The best marketing strategies, tactics, and trends for new financial advisors from experts inside and outside of the industry.
ICYMI, Michael Kitces lays out the marketing data points to track (with free downloadable templates) along with 7 key performance indicators to improve your business development efforts [Article]
“Growth is a struggle for most financial advisors, especially those who are newer to the profession (or at least newer to running their own practice) and have to get their own clients for the first time. There are so many different marketing tactics, and ways that advisors can spend their time prospecting, and different approaches to the sales process, that it’s hard to know where to begin. And because the results can be ‘lumpy’ in the early years – where 1 new client may be a good month, and 2 new clients are ‘a 100% improvement’ because there was 1 extra lead close – it’s especially hard to figure out what’s really working. Which is problematic, because as the famous saying goes, ‘You can’t manage what you can’t measure’.
Except the good news is that financial advisors really can measure their business development activity across its 2 main phases – the first is the marketing and prospecting activity that generates prospects advisors can engage in a sales process, and the second is the sales process itself as prospective clients move through the pipeline.
5 Data Points To Measure Advisor Marketing Activity
During the first main phase of business development, which focuses on marketing and prospecting activity, there are 5 key metrics that can be used to assess marketing activity. These include the marketing activity itself, the number of prospect inquiries, website user traffic, and the costs associated with the marketing activity – in both time and dollars.”
KPIs To Track Your Advisor Marketing And Figure Out What’s Actually Working (Or Not) [Michael Kitces, Nerd’s Eye View]
3 ways to improve your website messaging, how to maximize your webinar’s impact after it’s over, and more [Article]:
“What’s the first thing people look for on an advisor’s website? You might think that it’s your services and resources, but one of the most viewed pages on these sites is actually the ‘About’ page.
That’s because your site visitors want to see themselves—something that resonates with them and their goals. Yes, your services might be unique, but prospects can likely find similar ones elsewhere.
So how do you highlight your brand and make it resonate? My suggestion is that you hyper-focus on your website text. It’s your words that remind people about your brand and value proposition, so the ones you choose are critical. Here are some things to keep in mind:
• You want to use the language on your ‘About’ page to tell a story. Focus on the ‘why.’ What made you want to become an advisor? What are your values and interests? These elements can serve as conversation kick-starters for people still considering your firm.
• You should avoid buzzwords: Words like ‘holistic,’ for example, lack precision. Comb your site for language like this and remove it or replace the words with something more engaging.
• You should also keep human behavior in mind: Rather than focusing on your exact services, consider the emotional payoff you’ll get when you bring up certain topics. The more specific they are to your audience, the better. For example, instead of saying, ‘We manage client investments,’ you could say, ‘We help grow wealth so you have the freedom to enjoy life.’
If your copy is strong and supported by a well-designed site, you’re in a great place to improve both the volume and quality of your leads.”
5 Top Lead-Generation Strategies For 2024 [Susan Theder, Financial Advisor]
A reminder to keep your messaging and service offerings simple—or risk losing prospective clients [Article]:
“‘Information-overload’ is a real thing.
(And it’s something you should care about if you’re a smart marketer.)
In the 1980s, John Sweller developed Cognitive Load Theory while studying problem-solving in learners.
Sweller discovered that when people are learning about a new topic and are overloaded with sensory information, they forget key information and make suboptimal choices.
Cognitive load is like your brain’s bandwidth. And it’s *serious* business–Forbes said cognitive load could be ‘the most important employee performance metric for the next 10 years’.
Why does this matter to marketers?
Because *any* information you send your potential buyers is adding to their cognitive load. Add too much? You’ll lose them completely.”
Cognitive Load Theory [Katelyn Bourgoin, Why We Buy]
Gary Vaynerchuk with encouragement if you’re worried it’s too late to begin making social media content or whether you must be good at “all of the things” like YouTube thumbnails, titles, etc. when you’re just starting out [YouTube Short]:
Is It Too Late To Start Making Content Now? [Gary Vaynerchuk, GaryVee]
The advantages of “passive marketing,” tips for keeping your testimonials compliant, and more [Podcast or Video]:
“When you think about [active] marketing, what are those things that you’re having to log in and do on a weekly or daily basis even. Usually, that’s going to be some form of social media. That’s going to be email. And in the moment, when you’re creating a podcast…
When you think about passive, it’s all of those things that you have accumulated on those channels, over time, that then sort of serve up this awesome platter of content for your audience, for your listeners, to listen in on their own time. To build those relationships for you on their own time.
There are also other passive strategies to think about. Obviously, I work for Wealthtender, so I am going to call on that real quickly. The rise of online advisor directories. … That is maybe a one-hour process of signing up, getting a profile, and publishing it. What’s happening from there is now it’s going to work for you. SEO, people are visiting these websites, consumers, to find you. But you don’t have to log in every single week, you don’t have to manage it every single week. Sure, you have to manage any leads that are coming in, but the marketing strategy itself, the online advisor listing, is working for you.
It’s almost similar to P.R. or credibility marketing, Matt, where if you’re getting quoted in an article or writing some cool series, or even a blog, it’s going to take you, in that moment, to be active, but after that, passively. It’s going to be out in the ‘universe,’ it’s going to work for you, getting out in front of the right people, at the right time, when they’re doing their homework. When they’re searching for answers.”
Proven Marketing Strategies for Today’s Growth-Minded Advisors [Matt Halloran, Top Advisor Marketing Podcast]
Improve your podcast listener experience (and SEO!) by adding clickable timestamps to your podcast episodes [Video]:
How To Add Spotify Podcast Chapters / CLICKABLE Timestamps [Emily Binder, YouTube]
How to make your website stand out today and under-the-radar marketing apps [Podcast or Video]:
“The old way of building a website is that it’s like a brochure. It’s about you, it’s about your company, it’s about what you do. So, element one is flip the focus so it’s completely outward facing. So, it’s speaking to their problems and you’ve got a secondary role in that.
…
That probably seems very basic. [But] there’s still a huge majority of advisor websites that take the first approach. Where it’s just like: ‘Here we are, we are really good at this stuff, come work with us.’ That’s the opposite of the story that you want to tell.
You want your website to tell the story of: ‘You have this problem. We can help you on the path. Here’s the fix to it. If you want help on it, let us know. We can help.’ So, a more story-based structure to the messaging of the site.
…
Take a look at your website and audit how many times you say ‘I, Me, and We” versus ‘You.’ The ‘You’s’ should drastically outweigh the ‘I, Me, We’s.’ That tells you that you are speaking to your audience, that you have a focus on them and what they need and not on yourself. If you’re overloaded on those first-person pronouns, it’s time to redo the site.”
Johnny Sandquist Talks AI And Influencer Impact [Matt Reiner, Bridging The Gap]
Join Today
Want “New Advisor Marketing Inside Out” delivered directly to your inbox? Join fellow new financial advisors who receive this newsletter here.
