Digital Client Prospecting: A Guide for Financial Advisors

Have you ever thought about the incredible impact your work has? As an advisor, you're not just crunching numbers; you're shaping dreams, securing futures, and bringing peace of mind.

Your expertise transforms financial jargon into practical solutions, making aspirations a reality.

Each client you guide, and every goal you achieve has the potential to change the life trajectory of your client. Your role isn't just about managing money; it's about creating legacies, fostering security, and building dreams.

However, these clients don't often appear out of thin air. To succeed as an advisor, you have to get your name in front of the right people and convince them of your value. Consistent prospecting isn't just a task on your to-do list; it's how you ensure a steady flow of connections to fuel your practice's growth.

Let's dive further into how digital client prospecting can rapidly change the game for financial advisors.

What Is Digital Client Prospecting?

Digital client prospecting involves leveraging online platforms, social media, and technology tools to identify, engage, and convert potential clients. Digital marketing methods enable advisors to cast a wider net than traditional methods and reach across geographical boundaries.

Financial advisors can utilize social media platforms and a branded website to connect with potential clients organically. Digital methods allow them to share valuable content, insights, and expertise. Email marketing campaigns, webinars, and virtual events have replaced some traditional seminars and workshops.

Digital client prospecting can provide a more dynamic, scalable, and interactive way for financial advisors to establish meaningful connections and foster relationships with potential clients in today's fast-paced, technology-driven landscape. Moreover, digital tools provide in-depth analytics, allowing advisors to track engagement, understand client behavior, and personalize their approach.

The Changing Landscape of Client Prospecting

Traditional prospecting often relied on in-person events, phone calls, and physical networking that required the lead to gain interest on the advisor's timeline. Today's digital prospecting includes automated outreach tactics and an "always-on" web presence to help advisors reach more leads when they are actively looking for solutions to meet their needs.

Digitally Native Prospects

Today's clients expect their advisors to provide modern tools and digital solutions. In the evolving landscape of financial advisory, incoming generations have grown up using technology. Gen X (around 45-60 years old), Millennials (30-45 years old), and Gen Z (20-30 years old) are largely digitally native and expect digital solutions to be part of the experience.

This means they are not only comfortable with online interactions but actively prefer them. Financial advisors must adapt their prospecting strategies to resonate with this digitally savvy audience, focusing on engaging and informative online content, interactive webinars, and seamless digital communication channels to establish meaningful connections and build trust.

Emerging Tools and Technologies

Emerging financial advisor tools and technologies empower professionals and help them streamline operations. With advanced analytics, intuitive client management platforms, and AI-powered capabilities, advisors can gain deeper client insights and deliver tailored financial solutions. A data-driven approach enhances efficiency and enables advisors to meet the needs and preferences of their prospects more precisely.

Harnessing new technology enables you to accomplish more for your clients. These tools can make the prospecting process easier, more consistent, and less time-consuming.

7 Tactics for Digital Client Prospecting

There are a number of tactics financial advisors can use to attract new clients online.

SEO for Financial Advisors

Does your advisory website appear prominently in search engine results when potential clients look for financial services that you provide? Optimizing website content, structure, and keywords for search engines-known as search engine optimization (or SEO)-helps you land in the top query results for relevant topics. This helps you increase online visibility, attract more organic traffic, and nurture potential leads.

Email Marketing for Financial Advisors

How do you connect with your prospects on a regular basis? Email marketing allows personalized communication through valuable content, updates, and insights. Advisors can nurture leads through targeted email campaigns to build trust and engagement over time.

Content Marketing for Financial Advisors

What would provide value to your audience right off the bat? Creating relevant content is a key way to attract a specific audience and position yourself as an industry leader. For financial advisors, content marketing could include blog posts, videos, webinars, or infographics. Your content might discuss investment products, marketing trends, estate planning tips, or tax strategies. Consistent, informative content establishes credibility and attracts potential clients seeking expert advice.

Digital Marketing for Financial Advisors

What is your overall strategy for a comprehensive online prospectingapproach? Digital marketing encompasses a broad range of online tactics, including SEO, email marketing, content marketing, and social media marketing. It's important to have a plan in place that utilizes a number of different platforms and tools to reach a broader audience. Through strategic use of digital channels, you can create a cohesive online presence that attracts leads at every turn.

Online Networking for Financial Advisors

How do you connect to a community of advisor peers, centers of influence(COIs), and potential clients? Online networking involves building professional relationships through social media platforms like LinkedIn, where financial advisors can connect with potential clients, other professionals, and industry influencers.

Engaging in discussions, sharing expertise, and participating in relevant groups can expand your network, increase your professional knowledge, and result in valuable connections. Online networking is also a good way to encourage your existing clients and colleagues to refer you to prospectsin need of your services.

Virtual Events for Financial Advisors

Are you hosting online events that actively reach your audience? In the past, advisors were limited to in-person events if they wanted to reach a specific community, teach financial concepts, network with peers, thank clients, or attract prospects. Hosting virtual events, such as webinars or online workshops, provides a platform to showcase expertise.

These events allow advisors to engage directly with prospects, answering questions and addressing concerns in real time. Virtual events foster connections and position advisors as knowledgeable authorities in their field.

Online Advertising for Financial Advisors

What is the fastest way to get your financial advisory practice in front of people and attract new clients? Online advertisements like pay-per-click (PPC) ads put your content in front of targeted audiences. You can pay for digital advertising on social media, search engines, and third-party sites to help increase traction. Use ads to promote content or direct visitors to specific landing pages on your site designed to address the concerns, needs, or wants of your audience.

How To Get Started With Digital Prospecting

Start with this step-by-step approach to financial advisor digital marketing.

1. Create a Digital Marketing Plan

This should include social, informational blogging, email marketing, online advertising, and any other activity that drives your business. Our Marketing Mattersresource is a great place to start for ideas. People are out there looking for information. This is one way to ensure you're there to provide it.

2. Create Your Voice

Make it consistent with who you are and use it across all your marketing channels and activities. This includes Zoom calls, which can feel awkward at times. It may be a lot harder to be yourself when you're sitting in front of a computer, but remember that you are your own brand; if you can be your authentic self, even over Zoom, you'll be well on your way to ensuring your prospects remember you.

3. Define and Segment Your Clients

Clients don't want a one-size-fits-all approach. Everyone has different needs and preferences. You wouldn't talk to an active investor the same way you would talk to a potential investor when in person, so why would you treat them the same online? You need to identify what audiences you plan to targetand then segment audiences into different groups that might be impacted by factors like:

• Position in the sales funnel
• Wealth or estate size
• Geographical location
• Job title or industry
• Age or generation
• Family milestones (divorce, new baby, retirement, etc.)
• Products or services currently used

…and more.

4. Personalize Your Approach

Gone are the days when you could blast a newsletter out to every contact in your database. Your clients expect you to understand them and value their time. They want a digital marketing approach that targets their needs and interests. A personalized outreach strategy doesn't have to be time-consuming or take a lot of content. You can use existing articles to provide additional education to client segments. Use key activity (like website page visits) to trigger sending certain clients relevant information.

5. Provide Educational Resources

Create gated content and webinars on topics that are relevant to your existing clients and the prospects you want to attract. For example, you might create Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing for Millennials. For clients entering retirement, you might provide sound financial habits for their grown children to start supporting the family in a more holistic way and get their kids on an investment path with you. Financial literacy, tax strategies, and diversification are additional examples of educational content your audience might value.

6. Embrace Technology

Be on the constant lookout for new digital marketingtechnologies and activities that can help you deepen your engagement with clients and prospects. Not all tools will fit your needs, so be choosy when selecting the platforms and software you use. The right tools will lighten your load, improve your capabilities, give you better insights, and automate repetitive tasks.

How To Get Clients as a Financial Advisor

Financial advising is a fundamentally people-focused practice. That means a financial advisor needs to meet their clients where they are and focus on their needs. These days, the majority of a financial advisor's audience lives and works digitally, and they're hungry to know more about investing.

By creating a digital marketing plan and delivering educational content, you'll improve your chances of serving the new generation of investors. Learning this whole new skill set can be intimidating, especially when you want to focus on the investors who are already with your practice. If you want more actionable advice and guidance on how to go about growing your practice (whether that's through digital marketing or otherwise), reach out to the team at AssetMark. We're happy to help.

Want to learn more about digital prospecting? Check out our guide on Marketing Mattersfor financial advisors.

6506850.1 | 04/2024