When we take a chance, good things happen.
A few months ago, I published an extremely personal blog about my search for a homeschooling solution for my son Will and what it taught us about websites.
Honestly, I was worried about publishing it. Only after conversations with our client engagement manager Abi Robinson and another adviser whose child had experienced something similar to Will did I pluck up the courage to press ‘publish’, ‘send’ and ‘post’.
I’m so glad I did. The reaction was fantastic, with many supportive messages and some fascinating conversations. It was also a great reminder that good things happen when we take a risk, and the downsides we worry about shouldn’t hold us back.
Publish the blog and promote it, spending four-to-five times as long promoting it as you did writing it
It also got me thinking about times when taking a chance will improve your marketing and, consequently, your business.
Here are five times advisers tend to focus too much on risk and not enough on reward.
1. Sending cold emails
I’m not talking about spammy batch and blast emails but carefully worded, well-targeted messages sent for a specific purpose.
These emails might help you solve a tricky problem in your business, generate valuable press coverage or land you a great podcast or webinar guest.
The worst thing that could happen is they get ignored and, apart from the potential damage to our egos, where’s the risk in that? As far as I can see, there’s only upside from sending cold emails.
2. Pressing publish
Writing a blog and not publishing it wastes time and is a missed opportunity. Despite that, worries about what people might think mean many excellent blogs never see the light of day.
If you’re worried about an adverse reaction to your blog, please don’t. I guarantee people are far less interested in your thoughts than you think they are.
So, publish the blog and promote it, spending four-to-five times as long promoting it as you did writing it. I guarantee that will give you more confidence for the next time.
3. Running a webinar
Webinars are often perceived as risky:
- “What if it goes wrong?”
- “What if no one shows up?”
- “What if I get asked a question I can’t answer?”
There are certainly risks to running webinars, but they’re easily mitigated. When you do, the benefits are massive: value added to clients, expertise demonstrated to prospects and another string added to your marketing bow.
4. Posting on social media
Finding your voice is perhaps the biggest barrier to posting on social media, closely followed by concerns about the risks.
Advisers worry about compliance, people shouting them down or “getting it wrong” – whatever that means. Ironically, almost no one worries about a lack of engagement, which is perhaps the most significant risk.
I struggle to think of a time when an adviser has made a significant error on social media that’s proved costly. So take a chance, hit ‘post’ and then feel your confidence grow when nothing you worried about actually happens.
5. Chasing up ghosters
When a prospect ghosts you, there are two choices: accept their silence or try a different way to wake them up.
The second option leads to higher conversion rates, new clients and additional revenue. Yet many advisers worry about employing the most effective ways I’ve ever encountered to wake new clients: Chris Voss’ magic email and Marcus Sheridan’s alternative.
They worry the emails are too short (that’s the point), appear rude (they’re not, and the prospects are being rude, ignoring you) or will provoke a negative reaction (they never do).
Again, though, where’s the risk? At worst, you get ignored, but 80% of the time you’ll get a response that invariably starts with an apology and then reopens the conversation.
It’s ironic that advisers spend much of their time helping their clients manage risk, often encouraging them to take more, yet struggle to do the same when it comes to their marketing.
If you’re on the lower end of the marketing risk scale, I’d encourage you to rethink. Only good things will happen when you do.
Finally, I’d like to finish this article where we started. If you’re in a similar situation to me and my son Will and would like to chat about your experience, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Phil Bray is founder and director of The Yardstick Agency
