Marketing for financial advisors is hard!

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Marketing for financial advisors is made hard by the lack of creativity that most of the profession – and most of the consultants serving them – exhibit on a consistent basis.  Try these original and out of the norm ideas to get prospects’ attention.

For those of you who are new to my blog/podcast, my name is Sara. I am a CFA® charterholder and I used to be a financial advisor. I have a weekly newsletter in which I talk about financial advisor lead generation topics which is best described as “fun and irreverent.” So please subscribe!

Sara Grillo, CFA is a highly fun and slightly crazy marketing consultant based in NYC.
I am an irreverent and fun marketing consultant for financial advisors.

Let’s get on with the blog!

#1 Interview local business owners

Financial advisors often overlook that:

  1. They have a much stronger chance of closing a prospect who lives in their local area, and
  2. Business owners in their local area are very enthusiastic about marketing their companies

Let’s put these two together.

Why not create a video or blog series, where you talk to some of these business owners? It doesn’t have to be about their money. Have it be about business tips.

The benefit is that by having the conversation you aren’t just getting your name in front of their network;  you’re also deepening ties with a possible prospect, just because the two of you had a conversation.

You should be so hungry to meet other local businesses. Don’t count them out just because you think they aren’t targeting the ultra-wealthy. You never know who has money, and it doesn’t really emerge until they get to know you.

So get to know them!

#2 Make a list of past vendors

I don’t know what it is about human nature, but when we hire someone for a task, alot of times we kinda presume that they don’t have as much money as us.

Make a list of all the vendors you have ever worked with your entire life. People who have sold things to your business, realtors, hairdressers, babysitters. Anyone that you have paid. Then contact them (they’re very likely to talk to you, because they like you, hopefully).  Just have a conversation and see what they are up to, and get them onto your newsletter list. Connect with them on LinkedIn.

Even if they were broke when they worked with you, you never know where they are now.

#3 Personalized videos

Many financial advisors are wary of social media such as blogging and online video because of the heavy compliance regulations that their firms uphold.

When prospecting, instead of sending a follow up email, why not send a personalized video email? It’ll be way more powerful. Just make sure there’s enough of a bond there so that the person won’t be put off by the high degree of attention you are paying to them.

Here’s a podcast I did with  my homegirl Katie Braden and we talk about the basics of financial advisor video, if you’re convinced this is something you want to try.

But this is changing! You have to work with it, not allow it to make you avoid the digital world altogether.

#4 Using Google “related questions” and “people also ask”

Alot of times in financial advisor marketing, people feel like they need to reinvent the wheel. Every single blog, social media post, or whatever they are doing. Remember that Google knows way more about what people want to know than you ever will.

And you don’t need any expensive software to find out.

If I were to type “is Medicare going up in 2022” look what comes up in Google as related searches :

related searches for Medicare in Google

Why not make some snippets for social media answering those questions? You increase relevance to your audience when you go by the data.

#5 Pets

They melt hearts. What can I say, as a cat mom myself, I have had numerous occassions where I get a ton of comments just by including a picture of me and my cat(s) in my newsletter, social media posts, etc. I think pets are underutilized and that is my fifth idea about marketing for financial advisors!

Sara’s Upshot on marketing for financial advisors

What’d ya think? Was this blog about marketing for financial advisors helpful?

If yes…

Learn what to say to prospects on social media messenger apps without sounding like a washing machine salesperson. This e-book contains 47 financial advisor LinkedIn messages, sequences, and scripts, and they are all two sentences or less.

This is a book about financial advisor LinkedIn messages which contains scripts you can use to get new prospects.

You could also consider my financial advisor social media membership which teaches financial advisors how to get new clients and leads from LinkedIn.

The Sara Grillo membership is a social media program for financial advisors - but only the cool ones.

Thanks for reading. I hope you’ll at least join my weekly newsletter about financial advisor lead generation.

See you in the next one!

-Sara G

Any questions? Send 'em in!

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