The year 2020 is set to bring some interesting developments to the digital marketing landscape, particularly for the attention of financial advisers. If you’re looking to grow and retain your existing client base, what can you do to ensure your business isn’t falling behind trends in marketing technology and practice?
In this short guide, our team here at MarketingAdviser will be offering a short checklist of ideas to consider for your financial marketing strategy in 2020. We hope you find this helpful, and invite you to get in touch to arrange a free consultation if you wish to discuss your own strategy with us:
P: 01923 232840
E: hello@marketingadviser.co.uk
Financial Marketing Checklist: 2020
Review your branding
When you look at your logo, colour scheme and overall visual identity, what do you imagine springs into your audience’s mind? Do it project the quality, values and message you desire and which they need? If not, consider a branding project in 2020. Without a good brand, it’s very difficult to launch a successful financial marketing strategy.
Do the same with your website
Similarly, is your website up to scratch? Many financial advisers have websites which are old, difficult to navigate or overly-burdened with heavy reams of text. Others barely have any web presence at all. In 2020, marketing across all industries is only going to go more digital, and a website will still be the main focal point for a company’s digital marketing efforts. If your financial website is found wanting, consider a redesign in 2020.
Review client sentiment
Unless you are a startup IFA looking to build up a fresh client base, most financial advisers will rely on keeping and growing an existing profitable client bank. Do you know how they feel about your service, however? Do they see you as a great source of value, or simply as the least-worst-option given the choices they feel are available to them? If you are in the dark about your client sentiment, consider a survey or similar exercise in 2020 to try and gauge how loyal and content they are.
Review the overall strategy
Are you looking to grow your client base in 2020? If so, how do you intend to do it? There are at least four ways for a financial adviser to achieve growth with their marketing strategy. One idea is to increase market penetration, growing sales with your current target market with your existing products or services. Another might be to completely change tack, going after an entirely new customer with a brand new value proposition. Whatever your strategy, make sure it is viable.
Review digital assets
Many financial advisers do not use platforms like Facebook, and are unaware that in many cases the platform has already created a simple business profile for them. Make sure you claim these assets in 2020 before a competitor or other person does, even if you don’t intend to use them.
Review content assets
Do you have any downloadable guides, fact-sheets, educational videos or informative blog articles which you can leverage to engage new and current clients? If not, 2020 is a great time to start building these up for your marketing strategy. Already, the balance of power has shifted considerably between the vendor and the customer. The latter now holds much more sway, choosing to educate themselves about a product, service or brand before approaching it with a direct enquiry. Most of this research occurs online as they read blogs written by the business, customer reviews and other content to judge whether the brand is trustworthy. This is even more important for financial advisers, given the high stakes involved for the customer regarding their pensions or investment portfolio. Make sure you give them the resources they need in 2020 to gather the confidence to approach you.
Think about video
Modern customers overwhelmingly prefer to consume content in video form, yet many financial advisers are not leveraging this important communication tool in their financial marketing. Fortunately, video marketing does not need to be expensive or time-consuming. Here at MarketingAdviser, for instance, we offer a monthly content stream for financial planners which includes video, at a very reasonable price.
Get in touch if you want more information about our content stream.
Leverage partners
Many financial advisers and wealth managers get new business via accountants, lawyers and other business partners who refer clients for help with their pension, inheritance tax or other important areas of financial planning. Digital marketing is a great way to build up new partnerships and strengthen existing ones. Using assets such as downloadable guides, fact-sheets and explainer videos can be a great way to equip these firms with the resources they need for their own clients when the opportunity arises.
Find micro-influencers
The previous point illustrates that financial adviser marketing isn’t always simply about going straight to the consumer, directly. Quite often, it can be very effective to approach them indirectly through people of influence, whose clients/customers fit the profile you are trying to reach. Are there any prominent, local people who you could build a relationship with through social media, for instance, who might then open doors for you to find new business development opportunities. You don’t have to go after the super-famous “big fish” for this to work; micro-influencers can be just as powerful or a small financial firm.
Get face-to-face, online
Most financial advisers agree that one of the biggest battles is getting a potential client to agree to sit down with you for an initial meeting. Once they meet and get to know you, however, closure rates tend to be quite high. Where you are limited in this respect, however, is in your time. You can only go to so many physical meetings, where people have the chance to meet you.
With digital marketing, however, this aspect of a financial adviser’s business model becomes much more scalable through live video streaming and pre-recorded webinars. Many firms have done this to great effect. Take Ben Felix as an example, an investment adviser in Canada who has built a 70k YouTube subscriber base through his regular educational videos on Common Sense Investing.
Want to find out more about how to hit the ground running with your financial marketing in 2020? Get in touch to arrange a free consultation with a member of our team:
P: 01923 232840
E: hello@marketingadviser.co.uk
