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I can’t stand the despicable lack of branding in the financial advisor space. I’m always advocating for financial advisors to set themselves apart. But the overwhelming pushback I get is this, “Sara, if I specify a particular market niche, I’m worried I’ll lose interest from prospects who don’t fit that niche.”
Despite what you may think, your current clients will not dump you, and you won’t lose wealthy prospects by targeting a vertical – if you do it right.
They never loved you in the first place
I remember one time I was talking to a company about doing a comprehensive marketing program for them that would include blogging, brochures and a website redesign. Early on in the process, one of the influencers objected with what I considered a “weak stall.”
“Sara, I’d love to hire you, but I’m afraid I don’t want all those services you’re proposing at this time.”
Well, that wasn’t a real issue because, as I assured her, I would be happy to provide just brochure services. But she persisted. A few meetings later, it came out that the big boss who was making the decision wasn’t thrilled that I showed up to a meeting with digital – not paper– copies of my brochures. Also a weak objection.
The lead went cold and to this day I haven’t been able to get them to respond.
But the core issue was this: there wasn’t good chemistry. I failed to deliver my potency. If they were in love with me, they wouldn’t have cared about these minor issues. My intention to blog for them and my digital brochures didn’t blow the deal because there was never an opportunity in the first place.
The threat of losing clients outside your vertical shouldn’t prevent you from specifying one. If you are good enough to win clients in your vertical, you can win clients outside of the vertical, too. You may have to work harder and create a pitch that shocks and amazes. Anybody who does that, regardless of who their website says that they like to work with, will win the client.
Don’t underestimate what a powerful one-on-one interaction can do. That is where you close the deal and that is where people fall in or out of love with you.
Satisfied lovers never stray
You won’t lose any prospects because on your website says you love working with a particular niche that they do not fit into. Have a little faith, people.
You have to understand how wealthy people think.
Affluent people aren’t looking to find a new financial advisor unless it’s a recession and you lost tons of their money. If performance is reasonably good, they’re likely to stay with you even if you rebrand the firm and it doesn’t align with their profile.
Remember how hard it was to pry them away from their original advisor when they agreed to work with you? That’s because changing financial advisors brings risk and a great deal of boring paperwork.
Just like a satisfied lover doesn’t cheat, a satisfied client doesn’t answer Merrill Lynch’s call when they phone up to invite them to that dinner seminar. If you keep your clients’ accounts profitable, you’ll be able to write anything you want (within reason) on your website and they will stay with you.
Stalking pays off, handsomely
Let’s say that I chose to target veterinarians practicing in the United States. I love animals, so this would be a natural choice, because this way I can attend vet adoption events or read vet blogs, write my own vet blog, watch vet shows on television, etc. It’s a great visual brand, too, because people are attracted to pictures of warm, fuzzy animals, so they’ll click on your social media posts.
If you do the research, there’s tons of opportunity here. Did you realize that there are over 114,000 practicing vets in the United States (American Veterinary Medical Foundation, 2017)? Moreover, 68,000 of them are in private practices.
Let’s say that you put every minute of your time into this vertical. You take the time to know everything that could impact a vet’s money, such as how much medical debt they tend to carry and how they should pay it down, what benefits are available to them and what the shortfalls are, etc. You’ve got to get obsessed at the level of a stalker. And when you do, you’ll be the expert in the space, “that guy” or “that woman” who everyone knows about and wants to use.
Think about how the numbers would work. If you land one half of 1% of those vets as clients in one year, that would mean you landed over 550 clients. Let’s say you made $1,000 from each of those clients over the course of the year.
You’d be rich.
It wouldn’t even matter if lawyers, doctors and all the other occupations in the world didn’t want anything to do with you because you’d have enough to go on from your vets.
Whether you focus by occupation, geography, hobby or interest, or even by age, domination pays. Find a tiny little sliver of the world and drill down as far as you can until you get to the space that nobody else can reach.
Now you have a unique brand.
We are all egocentric; it’s our tendency. When you take the time to show that you are obsessed with a particular type of person, it will really pay off.
Great for emerging independent firms
While niche marketing is great for all advisors, it is particularly helpful for independent advisors who don’t have robust marketing resources. You have to invest time to study the niche, but after that it’s a matter of meeting as many individuals as possible. There’s a domino effect, too, whereby vet clients will refer you to other vet clients if they’re happy with your service. It can take on a life of its own.
Still think a niche strategy is too risky? Please reach out to me and share your thoughts.
Sara Grillo, CFA, is a top financial writer with a focus on marketing and branding for investment management, financial planning, and RIA firms. Prior to launching her own firm, she was a financial advisor and worked at Lehman Brothers. Sara graduated from Harvard with a degree in English literature and has an MBA from NYU Stern in Quantitative Finance.
Read more articles by Sara Grillo
Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.
