The 2020 Coronavirus has created new interest in webinars as an effective digital marketing strategy that financial advisors can use to get in front of more prospects. Truth be told, financial advisor webinars are an effective marketing strategy even when there are no restrictions on face-to-face contact.
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Whereas financial advisors may have conducted seminars in the past, webinars serve the same purpose and they have infinitely more digital marketing applications. For example, financial advisor webinars can be live and interactive or on-demand. Webinars can be posted on financial advisor websites and integrated into CRM systems.
Financial advisor webinars are the ideal way to reach large numbers of targeted investors in an efficient, cost-effective manner.
Following are 7 Best Practices for creating highly effective financial advisor webinars:
#1 Specific Markets
The best financial advisor webinars target the financial interests of particular market segments. For example, you produce a webinar that targets the financial interests of business owners who are thinking about selling and retiring. This is more specific than just targeting business owners.
If you just target “business owners” in your title you are guaranteed to reduce your attendance because the owners have no idea what your topic might be. However, when you add “selling and retiring” you have introduced a topic that could appeal to any business owner who is thinking about selling now or in the near future.
There is a major plus! The sale of a business is a major liquidity event. The owner will need planning and investment services for the proceeds – an ideal type of client that is produced by a financial advisor webinar.
#2 Compelling Titles
If you still read a newspaper, what articles are the most eye-catching? Chances are they are the articles that have the most compelling headlines or titles. In fact, in the newspaper business they say: “If it bleeds, it leads”.
Financial advisor webinars benefit from the same strategy. Compelling titles with a brief description will produce more attendees for financial advisor webinars than bland titles. In fact, most people will gloss right over titles that do not create interest.
The most compelling titles are solutions for financial pain points that are experienced by large numbers of investors. For example, many older investors are concerned about running out of money late in life when they have very few options. A financial advisor webinar with a catchy title that offers solutions for this concern could be a real winner.
#3 Great Content
Great financial advisor webinars have exceptional content that is not generally known by your typical investor. Plus, the great content can establish you as a financial expert. Well known content detracts from the image you may be trying to project.
Bland titles will cause people to not attend. General information will cause people to leave your webinars before you are finished. And, as you might imagine, they will not attend any of your future webinars regardless of the topic.
It is difficult to build reputations for expertise, credibility, and trust. This process is much easier when you provide content that contains pearls of wisdom that attendees have not seen anywhere else.
#4 The Hook
You need a hook at the very beginning of your financial advisor webinar that gets your attendees attention right away. Perhaps you start with a war story about an investor who had terrible experience due to bad financial advice. The bad experience will get peoples’ attention. Now you can proceed with your webinar.
You have seen this tactic used on TV and in the movies. Dramas start with the crime and the rest of the show or movie is about solving the crime with a lot of twists and turns. Financial advisor webinars should be using the same tactic for the same reason. You have to capture their attention right away, so they get and stay engaged.
#5 Do Your Homework
No matter how well you know your subject matter, you should conduct online research to find additional ideas, messages, and soundbites. These “nuggets of information” may be the difference between a good financial advisor webinar and a great one.
Great webinars produce three benefits. First, the attendees will stay until the end of your webinar. Second, the attendees are more likely to attend your future webinars, And, third they will be more inclined to tell friends, family, and associates about your webinars. There is no better form of advertising than word-of-mouth.
Research does not have to be a time-consuming task. Enter a few keywords in Google and read a few relevant articles that cover the same or a similar topic. Perhaps, one of the writers thought of something that you missed.
This will become very familiar to you after you have conducted your own research a few times. Keep in mind, your competitors are doing the same thing to you.
#6 Visual Aids
Every financial advisor webinar should contain visual aids for one very simple reason. People retain more of what they see and hear. Their lowest retention rates are for verbal information.
A visual aid may be nothing more than a PowerPoint presentation that lists the most important points that you want to make during the webinar.
Visual aids should illustrate the points that you want to make and the ones you want attendees to retain. You should limit the number of slides to a maximum of ten with no more than four bullet points per slide.
The best visual aids can be corroborating information from trustworthy sources. These slides add credibility to what you are saying.
You may want to make the slides a free offer at the end of your financial advisor webinar. That way your attendees can spend more time listening to you and less time taking notes.
#7 Have to be Present to Win
Let it be known in the beginning and throughout your financial advisor webinar that you will have an extraordinary pearl of wisdom at the end. The pearl could be verbal or a slide on your PowerPoint presentation.
You dare not disappoint the people in attendance. You have to amaze them with your major pearl of wisdom. Imagine if you set the attendees up for the grand finish and then you disappointed them.
Your grand finish should also include an invitation to your next webinar.
