
Financial Advisor Prospecting
Have you ever struggled to bring in new business even though your client satisfaction and retention is through the roof? If so, you’re not alone. Great advisors across the country have wrestled with how to turn great service into consistent new business.
Just take a look at one of the most recent clients we helped. He was a veteran advisor with over 35 years of experience. He built a successful firm but struggled to grow his business. After just 3 months of working with Indigo, he was onboarding 6 new high-net-worth clients. This advisor was used to the occasional referral from existing clients, but he had no idea it was possible to reach that many highly qualified leads organically!
So, what was the difference between the 35 years marketing on his own versus the 3 months working with Indigo? He was the same advisor before and after, giving the same exceptional service to his clients. But in the 35 years on his own, he never managed to get proactive with his marketing.
Like this client, many advisors struggle to bring in new business because of common marketing mistakes. Let’s take a look at the top 6 marketing mistakes we see and what advisors can do to avoid these pitfalls.
1. They Don’t Know Their Audience
Over and over we’ve found that advisors who struggle to bring in new business are those who don’t have a crystal-clear idea of who they are trying to reach. In some cases, advisors are failing to put themselves in the shoes of their ideal clients; in other cases, their marketing focuses on what they care about as advisors as opposed to what their target audience cares about as clients. Either way, failing to identify the unique needs, preferences, and pain points of your audience will significantly impact your ability to bring in new business as an advisor.
Some advisors believe it’s better to keep their audience general, but the truth is that if you market to everyone, you’re really marketing to no one. A well-defined niche, though smaller, is always better than a large audience that is hard to describe—and even harder to market to.
By investing time and effort into understanding their audience’s demographics, interests, and motivations, financial advisors can tailor their marketing strategies to resonate with their target market and ultimately build meaningful connections that drive business growth.
2. They Have Unclear Messaging
Unclear messaging stands as another marketing mistake that prevents great financial advisors from bringing in new business. Financial advisors often struggle to articulate the one urgent problem they solve, leaving potential clients unsure of the value of their services.
Maybe you know what you want to communicate but the message gets lost in translation. Or maybe your sales messages lack value and helpfulness, coming across as self-serving rather than genuinely addressing clients’ needs.
Financial advisors who tell their story in a compelling and memorable way, and clearly communicate their unique value proposition, will establish strong connections with their audience and foster long-term client relationships.
3. They Have Inconsistent Marketing
We’ve all been there: You’re cranking out blog posts, social posts, and emails for months–until you get busy and your marketing falls by the wayside. But inconsistent marketing can create confusion and erode trust among potential clients. It can also undermine the establishment of a strong, reliable, and recognizable brand identity.
One of the most common problems we see is confusing call-to-action statements. Do you want prospects to book a call, send an email, or sign up for your newsletter? Asking them to do all three across various platforms is confusing and will likely result in no action being taken.
Instead, keep it clear and consistent. Ask prospective clients to contact you in the same way every time and ensure that this request makes sense given the unique characteristics of your audience. If you know that you work best with retirees who enjoy in-person meetings, don’t ask them to book a discovery meeting on Zoom.
4. Their Content Is Hard to Find
Even if advisors create valuable content, they often fail to share it in a way that garners strong exposure or makes it easy for their target audience to find. Sharing to your network on LinkedIn or via email is great, but are those groups your target audience? Without effectively promoting your content through targeted marketing channels, you’ll miss out on opportunities to reach the audience your content was created for.
Make it easy for prospects to find your content by sharing in a way that gets strong exposure. Keep in mind that you should also ensure that it’s easy for prospects to get in touch with you online or after hours. If there are difficulties in taking the next step to work with you (like no online scheduler or an unclear call-to-action), potential clients may hesitate to reach out or may not understand how to engage further. Remove these barriers to entry by making both your content and next steps easy to find and utilize.
5. They Don’t Track Their Marketing Metrics
Not tracking marketing metrics or failing to consistently track the same metrics each month is a detrimental mistake that can impede great financial advisors from bringing in new business. Without diligent monitoring and analysis of marketing efforts, advisors are unable to gauge the effectiveness of their strategies, identify areas for improvement, or make informed decisions to optimize their campaigns.
Pick a few key metrics, like website traffic, conversion rates, or lead generation, and track them consistently over time to understand what is working and what needs adjustment with your marketing campaigns. At Indigo, we send you monthly snapshots of your most important metrics so you always know how your marketing is performing.
6. They Give Up on Marketing Too Quickly
Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither are effective marketing campaigns. A common reason why great financial advisors may struggle to bring in new business is the tendency to give up on marketing efforts too quickly.
The truth about marketing is that immediate results are great, but they are not realistic. Much like you tell your clients to stay invested during market downturns, we tell financial advisors to stick to a well-designed marketing strategy for months or years to see the fruits of your labor.
Don’t become disheartened if the first couple emails or social posts don’t yield a sudden influx of clients. Building brand awareness, establishing trust, and nurturing relationships with potential clients require consistent and persistent efforts. Market for the long term and don’t give up if your initial efforts don’t immediately yield results.
Prospecting Ideas for Financial Advisors
How Great Advisors Can Get More Ideal Clients
Putting together a marketing strategy for a client is about more than just writing blogs and posting on social media. At Indigo, we help great financial advisors focus on the following key actions to hone in on an audience and a message that optimizes your ability to connect with prospective clients:
- Identify your ideal client, the person you love to help.
- Pinpoint the one urgent problem you solve for a specific group.
- Tell your story and share your passion.
- Understand the fears and motivations of your ideal client.
- Focus on helping your clients.
- Answer the most common questions your clients are asking.
- Educate and communicate with your existing clients.
- Create content that is worth sharing.
- Establish yourself as the go-to specialist in your niche.
- Create a long-term marketing strategy that doesn’t change from month to month.
- Understand that the buying process takes up to one full year.
- Show consistent execution that your network comes to expect.
- All marketing efforts lead to a clear, easy-to-take call to action.
- Deliver content that is relevant and valuable to your audience.
- Review the most important marketing metrics each and every month.
- Stay top-of-mind on all marketing channels (website, email, social media).
If you need help with your marketing, schedule your free consultation today to learn more about how we help great financial advisors grow their businesses. Don’t let these common marketing mistakes stop you from bringing in new clients. With our Total Marketing Package, you’ll get customized recommendations on how to improve your strategy and connect with more prospective clients!