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There’s an old saying, “50% of marketing works. The trouble is, I don’t know which 50%.” Let’s unpack that and learn about your true return on investment.
To begin your calculations, you need to itemize where you are investing your marketing dollars. Below you will find a helpful list. As you go through it, jot down some ballpark annual numbers. You can always go back and fill in the specifics; but for now, a good annual estimate will allow you to see the effectiveness of your marketing activities.
*Some of this list will include pre-COVID activities, and that’s okay. One day we’ll return to normal, and these face-to-face events will resume.
BALLPARK ANNUAL NUMBERS
Write down your annual investment in the following marketing areas:
Relationship Marketing
Client appreciation
Client meals
Client events
Center of Influence appreciation
Center of Influence meals
Center of Influence outings
Prospecting meals
Prospecting events
Charity sponsorship meals
Charity sponsorship events
Other activities:
Ballpark Annual Total: $______
Tangible Marketing
Business cards
Office refreshments
Signs
Brochures
Folders
Office equipment (iPads, laptops, paper, projectors, video equipment, etc.)
Other tangible marketing:
Ballpark Annual Total: $______
Content Marketing
Bulk email provider (Constant Contact, Mailchimp, HubSpot, etc.)
Newsletters
Webinars
Blog articles
Social media marketing
Digital ads
Best practice guides
Videos
Podcasts
Website updates
Other content marketing:
Ballpark Annual Total: $_______
Now, add them together.
Annual Total: $_______
Do these numbers surprise you? It’s probably more than you originally thought, which is normal. Most advisors find that they spend a lot of time and capital, especially with Relationship Marketing.
All New Introductions
Now that you have your totals, you need to think about your annual total number of prospect introductions. This number is a bit delicate. Every inbound request, referral and outbound response counts as a new introduction.
Annual total new introductions: _______
Average Revenue Per Client
The simplest way to find your average revenue per client is to take a straight-line average of your retirement plan business and divide it by the number of clients. Your average revenue is the first calibration point in learning investment vs. return.
Also, consider how long you generally keep your clients. Thankfully, retirement plan clients tend to be “sticky business”. Let’s be honest, you do an amazing job servicing your happy clients, so they tend to stay with you for years.
Average revenue per client: $______
Average client lifetime: ____years
Churn Ratio
It’s generally pretty rare to lose a client, but how many client transitions do you experience per year? Many times in our business, advisors will fill in a fractional number. For example, every two years, we lose about 1 client (or .5 clients per year).
Annual churn ratio: ______
Annual Revenue and Net Profit Margin Per Client
The last two numbers are annual revenue and net profit margin per client. Most advisors are able to calculate their annual retirement plan revenue per year and profitability rather quickly.
Wealth Management Client Growth
Now, if your business includes both retirement plans and wealth management, I’d like to challenge you to run these results a few times. Try to isolate for retirement plans, then wealth management, then both together, especially since some 401(k) clients might become wealth management clients and vice versa.
Annual revenue: $______
Net profit margin per client: ______ %
These are the critical numbers needed to perform your Return on Investment calculation. The reason why you want to run these numbers a few times is that your wealth management practice could benefit from access to retirement plan participants. It’s important to look at them together and not as separate silos.
Analyzing the Results
Now that you have your numbers, it’s time to qualify them.
Open this spreadsheet >> Marketing ROI Calculator
Fill in your numbers
Calculate your results
For any marketing campaigns that return a 5 to 1 ratio, you’re doing incredibly well. That means that for every $1 invested in marketing, you receive $5 back in gross revenue.
If your number is lower, no worries. Take a look at your churn ratio. This number shows how quickly you are losing clients. So, look into your business and find ways to shore up relationships. Financial service clients are generally sticky business. This should be the low-hanging fruit you can glean. If you need some help, check out >> Breaking Down Your Sales Process
If your marketing ROI number is higher than 5, send a thank you note / gift to your marketing team. Thank them for their killer results. Ask them what else they would like to accomplish. Maybe give them more budget and a longer runway to grow your business because what they are doing is working.
Investing in Your Business
As a final takeaway, all marketing works as long as your returns are higher than 1 (every $1 invested returns $1 in gross revenue). Building up your marketing presence takes time, resources and commitment. Results don’t happen overnight. Have faith in the process, and very soon you’ll be smiling at your marketing campaigns as your investment is paying off with healthy ROI dividends.
Thanks for reading and Happy Marketing!
About Us
401(k) Marketing is the modern marketing agency for the retirement plan industry. We are proud to support our clients through custom engagements, content marketing campaigns, sales material innovations, thought-leadership consulting, interactive workshops and speaking events. Our mission is to empower the retirement plan industry with high-quality marketing, ultimately inspiring Americans to become financially prepared for their future.
Retirement Plan Marketing is the solution for retirement plan advisors looking to generate awareness, streamline sales opportunities and earn more 401(k) business. This comprehensive, strategy driven marketing program includes digital content and sales material specifically designed to help retirement plan professionals attract the right decision makers.