Insights
How to grow your business and win clients

Pathfinder recently launched a new campaign “Doom Loop: Do Something”, led by our Chief Marketing and Client Officer, Lily Richards. The campaign speaks to our current collective ‘vibe’. From the cost-of-living crisis to climate change and high-profile conflicts; people’s nervous systems are shot. There are so many problems, too many options: overwhelm is keeping people up at night. At Pathfinder, we want to carry some of that weight – we believe investing ethically is one action your clients can take to get some relief.

Advertising like this isn't the only way to draw attention to your business. In this article Lily shares her top tips for promoting your advisory business below:

Check out the Treacy & Wiersema value disciplines – they talk about three key areas you can lead in: product, cost or customer.
Are you unique? Invest in that.
Are you the most affordable? Lean into that.
Are you the best experience? Talk about that.

Tip: Do not try and do all three – that’s the definition of trying to be everything to everyone and we all know how that ends.

Based on what you decide is your core value above, direct more money into that area and make sure the other two are fit for purpose (as in, they don’t make you unappealing).

Learn who your people are, figure out where they are and what they want, as well as what’s stopping them from getting it.

Tip: You could consider brand tracking apps like Tracksuit (if you’re advertising on billboards or digital TV) or engaging with quick turnaround market research like Go Ideally (great way to test ideas for ads, products or website developments).

A cornerstone of good relationships is boundaries. In business you need to know when it’s smart to adapt to demand and when it’s critical to stick to your offering. Ensuring you have a clear brand identity will help anchor this.

Tip: Consider chatting to an agency – we love Thoughtfull but there are loads out there, google “brand+development+agency+your town” and look around.

In an ideal world you’d have enough marketing budget to develop a cross-channel strategy (which just means being in all the places your people are, all year round). Reality means you’re going to have to pick and choose where to show up. Digital advertising can be cost effective and accountable. But some products don’t do well online, and in my opinion, finance is one of them, because building trust is critical when it comes to money, and only showing up on websites and in social media doesn’t build credibility.

Tip: You might be surprised at how affordable it can be to get ads on digital TV (like TVNZ, Neon and ThreeNow). Also, digital billboards might work for you. You can often get distressed rates and turn an ad on/off based on variable site prices. You can negotiate directly with the media owner (like MediaWorks or Lumo) or hire a media buyer. I’d recommend a medium-sized independent media buyer so they have good deals but aren’t out to sell you stock you don’t want.

This is my litmus test for a good digital strategist. The platforms (Google Ads, Meta – AKA Facebook and Instagram) will spend what you give them, but that doesn’t mean you’re getting value for that money. A good digital strategist will tell you to turn down spending on something that’s not delivering until they figure out how to improve it. At that stage turning up spending makes sense.
I want a strategist running my social media – to me this means they’re looking at my product, brand, audience and aligning the creative with the people via the platform. And I’m a fan of using contractors to do this. They’re often more accountable (because they’re doing it all so take responsibility for it), transparent (no hidden fees) and reactive (you’re not fighting for attention among other big clients).

Tip: ask your LinkedIn audience who they use and who they would recommend, that’s how I found mine. A good reputation is better than a fancy website in my opinion, though both are nice.

I’m a huge believer in the power of form and function. In the same way people don’t want to eat unappealing food, people don’t want to wade through unappealing websites. Creatives can work with you to improve everything from your website user Interface (UI), to reviews to increase website conversions, to your newsletters and brand identity (copywriters and graphic designers) to your online presence (digital content creator).

Tip: I’ve found some awesome, talented, affordable creatives on the Unicorn Factory

AI is an algorithm with access to everything. It is not a replacement for the creative arts or independent thinking. Creating your own content makes you different in the process – don’t pass up the chance to learn more, analyse information, discover how you feel or change your position on a topic by outsourcing it to AI.

Photo by Marko Slavkovic on Unsplash