How the pandemic changed advisor prospecting

Between the election, social justice protests, extreme market volatility and, of course, the coronavirus pandemic, 2020 was a difficult year.

But it also provided what April Rudin, founder and president of advisor marketing firm The Rudin Group, calls a “real marketing moment” for the wealth management industry. Advisors had a chance to work front and center in the lives of clients to help guide them through a year of unprecedented financial uncertainty, Rudin says. “We can say that a silver lining [of COVID-19] has been really to raise the importance of wealth management in terms of an industry, and raise the importance of individual advisors in their own client’s lives.”

Rudin discussed the impact the pandemic had on advisor prospecting, and how firms successfully navigated those challenges in a virtual panel hosted by Financial Planning. Joining her were: Dipti Kachru, chief marketing officer at JPMorgan Chase; Kirti Naik, BNY Mellon’s head of wealth management marketing; Abby Salameh, chief marketing officer at Hightower.

The panelists talk about what has and hasn’t worked for advisors on social media, as well as how their firms are helping advisors working from home create meaningful, authentic interactions with prospects.