Digitial Marketing 101: 4 Tips for Ambitious Financial Advisors

For some advisors, especially those in younger generations, their online presence is as powerful a marketing platform as word-of-mouth or referral-based networking is for advisors in the baby boomer generation. This also puts these younger advisors at an advantage in terms of reaching the younger demographic of clients, who frequently look for financial advisors online.

There is a lot of apprehension around digital marketing in the Baby Boomer generation, and understandably so.  Keeping your name at the top of search engines can seem like an incredibly daunting task for any advisor, but especially those who weren’t born into the age of the Internet. Here’s a brief checklist to get you moving in the right direction:

An Updated website: Depending on the access you are given to your website, you should be frequently updating it. Of course this varies for RIAs and Advisors working for wirehouse firms, but however you go about it, make sure you are keeping the information on your website current. This will not only ensure stronger online leads, it will also improve where you appear in Internet searches.

Consistent New Content: Having fresh content in the form of blogs, articles, or financial advisor events, is so important. It shows that you’re doing your part as an advisor to keep up with the changes in the industry, and it provides valuable information to your clients about the scope of your knowledge and your approach and perspective as a financial advisor. Also, no matter how well your website is keyword optimized, you will not appear high up on searches unless you are consistently creating new content.

Strategic Social Media: Have you thought lately about who’s in your audience or who makes up your social network? LinkedIn is becoming a popular tool for advisors, but many people are linking up with former colleagues and college peers rather than using the platform to link in with potential clients or centers of influence. While their may be overlap here, you want to make sure you are being strategic about who your putting yourself in front of online, not just leaving it up to luck.

Keywords are King: What descriptors speak to your business specifically? Are you using these in your content, and to update your profile to make the most of your online presence? Your clients feel reassured by consistent and repetitive messaging from you, your team, and your marketing material, and the Internet responds in the same way. You’re more likely to get picked up by search engines if you’re keywords are consistent with the content you have on your website and the message you are delivering to your clients. 

Coaching Questions from this Article:

1. Do a quick Internet search on yourself or your firm; are the various online representations of you accurate and consistent?
2. What portion of your ideal client segment is online and how would you translate the way you address them in person to online?
3. Where do your clients live online, and through what social media platforms, online publications, or other groups are you most likely to reach them? It might be something completely unassociated with your industry that you haven’t considered.
4. What forms of online content are you most likely to consistently contribute to? A blog? A forum? A format specific to your expertise?