How Susan Theder and Samantha Russell Build a Content Calendar (Do It For Me) That Grows Advisors' Prospect Lists

Picture this: it’s the first of the month. Your client emails are written. Your LinkedIn and Instagram posts are scheduled. A new blog is ready to publish, built to show up when prospects ask ChatGPT and Google for advice. And when the market makes headlines, a breaking-news email is ready within hours.

You didn’t write any of it. You spent about 30 minutes reviewing and approving it.

Wait, someone does all of that for me? Yes. That’s FMG Suite’s Do It For Me Program. And after analyzing a full year of data from more than 12,000 advisors, we can now show exactly what it delivers.

Advisors in the Do It For Me Program:

• Grew their prospect and contact lists about 30% faster than advisors who manage their own marketing (4.8% vs. 3.6% median growth)
• Added nearly 3x as many net new contacts (29 vs. 10), even though they started with lists more than twice as large
• Were nearly twice as likely to market consistently all year (79% vs. 45%)
• Averaged a 33% open rate on their emails

Research at this scale is only possible because of FMG’s reach. More than 80,000 financial professionals use FMG to reach over 45 million U.S. investors. That gives us a clear view of what actually drives growth, and a program built to deliver it.

At the center of that program is a monthly content calendar built by two of the most recognized voices in financial services marketing, Susan Theder and Samantha Russell. Here’s how it works.

The Growth Driver Most Advisors Underestimate

The answer isn’t a single viral post or a perfect website. It’s consistency: showing up in front of clients and prospects on a steady rhythm, month after month, instead of in bursts.

Every email, post and article keeps you top of mind. When you go quiet, prospects forget you, and referrals go to the advisor who stayed visible. The problem is that marketing is usually the first thing to slip when client meetings and market swings fill the calendar.

FMG’s research set a clear bar for consistent marketing: at least six active months and 24 marketing touches in a year. Fewer than half of self-managed advisors (45%) cleared it. In the Do It For Me Program, 79% did.

“Consistency has always been the secret to organic growth. Now we can measure it.” — Samantha Russell, Chief Evangelist, FMG

The Do It For Me content calendar was built to close that gap, so advisors never go quiet.

Who Builds the Calendar

The Do It For Me content calendar is developed by Susan Theder, FMG’s Chief Marketing and Experience Officer, and Samantha Russell, FMG’s Chief Evangelist. Both have spent years helping financial advisors turn marketing into measurable growth.

They don’t build it in a vacuum. An advisory board of active advisors shapes the calendar, so every month’s content reflects the questions real clients and prospects are asking right now.

Then a dedicated Marketing Concierge executes the calendar on each advisor’s behalf. Strategy comes from the top, real-world input comes from practicing advisors, and execution happens without the advisor having to remember to hit send.

What Goes Into a Month of Growth Marketing

Each month is planned across every channel where clients and prospects spend time. A typical month includes:

• Email: Client and prospect emails, plus breaking-news emails ready within hours of major market events
• Social: Posts optimized for LinkedIn and Instagram, with twice-weekly social assists in between
• Blogs: SEO- and AEO-optimized articles built around the questions clients and prospects are actually asking
• Video and events: Video scripts and webinar outlines
• Referrals: Referral and center-of-influence campaigns

Each piece has a job in growing a list. Email nurtures the people you already know. Social and blogs bring in people who don’t know you yet. Referral and COI campaigns turn existing relationships into introductions.

And breaking-news emails mean advisors show up when clients are most anxious, not a week later. Program emails averaged a 33% open rate over the study period.

Built for How Prospects Search Today

Your next client may never type your name into Google. They might ask ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google AI Overviews a question like “How should I plan for retirement income?” and trust whichever expert gets cited.

That’s why program blogs are engineered for answer engine optimization (AEO). They’re written so an advisor’s expertise surfaces in those AI-generated answers. Combined with email, social and video, the calendar keeps advisors visible wherever prospects are looking.

“Left to do it themselves, most advisors can’t stay consistent, and very few can show up on email, social, blogs and video at the same time. That consistent, omnichannel presence is what drives organic growth.” — Susan Theder, Chief Marketing and Experience Officer, FMG

The Edge Holds Even for the Most Disciplined Advisors

One of the most telling findings: even among advisors who already marketed consistently, program advisors still added more contacts, 37 net new contacts versus 25.

That suggests consistency alone isn’t the whole story. Showing up every month matters, and showing up on every channel every month matters too. That’s the gap the calendar is designed to close.

Why Advisors Trust FMG to Deliver Growth

These results come from the platform advisors rank first. FMG is consistently ranked number one in both market share and customer satisfaction in the T3 Software Survey Report, and WealthManagement.com named it Best Marketing Automation Platform.

An independent study also found that enterprises using FMG achieved Net Promoter Scores nearly four times the industry average, along with gains in lead conversion, client retention and time saved on marketing.

Do It For Me brings all of that expertise to a single advisor’s practice: proven strategy, a dedicated team, and a calendar that never stops.

Your part: about 30 minutes a month

Advisors in the program spend roughly 30 minutes a month reviewing and approving what goes out. Your Marketing Concierge handles everything else, so your presence never goes quiet, even in your busiest months.

The takeaway is simple: the marketing that grows your list is the marketing that actually goes out.

Ready to see results like these in your own practice? Learn more about the Do It For Me Program.

FAQ

Q: How often should financial advisors market to stay consistent?

A: FMG Suite’s research defines consistent marketing as at least six active months and 24 marketing touches in a year, roughly two touches a month. Only 45% of self-managed advisors hit that bar. Spreading touches across email, social and blogs makes the target easier to reach without overloading any one channel.

Q: Does consistent marketing actually help advisors grow their prospect and contact lists?

A: Yes. In a 12-month analysis of 12,361 advisors, Do It For Me advisors, 79% of whom marketed consistently, grew their lists about 30% faster than self-managed advisors (4.8% vs. 3.6% median growth). Among consistent marketers, Do It For Me advisors added a median of 37 net new contacts, compared with 25 for self-managed advisors.

Q: What is included in the Do It For Me content calendar?

A: A typical month includes client and prospect emails, breaking-news emails, LinkedIn and Instagram posts with twice-weekly social assists, SEO- and AEO-optimized blogs, video scripts, webinar outlines, and referral and center-of-influence campaigns. A dedicated Marketing Concierge executes it on the advisor’s behalf.

Q: Who creates the Do It For Me content calendar?

A: The calendar is developed by Susan Theder, FMG’s Chief Marketing and Experience Officer, and Samantha Russell, FMG’s Chief Evangelist. An advisory board of active financial advisors helps shape it, so the content reflects what clients and prospects are asking right now.

Q: How much time does the Do It For Me Program take each month?

A: About 30 minutes. Advisors review and approve the content that goes out, and their Marketing Concierge handles everything else, from scheduling emails to posting on social media.

Q: What is AEO and why does it matter for financial advisors?

A: AEO stands for Answer Engine Optimization: structuring content so AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews can find and cite it. More prospects now start their search for an advisor by asking these tools questions. AEO-optimized blogs help an advisor’s expertise show up in those answers.

About the research: FMG analyzed contact-list data for 12,361 advisors continuously active from July 1, 2025, through July 1, 2026 (1,017 in the Do It For Me Program and 11,344 Premium subscribers who manage their own marketing). Trial, demo and compliance officer accounts were excluded, as were advisors who joined during the period. Groups are based on current subscription, and figures are medians per advisor. Consistent marketing means at least six active months and at least 24 marketing touches during the period. Open rate equals unique opens divided by delivered recipients.