Wednesday, April 06, 2011 Grow Your Practice with Education-Based Marketing
Colleagues and peers who can lead you to potential clients should be considered your most valuable referral relationships. Yet most professionals don’t have a turnkey process to ensure they stay in touch and deliver value to these important audiences - colleagues and peers that serve the same client market.
Believe it or not, even your best referral sources don’t go about their day thinking how they can send more clients to your office. It is up to you to stay on top of valuable relationships and keep generating new ones so that your practice flourishes on referred business. When was the last time you were in touch with your referral sources? Are you getting the kind of referrals you want as clients?
Education-based marketing is a definitive business development tool that can increase and strengthen your referral relationships because it delivers value and generates referrals in an authentic way, leading to a successful practice.
There are many variations of education-based marketing channels. Here are some of the most effective programs we put in motion every day:
Educational Events:
Most professionals have a minimum annual continuing education requirement. They pay for countless classes every year to hear someone else deliver a presentation on a subject of your expertise. Why not prepare an educational presentation and approve it for CPE, MCLE, CFP and other continuing education credit and offer it on a regular basis in the comforts of your office? We know, it is easier said than done and like anything valuable it, requires time and commitment. We can share the process with you or we can help make your educational events a success. All you have to do is present a topic you already are an expert on.
e-Newsletters, Blogs, Social Media:
When was the last time you sent out an educational newsletter or a blog post about current events? This would not only help your referral source serve their clients better, but it would remind them of you and your services, increasing referral opportunities. How about social media? Are you building and strengthening your network? We can help you activate a successful digital outreach program that will deliver value to your referral sources and generate referrals for you.
Contact us today and learn how we can help activate these programs for your practice and help you generate more referrals.
Tuesday, March 01, 2011 How To Build & Strengthen Referral Relationships
Education-Based Marketing is a powerful marketing approach that delivers value while establishing credibility and thought leadership among key audiences, such as referral sources and prospecting clients.
There are a number of ways to deliver your educational message and start building relationships with your key audiences. Today, we will discuss how education-based marketing establishes and strengthens relationships with referral sources.
Say you are a Trusts and Estates professionals whose referral sources are CPAs, Financial Advisors, Bankers, Insurance and Real Estate professionals. What can you do to establish new and strengthen existing referral relationships with these professionals?
Our favorite approach is delivering an educational presentation, addressing a topic of interest to your referral sources. This presentation can cover a number of issues, such as addressing recent changes in the tax law and their impact on consumers; discussing the importance of updating your estate plan and other relevant topics and issues.
Organizing educational events and inviting existing and potential referral sources to learn from you is invaluable in establishing relationships, becoming a thought leader and winning the trust of key advisors that serve the same client market.
After attending your educational event, not only will attendees be thinking of you when their client needs to plan their estate, but they will be more likely to discuss estate planning and issues you educated them on with clients because you empowered them with knowledge to better serve their clients.
What about the details of event planning, such as topic selection, invitation, RSVP process, confirmation, follow up and all the good stuff that goes along with planning a successful event and getting the most out of your marketing efforts? The truth is, it takes thoughtful preparation and event planning “know how."
We will be happy to share best event marketing practices, in a way that is relevant to your practice, in a complimentary consultation. Schedule yours today!
|