In today’s digital landscape, your prospects can be anywhere, anytime. They also have more options than ever for where to get financial advice. So, how do you stand out from the competition? Referrals are still a great way to generate new clients, but only if those clients stick around and become loyal brand advocates.
Unfortunately, predicting which of your referrals will turn into long-term customers is hard. That’s why it’s important to invest in proactive marketing strategies that can help you attract more quality leads in the first place.
The Power of Proactive Marketing
The power of proactive marketing is that it allows you to grow your financial advising business sustainably. Proactive marketing isn’t the same as traditional lead generation, which focuses on generating leads through direct mail, email, or other outbound efforts.
Instead, it’s about building relationships with people already interested in your services. These people are open to hearing more about the value you offer them.
Proactive campaigns can be more cost-effective than traditional ones because they don’t require large upfront investments in media buying and production costs. They also don’t require an ongoing commitment of time from salespeople. Instead, they rely on automation software platforms like HubSpot or Marketo that send automated emails based on user behavior patterns.
This is called marketing technology or MarTech, which is in high demand among marketers. Financial advisors looking to grow their client portfolio can also rely on MarTech. Recent data shows the global MarTech industry market has an estimated figure of $344.8 billion, according to 2021-22 reports.
You can leverage technologies like pre-built software for marketing. According to Asset-Map, you can use software to connect with prospective clients. Moreover, you can also ask the leads to fill in details about their financial situation so that you can offer advice accordingly. The software can also allow you to communicate seamlessly with your prospects to ensure no communication gap.
Financial advisor marketing software also includes analytics features, which allow you to track the key metrics of your marketing campaigns. Based on the analytics insights, you can adjust your campaign to ensure success.
Moreover, financial advisor marketing software can help nurture your leads. It can do so by providing all the basic information about your financial services to the prospects. This will enable you to focus on offering value to the leads instead of having to walk them through your services.
Building an Online Presence
Building an online presence is a crucial part of any marketing strategy. There are many ways to build an online presence for your firm. Here are some of these ways:
- Website: A website is the most basic of all online platforms but also one of the most important. It’s where you can tell your story and demonstrate your expertise, so you should create a separate website.
- Blog: A blog helps you establish thought leadership in your industry by providing valuable content to readers. Blog content should be easily understood by anyone who can be a potential client. This can help you connect with people who read about services through a blog before taking them. A recent survey revealed that 44% of buyers consume a few blogs on the vendor site before engaging with them.
- Social media presence: Establish a presence on major social media platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. Share your blog posts and industry news, and engage with your audience through comments and messages. Use social media to showcase your expertise and build relationships.
Crafting a Compelling Brand Story
A brand story is a compelling narrative that explains why you do what you do and how your firm differs from the competition. It should be unique to your business, and it should be consistent across all marketing channels.
You can use technology to connect with humans, but you should never rely solely on it. As most businesses rely on AI-led technology, the human connection seems missing. People want human-oriented brands. So, if you fall back only on tech, you will not succeed as a leader in your industry. A genuine brand story can help you to connect with emotions.
A good brand story will help prospects understand what makes your firm unique and why they should choose you over the competition. That’s why your brand story must be short, memorable, and easy to understand.
Embracing Email Marketing
Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to reach your audience. It can help you build client relationships, create a consistent brand image, and promote events. Here are some tips to effectively use email marketing for financial advisor marketing:
- Build a targeted email list: Develop a list of contacts comprising current clients, prospects, and referrals. Segment your list based on factors such as investment preferences, life stage, or financial goals to send targeted messages.
- Create compelling content: Craft valuable and relevant content. This could include market insights, investment tips, retirement planning advice, or updates on financial regulations. Personalize content where possible to make it more engaging and tailored to the recipient.
- Educate and inform: Use emails as a platform to educate clients about financial matters. This positions you as an expert and adds value to your client relationships. Share articles, whitepapers, or infographics that simplify complex financial concepts.
Tracking Metrics for Success
To be successful in your marketing efforts, you need to know the numbers. The following metrics are essential for measuring the success of your financial advisor marketing campaigns:
- ROI (return on investment). This simple calculation determines whether or not each dollar spent on advertising returns more than one dollar in revenue. It’s important to measure this metric over time to see how much revenue has been generated by each campaign and compare them.
- Average customer lifetime value (LTV). This number tells you how much money an average customer will spend with your business during their entire relationship with it. It also gives insight into which areas of business have higher LTV values than others so that they can receive more attention.
- Cost per acquisition (CPA). Knowing what kind of CPA rate is normal for similar businesses within an industry is useful. It helps ensure your spending isn’t too high compared to competitors’ figures. If yours falls outside these parameters, there may be room for improvement. A high enough CPA will ensure that ad networks can bid well to maintain around 65% top of search page impression share. However, it doesn’t mean that you should blindly aim for spending too much on ads.
Conclusion
While referrals are still the best way to get new clients, many other ways exist. Your best bet is to try a variety of tactics and see what works best for you. Once you’ve figured out which channels are most effective for your business, it’s time to start making connections.
Remember that this process takes time; you won’t see results overnight but don’t give up hope. Keep working hard at building relationships with potential clients until they become real customers who trust you with their money.
