6 Steps Financial Advisors Can Take to Successful Marketing Strategies – InsuranceNewsNet

A recent study by Broadridge Financial Solutions found that market volatility, heightened compliance pressures and a competitive environment are creating a challenging environment for financial advisors seeking new clients, but a defined marketing strategy is: It can lead to greater success.

Broadridge Financial Solutions’ 4th Annual Financial Advisor Marketing Survey Finds 43% of Advisors Seeing an Increase in Inbound Prospect Requests, Despite 63% Actively Seeking New Clients Only.

Research shows that to overcome these challenges, Independent Broker-Dealers (IBDs) and Registered Investment Advisers (RIAs) must find innovative new solutions to generate business.

Kevin Darlington, General Manager and Head of Broadridge Advisor Solutions, said:

“Despite evidence that going on the offensive with sharp marketing tactics leads to business growth, especially in volatile markets, advisors are back on the defensive and devoting the right level of time, money and effort to marketing tactics. I’ve seen it fail to allocate,’ he said.

Formulation of a sound marketing strategy

Smart investments in marketing are having a big impact on growth-minded advisors, setting them apart from their lower-growth peers, Darlington added. But increasing spending without thoughtful planning and measurement is just wasting time and money, he said.

Advisors typically begin a relationship with a new client by understanding the client’s goals and devising the best plan to achieve those goals. Advisors’ marketing plans should likewise be measured and optimized based on goals, he said.

Darlington laid out six steps for developing a sound marketing strategy that financial advisors can measure and optimize:

1. Define specific and measurable business growth goals, outlining specifically the number of new clients to be acquired and the growth of assets from existing clients.
2. Clearly define the details of your ideal target client. This should exceed the level of net investable assets. Instead, it should be a more balanced set of target attributes, such as age group, key wealth-building needs, and occupation.
3. Identify key needs and related topics that might be of interest to this audience. “For example, if we are looking for small business owner clients, what are their key needs that we can leverage in our marketing and content planning?” Darlington asked.
4. Identify key ways to reach and engage with this audience, including paid channels (advertising), owned channels (website, social email, etc.), seminars, and networking.
5. “Plan out how you will use a combination of content, channels, and promotions to reach these prospects and build more relationships with existing clients,” he said. .
6. Perhaps most importantly, when new prospects are engaged, Darlington asks, “How can we nurture them over time to become customers?”

Marketing Spend Increases, ROI Satisfaction Declines

Advisors’ average marketing “spend” continues to increase (from $16,090 in 2021 to $17,433 in 2022), but the share of revenue allocated to marketing remains at 3.6% in 2021 , decreased to an average of 3.1% in 2022. Research.

Additionally, the study found that only 10% of advisors are very satisfied with their marketing return on investment, down from 15% in 2021.

Despite rising marketing spend, only 28% of advisors have a clear marketing strategy, up slightly from 26% in 2021. These advisors are much more likely to achieve better business outcomes than their counterparts without a clear marketing strategy, the study said.

76% of advisors with a defined marketing strategy are (somewhat or very) confident in meeting their practice growth goals compared to those without a defined marketing strategy (61%). increase.

Additionally, advisors with a clear marketing strategy have more than doubled the number of new clients they have acquired in the last 12 months. That’s 41 new customers compared to an average of 17 for advisors without a clear marketing strategy.

82% of advisors report that developing a marketing plan/strategy is their biggest challenge when it comes to marketing activities. This is followed by time spent on marketing activities (81%) and compliance management (79%).

The “bright spot” of digital media

“The use of digital media is a bright spot and continues to demonstrate upward trend success as advisors double down on their digital strategies and make the most of their websites, LinkedIn and Facebook to generate leads. said Darlington.

When it comes to lead management, research indicates that advisors’ success rate in converting social media leads to clients is on the rise, reaching 41% by 2022. That’s up from his 34% in 2019. 36% converted social media leads to new clients compared to 36% without strategy.

A majority of advisors (61%) believe their website may be more effective at generating leads. According to the survey, 31% plan to increase their website spending this year. According to the study, it has the highest spending allocation among all reported areas.

Ayo Mseka has over 30 years of experience in the financial services industry. She was previously Editor-in-Chief of her Advisor Today magazine for NAIFA.contact her [email protected].

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