The windy city was this year’s destination for FPA’s 2018 annual conference. It brought together thousands from the global financial planning community to share practical strategies, tactics and knowledge. Our very own co-founders, Ryan Russell & Nick DiMatteo, and associate director of digital marketing, Amanda Larson, were at the forefront.
This year’s gathering welcomed recognized thought leaders from the industry like Bill Cunningham, economist and impact investing specialist, Sheryl Garrett, founder of Garrett Planning Network and more. The opportunities for professional and personal development were endless but in case you missed this year’s conference today we’re sharing our key takeaways.
2018 FPA Annual Conference (#FPAConf2018) Key Takeaways:
1. we’re living in a digital 🌏 — get used to it
This takeaway rang throughout multiple sessions from Michael Byrnes, national speaker and president of Byrnes Consulting, LLC to Adam Holt, Asset-Map CEO & Founder. There’s no doubt that technology is playing an increasingly critical role in the lives of advisors and clients alike. And if you haven’t embraced it yet in your firm, you’re already late to the game. From the conference rooms to the exhibit hall there was an incredible amount of knowledge, ideas, and products floating around designed to help advisors gain more referrals and leave with creative ideas on how to improve their practices in a digital world.
At Twenty Over Ten, this was a huge takeaway for us and one we preach to our clients daily. Co-founder, Ryan Russell, had the opportunity to speak at FPA’s FinTech Showcase around the topic of voice search. As the financial industry struggles to catch up to the needs of mobile users a new challenge/opportunity presents itself. These few stats from Mary Meeker’s 2018 Internet Trends Report solidify things a bit more:
- 20% of searches are now by voice. With the rise of smartphones people are looking for faster and easier ways to find answers to their questions.
- Are millennials your target market as a financial advisor? According to a new report, 37% of millennials reported “they ‘always’ or ‘often’ shop online via voice-controlled devices.” Millennials not your target? Google reports that 41% of adults use voice search more than once a day.
In case you missed it we went live with Ryan’s TED Talk — watch it here or click below!
2. be more relatable 👫
As an advisor, you’re speaking with clients everyday. Even more important — your advisor website is speaking to your clients (and prospects!) 24/7. But is your language effective and relatable? Practicing the “no jargon” approach into your firm’s marketing strategies to improve your clients’ overall experience is paramount. We get it, this can be a difficult thing to do. Susan and Adam Kornegay of Pathfinder Strategic Solutions held a great session that built off of this theme: telling your story with authenticity and conviction. At Twenty Over Ten, our team of copywriters can especially appreciate this message as they work closely with advisors daily to help them market their experiences and stories in clear, client-friendly language.
3. segmentation + niche marketing is 🔑
We’ve been harping on this for over two years now. FPA’s annual conference hosted sessions that assisted advisors in learning more about niche marketing and developing new business strategies to improve branding, sales and client service. Having a deep understanding of your niche market and how audience segmentation works will ultimately help you gain more business for your firm. If you missed these sessions our free persona worksheet may help get you started on the right foot!
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