.

Advisors may think they are saving time by having technology take care of the delivery, but in reality that is all they are receiving. At that point, the advisor is spending money for something they can easily do themselves.

What advisors need is a software that they control. It may take up a little bit of their time but not as much as writing material themselves. Having control allows advisors to send relevant content to the right people at the right time, giving them a more targeted and engaging experience that will add value. The more relevance clients find in the material sent to them, the higher the likelihood will be of getting referrals and retaining clients. That revenue (gained or retained) adds up and is much better than paying money for a technology that is providing a low ROI.

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