10 Key Marketing Elements for Successful Financial Advisors

It's always a good time for financial advisory teams to fine-tune their marketing plans. It’s vital that the team remains focused on reaching defined marketing and client acquisition goals they set in the beginning of the year. These are 10 practices that our research has shown to be integral to the marketing plans of successful financial advisors. 

10 Key Marketing Elements for Successful Financial Advisors

1. 2-3 Clearly-defined Ideal Client Types

The ideal client type is an archetype of the type of clients who you best serve. This might be similar to a “client profile” or a “target market.” An ideal client type must be well defined and precise. For example, “business executives” is too broad; C-level executives of publicly traded companies with concentrated stock positions is much more helpful to your marketing efforts.

2. The Discovery Process

The relationship building you engage in with a prospective client and the questions and the discussion that you use, will frame and define their initial impression of you and your wealth advisory process. Your level of curiosity into the needs and concerns of the prospective client, and the care and attention that you devote to your inquiries, can become an important differentiator. Some examples: “As you think about your legacy, how do you envision using your money to make that legacy a reality?” or “What does success look like for your business, for you, and for your family?” or “What’s holding you back from reaching your financial goals?”

3. Unique and Defined Service Offerings

With the increasingly commoditized nature of the financial advisory business, advisors should think creatively about the service they provide, and to whom. The good news is that you get to make a choice about the specific services and products you offer to your clients. Of course, your service offerings should line up with your ideal client types.

4. Client Acquisition Goals

We have observed that the most successful financial advisors have specific client acquisition goals that are written down and posted in a visible location.

5. A Marketing Calender

This is not an overly descriptive document, but rather a calender that integrates everything related to your marketing: upcoming campaigns, blogs ideas, emails to schedule, assets needed, etc. It lays out the implementation on a day-by-day, week-by-week approach. 

6. Updated Marketing Materials

The beginning of the year is a great time to look at all of your marketing materials, e.g. website, presentation deck, team brochure and photos, etc., and to make a commitment to freshen up and update them if necessary.

7. A Shared Team Vision

The team vision is the reference point for each team member in all decision-making and goals-setting that answers these questions: Who are we serving? To what standard do we serve them? What are the values that we must uphold in every instance?

8. A Defined Wealth Advisory Process

The wealth advisory process is the sum total of your advisory, planning, and investment services that you provide to your clients. This process is a function of your ideal client types and the clients that you serve, and addressees their most critical wealth management issues.

9. Trusted Advisors Identified

Establishing relationships with the other trusted advisors of your best clients is an integral part of the wealth advisory process. To serve your clients in a comprehensive and complete fashion, you will want to connect the expertise of your clients’ CPA’s, attorneys, etc., to that of your own.

10. 2-3 Marketing Campaigns at All Times

Marketing campaigns are intentional, proactive initiatives that identify potential future clients, and other sources of new assets.

The ClientWise Professional Advisory Model™ can be a first step successful financial advisors to build their marketing plans. We also observe that the PAM™ is instructive in guiding financial advisors to build their sales and marketing plans, which are an adjunct of the overall business plan. 

We hope this short blog can help you and year team get focused on your marketing initiatives. ClientWise research indicates that those advisors who have these 10 marketing elements in place, are more likely to achieve greater success in building their financial advisory vision.

Interested in partnering with a coach or joining a workshop to bring you one step closer to conquering your 2017 goals? Schedule your discovery call now! 

For additional marketing insights, please feel free to download the complimentary ClientWise Learning Tool below: