As one who has worked with financial advisors and financial services professionals creating marketing plans for nearly a decade, I must now do some crow eating: I’ve been giving the wrong message — or at least the right message in the wrong order.
Until recently, I’ve been hyperfocused on promoting tools and technologies as the be-all-and-end-all of marketing strategy. Whether driving home the gospel according to LinkedIn or developing campaigns that drive marketing-qualified leads that inevitably miss the ideal client mark, I’ve done financial professionals and agents an unintended disservice.
Based on my experience, financial professionals have a macro understanding of how marketing can benefit their practices. However, they’re overwhelmed by the digital landscape, unsure which resources to invest in and/or convinced it’s all a time drain.
Too often these concerns are met with trainings designed to improve online user-friendliness, hacks on time management and a push to prioritize LinkedIn.
Make no mistake — social media and digital marketing can put financial professionals and agents in front of high net worth clients. Although they are providing information that they’ve seen work in the past, marketers still consistently fail to empathize with and relate to their clients in order to elicit the “why” of the advisor and find ways to apply it to successful outreach before teaching them how to build an introduction list on LinkedIn, leverage SEO for greater online visibility or launch an email nurture campaign.
So, what’s the path forward? It starts with embracing this mission of financial services marketing, which is to put financial professionals and agents in stronger positions to cause clients to act in their own best interests.
Having this goal makes enacting the following three-tier process simpler to implement:
1. Develop and embrace a professional brand
Advisors should ask themselves:
- Who am I?
- What do I do?
- Why do I love what I do?
- What makes me different and a value add?
There is a natural inclination to answer from a business perspective. That’s part of it, but only a part. Passions and areas of enjoyment outside of work should be considered. Personal and professional brands are seemingly interchangeable. Clients want to work with someone they trust on a level that transcends business.
Ask yourself: if the roles were reversed, if you were looking to work with a financial services professional, who would you want to work with?
2. Intentional networking
Once an advisor has a brand story, it’s time to align it to their ideal client or prospect. It’s OK to be granular. In fact, tailoring a brand story to a specific group — otherwise known as a vertical, niche or target market — will simplify networking efforts and foster efficiency.
Let’s say an advisor attends yoga class. It would make sense for her to connect with fellow dedicated yogis in that class. Remember: People want to work with an individual who gets them. There will likely be a moment when a conversation goes from downward-facing dog to contemplating downsizing a portfolio. It may take time, but the more financial professionals create authentic relationships by way of their brand stories, the greater the chance for client-building opportunities.
3. Prospecting mastery
When a financial professional cultivates a relationship based on brand story commonality, asking that client or prospect for referrals to new markets becomes easier. And that’s when marketing technology can be presented as a strategic option.
Financial services professionals and marketers are results-driven — dedicated to putting their clients in an optimal position to succeed. They do this by patiently educating others on financial, insurance and investment approaches without getting in the weeds of tools and tech. Marketers should take the same tack with their financial services community.
