Taylor Swift’s Business Tactics Adapted for Financial Advisors
The Wall Street Journal recently published an insightful article into Taylor Swift’s business practices. It contains several strategies Financial Advisors can easily adapt to grow their own businesses. Let’s take a closer look.
Leverage Social Media to Your Advantage
“She secured her fans’ loyalty by speaking directly to them online.”
“Swift was early to fostering her fan base online—first on Myspace, then Tumblr before Instagram and TikTok.”
Are you following thought leaders online? Become one yourself! Use LinkedIn and other social media to share timely, thoughtful, personalized insights into financial strategies. Build a following, based on your consistent delivery of new, interesting, and relevant information. Prospective customers start coming to you, rather than you having to find them. Leverage’s Al Granum’s prospecting strategies with social media. It’s easy to set up, effective, and free.
Stay Focused
“While other stars like Rihanna have parlayed their success as artists to launch other businesses, Swift has largely kept her empire within the confines of music.”
Don’t spread yourself too thin. Narrow your focus on what you do best. Specialize in one area of financial planning. Become an expert and market your unique skills, products, and services to your target market. People will start coming to you, rather than you having to find them.
Be Original
“Her original songs helped her secure a development deal with RCA Records.”
Differentiate your practice; develop a unique way to present the benefits of a specific product or strategy. Position yourself as an expert. If someone wants what you offer, they must come to you to get it. For an analogy, think about that signature dish of a popular restaurant in your area; people stand in line to get it. What’s your (financial) signature dish? Develop something original and people will start coming to you – because they have to!
Develop a Catchphrase
“When Swift, playing in the station’s studio, got to the line in “Tim McGraw” that includes the lyric “someday you’ll turn your radio on,” she glanced over at Barker and instead sang “someday you’ll turn K-FROG on,” he said. The gimmick worked. The station immediately wanted to put her on the radio.”
Think of a way to turn the ordinary into the extraordinary using a unique word or phrase that quickly conveys your value proposition. For example, we communicate our firm’s core value with, “From submission to commission, insurance sales have never been easier.” Think of a radio or TV commercial you remember. Why do you remember it? It probably has a clever catchphrase. “Nationwide is on your side.” “Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.” Develop your own catchphrase that defines your brand, then promote it aggressively!
Be Personal – Details Matter
“Executives, radio programmers and other business associates describe Swift’s acute memory for details about their spouses and children. They say they still have her handwritten thank-you cards.”
“She knows where you left off on your last conversation.”
We’ll increasingly have to compete with AI. Let’s beat the bots by elevating what we humans do best. We care about others! Let your clients and prospects know you care by paying attention to the little details that matter most.
Be Interesting
“Success at reinventing herself.”
As we develop new skills or add products and services, we become increasingly relevant to a wider audience. Stay fresh on your clients’ mind by educating them how they can benefit from your new product, strategy, or service.
We make it easy for our Financial Advisors to stay interesting with their clients. We offer a complimentary service that notifies Advisors of new, insurance-friendly articles from the Wall Street Journal. Are you already signed up for that service? The idea is that you forward these articles to your own clients, making it super easy for you to start a new conversation about a product, tax-saving strategy, or service you offer. It’s easy to grow your insurance business if you regularly deliver timely, interesting, and applicable ideas, authored by the most authoritative financial newspaper.
Be Valuable
“Valuable things should be paid for.”
Increasingly, we’ll be forced to compete with AI to solve financial planning problems. We must do better than the bots. Make yourself valuable by delivering a distinctive, highly personalized service, product, or strategy. What makes you unique in your clients’ minds?
Wait, there is More
“Swift adds previously unreleased songs that didn’t make the cut on the original albums, encouraging fans to buy the new versions.”
Reengage your clients by educating them about new opportunities. For example, a recent change in the tax law encouraged life insurers to develop more flexible products. Congress wanted to provide another way to pay for certain long-term care related expenditures with tax-free dollars. Several such products have recently come on the market. They enable policyowners to accelerate a portion of the death benefit to pay for certain healthcare benefits tax-free. Older policies do not offer that flexibility. Advisors can educate their clients about the new opportunity. Perhaps it makes sense to replace an older life insurance policies with a newer one to gain access to those valuable new policy features?
