7 minute read
Advertising is a difficult task for any business. It requires a clear strategy and a careful understanding of your target market. As a financial advisor, you must also comply with the added regulations from your compliance department.
Furthermore, many financial advisors employ relationship-based selling, which relies on a person-by-person approach to marketing and advertising. Relationship-based selling requires developing trust rather than being the cheapest or best quality provider. It requires personalized attention and is solely focused on the client’s needs and fulfilling those needs. How do your mass communication strategies lend themselves to relationship-based selling?
Advertising will act as your first introduction to prospective clients. The first thing a prospect will see about your practice is what you advertise. Furthermore, advertising to existing clients is also important to raising new AUM.
Here are five advertising ideas that will help you make a solid first impression and put you on your way to raising new AUM. Before you engage in any of these advertisement ideas, be sure to gain full approval from your firm's compliance department.
1. Write or Use a Newsletter.
Financial advisors use a reoccurring newsletter or similar publications to keep in touch with their clients and send them to new clients. A newsletter is usually a one-page article that contains recent events or new programs at your practice. One of the first stages in advertising is generating awareness; a great way to do this is to post content frequently. In fact, according to a study, when deciding between 4 brands, 83.6% of customers who read a piece of educational content by a brand chose that brand.[i]
Consider keeping a prospect list which contains the emails of the people you’ve meet through your network and other social events. When you send out your newsletter you can send it to this prospect list and current clients. In this way you can advertise to current clients and prospects with the same content. This may save your practice time and money on advertising and help your content go to a larger audience.
Frequent content in the form of a a newsletter has several benefits as an advertising idea. A newsletter helps keep your clients informed about what is going on at your practice. You can change the content relating to different financial and economic seasons throughout the year. With consistent news on your practice, your clients may find a new program they are interested in and move further AUM to your practice.
Another benefit of putting out a newsletter is that it keeps your firm on the top of your ’ ’client’s mind. The new programs or news may not interest them, but just seeing your ’ ’practice’s name in their inbox will remind them that your practice is there and has offerings for them. This may lead them to think of you first when making any financial decisions.
2. Create an Engaging and Useful Website.
If you’ve been keeping up with the Dunham Blog, you may remember the article published a few weeks ago, Falling for Fintech: Website Builder. In this article, I broke down what a website builder is and what considerations you should make when considering this software for your practice.
Click Here to Read Falling for Fintech: Website Builder
In that article, I wrote about how a website can act as a first impression for your practice. A website also makes a great advertising opportunity for financial advisors. You build your website to be informational and helpful while promoting your ’ ’practice’s services.
Because you strive to build a strong relationship with every client, you must add value to your advisor-client relationship. Your website can provide general information about the services you offer and how they may be able to help specific ”client’s’ financial situations.
Remember that even if your website is well built and state of the art, if it doesn’t have recent or relevant content, it may not add value to your clients. Ensure you post frequent content on your website. If you’re struggling to find recent content for your website, call the Dunham Business Development Team at 858.964.0500 to see what customizable content Dunham can provide your website with, provided this content is reviewed and approved by your compliance department.
A website also serves as a giant digital advertisement for your firm. Prospects may find you online first, so be sure to leave a great first impression with a well-built, up-to-date website.
3. Send Out Cards on Holidays
As I mentioned above, advertising in the wealth management sector relies heavily on relationship-based adverting. Sending out a small card on a unique holiday is a great way to foster those relationships.
Sending on a unique holiday such as mother’s or father’s day for parents, or veterans day for veterans, will ensure your card stands out. Also by sending cards on holidays that are specific to your clients, you show them your knowledge and interest in their life.
Frequently sending gifts could be seen as tacky and cause regulatory problems, while sending a card gets the message across simply and heartfeltly.
You can also utilize that prospect list I mentioned earlier and send cards to the people you have on that list. By doing this, you show the appreciation you have for not only existing clients but also the people within your network.
Read our blog post, Ways to Make Your Clients Feel Loved This Valentine’s Day, to learn how you can show your appreciation on Valentine’s Day.
Sending out cards functions, similar to sending out a newsletter, encourages top-of-mind awareness in clients. Theses cards work to keep your firm on their mind. Another benefit of sending cards on holidays is that they show you care about your client, and you think of them on holidays
4. Get Involved in Your Community
The art of networking seems to never go out of style when it comes to advertising ideas for financial advisors. Many of your clients may be your neighbors or members of your community. A great way to get your name out there is to be a part of the community. You can sponsor a beach clean-up and have your logo put on the tee-shirts of the volunteers, sponsor a community volunteer effort and generate a positive reputation, or participate in monthly community meetings.
By getting involved in your community, you can get the name of your practice out there. People are more likely to do business with companies they know. Another benefit of getting involved in your community as an advertising idea is that it characterizes your practice as one that cares. If prospects see how you care for the community, they may think you will take good care of them as clients.
5. Use Social Media
While it’s hard to beat meeting prospects face-to-face, sometimes that is not always possible. Another place to reach prospects or clients is on social media. Especially LinkedIn, where you can find many professionals. Be sure you gain approval from your ’ ’firm’s compliance department before creating an account or posting any content.
Check Out Dunham’s LinkedIn Page Here!
You can post your community activities, news about your practice, or information about your services. By using social media, you will reach a larger audience without having to find contact information from every person you try to show content to.
Advertising may be a trial-and-error venture until you find what works for your messaging and audience. ’Don’t be discouraged in one of your advertising ideas does not work out. Stay committed to growing your practice.
Remember, advertising starts with your audience. To succeed at advertising, you need to know your audience and their response. In understanding your audience and using the advertising idea you believe resonates with them, you may be able to raise new AUM and grow your practice.
Disclosures:
This communication is general in nature and provided for educational and informational purposes only. It should not be considered or relied upon as legal, tax, or investment advice or an investment recommendation, or as a substitute for legal counsel. Any investment products or services named herein are for illustrative purposes only and should not be considered an offer to buy or sell, or an investment recommendation for, any specific security, strategy, or investment product or service. Always consult a qualified professional or your own independent financial professional for personalized advice or investment recommendations tailored to your specific goals, individual situation, and risk tolerance.
Dunham & Associates Investment Counsel, Inc. is a Registered Investment Adviser and Broker/Dealer. Member FINRA/SIPC.
Advisory services and securities offered through Dunham & Associates Investment Counsel, Inc.
[i] https://ww2.conductor.com/rs/149-ZMU-763/images/Power_of_Content_Conductor_Research.pdf