6 New Marketing Tips for Financial Advisors Who Are Expanding

                                                                                     

Under the direction of Kelly Waltrich, CEO and co-founder, the financial advisor marketing and business development platform Intention.ly has expanded its staff to more than 20 workers across seven states and is now serving clients across the financial services ecosystem.

Waltrich is well-known for her previous employments at eMoney Advisor and Orion, where she assisted both companies in developing and communicating their marketing strategies for a quickly changing area of the financial sector. Waltrich was crucial to Intention.ly's acquisition of C-Suite Social Media and the hiring of CEO Tina Powell last year.

For financial advice practice leaders who want to up their marketing game in 2023, Waltrich recently shared her most current views on the Retire With Style podcast. Waltrich stressed the critical importance of communicating the appropriate message to the appropriate group of clients at the appropriate time in an interview with podcast hosts and retirement specialists Wade Pfau and Alex Murguia.

According to Waltrich, advisers are facing an increasing number of marketing issues as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic's aftereffects as well as quick changes in laws, social media, technology, and other areas. Waltrich cautions that a firm's capacity to successfully tell its narrative is increasingly being hampered by clients' growing expectations that advisors provide "holistic" services.

Here is the most recent version of Waltrich's marketing guidelines for financial advisers, updated for the new opportunities and difficulties they will encounter in 2023.

1. Give marketing the resources it needs.

Professional assistance may be required in many situations, and it may not be as expensive or complicated as a practice leader thinks.

2. Possess a distinct point of view.

Waltrich believes that having a genuine point of view and genuine passion for a particular step in the advice and wealth creation process is the single element that, in today's market, sets a firm apart from its rivals.

"It's a red signal," says Waltrich, "if a client can't look at your website and obtain a good point of view on what you feel financial planning genuinely entails." "Far too frequently, businesses go to great lengths to describe their method in marketing materials, but they take no steps to convey their distinctive passion or purpose."

Consumers today are extremely skeptical of the generic message, whether it comes from a financial advisor or any other professional service provider, claims Waltrich. In addition, many customers of financial services are more interested in the results of the process than in the specifics of the process itself, at least initially.

Whether a company favors retirement asset protection, wealth expansion, or any other objective, this should be made plain on the website and in marketing materials.

3. Effective outreach is always targeted.

According to Waltrich, advising company leaders with limited marketing experience frequently believe that putting out the widest possible net will yield the best results. In practice, that strategy will be at best ineffective and at worst completely ineffective.

                                                                                  

4. Draw attention to your team and resources.

According to Waltrich, the majority of financial advisers are operating with at least a small team behind them in 2023, and this should be made obvious in the marketing campaign, even though some advisors may have functioned as true solo practitioners in the past.

I don't want to imply that a practice run by a lone adviser can't provide excellent client service, but I do believe it's critical to highlight the support staff for the primary advisor. I'll give an example from my own life. Are you going to hire a marketing firm that doesn't have a few experts on staff with great confidence? Most likely not.

According to Waltrich, consumers seek holistic services in today's market because they are aware that their wants will change throughout their lifetimes and that they will need to have access to a variety of specialists. There is just so much that goes into planning, from tax mitigation to portfolio management.

The point is that none of these individuals are W-2 employees, according to Waltrich. "Sending the proper message involves demonstrating the extensive network of resources you have at your disposal to draw upon as required. You probably have partners or turnkey asset management packages that you may mention, even if you are a one-person operation. These are the partnerships you should highlight.

5. Talk to customers like real people, not like students.

According to Waltrich, "one of the best things I see now from a marketing viewpoint is that companies are speaking to consumers like individuals. "Financial services marketing is now taking on a more informal tone that has not previously existed."

In the past, businesses prioritized expressing some kind of tactical advantage or showcasing a complex area of expertise in their marketing materials.

According to Waltrich, "a regular consumer would likely have to go ask someone they knew in the business about what the firm in question truly did with a traditional advertisement." A magnifying lens was also required to view the small type at the bottom of the advertisement. These things are altering now.

Advisors and product developers are attempting to relate to customers more and more by using conversational language.

Waltrich declares, "I believe this is a winning approach. Effective marketing no longer revolves around trying to outsmart your competition.

6. Promote your skills as a difficult problem solver.

Waltrich asserts that successful marketing of financial advising services finds a delicate balance between highlighting the difficulty of the work without coming across as patronizing.

Waltrich issues a warning, saying, "The message cannot simply be that this firm is your new best friend and they will take care of everything for you with ease. "I think the proper message emphasizes how complicated financial planning is, but that the right advice is available," the author said.

According to Waltrich, businesses still err on one side of this spectrum more often than the other, with marketing messages that are either overly complex or overly simple.

"You can't just tiptoe around the complexity as we reach a world where trust and fiduciary-level service is highly appreciated," adds Waltrich. The end client won't value your job if you appear to make things seem too simple for them to understand all the labor that goes into it.

Waltrich admits that this proposal may come off as self-serving given that her business supports financial advisors in their marketing efforts. However, according to Waltrich, advisors lag considerably behind other sectors in terms of efficient marketing techniques.

According to Waltrich, "For our part, we are trying to be incredibly smart about dealing with those organizations who we believe have the proper recipe for success. We only want to collaborate with companies that recognize how critical proper marketing is.

Waltrich emphasizes that there are numerous intricate and developing stories to be told in the financial services industry. These are rarely straightforward tales to tell, whether an adviser is leaving their traditional home office or trying to take advantage of new partner platform distribution options.

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