Omni-Channel The Next Big Thing…

I find it refreshing when technology supports  our branding message and our marketing solutions. 

Vendors aren’t necessarily evil…

This is why you may have to kill the messenger… if technology vendors don’t bring you opportunities to gather the metrics that matter to you rather than the data they want to collect for themselves (they call it critical feedback) disguised as ROI… You may want to kill the messenger and hide from technology. Before you run and hide or piss away your tech budget understand this, the endeavor of gathering quality ROI (Return on Investment) through omni-channels is entirely up to you… not the vendors.

The Medium is the Message

To remain relevant you must have a consistent message of value across multiple mediums. This is now known as an omni-channel opportunity. (I wish I’d thought of that because it sounds cool.) To remain relevant and become irreplaceable your “omni-channel”  message must be working for you in a tangible fashion to gather the feedback required for the sustainability of your business. It is up to you to have a designed system in place to gather the metrics that matter to you before you implement the tactical offerings of technology vendors. (Simplified: you need your metrics not their metrics) If you don’t have a defined strategic foundation in place (Tangible Alpha)  you are likely to fall into the trappings of tactical rhetoric disguised as strategic solutions. These tactics bring with them vendor measurements of your ROI  which are not consistent with  measurements required by you for your success.

Consistency of Message versus Technology…

The advisor in the future will craft a message of value that resonates tangibly throughout multiple mediums. By doing so, the advisor places herself in position to leverage technology.

 

Technology should be empowering you but often times it is tying you down and holding you back… Building a strategic foundation through intentional value design (Tangible Alpha) allows you to implement tactical technology solutions that help you gather the metrics required by you to create a sustainable business. By owning the words that define your value and building your Advisor Alpha through the Tangible Alpha progression you will be building a client-centered message of value that resonates throughout the omni-channels of our world.  Build your strategic foundation first, then you can more securely introduce “technology as a solution” in such areas as “omni-channel” marketing. (I’m doing air quotes for those last two… try it it feels good.)

Drop the “value prop”

The catch phrase vs. Tangible Alpha (branding for financial advisors)

You can’t afford to be associated with a company catchphrase in the digital age of transparency… In the 7 seconds your clients and prospects are giving you to impress them, the catchphrase (Value Proposition) is an automatic bounce. The catchphrase is a client experience killer and a nail in your coffin when prospecting potential clients.

Consistency of the message of the advisor’s client-centered value throughout omni-channels (multiple mediums) is a priority over the types of technology the advisor will use to create her/his digital portfolio (footprint)… all of the technology in the world will not fix your clusterf%ck of a message when it has no consistency throughout multiple mediums (omni-channel). Advisors in the future understand that omni-channel branding isn’t just for prospecting… it is also for the 24 hour client experience (to the pocket), which is why your message is the medium “the medium is the message” and you must be able to extract as much quality data from your medium (channel) as the amount and quality of information the medium is extracting from you (information you are putting in the medium). Otherwise… it’s simply a waste of your resources. “Get your shit together” and drop the catchphrases (total contradiction). But seriously, get your shit together. Because tech is only going to get faster and more exponential as time marches on. 

The ROI on omni-channel marketing begins and ends with a consistent message of your value and that value begins and ends with a client-centered purpose.  

~I said that

Your Strategic Foundation

Without crafting a strategic foundation to implement tactical technology solutions that take you to the “next level” of omni-channel marketing, you will become hamstrung by the same vendors who are claiming to empower your business.

Without discovering defining and designing your Tangible Alpha, your ROI is no more than a wish… in which the metrics of success can only be measured by the vendor who sold you the pipe-dream. Build your own foundation… gather your own metrics of success… own your Tangible Alpha before you enter into any technological solution that claims to be a strategy. (Because technology is not a strategy… it’s simply a tactical concept keenly disguised as a strategic solution generally sold to advisors who have no idea what to expect in return.)

You must be able to walk the digital talk across all mediums and become more than a catchphrase… In the digital age of transparency you can and must do this by design.

~ I said that too

What are omni-channel tech vendors selling?

Vendors are going to try to sell you a Maserati with no engine… the engine (your Tangible Alpha) is an afterthought to the vendors of omni-channel tactical solutions… it’s not necessarily a bad thing… it’s just the way it is… there is a hot new buzzword that vendors will be selling you… they really have no clue how to make it work for you… and if you don’t get in now,  you will miss this opportunity… but you are smart… you know fear of missing out is an unnecessary risk. There must be a solidified reason behind implementing technology for the purposes of omni-channel marketing in the digital age of transparency.

I find it off-putting when technology vendors want to sell us something for the sake of technology.

The reason is this, there has never been a greater opportunity in the history of the world to become a successful financial advisor. Omni-channel marketing and the technology that comes with it shouldn’t scare you away from the greatest opportunity available in the greatest business in the world.

Transparency is the friend of the advisor in the future… by empowering your business with Tangible Alpha you will be creating a business development foundation that allows you to develop sustainable growth by leveraging transparency. You will become an Advisor in the future by collecting the metrics that matter to you.

Quick Recap…

Omni-channel is the new buzzword for marketing and branding… don’t fear technology… you may want to kill the messenger but you don’t have to… make your advisor alpha tangible to build a strategic foundation in which you  can leverage technology to gather the metrics that matter to you. Tangible Alpha isn’t the only way to accomplish success…  it is the simplest, most effective, proven (40 years in the making) way for advisors to gather invaluable data for the sustainability of their businesses.

(If you are unfamiliar with the man in the picture you are missing out Marshall McLuhan)

Keep it Tangible,

Grant