5 Reasons Why The Marketing Funnel Falls Short For Financial Advisors & What You Should Do

"An interesting realization I had is that some of the best financial businesses that I know use the Flywheel – not the funnel. Whether they deliberately intend to or not."

The funnel is the staple of marketing strategy, digital or otherwise.

And it's stupid simple.

But after 747 days working with financial advisors running their digital campaigns, I’ve had a strategy-altering realization.?

My 740-Day Digital Marketing Epiphany

Shortly after working at Advisors Excel , Collin Billau , Director of Digital Marketing, sent me a link to Hubspot’s Flywheel model to read about as I was getting trained up at the company.?

The Flywheel Model, created by HubSpot , is simply that –?a wheel.?

It takes some of the similar elements from the Marketing Funnel concept, using the framework of awareness, consideration, and conversion. But incorporates a few elements that are absent in the funnel.

Reading through it, thinking it was a neat tool –?I tucked it away as a bookmark in my browser. I thought I could possibly use this in the future for something. And there it sat for around 740 days untouched.?

Looking for something else, I happened across the blog again. Something urged me to read the article. Popped it open and as I skimmed the page, it hit me:?

Major epiphany.?

A realization and clarity about past struggles and marketing failures and why they happened.

And why using the funnel, I:

• Missed key steps
• Overlooked massive opportunities
• Failed to connect the dots

And at the same time, all of my successes coincidentally fit neatly into the “box” that this Flywheel modeled.?

If you’re a financial advisor looking for a potentially life-changing marketing read, this is for you.

Why The Funnel Led Me Astray

The funnel, at first glance, makes sense. And to be frank, everyone is using it and everyone has been using it for decades, if not more.?

If it’s working for them, it’s bound to work for me, right?

A quick refresher:

Starting with the top of the funnel, you attract new potential clients and use middle-to-bottom funnel strategies to nurture and drive them through to conversion. Or in our industry, clients.?

It all makes so much sense. But here are a few things where the funnel has led me astray.?

The Marketing Funnel is Finite

If you talk to any financial advisor that’s been in the industry for 5, 10 or more years and worth their salt can attest to the power of referrals. Some firms alone drive 75% or more of their new business from that channel alone.?

So why does this relate to marketing funnels??

The marketing funnel fails to consider the essential ongoing relationship advisors have with their clients. The funnel's story ends at conversion –?and that’s only the beginning of one the most powerful forces in advisor marketing.

The Funnel Tends to Treat People Like Dollar Signs

The funnel is a model that focuses on a two things:

1. Volume: get more leads in the top of the funnel
2. Conversions: Drive them down the funnel

The financial services industry is a “people business” –?trust and relationships matter. We’re not selling widgets or Nike shoes.?

I don’t know how many times I’ve heard marketers speak insensitively about “bad quality leads” when people don’t disclose their life savings to get a 4-page tax guide, or don’t pick up the phone right away after calling them.?

The Funnel Needs to be Constantly Fed

Remember how the funnel ends? Since there’s only one path to “success” and not everyone makes it there (i.e. unsubscribes, unqualified), this means you’ll consistently be needing to heavily invest time and dollars into adding new leads.

This means that the growth of your business may be fully reliant on the need for continuous, on-going lead generation and nurture through a variety of mediums. This is kind of the reality for digital marketing right now –?but does it have to be??

The Funnel Keeps Teams Working in Silos

The simple structure of the funnel makes it easy to map out the path from awareness to conversion, but it doesn’t always make it easy to align your teams.?

The most deadly lead generation mistakes that I’ve seen result in a poor communication and alignment between marketing and sales, or marketing and the financial advisor.

Without a clear way to make your team work as one, well-oiled growth machine, it takes more than just marketing doing the work. The funnel alone doesn’t offer a clear path for this to happen.?

The Funnel is Hard To Define & Strategize

In my belief, the funnel is too simple. And simple to its detriment. For example, if you were to ask, “what does top of funnel even mean?” you might get 8 different answers.?

Brand is becoming a more essential component to a financial advisor’s strategy. Trust and reputation can be the single factor between a potential client calling you or your competitor. So, when planning a brand awareness campaign, where is that in the funnel??

Some marketers will define the “top of funnel” as once they hit your email list. Some might consider a brand awareness campaign, where no personal contact information is exchanged (i.e. banner ads or billboards) top of the funnel too.?

The Flywheel's (And My) Big Bold Promise

In my view, the Flywheel should be the staple marketing model for financial advisors. It’s specifically designed to address each of these “funnel flaws” that I’ve mentioned above and deliver more on top.?

But be aware, you need to know something really important about this new model: at first glance, it can feel overwhelming. In fact, its biggest criticism is that it is too complex and difficult to implement.?

Fortunately, that’s exactly what my next newsletter is on. Using my successes and past failures, I’ll walk you through how to use the Flywheel model in a simple and effective way, and how you can revolutionize your digital marketing.

Steps You Can Take From Here

I highly recommend the following:?

• Read HubSpot’s article on the Flywheel model and simply gather your thoughts on ways that you think it can work for you. Don’t worry about actioning anything just yet.?
• Consider my “Funnel Flaws” above. Does any of that resonate with you and your experience with marketing? Make some notes.?

You’ll find many references to B2B businesses within the article, but don’t let that make you think it’s not relevant. The more time that goes on in this space, the more I realize how similar B2B marketing is to financial advisor marketing; high ticket services and seemingly life-long contracts.

So, long story short: wheels, not funnels.

Ahh, you’ve made it to the end. I truly hope you’ve found value from this article and the ones to come. If you’ve haven’t subscribed, as the influencers say, “SMASH that subscribe button!” You’ll get all the future digital marketing strategies, tips, tricks, hacks, and successes.

P.S. An interesting realization I had is that some of the best businesses that I know use the Flywheel, not the funnel, whether they deliberately intend to or not. I don’t think it’s a coincidence, folks.?

#wheelsnotfunnels #financialadvisors