By Peter Welch, head of sales and distribution, Bridgewater Equity Release
As someone who is a relatively new adopter of a Twitter account it has come as something of a pleasant surprise to find a significant number of advisers and brokers, particularly those who specialise in equity release, regularly ‘tweeting’ to their followers on not just this product area but a varied array of financial topics.
‘Knowledge is power’ as the saying goes and a more informed adviser and consumer community is in a much better place to not only deliver professional advice but to also accept it, and acknowledge that it has its place and value.
Twitter certainly provides a compelling platform in order to disseminate this type of information. Today, topics that are high on the Twitter agenda range from the latest celebrity break-up (Courtney Cox and David Arquette in case you were wondering) to the Browne report and how future generations of students are going to fund themselves through University – in itself the very nature of rising tuition fees can perhaps be used by advisers in conversation with the older generation who may well have to fund these increases, perhaps through equity release.
That is something of a digression, but what it clearly shows is the immediacy of Twitter and the ease in which debate, discussion and advice can be formulated and distributed. We certainly intend to use our own Bridgewater Twitter account to share help, advice and support to advisers in order to provide up-to-date information on topical issues and/or to point you in the direction of new equity release information which will be useful when dealing with your client base.
Spreading the word about your area of expertise should be a vital marketing function for any adviser however there is always a danger that we can pick up on something relatively new, such as Twitter, and believe it represents the new way of communicating and therefore all marketing eggs are thrown into this particular basket. It clearly makes sense to be involved and regularly contributing to the depth of information available to clients through social media, however it is not a wise move to think that one way is the right way. Social media will not be a panacea for all marketing activity, in fact one might suggest that any adviser relying simply on sites such as facebook or LinkedIn to deliver business levels is probably not far off a permanent move to cloud cuckoo land.
These sites can be used to grow profile and to point other users in the right direction however converting any interest in your social media presence into ongoing income is a different matter entirely. Essentially, when it comes to marketing your business, nothing has really changed; it is all about having a presence in a variety of areas and employing the right marketing mix. So, if you continue to gain strong business levels through advertising in the local free-sheet or sending out a monthly newsletter to local homes, then continue to do this alongside the move onto the social media platforms.
In the equity release market particularly we should always be aware of our target market demographic, for every ‘Silver Surfer’ we may know, there will undoubtedly be other potential clients who do not have internet access and have no intention of ever getting online. Therefore, the adviser must get in front of these individuals through other methods, perhaps it might be through a talk at the local WI meeting or an appearance on a local radio station discussing the financial issues of the day and the potential for some serious financial problems to be solved by the use of an equity release product.
Marketing your business effectively requires ongoing and constant effort and updating. This is not too dis-similar to having a presence on the social media sites – once you have made the commitment to do so, then you need to ensure that your commitment does not wane. Twitter in particular requires you to regularly update your tweets, whether with links to other information sources, news particular to your business or the re-tweeting of relevant tweets from others. You will soon fall off the radar if you are not regularly updating your profile pages – this is real-time activity and should be treated as such.
A word of caution on social media. Always ask yourself, ’What response will be evoked from my message if it is read by a distant stranger who could also be a customer.’ For example, if your business is advising the elderly is it wise to tweet about the raging hangover you have after a late-night session with the lads? To that end, if you are keen to voice more ‘personal’ content then make sure you have separate business and personal accounts. Social media provides a valuable ’shop window’ for your business so it’s vital that the content is aligned to what your customers expect from you.
We recognise that there is much to learn about the world of social media, PR and marketing and it is this type of activity that can often bring most benefit if it is focused on your own locale. To this end, our Broker Forum in Dartford this month is going to highlight some support and tips which may be of help in increasing consumer education on equity release and your business in particular. As always the forums are informal gatherings in which both Bridgewater staff and attendees share their own ideas and methods of how to improve business levels and the understanding of the equity release sector. If you are in the area, then it would be well worth the trip.
By the way, if you are interested in following my twitter feed, you can find me at: www.twitter.com/Bridgewater_ER
