Personalization is the name of the marketing game for financial advisors in 2020 and beyond. A generic marketing outreach that attempts to cast a wide net without custom tailoring messages and content to specifically targeted clients will not generate the desired return on investment.
A much better strategy is to personalize your financial advisor content marketing. Marketing personalization creates the first impression that your financial advisor firm genuinely cares about specific types of clients and their families. Invest the little bit of time and effort necessary to customize your financial advisor marketing messages to specific target clients and you will notice a significant increase in your conversion rates (visitors to leads, leads to prospects, prospects to clients).
Forge Real Connections Through Personalization
Everyone wants to believe the marketing materials sent and shown to them were created with their financial needs specifically in mind. No one wants to be treated as just another cog in the machine, deemed unworthy of personalized marketing messages.
You already know, if you simply add a target client’s name to your marketing correspondence, such minimal customization really does have the potential to make the difference between a conversion and a failure to convert. This is precisely why it is in your best interest to collect as much information about target clients as possible.
From first and last names to interest expressed in specific services, and beyond, every little detail about your clients matters a great deal. Sprinkle in customizations throughout your marketing messages and your target clients will feel genuinely appreciated, possibly to the point that they convert from prospects, where there is mutual interest, into revenue-producing clients.
Personalize Every Call-to-Action
Your email messages, service pages, flyers, social media pages, and every other component of your digital marketing campaigns should feature a convincing call-to-action or CTA for short. The purpose of the CTA is to persuade the target client to follow through by providing the requested information on a landing page or with a telephone call or email. Use a generic CTA and you run the risk that your audience will not feel the love.
Alternatively, if you personalize the CTA with the specific customer in mind, you stand a much better chance of convincing him or her to heed your suggestion to take action and contact your office for more information or schedule an initial consultation.
So don’t fall into the trap of using language such as “connect with our team now” or “click here” – instead, tailor the language of your CTA to the terms the web sleuth searched for and he or she will be inclined to act as suggested in the CTA.
Your Website is a Critical Inbound Marketing Tool That Should be Personalized Whenever Possible
When clients visit a financial advisor website that is personalized to their search terms, desires, needs, or demographic, it resonates with them, creating a metaphorical seed that quickly grows. There is no harm in tracking user behavior before and during their visit to your website. Figure out what people search for to reach your site and tailor your financial advisor marketing messages accordingly.
Even something as subtle as altering the language of your website to replicate that of those who are inclined to visit the site will help convince them that your value offering is worthwhile and targeted to their needs. Your financial advisory firm’s unique services and offerings should match those that visitors are searching for. Dive into your web analytics, determine what parts of the site visitors click on the most, and customize your content as necessary to maximize the conversion of online visitors.
Encourage Prospects to Take Action Through Exit Intent Pop-up Messages
The worst possible outcome of your investment of time, money, and effort in inbound marketing is for people to visit your financial advisory firm website, spend a little time, and then exit without taking any desirable actions.
Ideally, exit intent pop-ups will appear on a specific service page after a visitor spends an extended period of time. Such an individual has demonstrated interest in the service yet is not ready to follow through by initiating contact.
Include an exit intent pop-up to make the offering that much more attractive or feature a testimonial in the exit intent pop-up ad that includes language likely to appeal to the prospective client and you will convert more visitors into qualified leads and active prospects.
Marketing Personalization Extends to Email
It is a grave mistake to send the same generic email messages to every single recipient on your drip email marketing list. This is not to say every single sentence of your email messages should be geared toward the demographics and interests of a specific recipient. Rather, it might only take the addition of the recipient’s name to the message to pique his or her interest.
Experian research shows marketing personalization through the medium of email drives transaction rates six times higher. Keep in mind that more than three-quarters of email is spam. Personalize email messages in the subject line and the introduction at a bare minimum and your message stands a good chance of being viewed as legitimate as opposed to just another spam message.
Furthermore, the content of the email should be relevant to your target audience. Figure out what your audience is searching for, tailor your email marketing message with those needs and desires in mind, and this effort to personalize content will pay considerable dividends down the line.
Financial Advisor Marketing Personalization Works Both Ways
Marketing personalization should include an attempt to humanize your financial advisory firm in addition to recognizing the individuality of each target client. Even if you simply add a picture of yourself or another financial advisor to your homepage or another component of your online footprint, it will go a long way to establishing rapport with the target audience.
Personalize your services with the use of your image or a picture of your entire office and those who find your website will view your financial advisory firm personnel as human beings as opposed to yet another impersonal business that has no interest in their needs. Include links to your social media profiles along with a description of your services and online visitors really will view your firm in a more positive light.
