A recently retired investor with $1,700,000 in an IRA is seeking a financial advisor who provides retirement planning and investment management services.
You might ask, what is the most efficient way for this investor to find, screen, and contact an advisory firm to schedule interviews? The investor could ask friends, family, associates, and other professionals for referrals. The investor may receive some financial advisor names, but the investor still does not know anything about the financial advisor.
What is the best way to research the financial advisor and remain anonymous?
Welcome to the digital age!
The internet makes finding, screening, and contacting financial advisors a fast, easy, and efficient process. In a matter of minutes, investors have the information they need to initiate contact and schedule introductory interviews.
That is good news for investors. It is also good news for financial advisors who use digital marketing to reach investors and build websites that convert more visitors into qualified leads.
Suppose you're a financial advisor who wants to stay ahead of the curve. In that case, it's important to understand how digital marketing works and how it impacts the ways financial advisors market their services to investors.
This blog post will discuss some key facts about digital marketing for financial advisors.
- Why is the internet a game changer for financial advisors and investors?
- Why is SEO the foundation of digital marketing for financial advisors?
- How does SEO impact credibility and trust?
- Why do financial advisors use SEM to produce leads?
- Why are websites one of the key marketing strategies for financial advisor success?
Why is the Internet a game changer for financial advisors and investors?
Back in the dark ages, the telephone made cold calling possible. This invasive sales tactic worked because there was universal access to telephones in the homes of potential clients. This made it possible for financial advisors to reach every investor in America, even when they did not want to be contacted. Good or bad, Caller ID has made this form of marketing much more difficult (close to impossible).
Today, the internet has replaced the telephone as a primary means of communication. This is a game changer for financial advisors who understand how digital marketing strategies can impact their businesses.
However, the real beneficiaries of the internet are investors who have an efficient, anonymous way to find, research, and contact financial advisors. They are no longer limited to the financial advisors who contact them, which is the real game changer.
Why is SEO the foundation of digital marketing?
Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is important because it is an effective way for financial advisors to expand their keyword visibility on the Internet. Visibility makes it possible for investors to find financial services on the Internet.
If you are one page one of Google, for the right keywords, you are very visible. If you are on page 10 of Google, for all practical purposes, you are invisible. Less than 1% of investors scroll past page three when seeking financial advisors. Some other Google statistics (per Fit Small Business) worth noting:
- 92.7% of the search volume is on Google
- 65% of searchers click on organic results
- 8.5 billion Google searches per day
- 59% of Google searches are from mobile devices (up 250% in the past three years)
Finding financial advisors is an important application on the internet, but it is not the most important. That’s because investors have many ways they can find financial advisors.
Financial advisor research is the more important game-changing application for the Internet and SEO. In the not-too-distant past, investors had to talk to financial advisors to learn more about them. Today, all they have to do is visit their websites, and Google search their names.
How does SEO impact financial advisor credibility and trust?
It stands to reason investors are seeking financial experts they can trust. So, how do financial advisors prove they are trustworthy financial experts? One answer is SEO and their use of content marketing strategies.
Who writes blog articles and pillar pages? Financial experts write the articles that may appear on page one of Google. The more high-quality content financial advisors write, the more visible they are on the Internet for keywords that drive the right types of content to their websites.
Internet visibility can also impact the trust factor that exists between investors and their financial advisors. It is as simple as advisors who are more visible on the internet are more trustworthy than advisors who are invisible. A high percentage of investors still pick advisors who work for firms they have heard of - because they feel safer. Visibility matters, in particular when it is based on high-quality content.
Why do financial advisors use SEM to produce leads?
SEM (Search Engine Marketing) is a paid advertising campaign that buys instant visibility on the internet. Do you want to rank on page one for “find financial advisors in Dallas"?
It takes time to generate this organic ranking using SEO. All it takes is money to buy this visibility on Google. Even better, if it fits your budget, you can be on the top of page one as soon as you are ready.
Advertising is the primary way Google monetizes the value of the extraordinary amount of traffic on its website every day. Many financial advisors advertise their services on Google and social media platforms.
The most effective ads usually include a free offer which could be access to an eBook or attendance at a webinar. Many investors need something of value to convince them to give up their contact information.
Why are websites the key to financial advisor success?
Think of the internet as a large shopping mall, and your website is a store in that mall. You will not generate any revenue if your store does not attract visitors that you can convert into prospects and customers. They could walk in the front door and leave without buying anything. And this usually means they will not return - you did not have what they sought.
In this example, this is a one-time opportunity.
Your website has to:
- Deliver the information they are seeking
- Has to be competitive with the other sites they are visiting
- Has to convince them to contact you
Most financial websites are online sales brochures. They deliver information but do not convince visitors to give up their anonymity and initiate contact. This does not mean digital marketing does not work. This experience means you have the wrong website.
