Digital marketing is the best solution for financial advisors who want leads because increasing numbers of investors are using the Internet to find and research financial professionals. What investors see on the Internet impacts who they contact for interviews and information.
You have seen the way the Internet has impacted marketing for other industries. It is just beginning to impact the financial service industry substantially. Increasing numbers of financial advisors are using digital marketing to build online visibility that produces website traffic and converts more visitors into financial advisor leads.
This article addresses several issues that impact financial advisors that want to market their firms’ advice and services on the Internet.
- What are investors seeking on the Internet?
- Why is digital marketing ideal for financial advisors?
- Why is digital marketing such a complicated form of marketing for financial advisors?
- What is The best way for financial advisors to begin generating leads?
- What is more productive: SEO or SEM?
- Why is content marketing such an important SEO strategy?
- Why is SEO the best lead generation for financial advisors?
What are investors seeking on the Internet?
Who doesn’t use the Internet to find information, services, and products?
Millions of investors are already using the Internet to:
- Find financial advisors (local, virtual)
- Research financial advisors (general information)
- Research financial advisory services
- Learn more about financial topics
Some investors are seeking financial advisors they can screen and interview. While some investors are not ready to start the interview process. They want to learn more about financial advisors or particular advisors. And then, a large number of investors are using the Internet to learn more about a variety of financial topics.
All of the above are potential leads for financial advisors who know how to make productive use of various digital marketing strategies to connect with their ideal clients.
Why is digital marketing ideal for financial advisors?
Digital marketing is a form of Inbound Marketing that has two key characteristics:
- Prospective clients initiate contact with financial advisors
- The digital marketing process starts on the Internet
Investors use keywords to find what they are looking for on the Internet. Therefore, financial advisors need online visibility for those keywords used by their ideal types of clients. And the more visible they are, the easier they are to find.
Based on their keyword searches, what investors see on the Internet has to be interesting enough to cause them to visit financial advisor websites.
What they see on financial advisor websites has to be good enough to convince them to give up their anonymity and submit their contact information.
When that happens, financial advisors have new leads for their sales funnels. Even better, much of the selling has already occurred on the Internet.
Why is digital marketing such a complicated form of marketing for most financial advisors?
Digital marketing for financial advisors may sound simple enough, but there are several challenges:
- There is a lot of competition for Internet visibility
- It takes substantial value to produce website traffic
- Website visitors have to find what they are seeking
- Investors are reluctant to give up their contact information
- It takes specialized knowledge to make digital marketing work
The Internet represents a substantial potential for financial advisors who master its nuances. Another alternative is to hire an agency, like Paladin Digital Marketing, to develop and implement a productive Internet marketing strategy for you.
What is the best way to generate online leads for financial advisors?
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is far and away the most powerful tool financial advisors can use to produce leads on the Internet. It is the process that they use to:
- Build visibility and accessibility on the Internet
- Create credibility and trust
- Produce traffic for their websites
- Convert more traffic into qualified leads
Identifying the right keywords for important personas, creating high-quality content, and optimizing page titles and descriptions are essential for driving the right types of organic traffic to financial advisor websites.
What is more productive: SEO or SEM?
SEM (Search Engine Marketing) is also known as paid advertising.
SEO and SEM are two marketing processes with the same goal: To produce leads for financial advisors.
Our experience shows SEO is more powerful because investors use it to find “and” research financial advisors (websites, Google name searches). SEO also helps build trust in financial advisor brands because investors are more likely to trust websites that appear higher up on SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) than those farther down in their results.
On the other hand, SEM is faster because financial advisors can buy visibility for keywords that investors use when they search for financial advisors and information. All it takes is the right ad, a productive landing page, and a realistic marketing budget.
Like all forms of marketing, the greater financial advisors' visibility (SEO, SEM), the more traffic the Internet will produce for their websites. Consequently, many financial advisors use SEO and SEM to boost their visibility quicker.
Advertising campaigns such as Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn Ads can be tailored to reach specific target markets that are more likely to be converted into revenue-producing clients. Financial advisors should be using these resources to showcase their expertise and trustworthiness.
Why is content marketing such an important SEO strategy?
Creating high-quality content is essential for any successful SEO strategy. Content creation enables financial advisors to share valuable information with investors while building their credibility as financial industry experts.
However, simply creating the right content isn’t enough; you also have to ensure it reaches your target audience(s). That’s where content distribution comes in; tools like blog articles, pillar pages, email newsletters, and social media can help spread the word about financial advisor businesses while driving traffic back to the designated websites.
Why does SEO produce the best leads for financial advisors?
SEO produces higher-quality leads for two reasons. First, the process was initiated by investors. There were no hard-sell tactics to create the lead. And second, the investors learned a lot about financial advisors before they initiated the contact. It stands to reason they had a positive opinion, or they would not have initiated the contact.
What happens on the Internet can be viewed as a form of pre-selling. At a minimum, it creates a positive predisposition toward the advisors they choose to contact on the Internet.
Conclusion
Digital marketing is necessary for financial advisors seeking organic growth for their firms. SEO and SEM have the potential to boost visibility on SERPs using a variety of digital marketing tactics that have the potential to produce leads on financial advisor websites.
Investing in a comprehensive digital marketing strategy is essential if you want to stay ahead of the competition in this increasingly competitive industry.
