The Ripple Effect
How the cumulative power of Personal Marketing can help build your business.
By Peter Montoya
As you work hard to build your business and build relationships, a ripple effect naturally occurs. If you are good,
word of your quality spreads like ripples on a pond. You need to find a way to capitalize on these ripples. That “way”
is called Personal Marketing. Its subtle cumulative effect can help you accelerate toward career goals.
More marketing, more ripples
When you interact personally with a client or prospect, the ripple effect begins. Your brand value “ripples out” through
your client to their family, co-workers and friends, with ripples eventually coming back to you in the form of referrals
and repeat business.
Think of Personal Marketing as a paddlewheel creating ripples or waves for you – one wave after another, gently
reaching out to your target audience and to the world.
Truthful, consistent Personal Marketing reinforces your value to your target audience. While you will ultimately build
your business one client at a time, you can attract multiple prospects at a time through the little ripples you send out
through different marketing channels: a website that encourages repeat visits, a cycle of sales letters or direct mail
cards, a Personal Brochure that makes that initial meeting warmer, a seminar series, and a weekly article you send
out via e-mail.
The ripple effect in action
Over time, quality + marketing = a notable brand with notable byproducts: unanticipated opportunities coming your
way, unflagging consumer demand for your services, and the ability to capture greater mindshare with clients and
prospects.
Arlington, VA financial advisor Dywane Hall uses frequent press releases, direct mail, a personal brochure and
postcards to promote himself. The ripple effect from his Personal Marketing has brought him numerous media
appearances (PBS, local CBS, NBC and FOX news affiliates, USA Today, Money Magazine and others) and constant
new prospects. “I don’t claim to be the greatest,” Dywane told me. “But I am the one more people see and hear from
more often, and that goes a long way.”
Effective Personal Marketing is not as expensive as you may think. Two superb marketing channels – client referrals
and professional referrals – can be traveled at incidental cost to your business. You can consistently use e-mail,
sales letters and press releases on a small budget. Define precisely who you want to reach, and you won’t spend as
much; you’ll attract clients you want, rather than the clients too many financial services professionals end up with.
You prove your quality in person; your marketing introduces it to those that haven’t met you and reinforces it with those
who have.
Subtly working in your favor
The ripple effect of Personal Marketing can’t always be seen, but it can be expressed in the old, true adage that the
harder you work, the luckier you get. Even when you’re not working, Personal Marketing works on your behalf. Thanks
to the ripple effect of a consistent marketing campaign, you can become the one they’re all talking about – the one top
of mind, the one constantly referred.
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Peter Montoya is President of Peter Montoya Inc. - the only advertising agency in the country that specializes in
financial advisors. Check out MarketingLibrary.net for unlimited access to hundreds of marketing articles, letters and
invitations for only $10 per month. Learn more at www.MarketingLibrary.net or by calling (888) 730-5300.