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Firms reach a certain size and decide to focus their marketing on a specific client segment or to groom younger advisors into business development roles via a niche specialization. But how do these firms establish themselves with a niche? These nine steps will help.
Most financial advisory firms grow their businesses through referrals and word of mouth. As a result, they often have a wide range of client types. Often, though, once a firm reaches a certain size (for example, $1 billion in AUM), one of two things happens:
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- They realize they want to make a more focused effort marketing to a segment of their client base where they see additional opportunity, such as business owners, executives, or women in transition.
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- The firm hires younger advisors they would like to groom into business development roles and want to use a niche to help them succeed (e.g., young tech professionals).
When a firm is ready to launch a new niche specialization, how do they go about doing it? Up until that point, marketing centered on generating referrals. But a niche focus requires a different approach.
Here are the nine steps you need to take when entering a new niche market.
1. Define your audience
Define the general niche specialization you want to focus on, for example, business owners, women, executives, or health care workers. From there, further narrow this niche by identifying the one problem that you will solve for them.
Ideally, this problem is painful to your niche and is urgent for them to solve. For example, if your category is tech employees, the one problem you solve may be helping them minimize the taxes associated with their equity compensation.
While you solve many problems for this niche, defining the one problem they all share helps you be clear on exactly who is your niche audience.
2. Assign a leader
Once you have defined your new practice area, assign an advisor within the firm to spearhead the effort. This person needs to have some connection to or experience with this new niche. This person needs to be dedicated to this marketing effort and should be given the time and resources they need to make it succeed.
While other people in the firm can help with the niche, the leader is ultimately responsible for making it succeed. If no one is in charge, the niche is doomed to hobble along and never gain traction.
3. Develop your message
Develop a compelling message that specifically attracts your niche. Clients hire you to solve a problem for them. Therefore, establish a clear, simple message that articulates the problem the prospective client faces and how you solve this problem.
The message needs to be specific to the niche’s pain points and aspirations and use their language, not yours. This message then needs to be translated to other marketing materials, like a landing page on your website or a brochure.
4. Create a landing page
To aggressively market to a new niche, highlight the offering on your website.
You do not need to change your entire website. Add one page to your website that communicates your message to your niche and include that page in your main navigation menu. The landing page should also offer a way for your niche to schedule an appointment with you.
5. Develop a lead-capture mechanism
Build a list of names of people in your niche you can market to for years to come.
Offer a resource on your website where prospects can enter their contact information in exchange for the resource. These lead capture devices can be e-books, recorded webinars, online courses, reports, white papers, or even physical books.
6. Create nurturing campaigns
As you integrate into a niche community, you want to stay top of mind with everyone you meet for years and years. Your goal is to be the first financial advisor your niche prospects reach out to when they are ready to hire a professional.
One of the best long-term ways to nurture these contacts is through an email newsletter that you send weekly, semimonthly, or monthly.
You also need a short-term nurturing campaign for those people who give you their contact information on your lead-capture resource. This is usually an automated email series that immediately follows the download of your resource.
The goal with this nurturing campaign is to capture any prospects who are ready to act right away.
7. Determine content to create
Content marketing is the most effective way to demonstrate your expertise with a niche, even when you are just beginning.
Pick one communication medium – written, video, audio, or visual – to showcase your expertise. Then pick a format within that medium, such as presentations, blogs, video blogs, podcasts, or infographics, that you will use.
Use the content to highlight your expertise in the various channels you use (see the next step).
8. Determine the channels to access your niche
Ask the people you know in the niche where you can find other people like them. What events do they attend? What organizations do they join? What media or publications do they consume? Where do they congregate online? Who are the key influencers who can get you access to this niche?
Once you understand where they are, figure out how you can integrate yourself into those channels. Can you contribute a guest article to a popular website or publication? Can you speak in front of a group? Can you interview influencers on your podcast, so they promote it to their audience? Leverage the people, organizations, and publications that already have access to the niche you want to reach.
9. Develop a conversion process
After you’ve put the effort into marketing to a prospect, you want to make sure you convert a high percentage to clients. To do this, you need a process that seamlessly transitions a prospect to a client. This includes having an appointment calendaring system on your website, a pitchbook and proposal that convey your value proposition, and a follow-up process to prevent anyone from falling through the cracks.
Final thoughts
A niche market helps firms focus their marketing on an area of opportunity and grooms the next generation of advisors into business-development roles. Entering a new niche market will make it easier for you to stand out from the competition and attract clients. Follow these nine steps as a roadmap to establish yourself in your desired niche market.
Kristen Luke is the president of Kaleido Creative Studio, a marketing agency that helps transform Registered Investment Advisors and their employees into experts in a niche, making it easier for them to stand out from the competition and attract ideal clients. Over the past 16 years, Kristen has consulted with hundreds of financial advisory firms and shared her marketing expertise via industry conferences and publications nationwide.
Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.
