The world of financial advice, like marketing financial advice to investors, has changed significantly over the last two years. The catalyst for change has been COVID fears that have driven more consumers to rely on the Internet when they are seeking financial information and service providers.
Today, more than ever, investors are reading blog articles to learn more about financial topics and visiting financial advisor websites to learn more about the financial firms that produced the content. The more visible financial advisors are on the Internet the higher the probability their content is what will be seen by investors.
On a good day, your brand is a positive hashtag in messaging apps and on social media platforms, too. These all fall under a vital new digital umbrella called “inbound marketing” for financial advisors.
Digital marketing is another set of terms that describes an inbound marketing strategy. A decade or two ago financial advisors used outbound marketing (cold calling, direct mail) to initiate contact with investors. Today outbound marketing has been replaced with inbound marketing. That is, investors use the Internet to initiate contact with financial advisors.
If none of this is news, bear with us. What follows are some important strategic tactics for launching an inbound marketing strategy that is tailored to your firm and skills.
1. Produce High-Quality Content That Is Relevant to Your Target Audience
No one is going to spend time reading financial content that has no relevance to their personal situation, needs, or interests. And, producing relevant content is only half of the equation for success. Financial advisors also need to produce relevant content that is compelling enough that investors will open and read it.
And, just so you know, big brother (Google) has the technology to know if your content is being read by its users. Lastly, investors should not just read your content. It should make a strong enough impression that they end up contacting you.
The easiest way to do this is by revisiting your target markets to get up-to-date on their financial pain points. Solutions for pain points are compelling.
Bland content kills marketing efforts, making them a waste of time. The foundation of your Inbound Marketing strategy should be based on research – what are your ideal types of clients searching for on the Internet?
So, use fresh data to plan relevant content that addresses your target market niche’s issues as specifically as possible.
Blog articles are a good start, but they need to be developed simultaneously with other facets, like email and social media (both of which we will discuss in a moment).
2. Use Keywords and SEO Strategies For Increasing Visibility And Traffic To Your Website
Websites are the mainstays of establishing your brand online, but a set-it-and-forget-it approach will not yield much. For best results, you have to meet several Google expectations.
This starts with conducting online research and utilizing the right keywords to reach your ideal audience(s).
In a simple sense, you need to know the keywords that are used by your ideal types of clients when they are searching the Internet for financial information and service providers. Then you need a high page rank for those keywords. FYI, 75% of Google users do not scroll past page one.
It used to be a matter of just repeating popular sets of keywords endlessly, but that approach can actually get you penalized now. Site-crawling bots now measure readability, too.
3. Use Social Media To Share Your Content and Build Relationships With Potential Clients
One of the best places to distribute your content is on social media platforms. Whether you blog, podcast, or more, the potential for increased visibility is unrivaled.
Best of all, over time as you build your audience, they will start sharing your content for you. Viral popularity does not happen overnight, but when it does your reach expands exponentially.
As mentioned in Step 1, make sure that your content is as relevant as possible based on the interests of your target audience(s), first. However, do not stop there: While you are seeking their current pain points, make note of any social media channels that pop up more frequently.
The key to marketing via social media (in addition to nurturing a positive resource) is developing your reputation for solid content that is based on the interests of your target audiences.
4. Develop an Email Marketing Strategy To Keep in Touch With Prospective Clients
Never discount the effectiveness of email. Despite its relative age (in comparison with the messaging app of the minute), it is still vital to successful inbound marketing.
Messages can be custom-tailored for specific groups, like prospects vs. clients or people in their working years versus their retirement years. At the same time, email is a mainstay for effective communications that communicate your knowledge during a variety of market conditions.
55. Measure Your Results
Reviewing your track record is a must. There are four common areas for measuring what might need improvement: Conversion rates, website (blog post) traffic, engagement metrics, and your lead generation (by channel and content).
The primary conversion rate that produces the most relevant results is the conversion of website visitors into qualified leads and contacts. Low conversion rates are indicators that your content is not resonating with the investors who are viewing it.
In other words, it is time for some Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO). This normally impacts your visitor bounce rates, traffic sources, social media shares, and other criteria.
Engagement metrics reflect investorss’ rates of interaction with things like filling out a form, downloading an eBook, or scheduling an interview.
Your lead generation metrics are derived from a comprehensive analysis of results that include your conversion rates, click-through rates, and cost per click if you are using paid advertising to produce leads for your services.
Despite all the recent technological advances, some aspects of inbound marketing success continue to be based on trial-and-error. Therefore, your first attempt at inbound marketing is more likely to be a learning experience versus a sure-fire hit.
Read an article that takes a deeper dive into inbound marketing strategies for financial advisors Or, Contact us today to schedule a free, no-obligation call with a Paladin marketing consultant.
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