A financial advisor's value proposition is how financial advisory firms set themselves apart from competitors. While a value proposition sometimes incorporates a firm’s mission statement and can overlap with brand positioning and messaging, it’s a separate entity and should be treated as such.
This is because a mission statement details the financial advisory firm’s purpose, but a value proposition takes it further and describes the benefits of the services provided. It details why someone would choose your financial advisory firm over a competitor. And it also answers the age-old question: “Why should I pick you?”
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A well-curated and impactful financial advisor value proposition can also guide your financial advisory firm’s direction and growth plan. If your financial advisory firm doesn’t have a clearly defined value proposition, or if yours needs significant improvements, you could be missing out on potential clients even finding your financial advisor online content.
When it comes to online search, Google makes the rules. For this reason, it helps to consider your first “audience” as Google - it controls your online visibility (page one or page teen). Before any website has a chance to show up in SERPs (search engine results pages), “Googlebot” crawls websites to determine if the website meets Google’s requirements and standards to be indexed. In short, your financial advisor content won’t even reach your true intended audience if it doesn’t get past Google’s bots in the first place.
And what does this have to do with your financial advisor's value proposition? Quite a bit. Because your financial advisor value proposition defines how your clients will benefit and what problems you can help them solve, it must be conveyed in your financial advisory firm’s digital content on its website. This content — which reinforces your financial advisor value proposition — is what Google uses to determine the quality and relevance of your financial advisor website.
Crafting a Remarkable Financial Advisor Value Proposition
Build Trust
First and foremost, financial advisory firms need to build credibility and trust, making this a crucial element of your financial advisor value proposition. Investors are seeking financial advisors they can trust on the Internet.
Dare to Be Different
A good place to start is by detailing what makes your financial advisory firm different and better. Potential financial advisory clients performing online searches are getting inundated with information about the potential firms they can contact for introductory meetings. By showing that your financial advisory firm does things differently, you can not only stand out but also appeal to the type of audience that you’re looking for.
Find (Or Create) a Niche and Double Down
Because you can’t be everything to everyone, having a specialized niche can be another way to cultivate a stellar financial advisor value proposition. If there’s a particular area that you or your financial advisory firm excels in, then use that to your advantage and include it in part of your value proposition.
If you don’t have a niche, you can create one based on what you have the most experience in, the types of clients that make up your existing client base, or even just by identifying an ideal audience and catering to them.
Don’t Underestimate the Importance of Local
As the virtual world gets larger and less personal, there is a huge opportunity for financial advisory firms that serve a local market. Because of the personal and sensitive nature of people’s finances, there are some clients who still prefer in-person meetings and working with their advisor one-on-one.
And while large, national firms may have bigger marketing budgets, they’re not often located within a local community. By working the local, community aspect of your financial advisory firm into your value proposition, you’re showcasing something that appeals to local clients, and that competitors can’t offer.
Ways to Promote Your Financial Advisor Value Proposition
Your financial advisor value proposition should be threaded throughout all of your content and marketing. This includes branding elements, content, language, and even tone. As an example, if your value proposition is based on your niche, then your content should be aligned accordingly. And this messaging should be a part of your overall digital marketing strategy, which includes:
Video
Depending on the channel and content, these can be short, teaser videos or more detailed explainer videos. Be sure to include captions for the hearing impaired and those watching without sound.
Website Content
Keeping your financial advisor website content current, relevant, and consistent with your financial advisor value proposition can gain favor with Google and ultimately show prospects the benefits of partnering with your financial advisory firm. This includes short-form content like blogs and long-form content such as whitepapers and eBooks.
Social Media
While using the same overall principles and language from your financial advisor value proposition as a guide, social media content should be tailored to the individual platform. For example, a strong visual with a caption would be suitable for Instagram, whereas sharing a blog excerpt would be better suited for Facebook or LinkedIn.
Infographics
Using images to convey more complex financial products, services, and terminology can be an effective way of appealing to those prospective clients with limited knowledge of finance and investments. By providing information in a way that doesn’t make them feel intimidated, you are exhibiting your value proposition of making things easy for them to learn and understand.
Bonus: How a Remarkable Financial Advisor Value Proposition Affects Google’s E-E-A-T Rankings
Google has clearly established itself as the Holy Grail of search engines. And while the previously mentioned Googlebot likely makes up a large part of Google’s top-secret algorithm, there is also a human component. Known as E-E-A-T, Google uses real-life human beings known as “quality raters” to evaluate websites based on that website’s overall Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.
And while this could be seen as a challenge for websites in other industries, financial advisory firms can use this as an advantage. After all, financial service providers are in a unique position that demands trust from clients to be successful. Combine that with a financial advisor proposition and supporting content that includes being trustworthy and offering clients expertise and experience, and it can only help E-E-A-T rankings.
