Much more than just a search engine, Google’s digital platforms dominate the digital space. This includes everything from basic searches to company listings and e-commerce. Bottom line: Google is everywhere and can hold the key to getting your financial advisor branding and content in front of the right audience at the right time.
One of the most effective Google tools for financial advisors is Google’s Ads Platform. Formerly known as Google Adwords, Google Ads is an all-encompassing advertising platform that uses the power of Google’s search algorithms to offer premium placements for both search and display ads.
Bring your financial advisor marketing methods out of the dark ages and into 2023! Connect with Paladin Digital Marketing today!
These ads can be a powerful tool when used as part of your digital financial advisor marketing strategy. Keep reading for tips on how your financial advisory form can make the most of Google Ads.
Tip #1: Set a Budget
While it’s true that Google Ads can work with any budget, it’s still very important to set that budget prior to running a campaign. This will not only help prevent overspending but can also help control the influx of new visitors and the potential impact on staff availability to respond to information requests.
Tip #2: Clearly Define Your Goals
As with any worthy endeavor, it’s hard to define success without first laying out goals or objectives. Part of this process includes taking stock of where your marketing efforts stand before launching new campaigns, and ensuring that you are attributing ROI correctly.
Tip #3: Measure Campaigns in Real-Time
After defining goals, it’s time to measure the results of your Google Ads campaigns. One of the many benefits of digital advertising is that you don’t have to wait until the campaign has concluded before seeing the results.
A word of caution, however, is that often financial advisors will see a campaign getting a slow start and shut it down or make significant changes. While changes may be warranted, it’s crucial to give a campaign sufficient time to work before making changes.
Tip #4: Utilize Dedicated Landing Pages
There’s nothing more frustrating for someone seeking information online than to be misled by specific keywords and meta descriptions, only to be sent to a generic homepage. This happens when an advertiser has the right SEO and advertising elements to attract a specific audience but fails to deliver when it comes to giving them the information they need.
To avoid this, it’s a best practice to utilize specific landing pages based on the content contained in specific ads on the Google platform. For example, if a campaign is focused around 401k rollovers and has keywords and descriptions about this topic used throughout the ad creation process, then it’s fair for the user to have the expectation that clicking on that ad will lead them to more information on that topic.
If instead the click leads to your financial advisor website homepage, this can be a frustrating experience for the user. They can now decide if they want to take the time to find that specific information on your site or go back to the search results and click on another result (i.e., another financial advisory firm).
Tip #5: Content Remains Critical
When all is said and done, the success of your Google Ads campaigns will be determined by your financial advisor content. As demonstrated above, if your target audience (chock full of potential clients) isn’t finding what they need on your financial advisor website, they can easily find it elsewhere.
The key is to not only consider the content in the ads themselves but also how to continue that conversation once that ad is clicked. This can be achieved by dedicated landing pages, as detailed above, and by keeping your financial advisor content up-to-date, accurate, and relevant.
This not only helps for advertising purposes but also helps with SEO by showing Google’s algorithms that your financial advisor content proves your expertise and trustworthiness.
Tip #6: Take a Local Angle
If your financial advisory firm has a local presence, Google Ads can help put your firm in front of more local prospects. And while the large wirehouse firms may have massive budgets that seem impossible to compete with, local financial advisory firms have something they don’t. By appearing in front of a local audience, your financial advisory firm can highlight what you have over the national firms – a knowledge of and a vested interest in the local community.
This local presence can be highlighted through the advertising content itself. As an example: if your firm sponsors and/or participates in local events or activities, you can use photos of the event in your Google Ads campaign. Just be sure there is a smooth transition to the landing page, perhaps creating one entirely about your firm’s local involvement.
Tip #7: Don’t Forget About Keywords
For anyone with an eye on the digital space, the debate over the importance of keywords is nothing new. And while keywords aren’t the end all be all that they were once considered to be in SEO’s infancy, they still play an important role in SEO and search advertising.
What’s more, there are now other factors to consider, such as negative keywords—words that you don’t want to show up on SERPs for. And as with everything else digital, your ideal keywords can change based on trends, and even political events. That’s why they should be reviewed regularly and not let run on “autopilot.”
Tip #8: Put in the Work
While Google Ads are a proven effective marketing tool for financial advisors, this platform is not meant to carry an entire marketing plan on its shoulders. Google Ads are best when only a part of an overall marketing plan, not the entire plan.
And while Google ads can move your financial advisor content higher up the results page, there’s no guarantee of being at the top and there’s plenty of competition. However, combining a paid Google campaign with strong organic SEO practices will likely see stronger results than just paid advertising alone.
About Paladin
Paladin is a team of digital marketing professionals with more than 100 years of collective financial industry experience marketing our clients' services to individuals, institutions, and financial advisors. Paladin is a boutique agency that was founded in 2003 to provide game-changing digital marketing services to a limited number of firms and professionals in the financial service industry. Our services range from designing and developing custom websites to providing SEO, SEM, and Fractional CMO services. Want more information about our digital marketing services? Email your request to Paladin’s CMO: Jack@PaladinDigitalMarketing.com
