One of the greatest challenges financial advisors face is keeping up with the latest marketing trends. They’re so busy taking care of their current clients and running their business that they don’t have time to learn marketing. Even if advisors do sporadically catch up on marketing best-practices, the ever-changing field will quickly leave them behind.

This is a frustrating hurdle for financial advisors, who know they need to put effort into reaching new prospects but just do not have the resources to make it happen. The world of marketing is so vast it can be difficult to know where to start.

FMG Suite’s Lead Marketing Strategist, William Gunn, has spent many years working directly with financial advisors on their marketing strategies. He has seen first-hand what works, and what doesn’t. 

In his role coaching advisors through the FMG Suite Elevate program, William constantly speaks with many advisors who come to him and say, “I’ve got my marketing plan figured out. I’m doing a client event in August and I’m doing some sort of an educational event in December and that’s it.”

So again and again, William has to break it to these advisors that they need to step it up. He explains, “I’m sorry, that just doesn’t fly. That is not enough to say that you are truly building something that is going to help you grow.” 

William continues, “a marketing strategy is more than just what events you’re doing and it’s more than just what emails you’re sending out.”

To help the advisors he works with to understand all the aspects of marketing they need to address, he created the Four Pillars. When financial advisors break down their marketing into these four aspects, they can better recognize the story they are telling and whether or not it’s growing their business.

The Four Pillars of Marketing for Financial Advisors are:

  • Branding
  • Communications
  • Office Systems
  • Prospecting 

What do these four pillars entail, and how should advisors use them to build a marketing strategy? In our broadcast, 7 Reasons Why Coaching is the Ultimate Secret Weapon, William broke down each pillar. (For all of Wiliam’s valuable insight, watch the replay today!)

Branding

What is the story of your brand?

The first pillar of marketing for financial advisors is branding. This includes things like your logo, your website, and your physical office. Branding is all about storytelling, and if you don’t know the story of your brand, you’re missing a key component of your marketing. When a prospect or client comes in contact with any aspect of your branding, it should accurately represent your service offering.

Communications

It’s more than just your emails

Your communications plan includes your emails of course, but also your phones calls, videos, and even webinars. Consider what you are doing to communicate proactively with your book of business. A robust marketing strategy for financial advisors must include a communications plan. Staying in regular communication with both your clients and prospects and sending them relevant content and messaging is key to strengthening those relationships.

Office Systems

Make great processes repeatable

While doing something right once is good, the magic is in repetition. You need a written process so you can repeat the experience. Every time you onboard a new client, you need to offer the same stellar interactions. Otherwise, you risk telling a story that you aren’t consistent. If one new client gets treated one way, and someone they referred gets treated another way, that dissonance is disappointing. Advisors want to make sure that they’re using the best systems to replicate the experience for every prospect and client.

Prospecting

More than just seminars

When William considers the prospecting pillar, he refers to the client events you put on, including social events, educational events, and service events. These are big for making sure you create word-of-mouth advertising, on top of demonstrating your expertise. When it comes to prospecting, a Neilsen study found 83% of people say they completely trust the recommendations of friends and family, above all other forms of advertising. In second place, 70% said they trust a branded website.

Through each of these pillars, you want to make sure your firm has a story that not only inspires but gets your clients engaged and gets your prospects talking. A powerful story is essential for growing your practice and building a great marketing strategy for financial advisors.

If you’re eager to get started on implementing these four pillars but aren’t sure where to start, a marketing coach can help you get there. Discover how Coaching, available through our Elevate program, provides accountability, goal-setting, and strategic insights to help you grow your firm to the next level.