7 Keys to Effectively Marketing Your Practice Online

Financial advisor marketing online has become an effective part of marketing your financial practice. The Internet has caused a revolution in the way financial advisor marketing is done in a financial practice.

Gone are the days when business was 90% kitchen table consultations and referrals were all word of mouth.  Every day, more and more people are going online in search of a trustworthy and knowledgeable financial advisor.

If you want to put your financial practice in front of these prospective clients, include a strategy for financial advisor marketing online .  Effective financial advisor marketing online involves building an online presence, making yourself easy to find, and offering the solutions that people need.

1) Use Your Financial Advisor Website to Nurture Client Relationships

The most important thing you need to consider for your website is how it helps you build an ongoing personal relationship with your clients.

Add features to your financial advisor website to make it more interactive. This will keep clients coming back, and it will increase the likelihood that clients will share your site with other people.

What should you add to your website?

Think “social interaction”.  

This could include the following activities for effective financial advisor marketing online via your website:

• Polls
• Discussions
• Contests
• Articles
• Blogs (more on this below)

These types of social interaction will get people talking and taking action. Start a discussion about quantitative investments and you just might meet a few new clients that are ready to invest with you. 

2) Financial Advisor Marketing Online Includes Keeping Your Website Current and Engaging.

You need to update your financial advisor website regularly and keep your content current.

It’s like the “publish or perish” rule in science … If your website is never updated, clients will not return, they will seek out another source for information, and then they will forget about you.

Keep providing useful information, and they will keep coming back. Eventually, prospective clients will pick up the phone and schedule an appointment with you. 

3) Financial Advisor Marketing Online Must Take Advantage of the Major Social Media Outlets

If you want new clients, you need to go where the people are. “Where are they?” you ask. They are online. They are updating statuses, tweeting, and getting linked in. They are networking from behind a computer or smartphone screen. You should be, too.

One of the easiest ways to broaden your reach is to establish a presence on the major social networking sites.

Make sure you get involved in the big 3 social media networks:

1. Facebook
2. Twitter
3. LinkedIn

By doing this you will reach the majority of online social network users.

One tip: Avoid advertising your services on social media sites.

An advertisement in the social media arena feels like spam, and when people feel spammed they unfollow, unlike, and unfriend as quickly as they can find the button.

Stick to building relationships. If you establish rapport and provide valuable content you will attract new prospects. 

4) Financial Advisor Marketing Online Should Include Other Social Media Channels

Claim other online business profiles on sites like Google, Yelp, and Foursquare. Though they are not as widely used as Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn, many people will rely on them to find you.

Take advantage of the viral nature of sites like Pinterest and YouTube.

Upload a “How to Better Protect Your Wealth by [Fill in the Blank]” video on YouTube. Pin an interesting blog post. Watch your links get passed around, and watch the referrals roll in.

5) Blog to Grow Your Credibility & Audience

Blogging is a potent tool for effective financial advisor marketing online, yet it remains under-utilized. This is an advantage to you if you are willing to put in the work to maintain a blog.

What can blogging do for you?

Well, let’s see…

• It establishes you as an expert financial advisor.
• It moves you up in search engine rankings by adding keywords to your site.
• It attracts people to your site with those extra keywords.
• It provides a way for clients to hear from you and interact with you.
• It helps clients know what new products and services you are offering.

Really, I could go on and on about this. But I think you get the picture.

6) Rethink Your Email Marketing Strategy

Email is still one of the top ways to reach a large number of current and potential clients. But don’t email the same way everyone else is emailing—emailing just to email, including the same dreary stats and facts. Use your message to give them something compelling so they just have to click through and visit your webpage.

One tip, the same as before: Don’t get spammy.

People are very sensitive to businesses that blast their inbox multiple times a day. Doing so can make the unsubscribe button look very appealing.

7) Use the Internet to Complement Things That Happen Offline

You serve your clients (and prospective clients) in “kitchen table” meetings, on the phone, and with financial advisor seminar marketing.

But to have the best strategy for financial advisor marketing online, you must constantly be thinking about how the Internet can help you serve clients better. 

Consider your web presence an extension of the personal, face-to-face services you offer your clients.

You can use the Internet to…

• Further explain topics
• Listen to your clients’ needs
• Understand what your clients expect from you
• Reach out to prospective and existing clients

Your clients can use the Internet to…

• Interact with you
• Try to solve problems independently
• Self-manage their finances

So What Does This All Mean?

Building and maintaining a strong online presence is not just something the big corporations can do.

Effective financial advisor marketing online can help you get ahead of your competition and gain an advantage. You can serve your clients better and, in turn, serve your business better.

Tell us how you have used any of these strategies for effective financial advisor marketing online and how they worked for you.