Financial advisor marketing seeks innovative ways to generate more sources of growth. Since outbound marketing is largely obsolete for financial advisors, they are relying on more inbound marketing tactics to produce new leads, prospects, and clients for their firms and practices. This brings the Internet and digital marketing business practices to the forefront.
By way of background, we can assume there are two types of investors searching for financial advisors on the Internet. Some know the names of firms, in which case they will enter a URL in a search engine to learn more about them. Then there are those who don’t know the names of firms, in which case, they will enter various combinations of generic keywords to find what they are looking for.
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For example, ‘find a financial advisor near me'. It makes sense, there are a lot more investors who do not know an advisor’s name than do know a name. So it is digital marketing’s job to reach these investors on the Internet and bring them to the financial advisors’ websites.
The production of visitors is a critical first step in a sophisticated sales funnel that nurtures visitors into leads, prospects, and clients. The financial advisors’ websites are a critical step in the sales process because they have to convert traffic into tangible leads. This also means the websites must create a significant amount of interest and be competitive with the other websites that are being visited by investors.
However, providing basic information about the firm may not be enough. Even a competitive, financial advisor website may not convince investors to give up their anonymity and initiate contact. It takes the right kind of information that creates interest, addresses the investor's needs, and stands out amidst an extraordinary amount of competition.
This blog post delves into the strategies that can make a financial advisor's website not just a brief stop along with several others, but a source of leads that financial advisors can convert into revenue-producing clients.
We'll explore how optimizing financial advisor websites can create a powerful online presence that generates new leads and clients.
What is the basic information on financial advisor websites?
Five types of basic information should appear on financial advisor websites:
- About Us: Information about the firm
- Our Team/Founder: Credentials of the team or founder
- Who We Serve: A description of the ideal types of clients
- What We Do: A brief description of each type of service
- Why Us: Describe differentiating characteristics
By providing this information you are making it easy for investors to learn more about your firm and compare your information to the other firms that are under consideration..
Why is the basic information on financial advisor websites so important?
The basic information on financial advisor websites makes it easier for investors to compare several financial advisors to each other. Consider the following facts that describe how investors use the Internet to find, research, select, and contact financial advisors.
- It stands to reason investors will be visiting multiple financial advisor websites.
- They are seeking specific information on each website.
- Investors use the information to screen and compare financial advisors.
- Transparency is an important feature of financial advisor websites.
- They will contact the advisors that match what they are looking for.
You should be focused on providing several reasons why investors should be contacting you. Basic information is important. Why they should contact you is even more important.
It pays to remember investors contact the advisors that provide the most benefits and make them feel safer in their selection choices.
What should appear on the home page of financial advisor websites?
Three vital functions should appear on the home page.
One is intuitive navigation that helps investors find the information they are seeking in a matter of seconds. Our experience shows when investors cannot find the information they are seeking quickly and easily they will exit the site and not come back.
A second important function is providing multiple reasons why investors should initiate contact with your firm. The home page may be the most important space on your website for one all-important reason. This may be the only page that investors visit on your website. You want investors to have positive experiences.
A third strategy should be to provide multiple reasons why investors should contact you and then make the contact as easy as possible with multiple CTAs (Calls To Action).
How important is transparency on financial advisor websites?
Don’t assume investors do not know when financial advisors are withholding information from them on their websites. Investors who have worked with financial advisors in the past will know when information is being withheld. Plus, when investors visit multiple financial advisor websites it is easy for them to determine who is being transparent and who is withholding information.
Ten of the more important types of information that are frequently withheld include:
- Assets under management
- Minimum asset requirement
- Average account size
- Fee schedule
- Compliance records for professionals
- Testimonials, ratings, reviews
- Code of conduct
- Fee-based versus fee-only
- Insurance sales and commissions
- Sources of income
It stands to reason that financial advisors do not want to publish any information that would cause them to be excluded from investor searches. Therefore, withholding important information may not be as risky as documenting potential firm weaknesses.
How to build credibility and trust on financial advisor websites?
Besides practicing transparency two other elements can build the online credibility of financial advisors on their websites.
First, you want investors to perceive you as an expert in your field(s) of endeavor: Planning, investing, risk management, tax, Social Security. Blog articles, eBooks, webinars, pillar pages, and videos are various ways to display your expertise. This appeals to investors who are seeking financial information before they are seeking financial advisors.
Second, you are a consistent source of high-quality information. This will cause investors to follow you and tell their friends, families, and associates. Perhaps you are already on the distribution lists of various websites.
Building trust is more complicated than building credibility because everyone claims to be a trustworthy financial advisor. You can publish a Code of Ethics on your website that describes your treatment of your clients. Or, you could provide a statement that describes your compliance with industry regulations.
If you are going to market your firm as a financial fiduciary be sure to explain what that means and how it benefits investors. It can be a mistake to assume they know the significance and benefits of this important feature of your firm.
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.
