We’re thrilled to have Samantha Russell In the Suite today as she shows us the true power of momentum in the ever-changing world of technology, innovation, and social media. Samantha Russell is Chief Evangelist at FMG Suite & Twenty Over Ten, a leading SaaS company in financial services providing marketing automation and creative content for financial professionals. She’s a 2020 Honoree for the InvestmentNews 40 Under 40 award and was also named to the “10 to Watch” list by WealthManagement.com that same year.
Samantha is a marketing powerhouse and was part of the original five-person team that launched Twenty Over Ten, recently acquired by FMG Suite. If you’re here listening to In the Suite, then chances are that you are one of the 10,000 financial professionals who has seen Samantha on stage at well-known industry conferences, learned from her articles in the pages in top industry publications, seen her on CNBC, or one of the 11 thousand + followers she has on LinkedIn.
The golden days of referrals are dwindling, we live in a new era. In today’s In the Suite episode, Samantha empowers us with her own innovative philosophy she calls The Digital Marketing Shift.
“Advisors are still getting a lot of their business from referrals, but the path that those referrals take to end up choosing you is digital,”
explains Samantha.
You can’t sit back and expect people to find your business online miraculously out of millions of queries. You have to know what search terms prospective clients are looking for and you have create high quality content on your website and your social media channels. Advisors need to embrace all types of digital opportunities out there in order to get leads and be found by new clients.
“The biggest life changing thoughts and ideas will be criticized in the beginning,”
Samantha says.
The sooner we learn to conquer it instead of being afraid of it, the sooner we can grow in the ever evolving realm of social media.
Since we live in a digital referral world, you can’t count on posting to LinkedIn once and calling it a day for your marketing efforts. As Chief Evangelist, Samantha’s whose job it is to be at the forefront of trends and innovation at FMG & Twenty Over Ten, Samantha understands what’s working now vs. what will be a gamechanger in the future.
“A lot of tech companies have Chief Evangelists, especially when the technology is advancing and innovating quicker than what some people even understand what it can do or what it’s capable of,”
says Samantha.
Armored with a B.S. Cum Laude in Organization Communication from Miami University, a decade of experience, and the background of delivering over 600 presentations since 2015 about how to use digital marketing to grow your business, Samantha Russell is a floating buoy of hope for advisors who feel as though they’re sinking in the vast online ocean.
Samantha tells us that all advisors need to seriously rethink marketing online. It’s not a post and ghost world anymore.
“You have to be so specific in your messaging of who you help, and how you help them,”
Samantha explains.
Over the last five years, she has taught these strategies that have helped thousands of advisors experience significant organic growth and new business. One of the many gifts you’ll discover about Samantha Russell in today’s episode is Samantha’s highly-energetic and engaging personality she shares with the world on LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube. She is a voracious reader, an articulate communicator, and a mother of two.
“I’m a lifelong learner, I read incessantly, and I love to just learn,”
says Samantha.
As she puts it, There is nothing she finds more inspiring than being able to empower advisors to market themselves effectively and who are enjoying returns on their marketing investment…In The Suite.
Listen to Samantha’s episode and leverage these three bright ideas to help you make the biggest impact with your marketing. Learn about examining who you’re targeting with your pricing, facing the hurdles of compliance, the art of storytelling, and so much more.
- Be specific in your messaging with who you help and how you help them. You never know who the person is at the other end of the screen, but you can guarantee they are checking out all the referrals. They already have something in mind that they’re looking for. “Stop trying to attract everybody, focus on who you can attract,” Samantha says. Think about all the ways they interact with your business. Click. Social. Download.
- Forget corporate marketing, get more personal. Branded corporate marketing just doesn’t work anymore. We have too many messages. It’s the scroll and scan generation. “You keep scrolling until something resonates in your heart,” says Samantha. You scroll until you feel a connection, you feel the person gets your, or they’re solving a problem.
- Claim your Google My Business profile. Samantha says that you have to claim and optimize your Google My Business listing, if you haven’t done that already. She also says to make sure your name, address, and phone number are exactly the same across every social media channel, Google My Business profile, and your website. “They need to be exactly the same for Google to make the connection that it’s the same business,” Samantha says.
Show Notes
Today’s episode of In The Suite with Samantha Russell is about creating your own momentum in the ever-changing world of technology, innovation, and social media. Samantha Russell is Chief Evangelist at FMG Suite & Twenty Over Ten, a leading SaaS company in financial services providing marketing automation and creative content for financial professionals. She’s a mother of two, a voracious reader, and an articulate communicator who has delivered over 600 presentations since 2015 about how to use digital marketing to grow your business.
Samantha is a 2020 Honoree for the InvestmentNews 40 Under 40 award and was also named to the “10 to Watch” list by WealthManagement.com that same year. She has a B.S. Cum Laude in Organization Communication from Miami University and has a decade of experience, but appreciates being a student of life.
“I’m a lifelong learner, I read incessantly, and I love to just learn,”
Samantha says.
As she puts it, There is nothing she finds more inspiring than being able to empower advisors to market themselves effectively and who are enjoying returns on their marketing investment…In The Suite. She boldly evolves with the social media platforms, breathing life and fresh air into everything she touches.
Listen to Samantha’s episode to learn about examining who you’re targeting with your pricing, facing the hurdles of compliance, the art of storytelling, and so much more.
Join the conversation to hear about:
- Hello and welcome Samantha (03:45)
- How Samantha felt as an InvestmentNews 40 Under 40 award honoree (06:15)
- What is a Chief Evangelist? (07:25)
- An art and a science: Samantha’s approach to presentations (10:45)
- Examining what’s marketable and who you’re targeting with your pricing (13:30)
- Social media and marketing toward millennials (19:20)
- The most important thing advisors needs to be focused on right now in terms of marketing and social media (19:10)
- The art of storytelling: selling the experience and the relationship (25:15)
- Are videos non-negotiable (27:20)
- Claim and optimize your Google My Business listing (30:00)
- Facing the hurdles of compliance (35:25)
- Accepting criticism and putting yourself out there (42:35)
- Samantha’s tip for including reviews on your website (45:15)
- The class that Samantha would take right now (47:25)
- How to get in touch with Samantha (47:20)
- What is Samantha’s book recommendation for 2021? (48:00)
Referenced Materials
- Samantha Russell – Website
- Samantha Russell – Twitter
- Twenty Over Ten – Website
- Twenty Over Ten – YouTube
- FMG Suite – Website
- 8 Ways Financial Advisors Can Use Google Search Console To Improve SEO – Twenty Over Ten Website
- Samantha Russell Named to 2020 Class of 40 Under 40 by InvestmentNews – Twenty Over Ten Website
- Excell Conference 2021 – Website
- Justin Castelli – Website
