The biggest takeaway from the Financial Marketing Summit hosted by John Newston:
We’re back baby!!
The industry as a whole feels very positive from a product and strategy standpoint as well.
Deals being made, people laughing and overall it just has such a positive vibe going into 2024…just awesome.
John’s opening ‘state of the market’ was gold.
And based on some of the other speakers and discussions I had, VERY on point.
The biggest was the demographic shift of our customers within the trading/investing/money raising niche.
I spoke to dozens of people and it was discussed nearly every time. “How do I sell to these guys?!”
Tackling the Demo Shift
The demo shift is going to have to be tackled a few ways.
Zak Westphal alluded to how he’s grown Tim Sykes and his other brands right in the new younger demo. He’s crushed socials and also a big ‘secret’ he deploys…phones!! (I also appreciate how he’s dealing with older customers as well, which really does fall in line with most the legal stuff (within reason), but ends up being a good way to treat customers.
Treating customers right from the git go is a hack…who knew 😉
Other than phone sales, other ways to tackle the demo shift: speak to customers differently (copy) and in different ways (platform).Â
What both of those look like for YOUR business is really unknown until you asses the assets you’re working with and the bandwidth available to test.
Are you selling newsletters or software? Recurring chat rooms, or private telegram groups? Have a sales phone team, or 2 in house copy people?
We’re not all as equipped as others, but if you understand the demo and the tools, you can and SHOULD figure it out.Â
Copy
The copy solution often could be as simple as to take existing assets and revamp and renew for a new customer base and to test into new traffic sources (and the existing ones that have worked in the past, but might not be now).
Copy changes sometimes require an outside source, but it should be done as what’s worked in the past is still working…but could be time for a revamp.Â
Platform
New platforms to test might be a bit harder, but if you have a solid media buyer who ‘gets’ marketing/copy then I believe you can put the task at their feet and they’ll figure it out.
It can be difficult to take a true ‘outsiders perspective’ when reviewing existing assets to see what can be changed and which platforms to test, but that’s what’s needed to adapt to the new platforms and demo.
Are you running on Facebook? Are you building a Telegram group? TicTok?
Good marketers are around who can/will provide feedback and solutions, even if just for an outside consultation.
Testing
With all the above you still need do what Andrew from Alta pointed out…TEST!
That was a great presentation on how important testing was to optimization and learning.
Alta’s growth has come from lots of testing, and the transparency to show those results was really an upside to being at the show. But he showed exactly WHY it was important…you learn how to better get your customer into your product!
The team behind him is clearly solid, and that’s half the battle (along with tracking software and confidence).
You’ll probably need someone on your team to ‘handle’ testing and the reporting and the tracking, however…it’s the right thing to do in order to put your product in the right light for your customers.
What did I miss?
What were some takeaways that stuck with you?
If you were there and we didn’t chat, SORRY! It was a busy show!
But I do want to connect to chat about ideas and future projects or catch up on family!
Whatever the case, shoot me an email to catch-up: brad@sunsetcmo.com
Cheers,
Brad