What Is the Value of 1:1 #socialselling vs. #inboundmarketing?

“What is the value of 1:1 social selling vs. inbound marketing?”

This is a frequent question we hear from Financial Advisors and we want to share our perspective. 

Although personalization is on the rise, we seem to value quantity over quality. The cycle becomes even more difficult to uproot with the rise of sales/marketing automation tools.  

At eCairn, we have developed a framework to compare leads coming from inbound marketing and social selling using five criteria: Intent, Trust, Contact, Profiling, and Portfolio:

So let's look at the detailed comparison of these two lead generation techniques:

1. Intent

This is the primary argument against social prospecting. "a social media lead may not be looking for the services/products you're selling". True.

If a lead takes the time to fill out a contact form with their details, you know you’re on the right track. This is a bonafide marketing qualified lead. 

Although, in high-end, high-touch businesses like wealth management, buyers need more than a generic ad or article:

Trust is always key-- the proof is in the pudding. Advisors win most of their business via referrals or word-of-mouth

Without context or a real personal touch, marketing ads and emails won’t offer those high-conversions you’re seeking. 

Playing the long game works. Building relationships, sharing investment ideas/strategies, and engaging in meaningful discussions is the only way to earn trust. Even on the internet. 

2. Trust

People don't trust an ad, nor a brand. People trust people.

Authentic social engagement is the only way to earn trust in the digital world: "help first, pitch later". Establish yourself as a subject-matter expert. Carve out a niche. Show em’ you know em’. 

Testimonials, well-designed websites, and blog posts will only take you so far. You need to engage with your audience every day. 

3. Contact

When a prospect responds to an inbound marketing campaign, a quick call-back is critical. (a rep is 100x less likely to make contact if the first call is made 30 minutes after submission.) 

Building a solid email subscriber list can also be very effective.

However, privacy laws are restricting the use of emails and unless the prospect ticks a box agreeing to be contacted for sales, it is no longer OK for companies to use emails that they capture online. This is already true for Europe,  California, and Massachusetts and more and more states are working on their privacy laws.

In Social Selling, after a few chit-chats lead to follow you back and/or accept your Linkedin connection. This is an explicit “permission to contact”. This is actually how we measure the results of a social selling campaign: how many people ended up following you back or accepting your LinkedIn connection.

When organically growing your network on social media platforms, the “permission to contact” rules don’t apply in the same way. By sharing valuable content and ideas, you can generate a following of engaged prospects that want to hear from you!

4. Profiling

You get great cues about an individual's likes//interests//background on their social media profiles. 

Prospects typically use platforms like LinkedIn/Twitter to promote their brands or ideas and disclose an array of useful information that goes beyond the basic job title and location.

This is where they bear their soul on passions, hobbies, and convictions....these insights are critical for segmentation and personalized outreach.

This of course goes well beyond a standard inbound marketing form.  

Our experience is that a personalized outreach on Linkedin, asking about content that the prospect has shared on LinkedIn or Twitter gets a 2x response rate

5. Portfolio / Sales Strategy

Building a niche works.  

Since the magic number of clients an advisor can work with is 50-100, we might as well target wisely. 

On social media, an advisor can narrow down their list on who ( a few 100’s of high net worth people) they can serve best. 

When they start to sell focusing on people from this list, they end up with a list of clients that are similar: women business owners in upper west side NY, physicians in LA, millennials interested in cryptocurrency in Boston, high net worth individuals in San Francisco who want to make the earth a better place with responsible investment or even people who love fly fishing ;-).

Financial advisors can't get such a consistent client portfolio using word of mouth or inbound marketing.

There is also an economy of scale in serving clients within a niche market:

• Financial Advisor can develop specialized knowledge on the specific context and use it over and over with clients in the same situation

• The personal network they build is an asset that they can put to work for the benefit of the community ( helping a client find a provider, a client, a mentor ….)

There’s never been a better time to build your niche segment.