The market for financial advisory services is ever-changing.

The changes have come even faster this year as we’re living through a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic. Similar to the changes this year has brought, innovation has also occurred at a rapid pace. For example, it used to take years to produce vaccines, and our best minds have whittled that down to months. This speed is no different when it comes to financial advisory services. The pace of change is quick, and adaptation is key. With respect to marketing services and new client acquisition, there are already several trends emerging due to innovation, technology, and need.

By working with thousands of advisors and being at the epicenter of marketing technology and services, we have identified six major trends for advisors to consider in 2021 for marketing to new clients:

1. Captive Marketing


Captive marketing is the next evolution of inbound marketing. Instead of driving attention to prospects at the “top of funnel,” captive marketing focuses on creating aided awareness “in funnel” to facilitate conversions. Advisors tend to concentrate on hyperlocal geographical areas for marketing. As advisors generate leads, it’s important to manage a warmer conversation and develop more “aided” credibility to leads. Using marketing such as podcasting, social media local targeting or local streaming radio, advisors can create more “in-market” captive awareness to prospects as leads develop.

 

2. Marketing Digitally and Selling Live


Let’s face it—networking events are not in-person right now, but life goes on. The most effective means to communicate or prospect is via virtual or digital avenues. However, this doesn’t mean you can’t sell or convert a prospect live. Advisors can utilize and perfect playbooks to generate leads digitally, but book live, in-person appointments. This tactic requires testing and experienced advice to perfect.

 

3. Social Impression Management


Social media is a beast that isn’t always easy to tackle. Not every social media “catch-all” is relevant to advisors. Financial advisors and other micro-business professionals should focus on the social impression management (SIM) component of social media. SIM is about influencing the right prospects at the right time within relevant social spheres. Many spend a lot of time focusing on social media and create/amplify great content but are not aware of influencing the audience. SIM is about optimizing their eyeballs and treating impressions as content distributions. Views are those who view content in their feed, engagement is those who click on content, and mentions are those who generate a response to content. Maximizing quality prospects out of this funnel is SIM. White Glove has a SIM platform called Social Connect, which allows advisors to passively build meaningful relationships with prospects and improve client retention. 

 

4. Introductions Not Leads


Historically, advisors have focused heavily on the number and quality of leads. Still, leads are only as good as how well you can convert them. The odds of converting a lead increase based on how warm of an introduction the prospect is given. A very warm introduction would be a personal referral, but there are other ways to warm a lead. One way is hosting educational workshops, either webinars or seminars, like the “Taxes in Retirement” or “Making the Most of Retirement Income” events that White Glove can promote using the content that Covisum provides with a subscription. This allows advisors to develop thought leadership and credibility on a topic before soliciting a prospect. Another way is to leverage a third party and develop a virtual greeting program. Both are great tools offered by White Glove.

 

5. Reputation Management


It’s no secret that consumers trust reviews. Section 204(4) of the Investment Act prohibits reviews, putting financial advisors at a disadvantage. However, there are a few workarounds that may help advisors reap the benefits of reviews. First, The Investment Act is being considered for modification. Second, advisors are not prohibited from using Google Reviews as long as they don’t solicit positive reviews from clients or respond to reviews online. Since consumers use Google to find an advisor online, gathering and sharing unsolicited customer reviews needs to be considered. How your reputation comes across online when searched is of utmost importance.

 

6. Google Local


In 2020, Google launched Local Service Ads (LSAs) for many local service categories. This is a change in how local ads are purchased from Google, moving from a pay per click to a pay per lead model. This model is coming in 2021, and financial advisors need to be ready. It’s important that financial advisors don’t get lost when prospects search online for “financial advisors near me.” It’s crucial to do research, get ahead of the curve, and take advantage of this opportunity in 2021.

Not sure how to leverage any of the trends mentioned above?

White Glove is a one-stop-shop for done-for-you marketing that helps financial professionals gain and retain clients. Contact us at 844-949-9497 or info@whiteglove.com- or visit our website www.whiteglove.com