While it might sound intimidating, a “tech stack” is another way of describing all the software, applications, and platforms that are necessary to run a financial advisory firm in today’s environment. But rather than only thinking of each piece of software as a separate, stand-alone application, a tech stack looks at all the software as one cohesive process.
By taking this approach, financial advisors can get a look at the whole picture, making the most of the software products they already have. Additionally, this process can identify areas of weakness or need that were otherwise unknown. And when it comes to digital marketing for financial advisors, these areas of weakness could be costing valuable online exposure to potential clients.
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What Is A Financial Advisory Firm Digital Marketing Tech Stack?
While the ideal tech stack can vary from firm to firm, here are some key elements that should be a part of every optimal financial advisory digital marketing tech stack and how the stack services can best benefit financial advisory firms that utilize them:
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software
A CRM is an important part of an optimized financial advisory digital marketing tech stack. This software maintains client and prospect marketing information, onboarding, and in some cases, email marketing services. The right CRM software can be a game changer for financial advisors looking to build relationships with both existing clients and potential clients alike.
When leads are added to the CRM, they can be moved through the sales funnel and ideally become a client before reaching the end of the marketing process. For existing clients, a CRM can help move new clients through an onboarding program to help them make the most of their relationship with their financial advisory firm. This is helpful from both client experience and client retention perspectives.
Email Marketing Software
Whether included in a CRM platform as mentioned above or as a separate application, an email marketing solution is a vital tool in any financial advisory digital marketing tech stack. Email marketing platforms offer the ability to build and send financial advisor marketing emails and maintain their database of contacts in an efficient and compliance-friendly manner.
For example, if a contact receives a financial advisory marketing email and chooses to unsubscribe, the email marketing software will unsubscribe that contact automatically. This leaves little to no room for human error and ensures that the contact will receive no further marketing emails from that sender.
Additionally, email marketing software offers reporting on how any given email performs and helps financial advisors determine their most successful email marketing content and overall strategies for their campaigns.
Digital Advertising Software
To reach the right audience, many financial advisory digital marketers will use digital advertising. While social media platforms offer their advertising tools, that still leaves a vast amount of the digital space untouched.
Through digital advertising software, sometimes known as programmatic advertising, this semi-automated process allows financial advisors to reach target audiences across different websites and platforms in a consistent and non-intrusive manner.
This software can also provide digital marketers with the ability to reach users who may have visited a specific page or topic and show them a relevant ad, known as retargeting.
Reputation Monitoring Applications
The sheer size and scale of the digital space make it an optimal place for financial advisor digital marketing messages. However, that size and scale can also be seen as a negative, especially for smaller financial advisory firms with limited staff and resources.
But that doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to ignore this important piece of a financial advisory firm’s digital marketing tech stack. What used to be word of mouth between friends, family, and colleagues has become accessible to anyone on the internet through 3rd party review sites, social media, and other online channels.
And with so much competition in the digital advisory space, it’s never been more important for a financial advisor to know what is being said about them online.
Analytics and Reporting Tools
While individual marketing software platforms will undoubtedly include their own reporting features, a successful tech stack includes one place where all digital marketing efforts can be measured.
While it can be time-consuming on the front end to get all the metrics into the same platform, the payoff will be well worth it. Instead of pulling reports from multiple programs and essentially comparing apples to oranges, financial advisors can analyze everything from website performance, ad spending, digital ad campaign metrics, and much more—all at the same time!
Best Practices and Additional Benefits for Financial Advisor Digital Marketing Tech Stack
Best Practice: Analyze Current Software for Redundancies
Benefit:
As noted above, some software applications cover multiple digital marketing disciplines—from email marketing to database management and everything in between. This means some financial advisory firms may have multiple software programs performing the same task.
By evaluating software assets and eliminating duplicates, financial advisory firms can not only save money but also streamline processes and make it easier to manage their digital marketing efforts.
Best Practice: Remain Flexible
Benefit:
As with anything in the digital space, the core components of an optimal financial advisor tech stack can (and likely will) change over time. This is why it’s essential for financial advisory firm digital marketers to be willing to pivot at any given time. By remaining agile, financial advisors can get the most out of digital marketing efforts that will perform better with small tweaks, rather than staying the course and missing out on valuable leads.
Best Practice: Partner With Digital Marketing Professionals
Benefit:
There is no need to go it alone when there are experienced digital marketing professionals who specialize in financial advisory marketing. Whether financial advisory firms need help with creating/tweaking content, branding, or starting their digital marketing efforts from the ground up, an experienced digital marketing partner can help. Even the most experienced financial advisory firm can benefit from a team of seasoned industry professionals, so reach out to Paladin Digital Marketing today.
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
