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When you decided to strike out on your own as an independent financial advisor, chances are you were confident in your ability to both help clients grow and manage their wealth and to grow and manage your firm. Otherwise, you’d still be working for someone else. What you may not have realized is that just like you need administrative support to help manage operations, you also need marketing support to help foster growth.
You can grow a solid foundation for your business by relying on word-of-mouth and referrals. Still, even this tried-and-true marketing tactic has limited results when you don’t know how – or simply don’t have time – to fine-tune and focus your efforts. To expand your reach beyond your existing network, outsource your marketing.
Why outsource your marketing?
As you work to grow your client base, you’ll have to promote your business to a target audience in a way that attracts, nurtures, and converts leads. If you’re thinking of doing it yourself or handing off marketing tasks to your assistant, here’s why you want to reconsider.
Your firm’s marketing can be handled by you personally. Or it can be done by someone else on your team who has it as one of their many responsibilities, or by an individual you hire solely to handle your firm’s marketing. It can be done a professional marketing agency. In all those instances, you’ll have to train yourself or someone else on industry-specific regulations, compliance practices, and how to speak to your audience as an advisor. Does your schedule allow for that?
If you choose to bring a marketing manager on staff, one of the biggest drawbacks is the expense. The median annual wage for marketing managers was $142,170 in May 2020. The lowest 10% earned less than $74,620, and the highest 10% earned more than $208,000. That doesn’t include vacation, health insurance, and other benefits you’ll have to pay.
There is, however, one other option, and that is outsourcing to a marketing agency that specializes in marketing for financial advisors. When you hire a financial services marketing firm, you don't have to worry about spending your time training anyone on how your industry works, compliance guidelines and requirements, or industry-specific regulations (like not being allowed to utilize testimonials in your marketing materials). Plus, larger traditional marketing agencies can get expensive, and you never know who will be handling your "project." When you work with a specialty financial advisor marketing firm that is already familiar with your industry, they can work more efficiently for you, which saves you money.
Here are some examples of the specialized services an outsourced marketing manager provides:
Obtain digital and traditional marketing expertise
Since consumers get their information from cell phones, tablets, and computers, you’ll want to put your best digital foot forward. However, keeping up with the latest changes in the social media and digital marketing landscape is itself a full-time job. Working with a niche marketing firm allows you to focus on what you’re good at and leaves the constantly changing digital sphere to an expert who has their eyes on it at all times.
Gain access to deep marketing knowledge and experience
Your clients turn to you for financial advice because you have knowledge and experience they don’t have; you can assess their situation and create a plan that will guide them towards the goals you’ve set together. Effective marketing strategies implemented by skilled marketing professionals can help your business grow and move you towards your goals.
A marketing consultant who specializes in working with independent financial advisors knows how to use social media effectively, drive the right traffic to your website, and convert that traffic into prospective clients while adhering to compliance guidelines. You benefit from their expertise as well as their ongoing experience in the field. Just like you watch and analyze financial market trends, they watch and analyze marketing trends and stay up-to-date on what’s working (or not working) for their other clients. As a client, you’re able to tap into this knowledge and experience, all without having to pay for the salary and benefits of a full-time marketing department.
Get full-service marketing support
Implementing an effective marketing strategy requires a wide range of skills, typically not all found in one person. Do you have someone on staff capable of handling website development, graphic design, copywriting, content creation, search engine optimization, social media marketing, email marketing, project management, and more? When you outsource marketing to an agency, a whole team of skilled professionals works together to produce your marketing campaigns.
For a set monthly fee, you can bring on a marketing partner to collaborate with you and your team to implement marketing strategies on a continuous basis. In addition to having a strategic plan in place, you can be confident that the plan will be executed in a way that meets your standards and gets results.
Maximize your team’s effectiveness
When running an independent financial advisory firm, it can be challenging to ensure you’re getting the most from your team without spreading them too thin.
Effective marketing requires knowledge and skills, so delegating the duties to your administrative staff is unlikely to produce the results you want. Moreover, adding more tasks to their to-do list could be distracting from other responsibilities. Even if the employee is interested in learning marketing, it would require extensive training and they’ll, unfortunately, take those skills with them when they leave.
Put more time on your calendar
Outsourcing marketing frees your time. All too often, business owners become the chief cook and bottle-washer, diverting attention from their primary role in the business and the things that matter most to them outside of the office.
As long as you are willing to invest a few hours a month to collaborate with your outsourced marketing team, you can maintain focus on your clients and business while the professionals take charge of your marketing.
Is it time to outsource your marketing?
If you and your staff already have too much on your plate, outsourcing your marketing is an easy choice. But there are other important reasons why now is the right time to take action:
Outpace the competition
If your competition isn’t already putting digital marketing to work for their business, they will soon. If you want your firm to be found online, what are you doing to stay steps ahead of the firm down the street?
When you’re ready to boost your business into the digital world and develop processes to attract and nurture leads, you can’t beat the experience of a professional that not only knows your industry, but also knows how to implement marketing strategies that have been proven to work. Ignoring online opportunities to connect with potential clients is leaving money on the table.
Stand out as a leader
You’ve worked hard to gain the knowledge, insights, and reputation you have. Leveraging digital marketing allows you to build a platform online and use social media channels to put yourself out there as an expert in the field and your community.
Sharing videos, blog posts, and updates on hot topics and industry news gives you the opportunity to raise your profile and gain trust. Doing so in a strategic way lets prospective clients know where to turn when they’re ready to hire an advisor.
Don’t forget about industry credibility – when your brand is positioned effectively, and you have top-notch marketing, potential clients will immediately see you as a known industry expert.
Enhance your client experience
Marketing is not just about gaining new clients; it’s also about keeping your current clients and growing their loyalty. Consistently delivering helpful content through your online presence and email newsletter affirms that they’re being well taken care of by someone knowledgeable, dependable, and passionate, which enhances their experience, keeps them engaged, and makes it easier for them to refer you to friends.
Outsourcing your marketing
Outsourcing your marketing to a skilled and reputable team can accelerate your business growth and free up your time so you can focus on your business, your clients, and your family.
At Crystal Marketing Solutions, we act as your virtual CMO and marketing team to handle your marketing needs, allowing you to grow your business while focusing on what matters most to you. Since financial services marketing specifically for advisors is our niche, you can be assured that we understand the industry and its unique challenges. Plus, when you work with us, you will never become just a number, and we’re generally more cost-effective, too. If you’re ready to talk about real marketing solutions NOW, get in touch with us here and let’s start the conversation!
Curious where your marketing efforts stand? Take our simple quiz and get a quick score to find out.
Crystal Lee Butler, MBA is a creative marketer and results-oriented business consultant with over a decade of experience collaborating with independent advisors. At Crystal Marketing Solutions, she delivers exceptional insights for financial professionals, enabling them to create a consistent marketing presence so they can focus on the things that matter most to them.
Read more articles by Crystal Butler
Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.
