What if we told you it can cost less than $10,000 to start a successful financial planning business? In the past, money was the most important thing to have in order to successfully start your own business. But times have changed — your startup’s digital presence is just as important as the capital you have behind it. Today, digital marketing is do or die.
While building your business model and plan, it’s important to be aware of these digital marketing tips and tools. Clients will expect to quickly and easily find information on your advisory firm online, so it’s important to nail these few steps as soon as possible.
Before you can start using these tools, you have to define your goal. If starting your own firm is something you seriously want to do, start by defining the specifics. Who do you want to serve? What is their pain point? What is going to make your firm different from all the others? What services are you going to offer? Launching your own successful personal finance business certainly won’t happen overnight, but understanding these aspects can create a strong foundation for your firm and marketing efforts. Any successful brand starts by answering these questions to define a niche and instills these answers in every part of its digital presence.
Now that you have those answers, let’s move on to the tools:
1. Brand Mark (Logo)
After you’ve nailed your company name, it’s time for a logo. Have you realized that you’re able to instantly identify a business by looking at its logo, even if their name isn’t a part of the logo? A logo is super important because it sums the goal of your firm to one mark — it’s like the face of your company. This is the first image that potential clients will associate with your services, so it needs to capture your value and goal in a nutshell.
At Twenty Over Ten, we offer logo design services a la carte or as part of a larger bundle. Regardless, a logo is a long-lasting and impactful part of your advisory firm, so you should consider handing this one over to a professional. It’s a small initial investment that will end up following your firm forever.
Click through the slideshow below to see some of Twenty Over Ten’s recent logo work for financial advisors.
2. Website
You simply can’t succeed without a website in the digital age.
In 2018, 81% of people perform some type of online research before making a large purchase.
-HubSpot
Trusting and deciding which financial advisor to work with certainly takes research and planning, it isn’t an easy choice but it’s absolutely crucial that potential clients can find your firm online. Having a website helps attract new clients to your advisory firm, builds a reputable image for your business, and builds trust between you and potential clients. Beyond initially attracting leads, having a website opens you up to a whole new world of digital opportunity that can bring in new business, like blogging.
There are a few ways to build your dream site:
1. DIY: The first option is to build your own. Although you may not have any web development experience, there are plenty of options for easy-to-use website platforms. And we would be remiss if we didn’t mention Twenty Over Ten’s self-build option. By starting with one of our handcrafted frameworks you can easily personalize your site to match your unique brand. With no setup fee and a free 14-day trial, why would you not give it your best shot and get your hands dirty?!
2. Work with a professional: Make your website really stand out in the crowd by leveraging a design expert. We specifically designed the Twenty Over Ten platform with both the user and builder and mind. Not only will you build a site you love in no time, but clients will be blown away by how professional it looks. Our intuitive CMS (Content Management System) gives you the tools to autonomously manage your website like a pro. It’s easy to use, user-friendly and packed with powerful features for beginners and experts alike! We offer two different design tracks based on your needs and budget: basic design and tailored design.
If you do decide to go the professional route, we also offer different web design packages to choose from. You can choose from web and logo design to SEO and copywriting assistance. Getting professional help can help streamline the experience, ensure you’ve hit all the bases, and takes some weight off your shoulders while you’re trying to get all of your ducks in a row when establishing a new firm.
Regardless of how you build it, a website is one of the most important pieces in the beginning stages of your firm and will continue to be integral to your success. It’s the foundation of your digital presence and can make or break your online performance. Below, Twenty Over Ten Client RX Wealth Advisors attracts its niche of doctors through a well-tailored site. If you were a physician looking for an advisory firm, we bet you’d be pretty impressed!
3. Social Media Marketing
Once you’re happy with your logo and site, it’s time to dive right into social media!
70% of the U.S. population has a profile on at least one social networking site.
LYFE MARKETING
That’s a huge captive audience, which means effective social media marketing can give you access to a large number of new prospects. Additionally, 71% of consumers who have had a positive experience with a brand on social media are likely to recommend the brand to their friends and family. And the best part is … it doesn’t cost your firm a penny! Score!
We recommend you start off on at least the big three – Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Keeping a consistent, cohesive presence on these platforms will give you access to new clients and industry leaders, build a trustworthy reputation for your firm, and humanize your business. Since you want to come off as professional, authentic, and reliable, you should invest lots of time into perfecting your profiles and keeping them up-to-date.
Set up all of your profiles with your logo, company name, and relevant information about your advisory firm. When potential clients are looking at your social profiles, they want to get information on who you serve, what your services are, where you are located, and how they can contact you. Make sure you write a professional, detailed business description and fill out every inch of each of your profiles. You can use the copy from your website as inspiration to ensure your voice is consistent!
Once you’ve set your profiles up, you need to stick to a posting routine. You can share reputable third-party content, your own original content, company updates, and more. Whatever you’re posting, it’s important to stay present and engage as much as your can on these platforms. For more information on what to post and when, check out this article. And while we don’t have time to get into the nitty-gritty details of social media marketing, start with these basic tips:
- Consistently align your product or service, message and strategy in each post
- Maintain a professional and authentic voice
- Create graphics for any original content promotions through applications like Canva
- Compile potential posts in advance (third-party articles, pictures, commentaries, etc.) with an editorial calendar
- Schedule and organize your posts to save you time through scheduling tools like Hootsuite
- Measure your results with social media analytic tools so you can see how and what to post in the future. Most social media platforms have their own analytics tools built in specifically for business pages! Perform an audit once or twice a month to make sure everything’s on track.
In addition to setting up the perfect profiles and maintaining a strong, engaging presence, as a financial advisor you should also have a social archiving software in place. We recommend Arkovi, Archive Social, and Smarsh. Social media archiving software are designed to empower your organization to engage across a wide range of social media channels. From Tweets to LinkedIn inbox messages, your content is easy to access, review, and produce on demand—and in accordance with regulatory compliance guidance.
Get started faster on social with our help
When setting up a social media presence for your financial planning business you have a lot of options. Which ones are going to give you the best impact and how do you even get started? We can help!
4. Email Marketing
Whether you’re planning a monthly newsletter or are using it to promote a piece of original content, email marketing is a great way to convince clients to commit to your advisory firm. A well-planned email marketing campaign is a great way to drip on prospects in your pipeline that might not be ready to take the leap. By collecting a list of subscribers through landing pages on your website, you can remind potential clients about your firm who found your website online.
Starting your own blog can give you a great base for email marketing campaigns. Writing a few blogs a month can build your leadership and reputation in the industry, show your value to potential clients, and give you plenty of content to share on social media and in an email newsletter. Not to mention, it will do wonders for your search engine rankings and SEO efforts down the line.
Before you can begin to implement any email marketing campaigns, you need to select an Email Service Provider (ESP). At Twenty Over Ten, we’re big fans of Mailchimp. Its wide variety and large number of free email templates makes it incredibly easy to match your email marketing to your existing brand. The Twenty Over Ten platform offers automatic integrations with third-party ESPs like AWeber, Constant Contact and MailChimp so now visitors can sign up directly on your site and automatically be added to mailing lists!
5. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software
While the above steps help you lock in important relationships, maintaining client satisfaction is key as a financial advisor. Your job has a lot to do with making their financial lives easier and, in this competitive field, you need every advantage you can get. That’s why your CRM software is such an important choice! CRM software provides the ability to segment your clients on multiple levels and manage important data for growing your firm.
To help you make the best decision when choosing a CRM software for your financial planning business, we covered some important information on what you should look for in your CRM software and made a handy comparison with some of the more popular advisor CRM options here. Redtail technology, Salesforce, Kronos, Junxure and Wealthbox are a few popular choices. Check out the infographic below to learn more or read this article for more information on your options!
Struggling With What Content to Share on Social Media or via Email?
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