Are you a financial adviser thinking about partnering with a dedicated marketing agency, or employing your own in-house marketing manager?
If so, which qualities and personality traits should you look for in a digital marketer, who claims to specialise in your specific industry?
Apart from experience and knowledge from working in your particular sector, there is a range of personality types and character markers which we believe you should look out for.
In this article, we are going to outline 10 such traits for you to consider as you start to approach different professionals, regarding the marketing of your financial adviser business:
#1 Intelligence
Here, we’re not necessarily talking about academic qualifications in marketing – although those can certainly be a positive sign.
If the agency or marketing candidates you are considering have achieved a marketing UG degree, a Chartered Institute of Marketing qualification or a Google certification (e.g. in Google Ads), then those absolutely should be factored in.
When we talk about the intelligence of a financial marketer, we’re referring more to a professional’s ability to identify and solve marketing problems, effectively and quickly (where possible).
We are also talking about their capacity to think strategically, when it comes to marketing a financial adviser business. Are they able to swiftly identify plausible profit directions and viable markets for your firm to target, and do they have a firm grasp of your client base and what they need?
#2 Confidence
Is the financial marketer you are considering simply full of “yes men/women”, or do they have the ability to be assertive and voice their opinions to you – even if they contradict what you think?
The best marketers are able to make tough calls, take charge and take responsibility.
#3 Enthusiasm
Is this financial marketer willing to take risks, try out new things and test different marketing tactics in order to deliver results? Do they have an adventurous and positive attitude?
Do they get bored with simply doing things to the same way they have always been done, sticking to old routines which have never been questioned?
Whilst a financial marketer should not be someone who is inherently disruptive or eager to “change things for change’s sake”, they should be adventurous and willing to push the boundaries.
#4 Energy
Marketing, in any industry or field, is a fast-paced job with lots of spinning plates and moving parts. If your agency/marketing person under consideration looks like it will get demotivated or tired easily, then you should probably look elsewhere!
Here, we’re not necessarily saying you need to find someone very outgoing, positive or extroverted in their personality type. We’re talking more about a desire to be active, productive and successful.
#5 discipline
Much of digital marketing is done by a professional who is on their own, sitting behind a laptop as they organise email campaigns, coordinate social media, write content and more.
To do these things effectively, a financial marketer or agency needs to be very self-motivated and disciplined – willing to put in the extra effort even if no one might be checking up on them soon.
#6 Enjoys people
To counter-balance the aforementioned point, a financial marketer should not necessarily be a digital nomad who never leaves his/her living room or pyjamas!
A digital marketer should enjoy the company of others, and appreciate the value of working in a team. They should be receptive to the views and contributions of their colleagues, and be effective at rallying people together towards the company’s shared marketing goals.
#7 Results-driven
A good financial marketer/agency will want to prove their value to their employer or financial adviser clients through strong, demonstrable results.
That might take the form of taking the initiative to regularly update you about how their efforts has produced more brand penetration/awareness in a particular target market.
It might involve them showing you how their marketing strategy and tactics have delivered higher search engine ranking for your website, or higher volumes of inbound enquiries over a given time period.
#8 Tech-savvy
As mentioned previously, much of a financial adviser’s marketing now occurs online and uses clever software tools. A strong financial marketer should be competent in a wide range of these technological innovations, and be quick to learn new ones as they are adopted.
At the very least, a financial marketer should be competent in tools such as Google Ads, Google Analytics, MailChimp, Ahrefs and Facebook Ads.
#9 Brand-sensitive
A marketing manager is essentially employed by you to help look after your brand – i.e. your company’s perception and reputation. These things should be their top concern and priority.
Always, a good financial marketer should be asking the question: “What impact will this decision have upon how people see us, particularly our prospects and clients?” They should also be willing to pose that question to you, should they be concerned that a decision might have a negative effect in this respect.
#10 Two-brained
There is a case to be made that, in the past, marketing used to be broadly seen as quite “artistic” or “creative”. In a world where the main marketing channels included tactics such as TV ads, radio and print media, it was often harder to measure the effectiveness of these campaigns and so many marketers in various industries had to rely on their “gut” to a high degree, when making marketing decisions.
More recently, many people have come to see marketing as now more inherently “scientific” – where decisions are driven by data, and where results are measured for effectiveness. As a result, some argue that the best marketers tend to have more “scientific brains”, whilst previously the best marketers were those who relied more heavily on the right side of the brain
The fact is, marketing today is both “creative” and “scientific”, requiring both “brain sides”. A good financial marketer should, therefore, be capable of bringing an artistic flair to their profession whilst basing their decisions upon sound, analytic data.
