Prospecting Ideas for Financial Advisors – Proven Strategies

Financial advisors offer a vast array of knowledge to the clients they serve, but that doesn’t mean individuals are flocking to them. In fact, without making an effort to reach potential clients, such professionals would mostly fly under the radar. That’s why prospecting is such a critical aspect of running an advisory business.

Here are the best prospecting ideas for financial advisors to attract more leads and land more clients at your firm:

Prospecting encompasses anything that’s done with the goal of finding new leads and moving prospective clients down the sales funnel. The ideal result of all prospecting strategies is the same: to convert leads into paying customers or clients.

In the case of financial advisors, this means getting individuals interested in their services to opt-in and begin paying for advice.

Financial advisors looking to leverage prospecting strategies want to convince clients they can genuinely be of use. The point is to clearly demonstrate who you are and what value you can offer those who decide to do business with you.

So, what are some prospecting ideas for financial advisors? Here are a few ways to make prospecting work for your firm.

Establish Your Brand and Messaging

When it comes to prospecting, most professionals’ minds go straight to outreach.

Before you begin trying to communicate with prospective clients, however, you need to make sure your branding is clear. Financial advisors whose messaging doesn’t indicate what they offer and why a client should trust them are less likely to draw business. Likewise, if your branding is a carbon copy of every other advisor’s, how will anyone know to choose you?

That’s why it’s crucial that you establish what sort of messaging you want your brand to have, what values you’d like to be known for, and what sets you apart from other advisors. If there’s an area of finances you specialize in, you want that to be loud and clear across all your company’s channels. Additionally, you should highlight things like your mission statement and previous success stories.

The key is making people remember who you are, even if they aren’t necessarily in need of your services right now.

Some things to consider about branding before delving into more advanced prospecting ideas

• Your slogan: When you hear the words “Just Do It,” where does your mind automatically go? To Nike, of course. That’s what having an effective slogan should do: make your brand instantly recognizable.
• Your logo:  If your firm has a logo or image associated with it, you should plaster it across your in-person and online platforms. Like your slogan, prospective clients and people in your industry should automatically connect your logo with your company.
• Your elevator pitch: When an interested party begins asking questions about your company, how do you plan to sell them your services?
• Your mission statement: Your slogan may consist of words that instantly come to mind at the mention of your brand, but your mission statement translates your company’s values. Why do you offer financial services in the first place? What is your goal? It’s shown that aligning your values with prospective clients is an effective way to build trust.

Once you’ve decided on the messaging and imagery that you want to define your brand, add that to your website, social media profiles, and company policy — wherever people might come across your business. Then make sure you stick to your brand values and messaging in everything you do. Studies show that brand consistency can increase revenue by up to 33 percent.

If you keep switching up your messaging, however, you’ll confuse prospective clients and potentially chase them away.

Niche Digital Marketing

The days of running a business without digital marketing are long gone. Consumers expect your business to have an online presence, and they expect you to be active there. When it comes to brainstorming prospecting ideas for financial advisors, navigating the world of digital marketing could be tricky and time-consuming. However, it’s necessary to reach your audience.

Here are a few digital marketing strategies that can benefit and boost your firm’s reach.

1. Content Marketing

Content marketing is a great way for financial advisors to show prospective clients their value. By offering free content, you underscore your knowledge and experience and you show your audience that you care about their needs. That’s why 91 percent of B2B brands use content marketing in their outreach strategies.

Content marketing includes producing blog posts, educational articles, e-books, and infographics that provide free knowledge about what you do. For financial advisors, this could look like blog posts and articles covering recent news in the industry, infographics and blog posts tackling savings strategies, or e-books covering building a budget or tax planning. The key is giving your audience a more in-depth understanding of what you do for them.

As you implement these types of content marketing, you’ll increase your internet presence and emphasize your expertise in the field. Those on the fence about receiving financial advice from you are likely to be put at ease when they realize you know your stuff.

2. Video Marketing

Video marketing has experienced a boom over the past couple of years, with businesses leveraging it as a marketing tool jumping by 63 percent over the last year alone. That’s a surefire sign your firm should be taking advantage of this trend. And let’s be honest: Not everyone you’re attempting to reach will have time to read lengthy blogs or e-books. Implementing video-based prospecting ideas for financial advisors can offer potential clients a face to connect with, as well as useful information to take in on the go.

Video marketing can be long-form or short-form. Longer videos will take an in-depth approach to the topics you cover, while shorter ones should be entertaining and to the point. The former is more suited for your own website or YouTube, while the latter can be shared on platforms like Instagram or TikTok. (That’s right, TikTok isn’t just for teens.)

When planning what video content your advisory firm should tackle, ask the question of what your clients are looking for advice on. In shorter videos, you can cover quick comparisons of Roth IRAs and 401Ks, top financial hacks and tips, and brief steps to preparing taxes or planning a budget.

Given a longer amount of time to film, you can delve more deeply into these topics, offering statistics and more detailed solutions to common problems.

3. Social Media

Your company probably already has a few social media profiles, but are you keeping up with them? Staying active on social platforms is a great means of connecting with new clients and maintaining relationships with existing ones. It also gives you a place to share that digital and video content you’ll be working on.

With so many popular platforms to choose from, however, it can be difficult to know where to start when it comes to social media marketing. This is why doing some digging and discovering where your target audience spends the most time can be beneficial to you.

For example, if your audience tends to be on Facebook and Twitter, you’ll want to put more effort into maintaining those profiles.

Once you’ve established which profiles you want to focus on, you should come up with a game plan for social marketing. This should include a variety of posts, including sharing links to your blog or website, publishing eye-catching infographics, posting video interviews, and engaging directly with your audience through questions and survey-type posts.

So, now that you have a thorough understanding of what content-related prospecting ideas are available, let’s dive into other strategies.

Leverage Existing Clients with Email Marketing

Discussions on how to prospect as a financial advisor tend to focus on converting leads and attracting new clients. But maintaining the existing business is equally as important.

One way to stay on your existing clients’ radar is through email marketing. Given that 99 percent of email users check their inboxes at least once per day — and 61 percent of consumers prefer hearing from brands via email — you can rest assured knowing your email marketing efforts won’t go unnoticed.

Email marketing can drive traffic to your website and spotlight your content. Your firm can leverage newsletters rounding up what you’ve published each week or month, as well as share any research you’ve done or infographics you’ve made.

Of course, your email marketing strategy shouldn’t only include content that discusses financial topics and promotes your website. There’s value in automating your email marketing and reaching out to your email list regarding business updates and more personal events, like holidays. It shows you care about your audience and reminds them you’re there whenever they require your services.

Prospecting ideas for financial advisors don’t always need to involve advanced digital marketing; sometimes, it really is all about customer service.

Lead Capturing on Your Website

Having a well-designed website and driving traffic to it is only half the battle. Once your leads have reached your firm’s homepage, you’ll need to draw them in and seal the deal. That means having features geared toward lead capturing on your website. Some of the important ones include:

1. Live Chat

If a prospective client has found your website, they’re likely already interested in or considering using your services. However, they may have reservations or questions before opting into them. This is where having a live-chat feature comes in handy.

By implementing live-chat software, your company can respond to any concerns in real-time and give prospective clients the final push they’ll need to do business with you.

2. Exit Intent

Exit-intent technology is another means of keeping users on your site. Such features track mouse movements and predict when a visitor is about to exit the page. When this happens, a pop-up or widget will appear in the hopes of keeping them on the page longer.

The important thing when it comes to utilizing exit-intent features is pinpointing why clients may reconsider and leave your site — and then addressing that in an eye-catching way. If your pop-ups are dull or don’t reassure the client that remaining on the site is in their best interest, they’re likely to leave anyway.

3. Downloadable Content

As evidenced by the popularity of content marketing, people enjoy receiving free value. That’s why having downloadable content on your website is an effective inbound marketing strategy. Not only will it draw visitors to your page to find the content, but it may help turn leads into clients.

Some downloadable content your firm can feature includes:

• Case studies and whitepapers
• Checklists
• Infographics
• How-to guides
• E-books

Even if your downloadable content doesn’t generate sales immediately, what people are downloading will also reveal important information about where they are in the decision-making process when they visit your website. You can leverage that knowledge to improve your marketing and gear it toward pushing them further down the sales funnel.

Host Webinars, Live and Virtual Events

Some more prospecting ideas for financial advisors involve taking advantage of opportunities to connect with your audience of prospective and existing clientele.

Hosting webinars and events provides financial advisors with the opportunity to highlight their expertise and connect with prospective clients in one go. From tax preparation to advice on saving and investing, if there’s an area your clients tend to have questions about, hosting a webinar or virtual event can be a great way to address common queries.

If the topics are evergreen, webinars and virtual training can also be repurposed for content-marketing purposes.

Paid Ads

Of course, one of the most popular ways to generate more leads for your business is through paid advertising. Most marketing experts recommend doing the work listed above before jumping straight into the world of paid advertising. Still, purchasing ads on platforms like Google and Facebook can help get your brand’s message out there.

Here are some of the most effective types of paid advertising you can add to your firm’s list of prospecting ideas for financial advisors:

1. Google Ads

Google Ads are the first results someone will see when they conduct a Google search using certain keywords. So, if someone looks for “financial advisor” and you’re running a Google Ad, your firm will be one of the first ones to show up.

Google Ads require you to put some effort into audience targeting and keyword research, but research shows that using Google Ads can result in a 200 percent return on investment.

2. Facebook Ads

Facebook has more than 2.5 billion users in 2021, so using the platform to advertise your business means you’re likely to reach a lot of potential clients. And the great thing about using Facebook for advertising is that the platform allows you to narrow your audience based on specific information. For example, if your advisory firm only services clients from a certain area, you can narrow your audience to users from that location.

3. YouTube Ads

YouTube has been the king of video content for years, and running video ads on the platform can yield positive results if done properly. Similar to advertising on Facebook, financial advisors will want to target their audience when promoting their firm on YouTube. YouTube enables you to narrow your reach by targeting those who have interests in line with the service you’re offering, as well as to those actively researching the subject.

Whichever platform you choose to advertise on, it’s important to return to step one and make sure your branding and messaging are clear. If you want your advertising to be effective, you’ll need to leverage written or video content to showcase the value you offer.

Moving From Ideation to Action

Now that you’ve read through all the prospecting ideas for financial advisors to utilize at their firms, it’s time to move from ideation to action.

After ensuring your branding is up to par, meet with your team to pinpoint which prospecting strategies for financial advisors would be most effective for your company. From there, clarify who will be responsible for certain areas and outline a plan to succeed. You’ll want to regroup regularly to ensure your plan of action is showing results. With enough research and effort, however, your firm should have no problem uncovering new prospects using the tips covered above.