As a financial advisor, you are likely well aware of the fact that your industry is highly regulated with numerous federal rules that dictate what you can and cannot say or do.
However, this does not mean it is completely impossible to market yourself online and gain the leads that you desire.
Due to the fact that many financial-related businesses will not give digital marketing much of thought, you are presented with the unique opportunity to get a leg up on your competition.
So, what financial advisor marketing strategies tend to work best?
Why is Marketing Essential for a Financial Advisor?
Marketing is important for financial advisors because of the simple fact that it will help grow your business.
A solid marketing plan is needed if you want to expand your business. When you don’t have a clear strategy in mind, you may find yourself treading water rather than reaching your growth goals.
From building a strong brand to getting active on social media, marketing helps put you in front of your target audience.
While you still need to rely on references and face-to-face communications, focusing on marketing will allow you to be able to better identify your ideal audience, clarify your brand messages, outline your goals, enhance your ROI potential, attract and convert prospects, and much more.
Think about it: more business will equate to more revenue. Therefore, the more you can put yourself out there in front of the right people, the better the chances are of growing your client base and bottom line.
Thankfully, the internet has made things more accessible and possible for us to do just that.
6 Financial Advisor Marketing Strategies You Need to Know
The most effective strategy for courting those clients who are not only in need of your financial advisory services but actually come to you looking for it is predicated on your being able to establish a sense of trust in their minds. They want to know that you have their best interests at heart before they give you their life savings to safeguard and hopefully grow. The way for you to do this is not through slick marketing or scare tactics, and it certainly does not involve trying to prove how smart you are by predicting the stock market’s direction or putting out a list of “must-have” stock opportunities. No, inspiring faith in your services and your abilities relies on three fundamental pillars:
- Establishing yourself as a resident financial expert
- Giving away actionable information for free
- Developing a relationship, not a stewardship
Now that you know what the right marketing plan can do for you, it’s time to take a look at a few specific marketing strategies that you should implement.
#1: Get Your Brand Together
In order for you to create the ideal marketing strategy, you first need to ensure that your brand is on point.
This includes everything from your name and logo to the message that you want to convey to your audience.
Your brand needs to ultimately be professional, show your personality, and identify with your business culture.
However, it must also be clear in its meaning and why your client should choose you over one of your competitors.
#2: Identify Your Niche and Market
In order to rise above the competition, you must know where you stand in the market. This will allow you to differentiate yourself as a brand and more specifically tailor all of your digital marketing efforts.
Once your niche/market has been identified, you will be able to create communications on particular issues that will directly or indirectly after your clients.
For example, a person looking for tips on how to better manage their money is going to be a completely different demographic (age range and everything) than a person who is looking for information about retirement planning and long-term care.
The last thing you want to do is try to cater to literally everyone. If you go this route, it is going to be increasingly difficult to grow your business.
Prospects will come to your website and feel uncertain as to whether you can help them with their problem. This is due to the fact of the high volume of offerings from your brand.
In the end, you will wind up reaching virtually no one.
The more focused your message is and the more targeted a niche/audience you identify, the more it will successfully resonate with prospects and get them to reach out.
So, take the time to create a picture of who your buyer persona is.
Once you do this, customize your marketing materials to tailor to that ideal client, and make sure that the communications are in a language they can understand. Otherwise, they may become frustrated and move on to another brand.
As far as digital marketing goes, specificity is essential. By being specific, you will have a higher ROI on your overall marketing efforts.
#3: Get Social
One benefit (and drawback sometimes) of social media is that it allows you to reach a vast audience.
Before social media, you had to rely on cold calls, referrals, and the like to reach out to potential prospects. Today, though, the power of making connections and increasing your brand awareness is in social media.
It serves as an efficient and effective way to share information about your brand, gather leads, and communicate with clients.
When utilizing social media to your advantage, it is imperative that you ensure your brand message is consistent across all of the social media platforms. This will increase your appeal to prospects.
Now, as a financial advisor, you may need to utilize some tricks to get your content out there and in front of your audience, as there are very strict compliance rules that have been set forth by the SEC and FINRA.
Therefore, you want to take caution in what you post and try to be as generic as possible. The wrong thing can easily be misconstrued as financial advice. This includes likes, comments, shares, etc.
Here are a few ways to get out from behind all of this:
- Make use of hashtags that specifically match your content. This can be anything from #financialadvisor or #financialwelness to #retirement and #wealthmanagement.
- Share direct information about events, webcasts, and blog articles.
- Share third-party information, such as content from other reputable financial blogs.
- Social selling, which is simply developing relationships with clients as part of the overall sales process.
One final note about using social media: go for quality over quantity, even though you do want to post consistently and regularly for your clients.
Ideally, you want to make yourself visible while also ensuring you are sharing information that can prove to be helpful in one way or another.
#4: Craft and Send Regular Newsletters
Financial advice is something that people look for on a regular basis, so if you aren’t currently sending out a regular newsletter to both clients and potential clients, you are missing out on a huge opportunity.
For one, it is almost guaranteed that your competition is. This means that they are keeping their brand at the forefront of the client’s mind.
The more a client becomes aware of you, your brand, and your offerings, the more likely they are to come to you when they have a financial-related question or are ready to take charge of their financial future.
Within the content of the newsletter, you may want to consider featuring a generic piece of financial advice or two, new services/products you are offering, as well as personal team updates (births, marriages, milestones, etc.).
You always want to provide that human and personal touch, as it makes it easier to connect in this digital world.
Don’t forget to send a special newsletter to your clients when it is their birthday or a holiday. This builds much-needed loyalty and lets your clients know you are thinking about them and appreciate them.
And, don’t worry, this process can be automated to make life easier for you.
(Speaking of newsletters, are you subscribed to ours?)
#5: Take Advantage of What Video Testimonials Can Offer
Financial advisors don’t often rely on testimonials to improve their business and instead focus on relationships with other businesses.
However, video testimonials from satisfied customers can go a long way in promoting yourself and attracting new leads.
Why do this? Because video testimonials can immediately legitimize your business, which is an important step in moving forward toward success.
If you have happy clients, you will have no trouble finding someone to produce a short, 30-second video testimonial about their experience with your brand.
Make sure to go through them when you receive them before posting them to your website, social media, etc.
If you prefer the video testimonial to be incredibly professional, hire a professional videographer to shoot these videos and then edit them.
#6: Show Your Expertise Through Podcasts
Podcasting allows financial advisers to build trust and credibility. They share their knowledge with their audience and provide insights into the world of finance. According to Insider Intelligence, 40% of all internet users listen to podcasts regularly. That’s about 117.8 million people each month just in the U.S.
Why do podcasts work well for new financial advisors? Because they create a personal connection. When making a podcast, you speak directly to your audience. You won’t get that with a pay-per-click ad or website.
Podcasts are an efficient way to repurpose content, too. Maybe you post a blog one week and then make it the topic of your podcast the next. That not only helps you show your financial knowledge but also directs listeners to your blog.
But how do you go about making that happen? A compelling podcast requires at least two things:
- Show-level concept: Find a niche in your field. You won’t stand out if you call yourself Joe the Financial Advisor. You need a hook. Something that makes your podcast bubble to the surface in a sea of financial shows. The goal is to capture the audience’s imagination. For example, Dollars and Sense, Investors Insight, and The Money Maverick — these titles have fair. They might make a listener want to know more. The show concept is how you draw them in.
- An episode-level structure: This is how you keep them coming back. Each podcast should be its own show.
You want the podcast to be appealing to your target audience.
How To Build a Marketing Plan for Financial Advisors
You can create a financial advisor marketing plan in a few steps.
#1. Set your goals
Marketing isn’t the kind of thing you do without some forethought. Start by setting actionable objectives. What is it you hope to achieve? When planning out your goals, keep the SMART concept in mind.
SMART is an acronym for:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Relevant
- Time-bound
The purpose of the smart system is to keep your goals focused and managed. They should be specific to the needs of your business. For instance, if you are new to the industry, your primary goal might be to build a client list. If you have been around for a while, you might just want to touch base with clients that have dropped out of sight.
#2. Know your target audience
This is something that comes up for every brand and every marketing strategy. If you don’t know who you are targeting, you will waste time and money by being too broad with your efforts.
For example, maybe you are a financial advisor specializing in new graduates or homeowners. You will go off track if you don’t target that specific group. You will end up with potential leads with no chance of conversion while missing out on the ones that could be gold for your business.
Ask yourself some questions:
- Where are they at in their financial journey?
- What value do they place on investments?
- What is the primary demographic?
Once you answer those questions, you can build personas that detail your ideal customer. That is who you target with your marketing. When you create campaigns, you build them with these imaginary customers in mind.
#3 Identify your unique value
What can you offer that your competition does not? Do you have a specialty? Can you work across different industries? Look over your current marketing assets to get an idea of what you offer. If you are just starting out, make a list of the pros and cons of hiring you as a financial advisor. Why would you hire your firm?
You take this step for two reasons:
- If you can’t see what stands out about your business and skills, neither will potential leads.
- You need something to focus your marketing on that will engage your ideal client.
This is an exercise you want to do with each campaign. Maybe the answer doesn’t change, but you have to be flexible in case it does.
#4 Map out your plan
Once you get through the first three steps, you have the ammunition you need to create your plan. Decide what channels appeal to your target, for instance. What timeline make sense based on your objectives? How can you measure the effectiveness of your plan?
Understanding what you hope to accomplish through marketing and who you want to target is critical to developing your content marketing plan.
Through content marketing, you tell your brand’s story to the right people. It is the best way to build a reputation and expand your business. You can use blogs, videos, podcasts, and social media to engage with current and potential customers in a unique way.
You need the right tools in your toolbox to get the ball rolling, starting with some proper talent. WriterAccess gives you access to state-of-the-art AI tools that help you develop topics and do keyword research. You can then use AI to create a job brief and pick content marketing professionals from our vetted talent pool. We have some of the best writers in the industry waiting to work with you.
Find out more about WriterAccess by signing up for our 14-day free trial today and getting access to the most powerful content management platform on the market.
Wrap-Up: Ready to Start Your Financial Advisor Marketing Strategy?
Now that you know the importance of financial advisor marketing for your business as well as some strategies you can implement to realize success, what do you do?
Ultimately, you want to take a look at industry professionals and see what steps they are taking to grow their business.
Does it appear that they’re taking the strategies outlined above? Maybe they’re doing something else that seems to be working, as the above is not an all-inclusive list.
Whatever the case may be, if you can incorporate the aforementioned strategies and do things better than your competitors, you will be well on your way to increased brand awareness and more qualified leads.
So, are you ready to take charge of your marketing plan? Learn how inbound marketing can garner loyal clients.
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