4 Simple Tips for Boosting Your Advisor Marketing Efforts
Is there a “secret sauce” to building a successful wealth management firm? What makes some capable of doubling – even tripling – their AUM while others struggle to retain clients?
While there’s no one specific reason why some find more success than others, there are a few common (and perhaps surprising) retention and client acquisition strategies for financial advisors that these successful firms employ (and you can, too).
Related: Advisor Wins 8-Figure Client and Projects 40% Growth in One Year with Nitrogen
If you’re interested in attracting more of your ideal clients and growing your AUM, here are four tips we recommend:
4 Marketing Strategies for Financial Advisors That Really Work
1. Revisit your approach – and change course when needed
If you find that you’re struggling to bring new (and qualified) clients through the doors, it may be time to revisit your existing marketing strategies. Or, if you have solely depended on referrals to get your name out, this is a good time to work on building a digital footprint.
That’s because more than three-fourths of consumers “look for a company’s online presence before visiting in-person.” In today’s tech-driven world, your presence online will be a requirement of your future clients (especially once you begin working with the next generation of investors).
Your digital presence can include:
- Your website: Make sure it’s visually appealing, easy to navigate, and provides all the necessary information about your firm (without overwhelming readers).
- Social media: If your firm and advisors haven’t already, they may want to create profiles on social platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. Here, they can share updates, provide educational information, connect with current or prospective clients, and encourage action (like booking an appointment).
- Online publications: To build your reputation as a knowledgeable and trusted thought leader, consider submitting articles or quotes to online publications. Make sure the article links back to your social profiles and/or website.
As you work to build out or revamp your presence online, keep in mind who your target market is. Think about what sort of clients you’d like to attract to your firm and consider their pain points. Make sure to tailor your content and messaging to speak directly to that audience.
Related: Understanding Lead Generation for Advisory Firms
2. Prioritize client retention (even above client acquisition)
When your clients are happy, they’re much more likely to encourage others to come see you as well. In fact, satisfied clients are typically the number one source for obtaining new, high-quality clients.
Why? Because people tend to gravitate toward others with similar interests, jobs, or socioeconomic levels. If your current client represents your target audience, there’s a good chance the people they refer to your firm will be well-qualified prospects from similar backgrounds.
The catch: Those referrals will only happen if your current clients are delighted with your service.
Client engagement (and subsequent client retention) is critical to both your long-term client relationships as well as your firm’s growth goals.
And it doesn’t have to be time-consuming or expensive to keep a pulse on your clients – platforms like Nitrogen can help you better nurture those relationships by initiating automatic check-ins, stress testing certain scenarios, identifying warning signs, and otherwise tracking client sentiment on your behalf.
3. With the above in mind, communicate more than you think you need to
Few things are more personal to your clients than their wealth and financial well-being, meaning it’s important to them that you’re always communicative and transparent. A recent study found that 85% of clients consider your communication style when deciding to stay with your firm or look elsewhere for financial advice.
Give your clients clear expectations of how to contact you, your operating hours, and how long it will take you to return a message.
In addition, it’s important to find opportunities to be proactive with your client communications, particularly around life milestones. Share market updates, send birthday cards, check in during a hard time (such as a death or divorce), and just let them know you’re thinking of them on a personal level.
When you take your communication up a notch, it can make a big impression on your clients. Incorporating automation and AI-driven tools into your tech stack helps you continue to deliver that personalized communication – even as you scale.
4. Think of progress in terms of what you can measure
The one step too many advisory firms forget during this process is to pause, reflect on their progress, and measure their success.
Unless you track the changes made, how long they’ve been in place, and the results, you won’t know which of the above strategies is yielding the best ROI.
Check in regularly (say quarterly or annually) on your efforts to attract and retain high-quality clients to determine what’s working best and what needs to be tweaked or changed.
Related: How to Measure Client Retention in Your Wealth Management Firm
If you find that your social media presence is growing significantly in terms of followers or engagement metrics, for example, there may be an opportunity to double down your efforts in that arena. Or, if you notice you have a lower number of referrals from clients in this quarter, it may be time to reflect on the client experience you’re delivering and identify opportunities for improvement.
Don’t be afraid to ask for feedback from your clients, peers, and professional network. They can help you better understand how your efforts may be perceived by others, or provide actionable insights you can incorporate into your firm moving forward.
Leverage the Latest Technology with Nitrogen
Finding success as a financial advisor depends largely on your ability to deliver an impeccable and scalable client experience. Nitrogen’s holistic approach to elevating how you work is meant to bridge the gap between advisors and their clients – while enabling you to focus on building your book of business.Take a tour of the Nitrogen platform and see for yourself how we can help you unlock your firm’s full potential. Book your demo today.