Today’s financial advisors need to cut through the clutter and set themselves apart from the competition. To do so, they must go beyond occasional communication with their clients and prospects and commit to a well-defined, executed and engaging digital marketing strategy.
Advisors know they need to do more to market their services, but many say they don’t have the time, expertise or resources to do it right. According to a recent Broadridge Financial Solutions survey, the number of advisors implementing a defined marketing strategy has actually declined over the past few years, falling from 28% in 2019 to 20% in 2023.
The survey reports that 83% of advisors with a digital marketing strategy are significantly more confident in meeting their practice goals over the next 12 months.
These advisors are seeing success by using a personalized content approach and leveraging next-generation technologies such as AI to stay engaged with prospective and current clients.
Digital Wealth News gathered insights from several leaders across the wealth management space to understand how advisors use digital marketing to build their practices.
- Renee Farida, Chief Operating Officer, Householder Group, one of the nation’s largest independent financial planning firms specializing in holistic financial planning
- Susan Theder, Chief Marketing and Experience Officer, FMG, the award-winning, all-in-one financial advisor marketing platform
- Jason Inglis, Chief Revenue Officer, Sowell Management, a Forbes and Barrons Top 100 RIA providing a transformative platform of services and solutions for independent growth-minded advisors.
DWN: Financial advisors know they should have a digital marketing strategy to build their businesses, but most do not. What type of support does Householder Group provide their advisors to encourage them to make marketing a critical part of their overall growth plans?
Renee Farida, Chief Operating Officer, Householder Group:
At Householder Group, we understand that a solid digital marketing strategy is essential for financial advisors to grow their businesses. We have developed a comprehensive marketing platform designed to support them every step of the way. Our platform offers a range of tools and resources to help advisors effectively reach and engage their target audiences.
We provide personalized marketing plans tailored to each advisor’s goals and market. These plans include digital marketing tactics like social media management, email marketing, content creation and search engine optimization. By leveraging data-driven insights, we ensure our advisors’ marketing efforts are targeted and efficient.
We offer ongoing training and support to help advisors stay current with the latest marketing trends and technologies. Our in-house marketing and training experts conduct regular webinars, workshops and one-on-one coaching sessions to equip advisors with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed.
Our platform includes access to a library of customizable marketing materials, newsletters and social media content, allowing advisors to maintain a consistent and professional online presence without the burden of creating content from scratch.
By providing these robust marketing resources and continuous support, we empower our advisors to make marketing an integral part of their overall growth strategy. Seeing our advisors thrive and build meaningful connections with clients is incredibly rewarding.
DWN: Digital marketing is an area where artificial intelligence can improve the client experience without disintermediating the advisor. What next-generation marketing and communication technologies do advisors use to deepen client relationships and build their businesses?
Susan Theder, Chief Marketing and Experience Officer, FMG:
AI’s most accessible benefits for advisors revolve around content creation. At FMG, we have begun integrating AI across our platform both to improve customer service as well as assist advisors in personalizing content.
Take social media; using our mobile app, advisors can pull up a timely article, click on “write a caption for me,” and in seconds, a social media post is written following marketing best practices that starts with a hook, summarizes the article, adds emojis if appropriate and ends with a question and hashtags. Advisors can edit, ask it to try again, or post it as is. Imagine that across all of our content types.
Our vision is to enable all of our customers to create a personalized profile that includes their voice, style, tone and other factors that reflect their unique way of writing. Once that profile is established, with a click, they will be able to take any piece of content in our library — from blogs and emails to social posts and presentations (and eventually video voiceovers) — and customize it to their unique voice.
The future is filled with exciting possibilities but we’re still in a regulated environment and advisors can’t be producing content that isn’t 100% correct and compliant. That’s why partnering with firms like FMG can give advisors confidence that they’re taking advantage of the advances in AI but doing so in such a way that they do not need to worry about the pitfalls of AI or compliance because FMG is doing that for them.
DWN: Creating a defined digital marketing strategy can be daunting for independent financial advisors, demanding a lot of their time. In today’s competitive marketplace, does a wealth management firm need to be a full-service marketing agency for its affiliated advisors?
Jason Inglis, Chief Revenue Officer, Sowell Management:
While the landscape of marketing may seem intricate, its essence remains rooted in a principle familiar to all advisors — the art of building trusted relationships. Marketing is not just about promoting services; it’s about establishing genuine connections, fostering trust and demonstrating commitment to meeting clients’ unique needs.
Sowell Management provides our advisors with access to value-added personalized marketing support. We have an in-house agency model with highly experienced marketing veterans leading the team. This ensures our team builds trust with our advisors. This level of support gives us a competitive advantage in today’s marketplace.
Our team’s marketing strategy begins with the brand-defining who the advisors are and what sets them apart. Brand development provides advisors with a concise value proposition and brand promise. Once the brand is established, we help develop a user-friendly, search-engine-optimized, content-rich website with strong calls to action. We also create LinkedIn pages for engagement and thought leadership.
Email marketing and digital advertising can be layered into the strategy depending on the advisor’s growth plan. Fresh, engaging content is crucial, so we equip advisors with resources to generate content quickly and consistently. To be effective, our marketing strategy process involves a cycle of “test, learn, refine.” This includes regular evaluations through brand audits and annual marketing plan refinements.
