What if you were the best financial advisor but hardly anyone knew it?
The success of your business is about more than the depth of your knowledge and the quality of your service. You must also have to-notch marketing to let the world know who you are and what you can do.
In our increasingly online world, digital marketing strategies are more important than ever. But do you know which strategies will help your business succeed? Keep reading to discover our top tips!
1. Client Testimonials
Our guide is focused on improving your different digital marketing strategies. However, one thing you should know is that most modern demographics are skeptical about your marketing. It’s one thing for you to say that you provide great service, but customers will naturally distrust what a business has to say about itself.
That’s why client testimonials are so important. They offer a kind of social proof to prospective clients about the good work that you have done for others. Ideally, you will feature these testimonials on your website, though there are creative ways to incorporate testimonials into advertisements and even social media posts.
The importance of testimonials is not limited to the financial advisory industry, either. Most customers check consumer reviews before they buy a new product or visit a new restaurant. If you have many favorable testimonials and your competition does not, then you will end up leaving them in the dust.
2. Less On What You Do, More On What You’ll Do For Them
As you know, financial advisors are most successful when they focus on building and maintaining relationships. Unfortunately, too many websites make the financial advisor sound like a pushy used car salesman.
Why? Simple: it’s tempting to tell potential customers about all of your different services and features. But customers can get dizzy reading through all of that. They have a simpler question: what can your business do for them?
The good news is that you can answer this question by updating your website. Seek out all of the sections where you wrote something like “We offer retirement planning.” Next, replace that with something like “We work closely with you to offer personalized retirement solutions that will make your golden years the happiest days of your life.”
Just like that, you stop sounding like a salesman rattling off all of the different cars available out in the lot. Instead, you sound like a financial advisor focused on client service and client satisfaction, and this helps to really set your business apart.
3. Show Some Personality
If we’re being honest, the websites of most financial advisors look pretty “cookie-cutter” in design. Some of this comes down to too many advisors using the same boring design templates. The rest of it, though, comes down to a lack of personality.
Imagine that a customer is trying to decide between your business and someone else’s. On paper, the two of you have similar backgrounds, services, and testimonials. So, which one is the client going to go with?
All things being equal, clients prefer an advisor that isn’t afraid to show a little personality and humanize themselves. You can do this through your blogs (more on this later) and photos. Even the “about us” section is a good opportunity to let someone know more about who you are–not just what you do.
4. Less Outbound Marketing
Once upon a time, outbound marketing was the real “golden goose” for financial advisors. Drumming up new business was a matter of picking up the phone, sending out direct mail, and other tactics meant to raise awareness of your brand.
Now, there is still a time and place for outbound marketing. But most modern clients find it very disruptive. And if you’re not careful, these tactics can turn away the very clients you are trying to attract.
In addition to clients finding this disruptive (who wants to answer a cold call in the middle of lunch?), most clients now rely on the internet to discover new businesses and research potential financial advisors. Your solution is simple: use inbound marketing to reach these clients.
5. Focus On Inbound Marketing
“Inbound marketing” is something of an umbrella term. It encompasses several different digital strategies, including blogging, social media, email marketing, and even special online offers.
Inbound marketing for financial advisors is ultimately a “win/win” strategy for everyone involved. Clients prefer it because it is less disruptive and gives them an opportunity to learn more about your business from the comfort of their home. And you’ll likely enjoy it because once your inbound marketing is in place, it brings customers directly to you instead of you having to pick up a phone.
Our guide is going to touch on some ways that you can improve your existing inbound marketing. But our biggest bit of advice is to increase your inbound methods as part of your overall digital content marketing strategy.
6. Laser-Focused Homepage
The cornerstone of your digital marketing strategy should be your website. Unfortunately, most financial advisor websites are not optimized to convert visitors to the site.
It all comes down to timing. Once a customer visits your site, they will spend about ten seconds determining what services you offer and whether your business is a good fit for their particular needs.
That’s why you need to create a streamlined and laser-focused homepage. You should focus on generating leads by quickly offering a breakdown of services and giving potential clients a CTA to receive a digital brochure or sign up for your email newsletter.
There is plenty of room on the rest of your site for things like blogs, video marketing, and other modern digital marketing strategies. But think of your homepage as a machine designed to do nothing but generate leads!
7. Blog Often and Consistently
Your business benefit from all forms of inbound marketing. Arguably, though, blogs are the most important kind of inbound marketing. That’s why you need to create a lot of solid blog content and post it on a consistent schedule.
Why is blogging so important? First of all, it allows you to give clients a better idea of what you can do. Even better, providing an in-depth look at the topics your audience cares about the most is a great way of building their interest and, eventually, loyalty.
Second, blogs are a cornerstone strategy for your SEO. Creating a catalog of high-quality, high-authority content helps your website rise through the ranks of Google search results. And to prospective clients, this wealth of knowledge helps further establish your expertise in your field.
Finally, blogs fit well into any digital marketing strategy. Whether you want more leads or more traffic, blogging is a great way to make it happen.
8. Video Marketing Is Here to Stay
You may not feel like an expert in digital marketing. Sometimes, though, you can just take a look around and see what trends have really taken off. And one of the biggest trends is video marketing.
Streaming video has become a major pastime for just about everyone. Watching things like Netflix and Youtube is a part of most people’s daily lives. And you can reach these people by embracing video marketing.
Such marketing may come in many different forms. For example, recorded client testimonials are even more effective than written testimonials in attracting new customers.
You can also create video versions of some of your blog content. These videos may be as simple as you sitting down and explaining key aspects of financial advice.
Whatever your video content, just make sure it aligns with the interest of your specific audiences. And don’t be afraid to re-use videos in interesting new ways. A video you recorded for your website, for instance, may become an unexpected hit on social media or even your own Youtube channel!
9. Make Your Website Mobile-Friendly
Earlier, we mentioned that inbound marketing became more important once most customers started using the internet to research companies. But do you know how those customers are accessing the internet? The majority of them now access the internet via mobile devices instead of desktop computers.
Unfortunately, many websites are still designed with desktop computers in mind. That means these sites may look downright awful when someone tries to visit them via smartphone.
If you’re redesigning your site, your best bet is to use responsive design. This will effectively resize the site for whatever size screen the customer is using.
Long story short? Responsive design helps your site look great on any and every device, which is very important for your business.
10. Specific Audiences and Specific Niches
Our last bit of advice is also the simplest: you need to carve out a specific niche and market yourself to specific audiences.
As a financial advisor, you have a lot of competition. To stand out, you need to discover and articulate your unique value proposition via digital marketing.
Clients respond well to financial advisors who market themselves as “specialists.” If you have particular specialties, make sure your digital marketing advertises this fact on your website, blogs, social media, and other platforms.
Digital Marketing Strategies: What’s Next?
Now you know about our top digital marketing strategies. But do you know who can help evolve your entire business?
We specialize in transforming your financial advisory business into a model of modern digital marketing. To see how we can help, contact us today!
