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 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?

#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 of 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.

Of course, figuring out your niche isn’t something you do in an afternoon or by filling out some half-baked worksheet. It usually takes some digging, honestly—looking through client feedback, poking around in your analytics, maybe even sorting through the stuff you dread doing to figure out what actually makes you shine. Sometimes it’s not what you expect, either; you might start off thinking you help small business owners, but it turns out most of your traction is coming from young families or newly divorced folks dealing with a whole new financial reality.

And after you find your people, don’t be afraid to let your messaging show a little personality. Professional doesn’t have to mean faceless. The advisors that clients remember are usually the ones who feel like real humans—maybe you sprinkle in a relatable story, or just stop treating your blog like it’s read by the SEC itself every time. If you sound like every other advisor on the block, then, well… you might as well just blend in with the wallpaper.

#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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