The Financial Creator Economy

Did you know you own a media company?

According to GaryVee, all of us do.

"Every business in the world is a media company." - Gary Vaynerchuk, August 2021.

"People are going to cry in 10 years when they realize they missed this golden era of LinkedIn that happened in 2017 to 2023..." - Gary Vaynerchuk, August 2021.

I joined LinkedIn on September 4th, 2008, almost 13 years ago to the day! At the time I was still in a cold prospecting mindset and thought LI would be a great place to get new clients. I was wrong.

I went dormant on LI until 2015 when I started to dabble a bit with content creation instead of pitch-slapping. But I wasn't sure how to do it, why it worked, and if compliance would let me. At the time I was a full-time financial advisor in growth mode (I still am a CFP, but only take new clients by referral now) and had recently transitioned my business to an almost entirely virtual/digital model.

I got a lot of arrows in my back as I tried to figure out what the heck content creation was and how to leverage it on LI, but it was all well worth it as I have formed amazing business & personal relationships that have led to exponential growth for my businesses.

It's remarkable, all because of one free resource we call LinkedIn.

Financial Advisors already own a media company (you), so you might as well use it.

I've grown my LinkedIn "media company" following by 93.77% since the beginning of 2021, and since the beginning of 2020 it has grown 604.65%. My combined profile/newsletter "followers" has grown from 4,555 back in January 2020 to 32,100 at the time of publishing this article.

What did it cost me? Not one penny, just 5-10 hours a week of my time to consistently create content.

You might be thinking; "5-10 hours, that's a lot of time on LinkedIn!" Well it is and it isn't, but the results speak for themselves.

Before committing to LinkedIn I was spending the same amount of time (or more) on the phone cold calling for new clients. In addition to that I was driving all over the place, running expensive ads in newspapers & magazines, going to countless networking events, and felt like I was running around like a chicken with it's head cut off!

Being on LinkedIn, even from a shear numbers (cost, time, etc.) perspective simply makes more sense than the alternative. But LI is not your media company.....

Think about this, LinkedIn is not your media company, YOU ARE. LinkedIn is simply a place for your media company (you) to market yourself, services, products, etc.

OK, hopefully you have bought into this idea thus far, but how do you create content and for my advisor friends, how do you do it without upsetting compliance?

Content Creation Tips & Best Practices

I used to struggle with all things digital marketing, I went to school for archaeology and was going to be Indiana Jones, what the heck did I know about content creation?

Well, little did I know I would end up becoming a so-called Creator.

Here are some things I have learned that can help you leverage your media company (you) on LinkedIn:

• Be present - you have to be here to use it, show up daily, simply build it into your calendar
• Be you - be genuine, that's what people connect with. If you aren't quite sure who "you" are, then it will be almost impossible to connect with others
• Know your ideal client/customer - really know them, all manner of demographics but also their hopes, dreams, and goals. What keeps them up at night? Knowing these things will drive your content creation (posts, articles, videos, etc.). The more you are speaking their language the more they will see you understand them, this leads to trust and ultimately business.
• Focus on education, not selling - help people answer questions they might be having in their minds instead of pushing a product or service on them without even getting to know them. Yes, this is the long game but IT WORKS. You will become known as a thought leader for X, people do business with thought leaders.
• Don't guess, ask - don't speculate on what you THINK people want (or don't want) to hear about, ask them. Use polls to learn what your audience thinks. Engage with your and others posts in the comments, have conversations, etc. If a post of yours flops then you can now make an informed decision that maybe this topic is not of any interest. If it goes viral, do more of that!
• Just start - your content at the start will not be great, but it's better than nothing. Just like making cold phone calls for new clients was better than twiddling your thumbs, creating content will lead to activity. It also will work for you 24/7 unlike cold calling that only works on a 1-1 basis, content creation is a 1-many strategy.
• Compliance - simple, don't create content around things like products, rates of return, etc. that could be considered an act of solicitation, misleading, an empty promise, etc. Most people don't want to read that stuff anyways, they want to connect with you on a human level first and then have a 1-1 chat to discuss all the financial stuff.
• Don't worry about paying anything - you don't need to pay for ads or pay for some ongoing service to "do" LinkedIn for you. Sure, you can hire an expert to coach you (there are some great coaches for LinkedIn training for financial advisors, but beware...), but eventually you will know enough to rock this on your own.

The Financial Creator Economy is a massive opportunity for Advisors

Where else can you market yourself, for free, to acquire ideal clients all from the comfort of wherever you want to use LinkedIn?

Content creation is the long game, but if you don't start playing the game then you will never get anything out of it.

It's not about getting cold leads today, it's about growing your tribe and attracting more to it with your vibe. People want our help. They want our services & products. But they want to be in control of the process, they want to research things, get educated, and feel like they have a choice in who they work with.

How do we tap into what people want? How do we help them decide to do business with us?

Content Creation baby!

Will you need Kleenex?

LinkedIn is bringing on a new member every 3 seconds, that's 28,800 new members every single day! In other words, you have an audience that wants to be here, how you attract them with your marketing is up to you.

As GaryVee said, we are in the golden era of LinkedIn RIGHT NOW. Don't look back and wish you could have taken advantage of it. You have a massive opportunity right now to get more reach with your media company, leverage this amazing free tool to amplify your message and drive growth for whatever it is you do.

Has LinkedIn been as awesome for you as it has for me, how so, what have you found to work best?

If it has been a struggle for you, what is your biggest struggle with LinkedIn?

Sending positive vibes your way,

Derek Notman