The digital age is opening the minds of financial advisers and planners to the benefits of marketing. For proof, just look at Phil Bray’s specialist financial advice marketing agency, Yardstick: it’s gone from three people in 2017 to a team of 43 today purely due to demand.

And this is really important – the latest FCA data on the financial advice market show that in 2021, the number of new clients fell 10%. The only year in the past six in which financial advisers saw an increase in clients was in 2019 – the year Covid hit. To build sustainable businesses and reach a wider audience with the power of financial planning – we need to market ourselves more.

Phil’s background as a financial adviser led him to create solutions to help firms attract new business. It’s less about fanciful advertising and intangible brand ideology and more about return on investment (ROI).

Once advisers understand how the right type of marketing can make a measurable difference to their businesses, Phil finds they are keen to invest to make it happen.

Technology is playing a huge role in marketing, not only helping the right messaging get to the relevant people in a targeted way but also providing the means to measure success at each stage.

Two keys to success

According to Phil, the most successful advice firms do two essential things at the outset. These are:

1. Think strategically

Phil finds the most common mistake advisers and planners make when they meet with him is to come with some tactical ideas about what they could do. What they really need to do is to think about what they want to achieve. Some questions to consider are:

• Is there a specific issue that is driving the need for marketing now?
• What are the short, medium and long-term aspirations of the firm?
• What outcomes do they want to see from an investment in marketing?

Being clear on these areas means a tactical plan can be built that will deliver what the firm needs.

2. Effective implementation

Having a tactical plan is the first step but it can all go pear-shaped unless it is implemented well.

In-house

If the plan is to be carried out by a firm’s in-house team, they need to have the relevant skills and knowledge about the technology and the aims of the activity.

It’s not a job for a junior member of staff – unless they have specialist marketing qualifications. With the correct training, it is possible to run great marketing from within the firm but this is part of the overall investment and should be planned for before finalising a plan.

Out-sourced

Often advisers find the most cost-effective way to manage marketing campaigns is to out-source to the experts, which is why Phil’s agency is expanding so rapidly.

To get the best from an agency does require some skills on the part of the adviser firm. Phil recommends these golden rules for a successful partnership – with the emphasis on the word ‘partnership’

• Think of the agency as a specialist department of the firm. Respect the people working there – they are professionals and know what they are doing. Treat them well and listen to their advice.
• Don’t sweat the small stuff. Remove provisos that hinder the process. For example, Phil had one client who insisted that no sentence should include a word that ended in ‘ly’ – this type of restriction not only hinders creativity, it also takes away time that would be better spent creating maximum ROI.
• Make time for senior members of the firm to engage with the marketing team. The team will need to get buy-in and sign-off of activities to implement the plan – and any changes in strategy can be taken into account immediately.
• Invest enough time and money. Effective marketing requires time to work and the right resources in place to make it happen.

Marketing Tech Stack

What sort of tech should advice firms have in place for marketing? Phil suggests the following:

• A bulk email system – Outlook is no good. Something like Mail Chimp is a good option.
• For firms with multiple advisers/planners, a sales-based CRM system is essential (firms of one or two advisers can get away with a spreadsheet – as long as it’s kept up to date). CRM systems such as Pipedrive and Salesforce are both good options.
• Social media organisers. Smarterqueue is useful for scheduling posts. Zapier is useful for connecting Facebook posts with other platforms.
• A survey tool: for creating surveys that can provide engaging content for websites and social media posts. Survey Monkey is popular and is cost-effective.

Finally, Phil recommends that any advice firm really understands what sort of clients they are trying to attract before they attempt any marketing. Different people hang out in different digital spaces and it’s vital your messages are relevant if they are to engage and encourage new business opportunities to flow.

The 2022 Financial Advice Business Benchmarks report from NextWealth (out in late September) will share data on marketing budgets to help firms benchmark spend. Get your copy here.