As a financial advisor, you may be considering a digital marketing strategy for your firm. Perhaps you’ve even gotten your feet wet by joining a social media platform or posting a few articles on your blog. And while you’re definitely headed in the right direction to get your firm in front of potential investors, those actions alone barely scratch the surface of what digital marketing can do for financial advisors when implemented by a team of experts.
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If you’re wondering just how much of an impact digital marketing can have on your firm, read on for ways the Internet can be used to produce more new prospects for financial advisors.
Know Your Audience
If you’ve been in business for even a few years you’ve probably noticed that the way you do business and interact with your clients is changing. The same is true for how you attract new clients and grow your firm. Where direct mail and phone book advertising used to be the way to get your name out there, digital marketing has taken over as the fastest and most effective way to reach your audience.
And speaking of your audience, consider that your current target audience has changed as well. Younger generations such as Millennials and Generation Z are getting into the investment space and are looking for financial advisors to guide the way. It’s essential to understand that they’re not the same as their parents and grandparents and tend to look online before going anywhere else for products and services.
It’s All About Content
It can’t be said enough how important it is to generate and share high-quality digital content with your ideal types of clients. From blog articles to infographics and even videos, today’s consumers expect to be educated when they’re being marketed to.
Advertising and marketing as a practice have gone from the early days of telemarketing and direct mail to today’s digital tactics. There seems to be no corner of the digital environment that hasn’t been touched by digital ads and marketing.
The key to not just becoming another ad in their news feed or an ad they have to watch in order to get to the next YouTube video. By creating and delivering relevant and actionable data to your prospective audience, you can set yourself apart in the highly competitive investment space.
Social Media
Social media – from its humble beginnings of Myspace – it has become a preferred delivery channel for digital marketing content. So much so that users often don’t mind being shown a sponsored message as long as it’s relevant to them.
This includes paid and promoted social posts, direct ads where you can highlight your ideal audience, and video ads. If done correctly, social media marketing can be a highly effective tool to add to your digital marketing strategy. Keep in mind that social media moves at the speed of light, and because of the highly conversational and social manner of most platforms, people expect responses quickly.
This could be a response to a question or even a complaint. Just be sure you’re acting within the compliance and regulatory limits of what is currently allowed. It is important to keep yourself aware of the latest changes as these regulations tend to change frequently to keep up with the pace of the technology.
Mobile
You’ve undoubtedly heard the phrase “mobile-first,” as it’s being thrown around in the digital marketing and web spaces frequently. But what does it really mean? In very general terms, mobile-first is the idea that recognizes how much business (62% according to Google) is now being done in a mobile environment compared to years past.
Where mobile phones and devices used to be a luxury, they are now the primary form of communication for billions of people worldwide. That means someone may also use their mobile phone as a way to find and research financial advisors. If your website and overall mobile presence aren’t appealing, you may easily get overlooked for a competitor without a second glance.
SEO
While often a catchphrase of its own, SEO remains an essential strategy for running a successful digital marketing campaign and having a relevant web presence. Where SEO used to simply be stringing together the right keywords, it has evolved way beyond its early days and now relies on a grouping of many factors to determine where any website or listing will appear in a standard Google search.
While there are many ways to tinker with your financial advisor website to increase SEO, a good start is to ensure your site is accurate and updated regularly, has relevant content and has links coming in from and going out to other relevant websites.
For a more in-depth approach to SEO practices, an experienced digital marketing agency can help come up with and implement an effective SEO growth strategy.
Measure, Adjust, Then Measure Again
One of the biggest advantages of digital marketing over traditional marketing channels is the ability to access analytics and metrics on any specific marketing effort in real-time. Digital marketing platforms as well as Google Analytics, and even the metrics dashboards within the social media advertising platforms provide performance metrics within minutes of a campaign launching.
Previously it took weeks or even months to know how a marketing effort was faring, and at that point, the budget was usually already spent. With digital marketing, you can test a campaign or ad, adjust if necessary, and try again all within minutes. This gives you the ability to be much more deliberate with your marketing budget.
How to Get Started
Much of the information here is simply an overview of the ways digital marketing efforts can be effective for financial advisors. While it doesn’t necessarily take a trained marketing professional to execute a digital marketing plan, it can certainly help.
The digital marketing landscape is relatively new by comparison and is likely to keep growing and evolving. Without staying on top of the latest trends, a digital marketing practice could be outdated as soon as you get it implemented. A digital marketing agency has digital marketing professionals who make this form of marketing their primary focus and are constantly learning new techniques and successful best practices to help your financial advisor firm.
