Public Relations Recommendations for The Potter Financial ...journoportfolio.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/... · Public Relations Recommendations for The Potter Financial Group

Public Relations Recommendations for

The Potter Financial GroupJune 20, 2014

Marketing Made for the Independent

Table of Contents

www.goalta.com

Executive Summary 2

Background and Purpose 3

Public-Relations Mindset 5

Analysis of Target Audience 6

Community Involvement 7

Media Development 9

Recommended Strategies 11

Media Development: A Scalable Plan 13

Community Involvement: A Scalable Plan 15

Next Steps 17

Marketing Made for the Independent www.goalta.com

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Page 2Public Relations Recommendations for The Potter Financial Group

Executive SummaryThe Potter Financial Group approached AltaCreative and asked for help considering the possibilities of developing a public relations campaign. The firm reports they have lost ground in the physician market and are now determined to recommit to this niche. The target market is established mid-career physicians. However, this group is challenging to reach. Typical marketing approaches do not appear to work with them.

As a solution, we believe the very first step is to set the intention of gradually embedding yourselves more and more in the physician community, to become more like a virtual member of their tribe.

Public relations by its nature is more relational than transactional. The more integral you become in their community, the better. This means being seen and heard in as many different situations as you can manage, such as charity events, recognition ceremonies, socials, conferences, etc., where established physicians congregate.

That said, we recognize there are limits to how much you can circulate among physicians. Therefore, we believe The Potter Financial Group is on the right track by concentrating on referrals and generating word of mouth. The following are our short-term goals:

1. Trigger more referrals, from current clients and even physicians who are not clients

2. Create more receptivity to those referrals

And by taking steps toward these short-term goals, and by engaging in sustained public relations efforts, we also make gains on:

1. Positioning your firm as the dominant provider of financial services in the physician niche

2. Establishing enduring good will toward the firm, thus building lasting value (which can be passed to the next generation of owners)

To meet these goals within the public relations arena, we recommend a scalable Media Development plan and a scalable Community Involvement plan.

After a broad overview of these two approaches, which enumerate the widest number of options, we will drill down into particular recommendations in a phase-by-phase, step-by-step format, as well as the ways we can assist you with those.


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Background and PurposeThe Potter Financial Group approached AltaCreative and asked for help considering the possibilities of developing a public relations campaign. An initial consulting call took place June 12, 2014. This section is a summary of that conversation.

Current Situation

The Potter Financial Group reported that they have lost ground in the physician market. Up until about 10 years ago, they were very active in building relationships with physicians. As a consequence of their successes then, the firm currently has a lot of older physician clients on the books. However, in the ensuing years, as the firm’s attention moved away from active engagement in growing this niche, the firm experienced a decline in attracting new physician clients.

Taking Initiative

The Potter Financial Group is now determined to recommit to the physician market. As evidence of this renewed commitment, the firm has been in the process of developing new marketing aimed at the physician, specifically the “Second Opinion” material.

Potter Financial Group affirms they are ready to reassess their efforts. They want to consider all the options, not just typical marketing, including strategies that are particular to public relations, in an effort to explore new ways of reaching “today’s physician.”

The Goals

The Potter Financial Group stated its goals to be: 1) Maximize brand awareness 2) Increase physician referrals 3) Dominate the physician services niche against their competitors.

Ideal Target Prospect

The firm identified two age groups as needing their primary focus. One is physicians in their early 40s, those who have been in practice for five to 10 years. The other is physicians in their late 50s who are starting to make big decisions about retirement. It was noted that an important trend – a majority of aged physicians whittling their advisors from three or four to just one – is a sweet spot and big earning opportunity for the firm. Current clients reaching this sweet spot have been nurtured for 20 years; the problem is to attract new physician clients who are in their 40s and 50s because they are the ones who are spending income and have the potential to drive the firm’s revenue up.

Put succinctly, The Potter Financial Group is committed to being “the firm of choice for physicians in established positions.”


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The Challenge

However, the firm recognizes that there are many challenges inherent to attracting the attention of younger-generation physicians these days. Several years ago, The Potter Financial Group was quite visible in the residency/fellowship market. The firm could then do workshops for financial planning; however, relationships with local universities Duke and UNC which could or used to lead to referrals are now trickier because the universities do not want the appearance of playing favorites. In any case, as noted above, the youngest of physicians are not an immediate priority.

Meanwhile, past marketing strategies, such as the use of mailings or invitations to “Lunch & Learn” seminars do not appear to be working with the target group.

Building from a Place of Strength

The good news is that The Potter Financial Group has the right fundamentals in place. That is, their people are of the highest caliber, their services are excellent and their established clients believe in them.

As the firm noted, it wasn’t really marketing that won them clients in the past. Rather, it has been word of mouth. New clients usually come from referrals. And because the firm has the right fundamentals in place, once they do have a face-to-face meeting with a prospect, they tend to successfully convert them to new clients.

Success Story

It was shared that an older, established client in Galveston referred to the firm three younger physicians – all in the target groups of mid-40s and early 50s. This older client felt that the people at The Potter Financial Group could practically “walk on water” and his recommendation not only won the firm a meeting with these prospects, it helped get all three physicians on board.

This is an important success story, as it illustrates a basic dynamic that works well for the firm. Clearly, this needs to be replicated; also, this story helps us frame some important questions.

1. How do we encourage other clients to refer us to physicians?

2. How do we create greater awareness about The Potter Financial Group?

3. How do we assure people that we are legitimate?

These questions will be important guides as you explore options available to The Potter Financial Group to expand efforts on the public-relations / marketing continuum. In the next section we will discuss principles to guide your decision-making.


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Public-Relations MindsetIt may be tempting to skip this section and move to specific strategic and tactical recommendations; however, a thoughtful consideration of the principles outlined here is crucial to making effective choices and allotting your valuable energy in the right directions. Before deciding whether to embark on any kind of public relations effort, it is important to clarify what it is and how it relates to your marketing.

The Continuum

We at AltaCreative define marketing, strictly speaking, as primarily about communicating a value proposition, connecting to customers and making a sale. Public relations, at least in the traditional sense, is more about creating long-term visibility, trust and positive regard. It isn’t that public relations does not lead to sales, but it does so less directly.

We believe that marketing and public relations exist on a continuum. And so, some of your options may be a hybrid of the two.

As you consider all of your options, it is important to keep in mind that the further you move toward the public relations end of the continuum, the more necessary it is to take the long view of success.

Return on Investment

This means that public relations activities tend to accrue benefits over time. For that reason, it takes longer to get a return on investment. And it is important to remember what those “returns” are and how they factor into your overall success and growth.

As you know, the more your public relations penetrates into the community, the more your reputation precedes you. Anytime someone mentions you or recommends you, your image as a trustworthy member of the community makes the listener more receptive.

This aura of good will that accumulates around your name is priceless. But you have to earn it carefully. Too much of a sales mindset can dampen the effectiveness of public relations efforts.

How You Make Them Feel

There is the adage that says, “They won’t remember what you did, and they won’t remember what you said, but what they do remember is how you made them feel.”

And so, public relations at its best is in how you make the audience feel. The more authentic and genuine you are, the more it succeeds. Not only is a bond with that particular audience formed; a general public perception of credibility grows, too, and you become a much more visible, trusted member of the community at large.


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Analysis of Target AudienceAdmittedly, this is a difficult audience to connect with. Physicians in general are extremely busy people. That makes them hard to reach. And this age group, particularly those in their 40s, are also attitudinally difficult to reach. Their generation on the whole is wary of sales and marketing. They place their trust conservatively. And they tend to rely on what closely-held members of their tribe have to say. There is also a kind of prevailing DIY attitude – “do it yourself” – which stems partly from the psychology of this generation and partly from the ubiquity of how-to information now available via the Internet.

And although they are media and tech savvy, and eager consumers of these, they also – like the rest of us – feel the crush of too much information coming their way, most of it unbidden. And as physicians, they are already subjected to a lot of marketing, such as from pharmaceutical companies.

Although these factors and characteristics make mid-career physicians difficult to reach, in at least one way they can be turned to your advantage if you are able to differentiate yourself, if you are able to approach from a place of trust and offer “information” that they perceive as being valuable to them. We will have more to say about this in the recommendations section.


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Overview of PR OptionsWe will begin by providing a broad survey of possibilities for The Potter Financial Group to consider. Being as these fall more squarely into the traditional public relations side of the continuum described above, you will want to bear in mind the principles outlined in the previous section as you evaluate your choices.

For each category we make recommendations for aligning the activity to your specific needs and goals; however, it is in the next section that we will enumerate in more detail specific strategies we believe may be a good fit.

This overview also fulfills the firm’s explicit request to leave no option unexplored.

Community InvolvementUnder the broad category of “community involvement” fall activities that get you out in the public eye, building familiarity and good will, via sponsorships or participation in or organizing of events, charities, causes, service projects, conferences, etc.

Active vs. Passive

Organizing your own event, etc., while potentially paying off with a lot of good public relations, is obviously a large investment and a lot of work. A step down from that would be to approach one or more parties to form a partnership that would back the event and share responsibility. Clearly, a partnership with an entity or group related to physicians would be ideal. The alternative would be to throw your support behind an already existing venue for community involvement, e.g., a sponsorship of a physician-supported cause.

Where Are the Physicians?

You will want to identify where physicians are gathering in your community, what they care about, what they are supporting. Events hosted and/or sponsored by Durham-area hospitals, Duke and UNC are a natural place to begin. Is there a physician-favored or physician-organized charity? Could you help organize a fund-raiser? Could you sponsor physicians in a charity marathon, donating the proceeds to a campaign of their choice?


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What Are the Objectives?

One of the returns on investment is the opportunity to interact with your target group in a non-business setting, which is disarming and social. Your name and brand is linked to generosity and commitment, not to mention a perceived sense of involvement within the same social and professional circles. To the degree you are physically present at the event or project, you have a chance to be seen and heard. Also, if you are working in collaboration with a member of your target group, you are building trust and familiarity. All of these impressions you are making begin to accumulate. You become more and more associated with good things, in particular things this “tribe” cares about. Brand awareness increases, and the next time your name is mentioned in the context of financial services, you will be more favorably received.

Suggestions

• When you are speaking with physicians, ask questions related to events, charities, etc. that the physician community is involved in, so that you can begin to gather intelligence.

• Let it be known within your existing physician network that you want to give back to the community and that you are interested in getting involved, either as a sponsor, a partner or an event organizer.

Where We Can Help

We can provide further strategic consultation, conduct research and evaluate the local opportunities for you, as well as clarify goals, decide the best approaches, develop an event and marketing plan, operationalize and manage the project, identify the creative elements and execute on materials. These may include:

• Branded letters and invitations

• Event or project website

• Social media campaign

• Themed gifts and giveaways

• Branded signs, menus, table-tents and banners

• Thank-you cards


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Media DevelopmentHere we will lump together “media relations,” which are activities that promote positive news-media attention, plus your active creation and dissemination of media, as well as public speaking.

Media Relations

Whether it is a spot on the TV news, an interview on the radio or coverage in the Triangle Business Journal, Durham Magazine or The Herald-Sun, gaining exposure through a feature or news story in the local media is a good step toward visibility. One reason to get more involved in the community, per the above, is the opportunity to gain the attention of the media. And of course, doing something newsworthy, whether it is “soft” or “hard” news, is another way. The problem is that winning the notice of reporters and editors is difficult. And when you do, the attention is occasional at best. For that reason, we suggest that in addition to building a media kit and developing relationships with well-placed media people, you concentrate more energy into developing a series of articles and/or a recurring column. Ideally, the publication would serve your target audience, although any widely-read source is good.

Publishing

One novel way to think of publishing is to frame it in terms of public relations. In that light, any kind of sustained exposure is a good start. Anything that keeps you in front of your target audience – whether through a major local media outlet or a boutique publication serving physicians – can work for you. In other words, don’t be afraid to think outside the financial planning services box.

For example, what are some topic domains that you could intersect your current expertise with? How are local events, laws, business trends and cultural shifts, as well as local physician concerns AND the world of financial services, coming together in a unique Venn diagram that you can cover – perhaps even develop a unique expertise in or become a thought leader for?

Similarly, don’t be afraid to find venues that allow you to speak as an overall member of the business community or even a concerned citizen of Durham. Remember, it’s public relations. So anything highly visible and frequent and respectable is a good thing, as long as you can at least get “The Potter Financial Group” under your name.

Public Speaking

Much of what we said about publishing applies here. In addition to the usual ways you might think about public speaking, consider broadening your topic domains and thus broadening your appeal. Remember that public relations – to be most effective in building trust, credibility and positive regard – requires a different mindset and approach than pure marketing and sales.


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We are not suggesting you abandon your expertise in financial services as a core piece of your speaking repertoire. Rather, it is that the more you can appeal to the general interests of physicians, the more invitations you will receive. Secondly, of course you will want to identify conferences and events that cater to physicians but are also open to other kinds of speakers.

Social Media

Again, the above themes come into play in the domain of social media, too. If you are already active in social media, or want to be, it is vital to remember that whatever content you put out there, it ought to be of keen interest to your target audience, such as physicians. It ought to be so interesting, they want to share it with other members of their tribe. For an elaboration on this point, see our specific recommendations in the next section.

Suggestions

• Talk to your physician clients to find out what they are reading, watching and listening to. Where do they go online? What social media networks do they participate in?

• Follow what they are following so that you are familiar and current with the topics of conversation. Don’t just focus on national media and concerns. The more immediate and local your awareness becomes, the more you become a member of your target group’s community.

Where We Can Help

We can provide further strategic consultation, conduct research and evaluate local or national media opportunities for you, as well as clarify goals, decide the best approaches, develop a project plan, operationalize and manage the project, identify the creative elements and execute on materials. Specifically, we can:

• Build a media kit and recommend ways to best distribute it.

• Refine your area of expertise and develop you as a thought leader.

• Enhance your online profile and presence.

• Assist with the research and writing of articles, plus development of other multimedia for publication.

• Create scripts and presentations for public speaking.

• Develop social media assets and things that can be shared across networks.


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Recommended StrategiesAs you explained during the consultation call, your bandwidth is currently limited, and so you need to consider carefully where you commit time and energy. You also said that you expect more bandwidth to open up in a couple months when more resources come available. With that understanding, we believe the best strategy for The Potter Financial Group is to begin taking initial baby steps in both public relations areas: community involvement and media development.

If you are starting to consider public relations, this signals that you are willing to try a shift in approach. The first step is to set the intention of gradually embedding yourselves more and more in the physician community, to become more like a virtual member of their tribe.

Starting Small

Public relations by its nature is more relational than transactional. The more integral you become in their community, the better. This means being seen and heard in as many different situations as you can manage, such as charity events, recognition ceremonies, socials, conferences, etc., where established physicians congregate.

That said, we recognize there are limits to how much you can circulate among physicians. The point is to adopt the right mindset at the outset and take small steps forward.

Creating Referrals

We believe The Potter Financial Group is on the right track by concentrating on referrals and generating word of mouth. Thus, the ultimate goal of the following two approaches is to build more interest, awareness, trust and positive regard for The Potter Financial Group, in order to:

Short term:

1. Trigger more referrals, from current clients and even physicians who are not clients

2. Create more receptivity to those referrals

Long term:

1. Make your firm the dominant provider of financial services in the physician niche

2. Establish enduring good will toward the firm, thus building lasting value that can be passed to the next generation of owners


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The scalable Media Development plan that follows is especially intended to hit short-term goal No. 1, but it also has a cumulative effect on the other three goals. The scalable Community Involvement plan also is intended to set up goal No. 1, particularly in regard to physicians who are not clients mentioning you in a positive light. And as with media development, the longer you sustain your community involvement, the more you achieve all four goals.

In order to put the following recommendations in context, let us quickly review some of the challenges we face in connecting with physicians in the target age group:

• Extremely busy

• Wary of marketing

• Conservative in trust

• Rely on peer recommendations

• Have an independent, do-it-yourself attitude

• Already bombarded by sales people, including your national competitors

Furthermore, trends of rising personal debt and high standards of living, coupled with declining incomes among physicians make some feel like they are not in a position to invest, save for retirement, etc. (However, with the ubiquitous threat of malpractice suits, using asset protection as a conversation starter is one way to cut through the resistance.)

As we said at the beginning, in at least one way these factors can be turned to your advantage if you are able to differentiate yourself, if you are able to approach from a place of trust and offer “information” that is of perceived value to them.

Consider as a possible “way in” how you can add value to their day-to-day lives, aside from a purely financial services angle. Remember that physicians by temperament love learning, but they feel overwhelmed.

The following Media Development plan addresses the “information” side of the equation, and the Community Involvement plan addresses the “trust” side.


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Media Development: A Scalable Plan

The Basic Idea

1. Create something shareable, send to your physician clients, tap the larger network.

2. Start with the smallest, easiest thing, then as you grow in capacity, leverage and scale up to publication, speaking and media events.

The Rationale

1. Give people a reason to mention you, to share you.

2. Slip past the resistance to marketing.

3. As you scale up, you differentiate yourself more and more and gain increasing exposure.

4. Media development works hand-in-hand with community involvement: the more you know and share, the more embedded you become.

Initial Steps, Phase I

1. Set a goal of identifying and developing your topics of interest.

2. Most likely, these will be related to business and finance, but how can you differentiate yourself and make what you share irresistible to physicians?

3. An easy way to begin is not to overthink the above questions; just create the first piece and see how your expertise and focus unfolds.

4. Something written is a good place to start, something short, and this can be scaled up to audio or video if deemed appropriate.

5. Find the best way to entice the receiver to forward the info.

6. Develop a plan of distribution and execute.

7. AltaCreative can help you with each of these steps, and your involvement is scalable: we can take the lead on development.

8. At the outset, your time commitment can be minimal – a three-minute brain dump sent via Evernote, for example, could be enough to get us started.


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Scaling Up, Phase II

1. Recognize that all of Phase I actually creates something that can be leveraged in other ways.

2. The short, quick (easily consumed) items you create, whether they be written, audio, video or multimedia, can be distributed across social media networks, such as Twitter or LinkedIn.

3. At some point, you may want to create a blog or a blog-like platform and/or web portal dedicated to your physician community.

4. This destination can provide greater stickiness and build an accumulation effect – greater involvement from physicians, more sharing, higher search engine results, differentiation from competitors and proof that you are an interested, engaged, caring member of the physician community.

5. As you accumulate smaller media assets, and as you find your niche in this regard, you can leverage these into larger assets such as articles.

6. Your efforts here will in time enable you to spring board into public speaking – you are already recognized as a voice in the community, and you have a stronger sense of where your value as a speaker is.

7. As you scale up, you begin to attract media attention (having a reporter or editor “discover” you is always more effective than a press release).

8. Remember that in regard to both reaching your audience and gaining media attention, the more you have a “local angle” to your content, the more interesting and attractive you can be.

All of the above activity has a side benefit, both in your current business dealings and with any public relations or community involvement you engage in.

Essentially, you are arming yourself for disarming conversations. As you work and mingle with physicians in any context, you can demonstrate that you are “in touch” with things that matter to them.


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Community Involvement: A Scalable Plan

The Basic Idea

1. Identify an event or cause you can participate in that will get you in the midst of physicians.

2. Initiate a low-risk, low-magnitude “community involvement” project with physicians.

The Rationale

1. In the true spirit of public relations, you need to mingle in ways that do not have an immediate, obvious business objective.

2. You demonstrate your genuineness, trustworthiness, commitment and good will.

3. As you scale up, you become more and more embedded in the community.

4. Eventually, your involvement may lead to speaking opportunities and media attention.

5. By fostering positive regard and greater awareness of your brand, you set up conditions for people to be more receptive when your name comes up, and you become more “top of mind” when they consider financial services.

Initial Steps, Phase I

1. When you are speaking with physicians, ask questions related to events, charities, etc. that the physician community is involved in, so that you can begin to gather intelligence.

2. Identify opportunities for yourself that are open to the public or that you can win an invitation to, and that are on par to what you can currently commit time and energy to.

3. Consider this an ice breaker in your new effort to engage in true public relations, participate in a spirit of fellowship and let fate take its course.

4. At this stage you are building credibility, resolve and energy to take the next steps.


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Scaling Up, Phase II

1. Let it be known within your existing physician network that you want to give back to the community and that you are interested in assisting and/or getting involved as a sponsor.

2. Obviously, this phase requires more resources, and the ROI is less straightforward: depending on how much visibility you gain in this way, you may or may not be widely recognized as having been so generous.

3. The next phase requires even more resources (however, this is also where we can be of most assistance) but the ROI is much more within your control, as you can determine the appropriateness of branding the event or project (e.g., with The Potter Financial Group branded banners or thank-you cards).

Scaling Up, Phase III

1. Initiate what you consider to be an acceptably low-risk, low-magnitude “community involvement” project with physicians, such as a charity event.

2. Again, let it be known within your existing physician network that you want to give back to the community and that you are interested in being a partner or event organizer.

Phase III is where you can leverage us to greatest effect. We can provide further strategic consultation, conduct research and evaluate the local opportunities for you, as well as clarify goals, decide the best approaches, develop an event and marketing plan, operationalize and manage the project, identify the creative elements and execute on materials. These may include:

• Branded letters and invitations

• Event or project website

• Social media campaign

• Themed gifts and giveaways

• Branded signs, menus, table-tents and banners

• Thank-you cards


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Next StepsAfter you have reviewed this consultation report and its recommendations, please contact Theresa Claiborne and AltaCreative can:

1. Help you clarify goals in the context of this information

2. Decide the best approaches suitable to your firm’s situation

At that point you can carefully consider what you wish to initiate. Then, if you wish to move forward, we can assist in:

1. Developing a plan

2. Operationalizing the plan

Thank You

We appreciate you coming to us for consideration of your public relations strategy. We look forward to the possibility of realizing your goals. If you have any questions about the material in this report, please don’t hesitate to call.

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Public Relations Recommendations for The Potter Financial ...journoportfolio.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/... · Public Relations Recommendations for The Potter Financial Group