7 Financial Advisor Marketing Strategies

Being a financial advisor is a great way to have a flexible and lucrative career while doing what you love. These days, you can work as a freelance financial advisor or even open up your own small firm.

If you’re working alone or with a small team, you may find yourself hitting some walls when trying to grow your business.

To get over this bump in the road, all you have to do is figure out a perfect marketing plan.

If you want to get new clients and expand your existing business, here are seven financial advisor marketing strategies.

1. Create Goals For Your Business And Follow Them

When you first began your business, you probably had some clear goals in mind. Your first goal may have been getting your business license. Then, land your first client.

After that, you have to continue a goal-oriented mindset.

As you market your financial advisory business, expand on your objectives. Your new goals may be, for instance, obtaining 10 new clients throughout the year or hitting a certain amount of commissions.

Goals Create Direction For You And Your Staff

Having goals isn’t just important for you as a business owner. They will also help your staff understand what direction your company is going in and how they can be a part of getting you there.

You won’t be able to expand your business and gain new clients if your team isn’t on your side. Having clear goals that push your business forward will inspire your team to work in the right direction.

2. Figure Out Your Target Markets — And Stay Focused There

If you mostly do financial advising for individuals, you may not want to get into the world of small businesses. Most financial advising businesses thrive when they work within their niche of expertise.

Focus On Your Niche

When you work in a field like financial advising, you want to focus on niche marketing. Your ideal clients will come to you based on what niches you are known for. So if your niche is working with individuals on their personal finances, you won’t want to take on clients that need a financial planner for their restaurant business.

Find Your Target Market

Having a target market will help you align with your goals and make sure that you are marketing to the right people for your services.

The ultimate goals that you planned out at the beginning of your marketing process should align with your target markets.

If your goal is to get 10 new clients, make sure those clients align with your niches and focus.

3. Treat Current Clients Like They Are Your Only Client

Being a financial advisor is about fostering long-term relationships with your client base. Make sure that you come up with strategies to keep them happy.

Just letting them know that you want to foster a personal connection and work with them will help your strategy and reputation, which can pay dividends — no pun intended — in word-of-mouth sales.

Here are some ways that you can foster a personal connection with your clients:

• Send birthday and holiday cards
• Offer office hours
• Host client events

Cards

Sending out birthday and holiday cards is a great way for clients to know you keep them in mind year-round, not just during consultations. Seeing your company name around the holidays or important events will make them feel important.

Office Hours

Hosting office hours makes you more accessible if your clients have a quick question. This shows that you value their time and makes you more accessible if a full meeting isn’t needed. You can host office hours like this once a quarter or more frequently, depending on your bandwidth.

Hosting Client Events

Hosting client events is a great way to show that you appreciate them. Not only can you give back to your existing clients, but you can use your events as a tool to bring in new relationships.

Be sure to give your existing clients plus ones. They may bring friends or partners that aren’t working with you yet. And once their plus ones see how well you treat your clients, they will be more willing to hear your pitch and begin a relationship.

4. Make Yourself Visible … Without The Banner Ads

If someone is looking for a personable financial advisor, they probably won’t get in touch with a banner ad. Instead, your ads should feel personal.

Use An Organic Approach

Using an organic, almost PR-like approach can benefit your financial planning company.

Financial advising is a social business. You want to connect with clients on a personal level.

You’re providing financial advice that can affect your clients’ lives. So why would a prospective client be convinced to work with you from an average advertisement on Facebook?

Utilizing a PR approach will make your business seem much more friendly and help build trust with potential clients.

Showcase Your Voice

To showcase your personalized nature through advertising, you will want to show off your business’s goals and voice. This means getting featured in trade publications or being part of virtual and in-person seminars and conferences.

You can then use advertisements to prompt your events so people can see what you’re really like. Showcasing your social strengths in your marketing strategy will make people more likely to reach out to your business.

5. Develop Your Digital Marketing

No matter what business you are in, you must implement a digital marketing strategy into your business efforts.

Here are some ways you can use digital marketing to your advantage as a financial advisor.

Create A Stunning Website

A beautiful, thought-out website will show clients that your business is legitimate. You want to make it easy for clients to get in touch with you, so make your contact information simple to access on your website.

Your financial advisor website can showcase other information that potential clients would be looking for. List out your common financial services with short descriptions. If they are the right fit, a client can then contact you from the website.

Start A Blog

Having a blog on your website will help it populate on search engines. So, if a potential client decides to Google search the financial advisors in their area, your business’s website has a better chance of coming up.

When you write blog posts, you are not only showing your expertise, but you can add SEO (Search Engine Optimization) keywords.

Using content marketing like blogging gives your site a much better chance of coming up higher on search engine results.

Blogging not only helps your website but your professional reputation too. Including blogs with valuable information will make clients feel that your business is more reliable. They can tell you know what you’re talking about.

You can also use your blog as a way to cross-market. Try featuring guest writers on your blog and being featured as a guest writer on other blogs.

Use Social Media

Along with a website, every business should use social media platforms.

For financial professionals, your social media marketing should focus more specifically on LinkedIn using the following strategy:

1. Create posts that are more related to business and finance.
2. Connect with other financial advisors and businesses to stay up-to-date with the latest industry news.
3. Post blogs or guest posts for your target audience.
4. Potential clients can find you on LinkedIn and follow along with your business.

6. Network

As a financial advisor, your daily job requires talking to people. These communication skills can help you market your business.

There are many different ways to add networking to your financial advisor marketing efforts.

Join Digital Networking Groups

Just like posting on LinkedIn, you can stay up-to-date with other advisors by joining digital networking groups. There are plenty of groups on Facebook where professionals share industry news.

Some people will also post new leads for clients who may not fit into their niche but might fit perfectly into yours.

Networking groups may also present opportunities to be part of webinars or podcasts.

Don’t Pass Up On Local Networking Events

Talking to other professionals in your area can put you in a position to get local referrals. It’s also a good marketing idea to be an active part of your business community. If you are one of the many freelance financial advisors, you are probably freelance because of the flexibility and freedom.

This gives you the ability to get your name out there in your community:

• Appear at local fairs or festivals
• Sponsor a local sports team
• Hand out flyers in busy areas

Sponsorship, in particular, is also a good way to give back to the area that has made you successful.

7. Analyze The Results

At the end of the day, a strong marketing campaign will result in new clients and happy customer reviews.

Take the time to review your efforts and see if you were able to meet the goals you set at the beginning of your campaign.

Send Out Client Surveys

In the middle of your campaign, you should send out surveys. Not only will you be able to figure out if your clients are enjoying your services, but you will get testimonials on what you can do better in the future.

You can also send out surveys at the end of your campaigns. When you get the feedback, you’ll be able to have a holistic view of how clients reacted to your efforts.

Look At The ROI

Once you have your survey data and your marketing campaigns are wrapped, take a look at your ROI. With digital marketing, you can easily see your ROI results with the click of a button.

Most social media pages and campaign tools have robust data reports and metrics. You’ll be able to see info like clicks and conversion rates, and even track demographics.

You can use this data along with clients’ sentiments to decide if you had a successful marketing campaign.

With more traditional means, you’ll have to put some more quantitative and qualitative data together to see what worked and what didn’t:

• Did you meet your goals?
• If you didn’t, what can you change to get closer to them next time?
• Do you need a higher marketing budget?

When you’re wrapping up a campaign, you need to know if your marketing efforts were worth it for your bottom line. With your ROI information, you can make educated decisions on what steps to take next.

Conclusion

Financial advisors need to develop comprehensive marketing strategies to further their business development. With these seven financial advisor marketing tips, you’ll be able to run successful campaigns.

Whether you’re looking for brand awareness or new clients, you’ll be able to meet your goals when you take the time to create a great new marketing strategy.