What Would You Say You Do Here?

Almost a year ago to this day, I wrote a piece about marketing at Potomac that we eventually called, "Shifting Gears." It was less a sit-down-thoughtful-moment, and more a stream of consciousness spewed on Twitter one night when my frustration with the world had boiled over.

I say eventually, because I actually did write it on Twitter and was later convinced to turn it into a blog. This time, I'm trying to do it the "right way," as there are some important follow-up questions that I believe deserve to be answered.

First, I'm proud of the fact that we made good on what I wrote. We did, shift gears.

And it would seem, people have noticed. On more than one occasion, people have said to me (and separately to our CEO) that they noticed our content production has slowed considerably.

In doing so, we canceled most of our podcasts. We replaced our annual April Fools gag with a self-deprecating moment of joy. We cut back on the swearing and the majority of the hijinks that brought so much attention to the firm during the pandemic.

We also hired a sales team, and made dynamic 21st century marketing materials like pocket folders. And fact sheets. And "about-the-firm" PDF flyers.

Bit of a leap for a CMO who once declared the wholesaling industry dead.

Now, to be fair... yes, we still made a bourbon. And yes, we still recorded that podcast. And, yes, we created a campaign for our TAMP with cassette tapes.

So, what gives? Has Potomac's marketing become a mixed bag of reactionary print products and holding on to what was? Is the whole thing a rudderless string of project requests?

Does Potomac itself have an identity crisis? Are we close to doing a seminar at Applebee's?

We all know it's easy for a growing company to have so many opportunities, that you are required to step back and evaluate your priorities.

And, yes, we've had to do that.

But I would argue those moments are a sign of success, not impending failure. The crisis comes when you refuse to make those evaluations and just keep chugging along.

But has the marketing gotten lost along the way? I can emphatically state, "no."

No, because we have leadership in place that will never let us get that far off track. No, because we've always believed you must continue to evolve. No, because we love what we do too much to sit back and stop pushing the envelope.

The future of marketing at Potomac is about balance.

Are we going to make printed documents about the value of our Investment Strategies? Yep. Will those work in PDF form as a downloadable lead-gen asset in a LinkedIn ad? Also, yes.

Are we going to make boring banners for a trade show booth? H*ll yes.

Are we going to launch a campaign this summer that combines the joys of golf, barbequing, sitting by the pool, and drinking iced tea? If I can find the right vendor, count on it.

Does any of this matter to anyone but me? Maybe not.

BUT, for an industry that loves to sell you on how to market, we're going to continue to share our journey in hopes you can learn from our successes (and obvious failures).

I genuinely believe balance is the way forward, as much for Financial Advisors as for Potomac.

You're (probably) not going to drive your growth by sitting on Twitter all day. You're also (probably) not going to drive your growth by simply making golf balls with your logo on it (good idea though, we should make those... Manish's face instead of the logo?).

But finding that balance between "traditional" marketing, and unique opportunities that make you stand out, provides opportunity to build on practices we know to be successful while utilizing new mediums to elevate your reach.

Sounds simple enough, right?

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