Financial Advisor Marketing Guide: Does Your Content Build Trust As Well As You Do?

The world has changed for financial advisors. In the past, you relied on your ability to sit across the table and gain a potential client’s trust, either one-on-one or in a group environment. And you and your team probably excelled at it. Unfortunately, in today’s digital world, you probably don’t have that opportunity often, and referrals are much less frequent. Fortunately there are new financial advisor marketing strategies that can fill the gap and help you achieve your business goals.

Looking for affordable financial advisor marketing and copywriting that works?  Learn why Wavelength is the choice of Fortune 500 industry leaders and independent RIAs alike.  Contact us for more information.

What Financial Advisor Marketing Strategies are Working Today?

In the past , many advisors relied significantly on referral business. Today, things have changed. If you get referred, there’s more steps involved. Instead of just contacting you directly, most prospective clients will first type your name into Google or another search engine. Do they see your name appearing next to articles or books you’ve authored? Then, they likely pull up your financial advisor website. If they find a compelling reason to contact your firm, they will. But sadly many times they won’t.

Think this is unusual. Unfortunately it’s not. Spenser Segal, CEO of ActiFi, Inc., conducted research on recent referral patterns. His findings were fascinating: clients were actively referring friends and family to their advisors. But here’s the problem: their research suggested that only 1 out of every 10 actually contacted the firm. What happened to the rest (the other 90%?) Most likely, they checked out the website and didn’t see a reason to contact the firm.

The good news is your trust-building skills are still relevant, but you must get people ‘in the door’ first. And with the internet, the door is a virtual one.

So, now you need a new set of skills: you have to create trust online before you have the opportunity to reinforce it in person.

Trust isn’t instantly created with social media or CRM systems, although these can help you reach more people once you have the right tools. Instead, trust is created with your website. And its not the pretty pictures, either. It’s the words…the financial copywriting.

Rather than you talking, your content must do the talking for you:

• Your website must clearly depict the value you provide to a prospect
• Your website also must show you’re different from other advisors

But it’s best not to stop there. What else will convince a website visitor to contact you?

• Blog articles on topics your firm specializes in
• Educational eBooks offering tips to a niche you serve
• Videos that capture your philosophy of serving clients and/or best advice

Or even better, a book with your name on it as author, describing your unique philosophy and expertise. When individuals seek to find an advisor, like it or not, these are the factors that make the difference.

That’s just a few examples. As you can see, if you Google any financial topic or financial products, the possibilities for generating content are really endless.

However, the critical distinction is it has to be your content, not anyone else’s. In other words, it has to be original. Simply posting subscription content, no matter how authoritative the source is, won’t help differentiate your firm. Instead, content should be original (or ghostwritten for you), so your content reflects the unique strengths of your firm.

Fortunately, creating good original content is within reach of everyone. It just requires an investment of time. Alternatively, if your time is better spent on other aspects of your business, it may require an investment with a content development expert or ghostwriter familiar with the unique challenges of marketing for financial services.

To get you on the road to developing better content, here are keys to creating great financial advisor content that can shape your marketing strategy:

 Marketing Ideas: Your Content Must Provide Value

The internet has turned the sales process on its head. Instead of holding out your advice for just paying clients, now you must show what you can offer first.

You are asking people to entrust their life’s savings with you, so, of course, you need to earn their trust. One easy way to do it is to provide value up front with educational content. In the process, you can show how your firm is different and display your expertise on the topic. This can be done with blog articles, a book, eBooks, webinars, videos or other ways. The creation of short eBooks is a particularly powerful and affordable vehicle to jump start your lead generation efforts.

Simultaneously, you’re putting yourself in the position of a subject matter expert.

But be careful…you build trust by providing true education…not thinly veiled sales materials. While it’s fine, and recommended, to include a call to action at the end to invite readers to contact you for a free financial review session, be sure you do that only after providing value. There’s nothing that turns today’s consumers off faster than getting hit early on with a sales pitch.

Marketing Best Practices: Be As Transparent As Possible

Another aspect of building trust is being transparent about touchy topics like fees. Think about it. If you need an electrician in a new city, let’s say you pull up three different websites. All three electricians provide general information but only one details their prices. Assuming the prices were reasonable, who would you call? The beauty of this approach: if you’re willing to be transparent on your website and other advisors in your area are not yet doing that, you will project trustworthiness simply by comparison.

In addition to being transparent in your web content about your firm’s fees, there are other ways you can use this strategy. For example, include an article on your blog about the long term importance and impact of investment expenses.  

Marketing Goals: Keep Your Content User-Friendly and Approachable

Today’s investors are looking for help with more than just investments. At the same time, financial literacy is at a low across generations and income levels. So, not surprisingly, many people experience anxiety when thinking about meeting with an advisor. As a result, rather than inundating clients with technical details and confusing jargon, advisers must understand the stresses associated with revealing financial realities to a stranger. Acknowledging that in your content makes your firm seem safer to contact, and easier to talk to.

Don’t Forget Your Advisory Firm Website Copy

When evaluating your marketing efforts, be sure to prioritize your financial advisory firm’s website copywriting. That’s because it is the closest representation of your business that you’ll have in today’s largely online world. It must effectively tell potential clients and prospects how you can help them, or that opportunity will be lost. So this is one area you don’t want to skimp on; be sure to allocate enough marketing spend to do it right.

One last tip: make sure your website copy is user-friendly and approachable. Instead of presenting a who/what/where format that focuses exclusively on your firm, ensure the focus stays on your prospective clients:

• What will they gain by working with your firm?
• How will their life improve after using your services?
• Why hire your firm, instead of others?

With all these tips, really, it’s all about putting yourself in your clients’ shoes. You likely do it every day in your practice. Now’s the time to put those same skills to work on your content and reap the rewards of increased lead generation and conversion.

Get Discovered Online with Search Engine Optimization

Of course, you can have the greatest content out there, but if no one finds it, you’re not going to grow very fast. That’s where your secret weapon called Search Engine Optimization comes in. That’s a style of writing that helps search engines such as Google and Bing understand your website. Then it uses what it learns to rank content, so that users can easily find what its algorithms believe are the best websites on each topic.

Yes, it’s a bit of a data beauty contest. What can you do to catch Google’s eye? Fortunately, it’s something small and large firms can both do; that’s provide value. You want to prioritize education over sales. So you write to educate, but then tell the reader how you can help.

So if you’re an independent financial advisor, that means writing helpful financial planning tips and information for readers. What’s the best way to do that? Write like you talk….compliantly of course. Put complex strategies into plain language.

Creating a series of articles on your website’s blog can take your digital marketing to the next level. Each article, if done properly, will get indexed by search engines, and provide a pathway for those you can help to find you.

Looking for affordable financial advisor marketing and copywriting that works?  Learn why Wavelength is the choice of Fortune 500 industry leaders and independent RIAs alike.  Contact us for more information.

Digital Marketing for Financial Advisors: Frequently Asked Questions

1. What’s the first place to allocate your marketing budget?

We frequently get asked where a small firm or new advisor may best allocate limited funds for marketing. I always recommend starting with website copywriting. That’s because you need to get your written message right. Wtih copywriting it’s a one time cost, but once you have that, it sets the tone for any future marketing campaigns or marketing activities you do.

2. What type of marketing tool should be added after your website copy is complete?

Once the website copy is complete, how should advisors get started in producing marketing content to attract leads? While there are various marketing strategies available, one we recommend is a short ebook. These eBooks can be great multitaskers, and are perfect for promoting on social media platforms. Basically, you want to create an educational eBook that showcases how you help clients. Is your firm great at finding effective tax and estate planning strategies? You can create an eBook about “Top five tax and estate planning strategies for high income professionals”. Or do you have expertise in student loan refinancing, for example? Put together a piece on that. These pieces can be very effective part of your overall marketing plan by literally speaking to those you can best help. That is the best way to attract clients that are a good fit, intead of casting a wide net and bringing in many clients that aren’t a good fit for your services.

Or for those wanting to generate bigger results, a full length ghostwritten book can be even better at building trust and positioning you as an expert in the field. Remember that marketing is all about building trust. Well, there’s little as powerful as a book with your name on it as a trust builder. Especially in the financial industry, being positioned as an author can open many new doors and help you and your firm achieve your financial goals much faster.

3. What digital market strategies for financial advisors should be core offerings?

Along with website copy and an eBook or book, you should have a blog. Blogs are key in generating search rankings and search rankings are key in generating online marketing results. What should your blogs be about? We always recommend starting with common client questions. These can be a goldmine of ideas for marketing materials. If one of your clients has a question, there’s a good chance more are wondering the same thing too.

4. How much should a firm spend on marketing every year?

This decision also will vary depending upon your growth goals and marketing needs. However, what we feel is more important is making sure your marketing dollars work effectively for you. So that means making sure every outlay supports your marketing message and forwards part of your marketing plan.

For smaller firms or solo advisors that may mean you hire a financial content company to do your website copy and an eBook or book, then your team writes articles until your can support a higher budget. For larger firms with a strong marketing plan, that may mean you outsource more, and your team focuses on helping clients recommend their services more.

Then, as your budget expands, you can add new marketing goals and efforts. But bottom line, its smart for every advisor to have a defined marketing strategy so that your firm is always moving forward.

5. What is the most common mistake in a financial advisor marketing plan?

We find the most common to be not adequately identifying your target audience. You can’t effectively attract everyone…you need to narrow down who you’d like to work with. If not you can’t write to their pain points, and you will likely not succeed in capturing their attention, on your website or any other marketing channels.

So be sure to narrow down your main target: do you want to serve primarily retirees? Business owners? Young professionals? Even if it’s not all you serve, it’s important to have a primary demographic in mind to effectively write to them.

6. Where does email marketing and social medial marketing fit in?

Email marketing can be an effective marketing tactic to turn a prospect into a new client. This is especially true for wealth management services, where prospects are unlikely to sign up with you at the spur of the moment. Instead, email provides a great way to keep in touch so your firm’s name is top of mind when the individual is ready to make a change.

Social media marketing can also be quite powerful. However it is critical to first build a base of strong content that allows advisors to then increase their marketing reach using those tools.

7. Should you outsource our marketing or do more in-house?

This is a decision your financial advisory firm must make, but it is an important one. One factor is time, but perhaps a bigger issue is expertise. A financial marketing agency specifically understands how to create content to encourage growth. However, it is less likely that your team has that business and marketing experience. Also, a financial advisor marketing firm has tried different marketing strategies for their clients over the years and brings that knowledge with them. For most firms, it’s far more important to know about effective strategies than to budget the time and resources for expensive trial and error.

In contrast, working with a high quality financial content development firm can help you put a cohesive marketing plan in place, and implement it. From planning to copywriting to designing an effective email marketing strategy, outsourcing your marketing and developing the right marketing practices can help you get on the road to growth.

Key Takeaway

Advisors face many challenges when it comes to marketing. No longer does simply relying on referrals, or using direct mail marketing or cold calling generate a reliable stream of leads. Fortunately, putting marketing programs in place can help advisors generate growth. Usually, it’s far easier with the help of a dedicated financial advisor marketing firm to help provide the expertise to do it right. Whether you’re primarily a financial planner, investment advisor, or something else, you need messaging that builds trust and attracts your ideal clients. But create a healthy marketing strategy, and you can find that the growth you’re looking for naturally streams in, helping your firm grow and prosper.

Originally posted Aug. 2017/ Updated Jan. 2025

Looking for affordable financial advisor marketing and copywriting that works?  Learn why Wavelength is the choice of Fortune 500 industry leaders and independent RIAs alike.  Contact us for more information.