Let’s face it, growing a financial advisory practice during this seven year bull market has not been easy. As we know, long bull markets can lull amateur investors into thinking they are “naturals” at it and have little need for outside help.
Well, the Brits may have just done our industry a favor. No one knows where this will lead, of course, but there is one likely outcome for the months ahead: increased uncertainty. Even if the U.S. market just continues on its upward march, we can count on the media to continue sensationalizing this and related events (Departugal, anyone?).
So far there have been a few high-drama days. While some advisors reported surprisingly few calls on June 24th with the 600+ point drop in the Dow, what about those without advisors? In fact, some 401(k) providers found their phones ringing off the hook. Fidelity reported a 50% surge in call volume. It’s no surprise that people without advisors appeared to be far more concerned. They need an advisor!
This uncertainty represents opportunity. Now is an ideal time to accelerate your marketing efforts, since self-directed investors may be more likely to read the news and worry. With more unknowns out there, it may be easier to capture their attention.
But before you spend time and money using the same old marketing systems, it’s vital to make sure your efforts will actually yield results.
Sadly, most advisor websites and content systems are not up to the task. Most firms have a website that’s really not much more than a digital brochure. This type of digital presence doesn’t engage many visitors, and it rarely prompts them to take action.
Statistics bear this out…per a survey by Paladin Digital Marketing, 83% of financial advisors said their websites did not produce ANY new prospects for their firm. Even more troubling—many advisory firms rely primarily on referrals. Spenser Segal of ActiFi, Inc. found that alarmingly, “out of every 10 referrals, advisors were seeing at most one prospect.” So an estimated 90% of people referred to you may go to your website and conclude that there’s no reason to get in touch with you. Once that happens, do you think they are likely to return?
Clearly, we have an industry-wide problem. We need to start creating websites and marketing content that our prospects find compelling, not just what we think will work best. Big difference.
So what can you do?
- Make sure your website is actually working for you. In today’s world, consumers often make their buying decision before they even contact you. In fact your website has two minutes or less to make an impression so a nameless visitor is willing to give you their email address. Your website needs to be designed so that visitors are engaged, quickly.
Unfortunately, many firms have chosen to save money on website design. So there’s a significant amount of cookie-cutter stuff out there. This decision needs to be reconsidered, given the critical importance of your firm’s digital presence.
If your website is not working-meaning it’s not measurably generating prospects for you-invest the time, money and resources to do it right. If you don’t have the talent internally to create an investor friendly, engaging and responsive website, or modify your existing one, find an outside firm with the expertise to help.
- Invest in effective marketing content. Along with an effective website, marketing content will work on your behalf to convert visitors into leads and also help turn leads into clients. Unfortunately most of the industry is missing the mark here too. Most advisors have either little content or too much of the wrong type. General interest stuff that doesn’t answer common buyer questions, or give prospects a taste of what value you can bring to them has little impact. Marketing content for prospects should have one goal: persuade them to begin a conversation with your firm. So it shouldn’t look like everyone else’s.
If you have writing and marketing talent at your firm, take the time to develop and test engaging content. Free offers are usually the most effective way to convert visitors into leads, so consider an E-Book or other giveaway with some valuable information that helps showcase your firm’s services. No time to develop or no one on your team likes to write? Find a firm that specializes in advisor content development to specifically engage the type of investors you’d like to work with.
- Test and tweak accordingly. What you think, what I think, what Joe in the office next door thinks about the website or marketing piece really is at best irrelevant and at worst totally wrong. What matters is…do your prospective clients find it of enough interest to give you their name and email address? So best practices dictate that we test initially, see what type of results we get and adjust until we hit the mark. Again, do this yourself or find a third party firm who can help you take care of this crucial step.
Websites and marketing content should be prospect generating tools, period. Don’t be like 83% of colleagues and accept less. Invest the time and resources up front to make sure these tools are working for you. Then seize timely, news-rich opportunities like this one and your practice will reap the rewards down the line.
Jeanne Klimowski is the founder of Wavelength Financial Education Inc. and also serves as a Paladin Digital Marketing partner.
