Whether you’re a new independent advisor or an industry veteran looking to upgrade your digital marketing strategies, there’s one thing for sure: you need to learn how to market yourself as a financial advisor.
And that’s probably why you’re here.
The demands of running a successful advisory business have changed with the rising use of technology and social networks.
If you don’t have a presence on the internet, then who are you really?
The importance of an online brand can be frustrating when you already have built a lucrative business off the web. Still, it can also be a massive opportunity for you to scale your existing firm.
Digital marketing can be so simple if you wisely invest your time and energy.
Keep reading if you are looking for a tangible step-by-step process on how to market yourself as a financial advisor. Get your digital marketing working and working for you!
Beginner’s Guide to Digital Marketing for Financial Advisors
The reason digital marketing is effective and used as a primary strategy by most businesses is the benefit of targeting.
Targeting allows you to get your business in front of people that need your services.
There are many different ways to use targeting to your advantage. Still, for your target audience to “bite” onto your offers, you need to create content and a brand that speaks to their needs and desires.
If you need help with turning your content into an asset that converts, we can help you. Click here to get started.
Last but not least, you need to have a solid strategy to convert leads into clients. Being strategic about conversion is what most advisors fail at and, therefore, lose much business.
So let’s speak about these foundational concepts on how to market yourself as a financial advisor a bit more.
Use Targeting to Your Advantage
One of the most important aspects of marketing yourself as a financial advisor is defining your ideal client.
Many financial business owners are afraid to define an ideal client because they’d be missing out on so many opportunities.
You may be concerned that if you narrow down your niche you will lose potential clients. After all, why would you want anyone coming to your website looking for financial services to realize you’re not what they’re looking for and leave?
Well, think about it this way: do you want the wrong people coming to you?
Are you willing to spend valuable minutes of your time jumping on calls that end up in nothing?
Would you like to attract more of those clients you love helping organize their financial lives?
If you want to differentiate yourself as a financial advisor, get clear on who your ideal client is, what they need, and their pain points. From there, all the following strategies will become so much easier!
How do you do that?
First, if you have an existing client base, look at the common denominator those clients have.
Which common problem did they come to you for? What did they most benefit from working with you?
If you solve different problems, then look at what personality traits your clients have in common. What are their interests, their desires?
Build your “avatar” so you know whom you speak to and, ultimately, whom you create content for.
Guide Leads Through Your “Hero’s Journey”
If you want to market yourself as a financial advisor, you can’t forget about content. If done right, the content will be the key to turning leads into clients.
There are many ways unique content can be beneficial for your business.
It’s all about creating an experience for your leads, showing them that you have the answers to their problems and that you can help them reach their goals through your expertise.
Create Content Of All Awareness Stages
There are 3 stages of content that will show prospects that you understand where they are now, explain how your service can soothe their pain points, and ultimately guide them to fetch their goals by investing in your service:
- Attraction: Helps to bring new eyes to your business
- Awareness: Builds trust with your existing audience
- Conversion: Acts as the trigger for ideal prospects to book a call with you
Leveraging all stages of the hero’s journey through your content will elevate your Inbound Marketing, meaning leads contact you through exposure to your content. Instead of you having to find and cold call prospects through Outbound Marketing.
As easy as content creation might seem, it’s equally easy to get trapped in creating without seeing a return and getting discouraged. We’ve all been there!
To learn how to create content that ranks and converts, check out the Content Accelerator- a step-by-step process to master the art of profitable content creation.
Let Your Conversion Strategy Do The Work
Most financial advisors have a website and a social media account in place.
On their website, they introduce their firm and themselves through a couple of sentences followed by an address and email to get in touch.
Their social media profiles exist, but that’s about all.
If this is you, it’s time to step up your marketing game. Don’t worry; we got you!
Social media is essential to share your content and connect with prospects. Still, when it comes to marketing yourself as a financial advisor there’s nothing more powerful than a visually appealing and resourceful website that you own to back up your authority.
Having an attractive, optimized website is vital.
Not only does it give you a platform where you can build your brand as an asset, but it can serve you to qualify and convert ideal leads.
But just building a generic web and dropping some information about yourself and your business won’t do the work.
If you really want to sell your products/services, you need a solid strategy to get people from consuming your content to booking a call with you.
We’ve helped multiple financial advisors build a system that brings in new quality leads. And we know you have so much more to offer than big firms.
Keep reading to learn the step-by-step process to build an authoritative business online. And if you’re ready to start and need help turning your website into a converting machine, let’s talk! Click here to get started.
How to Market Yourself as a Financial Advisor: a Step-by-Step Process to Improve Your Digital Marketing
We get it. You’re not a digital marketing expert. You may even not be that techy at all. But that’s fine because you don’t need to master technology.
Once you learn about these simple steps you’ll start getting better results in your business.
There are many options you have regarding how you market yourself online as a financial advisor.
The most important thing is that you enjoy the process and stay consistent.
You’ll learn what works best by trying things out.
Warning: Imposter syndrome might kick in at times- don’t let it hold you back. Remember, someone out there needs you and your knowledge.
So let’s get into the step-by-step process to build and scale your brand online.
1. Choose your main content channel and stick to it.
What do you enjoy most? Writing, speaking, or creating videos, you decide! Podcast, Blog, YouTube, whatever you choose, be consistent. You don’t need every format but one to showcase your unique wisdom.
2. Create content regularly.
Set an achievable goal to create quality content that your ideal client desperately needs on a schedule. Learn more about creating magnetic content in the Content Accelerator.
3. Make the most of your website.
Your website is not only your content and conversion hub, but it reflects your personality. Its presentation will make or break visitors’ first impression of your business and determines if they want to work with you or not. Check out these 10 best financial advisor websites and why they work.
Some of the common elements they all have in place are:
- A well-thought-out brand story & message
- A magnetic lead magnet to grow their email list
- A power lander (a landing page that converts)
- A unique discovery process that makes them stand out and what they offer crystal clear
For a few more pointers on leveraging your website take some pointers from our Case Study on Milestone AMG
4. Choose 1-2 social media platforms to engage with your ideal clients.
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or LinkedIn, where are your ideal clients spending their screen time? You should know your target audience well enough to figure this out. Then get familiar with the platforms you choose and use their features!
While social media is a powerful tool to connect with potential clients, share your content, and build trust, you don’t have complete control over it. Please don’t make the mistake of pouring all your energy into creating content only for their platforms. Have your own platform- your website.
5. Host online events
Once you have a solid online presence with followers and want to scale more, host online events! A free workshop, webinar, or challenge is a great way to network with an existing connection. Invite clients to bring their friends and colleagues. This helps build trust and awareness of your brand and widen your client roster.
Want to learn more about how to market yourself online as a financial advisor? Download our free cheat sheet. You’ll find useful examples and actionable tips to leverage each and every one of the steps you just learned.
To sum it up
Navigating the digital world can be confusing. Many financial advisors are out there, and competition in an indefinite space can be overwhelming.
The good news is that there’s only one of you! The way you help your clients is unique.
All you need to do now is convey your value in how you present your business and processes online while guiding and qualifying prospects through your conversion funnel.
Once you start following the steps above, you’ll be on a path of learning and adjusting to what works best for your business.
If you need help creating a compelling website, an effective conversion strategy, or writing engaging copy, we are here to help! Find out how we can be of service.
We design custom websites that help exceptional financial advisors and planners stand out and get results online.