Let's assume you are an individual investor seeking a financial advisor's services. Where would you go to find three or four advisors you can research and interview?
One solution is to ask friends, family, and associates if they know anyone they would recommend. This is a convenient source of names. However, there is also a hidden risk. There is no guarantee that the referral source knows a good advisor from a bad one.
Furthermore, even if you received a name from a referral source you still need to research the advisor before you give up your anonymity and initiate contact.
The next question is, where would you go to research financial services before you contacted them? There is only one alternative. You would look for information online, by visiting the advisor’s websites and Google searching their names. What you see online determines who you contact for interviews.
Of course, investors don't have to ask friends, family, and associates for referrals. They can find numerous alternatives by entering a few keywords in Google: "Find Financial Advisors In Dallas," for example. In this example, investors could use search engines to find financial advisor websites and learn more about them.
This is the target audience that financial advisor digital marketing strategies are trying to reach. Financial advisors market their services online because that is how investors find and research wealth management services. The first interaction between the two parties occurs online.
Many advisors who contact Paladin for digital marketing services say their current strategies are not producing results. The first step is identifying the problem, and developing a strategy to fix it.
Why is Internet Visibility Important For The Marketing Success Of Financial Advisors?
The marketing solution for advisors has to have two parts. Part one is investors have to be able to find information about potential advisors on the web. The second part occurs when they visit their websites to view information about firms and the professionals who work there.
You can imagine how disconcerting it might be if investors can't find information about potential advisors online. Right away, this is a major cause for concern. Investors assume that successful advisors will be visible on the web. Invisible advisors may represent a hidden risk regardless of how investors found their name.
Why is competitive website content an important part of marketing success for financial advisors?
Prudent investors will visit several advisors’ websites before they give up their anonymity and contact the advisors they want to interview.
This makes navigation an important criterion for prospective advisor websites. You want to make it easy for investors to find the information they seek in a matter of seconds.
Numerous surveys show investors will exit websites before they search for information. The reason for this is simple: they visit several websites and do not want to waste time searching for information on one website.
In addition, they are seeking information they will use to compare different advisors to each other. This marketing information should be easy to find on their websites.
What is the most important marketing information on an advisor’s site?
We know it pays to deliver the right information on your website. We also know it pays for their websites to be competitive with the marketing strategies of their competition. So, what information is the typical investor seeking when they visit the websites of financial advisors?
- About Us: Background information about the firm.
- What We Do: A brief description of the firm's services.
- Who We Serve: A description of the types of investors served by financial advisors.
- Why Select Us: Some differentiating characteristics would cause investors to select a particular firm.
- Resource Center: Investor information about financial topics.
- Professional Profiles: In case investors are seeking professionals instead of firms.
What is the most frequent Internet marketing mistake made by financial advisors?
This mistake may occur under the Who We Serve tab. Some advisors market their services to high-net-worth, higher-high-net-worth, or ultra-high-net-worth investors. Based on their net worth, this is a generic description of investors that do not work.
Other advisors describe their ideal clients as individuals or families. Like HNW, this description is simply too broad and vague for prospective clients to relate to.
Some advisors describe their ideal types of clients as business owners. Again, a broad marketing description for potential clients who happen to own businesses. It could be a new business, a mature business, or a late-stage business.
The bigger issue is liquid assets looking for a financial advisor. Very few advisors are marketing their services to specific types of investors with money in motion. This is not represented on their websites, but it should be. How about the following:
- The replacement market - investors who are unhappy with their current financial advisors and seeking replacements.
- Recent retirees - rolling assets from 401ks to IRAs.
- Changing jobs - also rolling assets from 401ks to IRAs.
- Relocators - moving to a new city or state; seeking a local advisor.
- The DIY market - is no longer comfortable managing its assets.
- Business owners - selling their businesses and using the proceeds for retirement.
- Recent widows & widowers - newly responsible for substantial family assets.
- Inheritors - Trillions of dollars will be moving to the next generation.
- Stock options - Exercising company stock options.
- Real estate sale - Selling an illiquid asset and investing the proceeds.
These are just ten examples of money that is in motion for different reasons.
Investors with illiquid assets are not viable prospects for financial services. In particular, financial advisors with higher minimum asset requirements.
Based on their experiences with current financial advisors, happy investors are not inclined to make changes. It makes sense that investors who are not happy with their current financial advisors are more likely to be seeking replacements.
How do you represent your interest in serving particular types of investors? Start by updating the Who We Serve page on your website with some of these descriptions. Then you can start producing a consistent flow of new blog content that addresses the financial pain points of these types of investors.
About Paladin
Paladin has provided content marketing services to independent financial advisors since 2003. Our services help financial firms make the web their best source for new leads, prospects, and revenue-producing clients, as well as grow their business.
