June is National Annuity Awareness Month
Your clients and prospects may not be familiar with annuities, but they have a rich history dating back to Ancient Rome.
Millions of Americans currently use annuities to help their retirement savings grow and create protected income to help cover essential expenses and contribute to a more enjoyable retirement.
What are you doing to get the message out about the importance and value of Annuities ?
When it comes to growing a business, it’s all about marketing. When I think of marketing, I recognize three unique and distinct parts to an overall marketing plan: the brand, the message, and the marketing. It seems that outside of the financial services industry many people understand there is a difference between marketing and branding. In our profession the focus seems to be “get me in front of some people, get me some names” when in reality, to be effective, it is vitally important to see the “big picture”.
So let’s define the three components:
- Brand: Who you are and who you serve.
- Message: How you talk with who you serve.
- Marketing: How you find who you serve.
Who are you, and who do you serve? If you are reading this newsletter, then there is a good chance you currently believe in and sell annuities, or you want to. Assuming you serve the retirement/pre-retirement community, that would be your audience.
How do you talk with who you serve? What is the message that resonates with those approaching retirement or who are in retirement?
- Maintaining a lifestyle
- Leaving a legacy
- Concern over taxation
- Unknown healthcare or extended care costs
- Protecting the money saved for retirement
- Guaranteed income
I would suggest that these themes are relevant to the pre-retirement/retirement crowd and should be included in your messaging.
I read an article some time back that made a lot of sense to me. It said any story contains certain components. Those components are a character or group of characters, a goal or result, the obstacles or challenges, and the hero of the story who helps them overcome the challenges and achieve the goal.
Now take that framework and insert the people you serve as the characters.
The Characters: Your clients or potential clients.
The goal: A safe, secure retirement where financial concerns don’t keep them up at night.
The obstacles or challenges: What they are concerned with in connection to their goal.
The Hero: The person who helps them overcome these obstacles… YOU, and the power of annuities.
There is your message around Annuity Awareness!
How do you find who you serve? Now get that message out via marketing! You can use email, social media, webinars, speaking engagements, dinner or lunch seminars, educational events, one-on-one networking, newsletters, client reviews, radio show, podcasts, video messages, video channels—the marketing opportunities are endless. You just need to start.
Pick 5 marketing activities, fine-tune your message, and get started today! Take advantage of the additional messaging carriers and industry groups are generating, and set yourself up as the one to help them become aware of the importance and value annuities play in retirement.
