Part of building your practice involves honing your message and getting it out there for your clients to hear. With the launch of our revised website, we’ve put our words into action. And we learned a lot along the way.

Whether you’re revamping your site, trying to engage your clients via email or just getting your marketing off the ground, here are some takeaways that can help you generate more leads.

1. Put your best foot forward

You work hard every day in your specialty. Even if you haven’t built up a bunch of content … what do people find when they look up your name? Is your LinkedIn profile up-to-date with a professional (and current!) photo? Does your website clearly state what you do and are passionate about?

For years, we’ve been creating one-pagers, case studies, blog posts, videos and more. But, without a good place to store them, they were all but impossible to find. Looking at our old website, we knew we needed a hub for all things education. So, a huge priority for us was to create an easy-to-find and easy-to-search content library – which you can find on the first tab!

The takeaway is pretty simple: Make sure people can find what they are looking for!

Our library was years in the making, but you don’t need an enterprise-level solution to serve your clients. Prioritize what’s important, stay organized and make sure your online content represents the value you can bring to clients.

2. Make it easy to connect

How can prospects stay connected to you? Is it easy to contact you – by email, phone or LinkedIn? Make it easy for those people who raise their hands to get to know you further!

We work hard to distribute timely and educational content directly to our subscribers’ inboxes. And we offer the ability to personalize your email preferences by choosing to subscribe to the specific newsletters that are most interesting to you. But looking at our old website, you’d never know it. Now, with just a click you can become an email subscriber or manage your subscriptions. Right on every page.

If people have to think about what they need to do, they are most likely to do nothing.

Throughout the project, we made it a point to always think about the action you may want to take. Take the contact button. Yes, you can always contact us by using the navigation, but we also added a contact button multiple times on most pages. The easier you make it to move to the next step, the more likely people are to take action. It seems like common sense, but it’s an easy thing to miss in your marketing.

3. Show your audience some love

Marketers are always asking for feedback about how you like to get your content. Short-form? Video? Blogs? But if you don’t use their answers, instead of improving your relationship you run the risk of alienating your audience. Let them know that you appreciate their response and, if possible, put it into action.

When you ask your audience for feedback, make sure to use it. No matter how great your message is, if your clients can’t find it or don’t like the format they won’t pay attention to it.

For our new website, we took the feedback you provided and incorporated it at every step. An intuitive search feature, customized content, and pages that offer specific solutions were all the direct result of advisor responses. We even added a feedback button on the left side of the page, so we know what to improve in the event you hit a dead-end. If you hit a roadblock, make sure to let us know!

4. Create a look and stick to it

There’s no way around it: looks matter. After all, if you see a website or printed piece that looks like it was designed years ago, you immediately discount it. Or if every piece looks different, it leaves the audience confused and subtly undercuts your credibility. For our website relaunch, the visual consistency was every bit as important as the organization and the content.

Make some color and image choices, find some templates that work, and stick to them to create a powerful way to promote your brand.

Repeatable graphic elements can direct your audience without using a bunch of text to send the same message. For example, check out how we use icons and illustrations all through the site to distinguish types of content. And you don’t need to reinvent yourself every time.

Spend the initial time on how you want your brand to look. It’s one of the most important parts of your marketing message. If you don’t have an eye for it, find someone to help you who does. Once templates are set up, you can use them again and again and create confidence for your clients.

5. Be available

Technology is amazing, but it can’t replace you. Instead, think of your website as a way to bring your audience to you. We have about 450 employees at Ash, and they are what make us a valuable partner. For our website, we couldn’t include all 450. So, we featured teams that are your first line when it comes to protecting your clients.

Feature your contact information in multiple spots and encourage your clients to reach out to you.

We want all advisors to find what they need on our website. And most importantly, we want our website to be a tool for connecting with the people who make up Ash Brokerage. The last thing you want is for them to feel like they can’t contact you. Create a process for making yourself available.

Experience matters

Whether or not you spend time at ashbrokerage.com (and we really hope you do!), think about what your website is saying to your clients. If it’s not taking them on a journey to you, try implementing some of the lessons we learned from our website transformation.

And let us know how we did! If you’ve spent time exploring the site, use the feedback button to tell us about your experience.