Referrals. The golden rule. The path to ultimate success (not just digital success). The holy grail of the finance, real estate, and legal industries.
Unpopular opinions that are really just cold hard facts:
- 57% of people looking for legal services did NOT ask for referrals in 2019
- 30% of people looking for mortgages looked ONLY online for info in 2019
- 44% of home buyers looked online for properties in 2019
If you are purely, or even mostly, relying on referrals then a quick glance at the numbers shows that you’re missing out on a potential lift in business of between 44-57%.
One more time: a potential lift in business of between 44%-57%…
Are you ready to think of digital as a real, money-generating business strategy now?
Are you missing out on digital success?
We’re really not trying to be crass here, but after working with mortgage brokers, real estate agents, and lawyers – we have seen a general shying away from all things digital.
Most people simply think they don’t need it, or we hear the ever famous line of, “all that social stuff just isn’t for me. I’ll leave it to the kids”.
For others, it’s more along the lines of, “Yeah I’ve tried some Facebook ads stuff and I am pretty good at posting on social media, but it doesn’t really bring business in. I just do it because I think I should”.
You’ve grown your business to what it is today – successful. Obviously you wouldn’t be here if you weren’t doing something right. But if you’re here, it means that you want to learn about what else you can do to keep the growth going. Or how you can turn the sporadic attempts at social media into something that actually generates revenue for your business.
This is the first in a four-part series about how to use technology, branding, and digital marketing to generate predictable results for your business that go beyond just some additional deals.
The Four-Part Series
- Part 1: Shifting your mindset & understanding your digital foundation (Digital Transformation Overview)
- Part 2: Tech Stacks aren’t just for startups (What tech you use and how you should use it)
- Part 3: Using the right words in the right way is a business strategy (Branding is THE lead generation strategy of the ‘now’ and the future. )
- Part 4: Digital Marketing in execution (giving value to the consumer).
Let’s get to it.
Digital Assets: From Expense to Investment
Do you have a phone? Rhetorical question because working in any of these industries means you spend a good portion of your day on the phone talking to clients.
But let’s use this as a metaphor. When you bought your phone, did you ever consider not buying one? As in completely not buying a phone. Probably not because it’s an essential tool that allows you to stay connected to clients, which is how you close deals and bring in revenue.
When you were buying your phone, did you opt for an old school flip-phone that doesn’t have access to the internet, and doesn’t have texting capabilities? Probably not because both of those things allow you to more effectively communicate with clients and other people in your life.
When you paid for your phone, did you ever think that it wasn’t worth it? Did you map out the exact return-on-investment (ROI) you think you’d get on it? Probably not. You know it’s essential. It isn’t a question. In fact, having a smartphone that you can rely on as an effective means of communication is an investment.
But, how are phones and digital strategy related?
Bare with us here – the exact same thought process applies to your digital strategy. Specifically things like your website, social media profiles, Google Business Page, LinkedIn Page, email marketing, and so much more.
The hardest decision you have to make to see a financial return on digital strategy is your mindset. That is, approaching it with an investing mindset instead of an expense mindset.
One way that we’ve found to expedite this process is to think of what you already know. When we talk about buying a home, we are talking about buying an asset. This is an investment into something that will bring you multiple returns – whether it’s financial, emotional, physiological…it’s always talked about in the context of investing.
What is a digital asset?
- Your business’ website
- All of your social media profiles and handles (usernames)
- How consistent your message is across those channels
- Your CRM and the tools you use to store data
- Email marketing platform
- Anything you use to improve the quality of your online presence
A website is one of the easiest to digest because it’s pretty standard at this point to have one, even if it isn’t great (yet).
Websites that are built properly, combined with a clear, value-focused message that is used consistently across social channels can easily bring in dozens, if not hundreds, of qualified leads per month. And that’s just on your website, that doesn’t even include other assets.
Now we can start to see that investing (time + money + energy) will yield positive financial results from your digital strategy. By the way, 40+ qualified leads is a real number that comes from an existing mortgage broker client of ours. Digital success is yours for the taking!
The Digital Foundation: Three Key Areas
No long intro here, the three key areas are simple:
- Technology & Software
- Clear, value-forward branding
- Consistent execution of digital marketing
While the key areas can be broken down into clean, neat titles – it’s the implementation that tends to get the best of most business owners. And that totally makes sense.
Do you have a software background? A tech degree? A Masters in Marketing?
If you answered yes to any of these questions – that’s amazing, you have an unfair advantage. But we would also bet that on top of actually running your business you haven’t necessarily had the time to perfect your craft…in fact we would feel confident saying that the opposite is probably true.
It’s time to crush your digital frustration
You aren’t the only one who is frustrated by all the things you should be doing, but just simply don’t have the time to actually implement.
Keep reading because this series is written for you. In the following three parts we are going to break down exactly why these are the three key areas to seeing success from a digital strategy, key metrics you can use to measure the digital health of your business right now, and most importantly – how to prioritize the digital changes you need to make to your business.
Have you already crossed the line into digital frustration? Looking for more information on what digital success means for your business? Send us an email at hello@sidepart.com or get in touch with us here, so you can feel like you’re in a donut-floaty drinking a mimosa (go to our homepage to see what we’re talking about).
