Advisors Can Learn A Lot From the Super Bowl

By Cynthia Stephens, VP of Marketing on Tuesday, February 7th, 2012

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Let’s face it: the Super Bowl hype is not just about the big game itself. Many of us tune in to the Super Bowl to watch the commercials. This might be especially true for marketers.

Whether you have $3.5 million to spend on a 30-second spot during the Super Bowl or simply want to acquire more clients for your book of business in 2012, you can glean a few marketing tips from watching the Super Bowl ads.

First tip: make your marketing outreach interactive. Brands like Doritos asked consumers in their Crash the Super Bowl to submit a video that was worthy of a Super Bowl commercial and then asked consumers to vote on the entries.

This type of engagement works on many levels. It uses a holistic approach that works across multiple channels (TV, online, social media) and helps to build brand loyalty and to differentiate the brand.

There are many new technologies available at a low cost to make you a marketing quarterback, even if you are a team of one at your practice. In addition to using social media, emails, newsletters and other “tried and true” methods, try creating an online survey or contest to engage your potential clients.

Have you ever used an e-book? Create an investor “e-book” full of tips on navigating a down market. These interactive books have built-in social media/sharing tools to keep it fun. Check out our Definitive Guide to Billing on Held-Away Assets e-book to see what one looks like.

Second tip: make your marketing visually engaging and viral. Super Bowl ads typically have 30 seconds to get their message across and stand apart from the rest of the commercials that are vying for your attention.

If the commercial is really effective you’ll not only remember the content in it, you’ll also remember the brand that produced it. If the ad scores a touchdown, consumers will vote for it on places like Hulu Ad Zone, buzz about it and the brand on Twitter or YouTube and engage with the brand using apps like Chevy Game Time.

Video can be a great component of your marketing mix. New options for marketers to produce and host video -- such as Visible Gains or BrainShark -- make this easier than ever for sole proprietors or advisory firms with part-time marketing staff. They provide a visually appealing way to engage with prospects, which will be particularly important if you are attracting Gen-X or Gen-Y.

Case in point: roughly one out of every two first-time visitors to the ByAllAccounts’ home page watches our short 2-minute video.

Third tip: don’t just speak to your prospects; speak with them in a conversation. I think some of the most effective Super Bowl campaigns are those that genuinely connect with their customers and potential customers. They give customers a way to have an ongoing dialogue with the brand through social media, websites, contests, surveys, etc.

To me, connecting with customers means more than simply pushing information to them. It means having two-way engagement. Let them get to know you. Yours is a relationship-driven business. Let clients get to know you better and make the effort to get to know them better. That’s what the “social” is all about.

You can create a win-win situation for your practice -- something that doesn’t exist in the real game of football. And let me know what you think.

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