Understanding how to get clients as a financial advisor is integral to growing your business. And if you have a strong roster of existing clients, continuing to generate qualified leads should be at the top of your to-do list. We know that might be easier said than done, especially while staying within your marketing budget. We’ve compiled 10 lead generation ideas to help attract your ideal client along with marketing tips for financial advisors.
1. Adopt Technology That Supports Consumer Behavior
As algorithms, search engines and consumer needs change and evolve, so must your marketing efforts. Finding leads as a financial advisor is impossible if you don’t know your audience and the communication channels they prefer, which is why cold calling is so ineffective. So how do you get to know your audience and adapt your strategy for finding leads?
It’s no secret the financial services industry isn’t at the forefront of technology use. But connecting virtually has become the norm, and should be the foundation of your financial advisor marketing plan. This includes a social media presence and website.
The demand for a virtual relationship with an advisor continues to grow. And prospects who may not have been “digital savvy” before the pandemic have been forced to embrace digital communications. Those new habits are likely to continue.
Today’s investor is more open to finding their financial planners online, and many are primed to invest in a virtual relationship with their advisor. Keep that in mind as you dive into the rest of our lead-generation strategies.
2. Build a Professional Website
Your website is your digital office. Wherever a prospect hears about your business — either from a referral, an advertisement or a Google search — they are going to go to your website first. Advisor designs should be clean, contemporary, and easy to navigate with a clear value proposition to appeal to their target market.If your website isn’t mobile responsive, user-friendly or updated, prospects may get the impression that your practice is outdated.
A financial advisor website should include basic information about your firm’s services, team bios and contact information. Make sure it lists your most updated address, phone number and email so prospects can follow up. At the very least, these features can ensure visitors feel they’re exploring an up-to-date business.
3. Blog Regularly and Boost Email Signups
A comprehensive market strategy goes beyond a website. If you want readers to keep coming back, your site also needs to be updated consistently with new content. The best financial advisor blogs engage clients and prospects while also boosting SEO.
Whatever you decide to publish just make sure it’s a mix of both original and curated content from other sources. To learn more about the importance of a financial advisor blog, check out this article.
Plus, consider using a CTA located on your blog to push site visitors to contact you. You never know what content will help drive action.
4. Get Ahead with Facebook Advertising
Increasingly, Facebook is a “pay to play” platform, meaning that if you want to see significant results, you’ll need to pay for them. But luckily, Facebook offers an extremely robust paid advertising feature, which makes it easy to advertise to your target audience.
If you’re already seeing traffic to your website, you can integrate that data with Facebook via what they call a “Pixel.” Once you have that setup, you can target Facebook advertising directly to people who visited your site. By using a lead generation advertisement, you can re-engage those visitors and gather their contact information.
5. Encourage Online Reviews to Boost Credibility
When was the last time you went to a new business WITHOUT first looking them up to read reviews? Whether it’s a restaurant, hair salon, mechanic, or, yes, financial advisor, people are flocking to Yelp and Google reviews to get insights on small businesses. When prospective new clients look up your business online and see you have a number of positive reviews, they’re more likely to visit your site or contact you.
Do you have these pages set up for your financial advisory? If not, it’s time to do it. If pages already exist, make sure they have your latest contact information. Once they’re up, you can ask your clients to log on and give you a review. Including a small note at the end of your email newsletter, with a link to your Yelp or Google pages, is a good way to encourage reviews.
A quick note on compliance: As long as you, the advisor, don’t make yourself a publisher by compensating a reviewer or authoring or posting anything — including responses to reviews — you will not violate the rules.
6. Host an Unforgettable Event for Networking
Enhancing your relationship with your current clients is important, but bringing in new ones is too. Host a fun client appreciation event and encourage them to bring friends. The type of event could be anything; it really depends on what type of clients you serve. Consider one of the following:
- Wine tasting events
- Family movie nights
- Outdoor barbecues
- A night out to community events
Be prepared with business cards, but remember, this is the time to really connect with both potential and established clients on a personal level, without feeling the need to push your business.
7. Build Out Your LinkedIn Network and Grow Your Connections
LinkedIn is an incredible social media platform. You can use it to connect with other financial professionals, build up a reputation as an industry expert, grow your network, and get leads.
LinkedIn is also an excellent place to join industry groups, or even start your own. In these groups, advisors can foster discussion and share relevant information with their network. Start a group for your community that answers common financial questions and discusses the latest financial news. Then invite your clients and contacts to this community to demonstrate value.
8. Get Involved with Your Community and Establish Yourself as a COI
No matter where your firm is located, there are ways you can get involved in your community. Community outreach is one of those marketing tacticsthat will continue to generate leads.
Outreach could mean any number of things, and it’s important to make a decision based on your values as an advisor and the priorities of your clients. Get involved by:
- Sponsor a sports team
- Work with a local nonprofit
- Set up a booth at a festival
- Teach a free course to the community
- Sponsor a 10k, fair, or another local event
Engage your community, it helps potential clients associate you and your financial advisory with a philanthropic act. Plus, you can feel good about the work you’re doing!
9. Ask Existing Clients for Referrals to Expand Leads
If you want something, ask. This applies to a number of situations — and especially with referrals. When you remind your clients to refer new contacts to them, they’re much more likely to do so. Try adding a line at the bottom of your email newsletters, encouraging clients to forward the email. Even this small request could make a big difference.
We recommend reaching out to your clients once per quarter to check in and ask for referrals. If you’re currently using the FMG Suite email platform, we have an automated campaign that does that for you.
10. Gate Larger More Information Rich Content for Email Marketing
Page-gating cuts off certain content to visitors until they have inputted/signed up on the page’s form. Page-gating is usually used on larger, more information-rich content like ebooks. And it’s a great way to reward visitors who sign up for newsletters with their email or phone number.
Just be sure not to abuse this strategy by not page-gating blogs or articles. Doing so can increase the chances a user leaves your site to search for another, which can impact SEO.
Editing note: This article was originally published on December 10th, 2020, by Charlotte Spangler and has been updated to ensure consistency.
Want to learn more about lead generation for financial advisors? Get a demo of FMG Suite‘s lead-generating, relationship-building platform Attract™ today. You’ll find the technology you need to grow your business in the digital age.