Financial Advisor Marketing: 5 Strategies That Work

As a financial advisor, you live a very busy life, and amidst your day-to-day work, your marketing efforts may get left behind. As the financial planning industry continues to grow, it’s important that you establish yourself and your firm as credible and trustworthy. And marketing plays a huge role in growing your business and raising awareness of your brand, so you want to make sure that you are not only engaging in these efforts but also engaging in them the right way.

If you want to learn how to communicate value, retain your clients, and grow your brand, here are five simple marketing strategies that will surely help you gain the attention you deserve.

#1: Create A Well-Designed Website

If someone recommends a product or service to you, what is the first thing you do? That’s right, you look it up online! In today’s digital world, having a proper online presence is not an option, it is a necessity. Today, potential clients will hear about you, and their first instinct will be to google you. If they don’t see your website, the chances of them doing business with you are slim to none. Take it from your own personal experience – if you don’t find anything about a particular business online, would you still consider it?

The internet has become the main tool for consumers to obtain information, and without a website, you will, unfortunately, be invisible. Your website is where consumers will find out about your services, find your contact information, and learn more about you. Indeed, having a website is essential, but you can’t just create anything and put it online for the sake of doing it. Your website needs to be well-designed.

75% of consumers admit to making judgments on a company’s credibility based on the company’s website design.

First impressions are everything. It is expected that as financial advisors, you will have a well-designed and easy to understand site. Your website is a reflection of you and your company – a sloppy website will take away from your credibility. You want to catch your clients’ eye, and there’s no better way to do that through your website.

Want more examples of great advisor websites, check out 6 of the Best Investment Advisor Websites & What We Love About Them

#2: Start A Blog

You simply can’t talk about marketing strategies without talking about blogging. Blogging has numerous benefits, some of which I will discuss below. According to a study by HubSpot, blogging is a company’s second-highest marketing priority.

BLOGGING CREATES CREDIBILITY

One major benefit of blogging is that it establishes your company has a trustable expert in the field. Writing good blog posts helps you position yourself as an industry leader, and highlights that you are knowledgable. If customers see that you’re consistently writing great articles, they will be more likely to trust your brand. Your goal should be for your blog to become the “go-to” spot for financial information.

BLOGGING IMPROVES YOUR GOOGLE RANKINGS

Another great benefit of blogging is that blogs increase your SEO. Fresh content is more likely to show up in search result pages, and who wouldn’t want that? The higher you show up on the page, the greater the chances are of people finding you. Furthermore, adding keywords and phrases throughout your blog post would be a cherry on top.

BLOGGING DRIVES TRAFFIC TO YOUR WEBSITE

Blogging is also a great way to drive traffic to your site. It provides one more opportunity to put yourself out there because as people are reading through your blog post, they will be more likely to check out your website. In addition, your blog post is a great place to include inbound links and CTA’s that take readers to landing pages of your website, which can drive even more traffic. In the example below from Eagle Ridge Wealth Advisors, their “contact us today” CTA leads to their website’s contact page encouraging prospects to get in touch.

Want more information on blogging? Check out Blogging is No Longer a Luxury but a Necessity: 3 Blogging Tips to Help your Advisory Firm’s Website Succeed

#3: Establish A Strong Social Media Presence

There is no doubt that a large part of digital marketing is social media. Being on social media is a great way to reach a large audience, connect with your clients, and exhibit your brand. Social media is today’s BIG thing, and it is not going away anytime soon. Based on a study by Buffer, 73% of marketers believe that social media has been effective.

Start with maybe one or two social media channels, and then once you get the hang of it, determine what other channels you want to be on. Remember that it is quality over quantity. Don’t feel like you need to be on every social media platform – pick the ones that are right for you and develop a good strategy.

Need help getting started with your social media? Check out Social Media Marketing for Financial Advisors: 4 Steps To Get Started

#4: Send Gifts

You want to establish good connections with your clients, and what better way to do that than to send gifts? Gift-giving shows your gratitude, and it lets your clients know that you are thinking about them. This makes a happy client, and in turn, improves client retention. These gifts can include things such as computer bags, books, flash drives, chocolates, personalized gear, etc. This small gesture can go a long way – everyone loves receiving gifts!

#5: Build Your Online Reviews

Let’s face it, consumers today have many options and when making the ultimate decision, consumers look for social proof. People want to pick something that other people are doing too. Therefore, a great marketing strategy that creates this social proof is by building up your online reviews. Although you can’t directly control what people post about you, you can control how happy your clients are. The happier your client, the better reviews they will give you.

84 Percent of People Trust Online Reviews As Much As Friends

INC.

So how do you get these reviews? A great way to get some positive reviews is by simply asking for them. Identify clients who you know are very happy with your service, and send during your conversations ask them to leave a review for you online to help your business out and increase referrals! Doing so on a site like Google Reviews will also help boost your rankings within organic searches. 

Want more information about online reviews? Check out SEO for Financial Advisors: Everything You Need to Know About Google Reviews