Harlow, who started in the insurance industry in 1973, opened his tax advisory business in 2003 and formed NW Tax & Wealth Advisory Group in 2005.
“One thing our clients say they really like,” he explained, “is the fact that we’re both tax advisors and wealth advisors. People like that we handle both aspects and give a fuller picture.”
Over the last few months, Harlow has worked with local video producer Simon Spykerman of Spykermedia to create a series of videos that are available on the company’s website (www.nwtaxadvisors.com). Harlow said he decided to go into video to try something new, and to explain his approach to an audience that is increasingly accustomed to looking for information online.
“My marketplace is predominantly Baby Boomers – retirees and pre-retirees,” he said. “The income planning and preservation arena demands different products than have been used in the past.”
“We place the videos on a website with calls to action offering further information like free white papers in exchange for email addresses and then we promote the pages online,” added Spykerman. “What you find is some visitors will watch the videos and call the business, some will give email addresses or phone numbers in exchange for more information and you can follow up with these leads, converting them to customers.”
Harlow has a history of exploring new approaches. Early in his career, like many planners and advisors, he participated in public seminars to find new clients. But about a year and a half ago, he started doing radio, and things changed.
“I stopped doing seminars,” he recalled. “I had so many people calling from the radio shows that I couldn’t keep up with it.”
He’s on the radio, he frequently writes guest columns and articles, and he has a book coming out on Amazon soon. The video series represents the next step in the evolution of Harlow’s marketing.
“The videos are predominantly about understanding annuities,” he said. “Annuities have had a negative connotation for years.”
That connotation, he explained, is because many of the “talking heads” on TV and radio have set it up that way.
“It’s competing against them, and they hate it,” he added. “[Many of the national television figures] aren’t licensed. They’re not advisors, they’re entertainers… The concept behind the videos is helping people understand they can establish a private pension plan for themselves within their retirement account – protecting not just themselves, but also their spouse, for as long as they live.”
Harlow is rolling out the videos slowly; his radio presence is the primary tool he’s using to direct people to the website, and although it’s early to process the metrics, he said that people are indeed visiting and staying on the site to watch the videos.
Because business is strong, Harlow said that pace works for him; he didn’t make the videos in the hopes of bringing explosive growth, but to continue to underscore the value of his services, brand himself and his company, and keep the growth steady.
“My slogan for what we have here [is] ‘We’re very good at what we do.’ And we are,” he said. “We’re very good at what we do. But marketing is so important to what we do. You can be the best, but if nobody finds out about it, it doesn’t matter.”
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