The finance niche has the potential to be highly lucrative, but at the same time, it is incredibly competitive. Digital marketing and websites are, for most financial advisors, the biggest bottleneck in their online growth.
The good news is that there are only a few key elements that a successful site needs to drive and convert traffic.
In this case study, we’re diving into what those are using one of our clients, Valtinson Bruner Financial Planning, as an example.
Valtinson Bruner came to us with some frustrating problems:
(which are actually pretty common)
- They felt “All over the place” with no clear marketing and message strategy.
- They lacked clarity on what exactly they did that differentiated them from other firms and who their ideal clients were.
- Many of their clients didn’t even know about the specialized tax planning service they offered.
- Most importantly, they didn’t have a process to attract, qualify and convert leads through their website.
These are the solutions we worked with Valtinson Bruner to implement on their website design to solve their problems and reach their goals:
- Brand Story and Message
- Unique Discovery Process
- Lead Magnet Conversion
- Authority Web Design and Development
Brand Story and Message
Who you are, what you do, how you’re different, and who it’s for needs to be abundantly clear to attract the right clients.
You only have one chance to leave a first impactful impression, especially online.
So here is how we transformed their Brand Story & Message:
- We crafted a message that was 100% unique to their firm, it is reflected in the copy on their site and speaks to best-fit clients.
- Created a process that clearly defines what it means to become a client, which lays out what transformation Valtinson Bruner takes their clients through.
- Implemented clear CTA’s (Calls To Action) throughout their site. The site and CTA’s make it easy to get started with their firm with specific next steps, qualifying and funneling potential clients through the conversion process.
Let’s look at some pages on the site to see these points in practice:
Homepage
You can see a clear benefit statement Above the Fold, a CTA directing the visitor to discover their Unique Discovery Process.
About Page
The about page is one of the most visited pages on any website. This one follows the strategy of what we call the “Upside Down” About Page. Most financial advisors start their about page talking about their firm.
Instead, we suggest starting this page with what your ideal clients are interested in and can relate to, implementing identity bullets.
Identity bullets are things that your ideal clients, or in this case, Valtinson Bruner’s ideal clients, identify with. Creating these points clients can relate to is key to forming a personal connection with your prospects which is a crucial element for conversion.
Do you want your leads to better connect with your Brand Story and Message?
Discover how we can help.
The Unique Discovery Process
Transform a generic discovery call into a unique process that positions you differently from your niche in the minds of your ideal clients.
The Unique Discovery Process Page is often called the “Schedule a Call” or “Start Here” page.
Let’s dive into this page a little bit more so we can understand how and why it works:
- Visitors can easily access this page through the “Start Here” button at the top menu, the sidebar, the footer, and various additional places throughout V.B.’s website. Site-wide CTA’s funnel interested clients to this page.
- The page is optimized for conversion. “Who it’s for” filters out prospects who aren’t a good fit and qualifies those who are.
- Their service: “The Personal Finance Summary” is represented like a physical object, which makes it easier for visitors to understand and comprehend what they can expect when scheduling a call.
- The prospect is given a clear step-by-step process on what to do next, Remember: “a confused mind never buys”!
- Scheduling the actual call is accessible and easy. Prospects simply select a time and date that works for them.
Lead Magnet Conversion
Alongside your main offer, it’s helpful to put together a lead magnet to take advantage of email marketing. Valtinson Bruner created the “Retire Ready Checklist.”
Your lead magnet should speak to your best-fit client, provide real value, while establishing a need for more of your expertise by building authority as a financial advisor.
The purpose of a lead magnet is to funnel interested prospects into an email list. This is an accessible entry point for people who are interested in what you have to offer, but are not yet ready to invest or need to establish trust with your brand.
When nurtured through email with content and social proof, these prospects can turn into paying clients.
Authority Web Design and Development
For the Valtinson Bruner Firm, it was important to be able to easily publish content on their site.
Here are some things to be aware of when starting a blog or content archive:
For complete control over your content, we always recommend that you build your website on a provider like WordPress.org, which gives you full ownership of your brand.
Brand your content by leveraging your strength, your strengths make you unique; it’s what makes you stand out from other financial advisors or planners.
In this case, the founder was known for doing sketches on little yellow notebooks. We took this concept and brought it online. The Valtinson Bruner team recorded a video of him sketching out a topic, we published the video with a branded thumbnail, and posted it on a blog post.
What Makes a Great Website?
Click here to dive deeper into some key aspects of great web design.
Final Thoughts
Creating a successful website design can be a headache when there is no strategy or a lacking message. But if done right, your website can serve you as a lead-generating machine.
The processes, we at Wilnau Design, used to redesign Valtison Bruner’s Website was key to show:
Who they serve, how they can be of service to their clients, and what makes them unique. Having these key elements in your web design will help you optimize your site to qualify leads and book discovery calls in your sleep.
