Financial Advisor Marketing 

Lead Generation  |  Direct Mail  |  Digital Marketing

Let’s get you more leads, more appointments,

more quotes – and more new business.

 

Practical marketing strategies for investment advisors, certified financial planners,
accountants, portfolio managers, broker-dealers and financial coaches

 

Financial advisors of all stripes are always on the lookout for better, more efficient ways to generate new sales leads, book appointments and bring in new clients.

While some still rely entirely on referrals and word of mouth, most have come to realize that those strategies are too passive and unreliable.

Below, you will learn about a range of marketing programs that can help you generate a consistent and predictable flow of new sales leads that you can convert into appointments and eventually, new business.

Which program you use will depend on your short- and long-term goals.

If, for example, you need immediate results in the form of more appointments, we can run a digital ad campaign – or a direct mail campaign – that generates warm leads that are then followed up by a phone to qualify and schedule appointments.

For those leads that are not ready for an appointment, we can offer an ongoing drip email campaign combined with retargeting online display ads. This will keep you top of mind so that you are at their doorstep when they are ready to buy.

For longer term business growth, you might also want to invest in local SEO to improve your rankings on Google search pages. When your business is routinely showing up high in Google search, you can expect a steady stream of free leads for a long time.

Scroll down to learn more about our services. We have lots of flexibility to help you build a marketing and lead generation program that makes sense for you.

Let’s have a conversation.

Direct Mail

Use direct mail to target any demographic profile (including high net worth) as well as your geographic market. Mail to them once or several times during the year – and generate a steady stream of pre-qualified prospects.

Local SEO

Use local SEO strategies for long-term business the growth, and start generating free leads from Google’s Map Pack and organic listings. SEO takes time to establish your online presence, but it’s worth it in the long run.

Online Advertising

Online advertising, or PPC, gives you the ability to reach your target demographic in your geographic location. You can run ads on Google (search ads), Facebook (social media ads) or the multiple ad networks across the web.

Lead Follow-up

As leads come in, you need to reach back quickly to qualify the lead and, hopefully, schedule an appointment. You can fill your calendar with qualified appointments and stay in touch with those not ready to meet.

“I’ve known Bob McCarthy professionally for over 25 years. He first helped us develop a B-to-B direct mail lead generation program for our software business. Within 90 days, Bob developed lead programs and internal scripts that allowed us to move from an expensive direct field model to a lower cost inside sales team approach. Our revenues increased while our costs went down.”
Chuck Page

COO, Darling Consulting Group

Consulting

Direct Mail

A full-service direct mail program – with flexibility

If you’re looking at direct mail as a potential marketing channel, let’s do a test mailing.

We have put together a direct mail program that does everything for you – with your input, feedback and approval of course.

But as you can see, you have a number of choices.

Mailing lists
We can target any audience you want – homeowners by age, income, home value, time in the home and, of course, location. If you need to reach different professions or different group, we can do that too.

Mailer formats
Postcards, letter mail, snap pack mailers.  Those are the three most popular mailer formats, but we can do other formats as well.

Mailing quantities
After we run your numbers, you will have an estimated quantity for your entire market. But you can mail any quantity you want.

Response options
After your mailer is received, you want to give people as many response options as possible. Phone, landing page, QR code, reply mail, walk-in. The choice is yours.

Schedule flexibility
This is your campaign, so you decide when you want to print and mail. Once everything is ready, you simply place your order to begin the campaign. You can mail any time with any quantity.

Direct mail can also be integrated with email and digital ads on Facebook, Google and other ad networks.

If you’d to discuss using direct mail, call us at 508-473-8643. After a brief conversation, we can send you an estimate and a mailing list report for your market area.

Consulting

Local SEO

As a financial advisor, you want your business to appear on Google when local prospects search for “financial advisors near me” or something similar.

One way to do that is with Local SEO.  Local SEO involves a series of activities that all contribute to your position in search engine listings that not paid ads (sponsored ads).

If you look at Google search page, the top section are paid ads, but just below that is the Google Map, or Map Pack. This is where you want to be – more specifically, you want to be among the top three listings that appear. If you are below the top three, your business will not appear unless the searcher decides to click on “more listings.”

This ultimately leads to more visitors to your website and more conversions of those visitors into leads.

The Local SEO Process

  • Keyword List Creation – it all starts here as you build a list of the most common keyword phrases that are relevant to your business.
  • Google Business Profile – every business should have a GBP so that you have a formal presence on Google’s platform.
  • Page Creation/Updates – having a keyword list is a good first step, but they you need to work those keywords into your website text.
  • Metadata Updates – it’s not just what appears on your public page, Google also wants to see your keywords reflected on the backend of your webpages.
  • Local Attribution – if you serve a local market, make it clear on your website so everyone – your visitors and Google – know where you do business.
  • Directory Listings – if your business name, address and phone number appear differently across the web, that can be a problem. Directory listings can to clean that up.
  • Customer Reviews – Google has made it very clear it likes to see many positive reviews from satisfied customers and it will reward you for it.
  • Website Conversion Strategies – of course, getting people to your website (increasing traffic) is just the first step, you also need to convert those visitors into leads.

Content Creation – with text and video

Creating content on your website or blog – and then sharing that content on social media – is another contributing factor to higher SEO rankings.

Content could be anything that is useful to your target audience. It could be blog posts, longer articles on your website, case studies, customer stories, FAQs, and more.

But content doesn’t have to be just the written word. It can also be video.

We’ve developed a fast, simple and affordable way to create video content that includes video interviews with you and your team with excerpted videos from those interviews.

To learn more, call us a 508-473-8643.

Consulting

Online Advertising

Everyone wants more visitors to their websites. You can do that via SEO (above) which can take time and a lot of patience, or you can move more quickly with paid advertising.

For financial advisors, there are four categories of online advertising available.

Paid Search Ads – primarily Google Ads

This is the most coveted of all advertising programs because it produces motivated buyers – people who are actually searching for businesses like yours. But it is also the most expensive because many of your competitors will also be there trying to outbid you for the top position. Google Ads uses a pay-per-click (PPC) model meaning you only pay when someone clicks on your ad.

Social Media Ads – primarily Facebook Ads

Facebook and other social media platforms collect a lot of information about its members and then make that data available to advertisers who want to reach a very specific audience. Facebook’s membership numbers are impressive, but it greatest strength as an advertising platform comes from its daily engagement from those members. Facebook also uses a pay-per-click model.

Online Display Ads – banner ads/skyscraper ads across many ad networks

Online display ads are those ads that run on websites, blogs, news sites, apps and any other location on the web. They are often banner ads (across the top) or skyscraper ads (down the side) but they could be smaller ads as well. These ads are usually much less expensive than search ads or social media ads. They are usually charged on a cost per thousand (CPM) impressions – which amounts to pennies per impression.

Local Service Ads – Google-approved ads for qualified service providers only

Local Service Ads (LSAs) is another Google program which is relatively new and only available for certain industries and certain markets. Unlike most online advertising that is designed to generate clicks, Local Service Ads are more focused on phone calls and quote requests. But in order to participate, you need to be Google approved, meaning you need to comply with Google’s business requirements.

Landing Pages & Funnels

When someone clicks on your ad, where do they go? What is the next step in their process?

Many still send their clicks to their website homepage. But most PPC professionals agree that’s not the best place to send them.  Your website homepage is filled with good information about your company and the products/services you sell.

But it’s not focused on the promotion that just got that prospect to click.

A much better approach is to create dedicated landing pages that are a natural extension of your promotions.

We create multi-step landing page sequences (also known as funnels) that not only capture the lead, but also bring the lead to a more complete sales page and eventually to a “book an appointment” or “request a quote” page. The idea is to move the prospect along your sales process while they are still on your landing page.

Consulting

Lead Follow-Up

Once you have leads coming in from your various lead generation activities, you need a follow-up strategy.

Lead Qualification

As a first step, it’s important to determine which leads are worth further attention – and on what timetable.

This is called Lead Qualification – and we do that with a phone call. Ideally, with a phone call immediately after the lead comes in.

Appointment Setting

Once we have your prospect on the phone, assuming that prospect meets your qualifications requirements, we will make every effort to schedule an appointment for you.

Our goal is to fill your calendar with qualified appointments.

Of course, some appointments will come in on their own. These will not be pre-qualified, but we could add a preliminary phone call to those appointments to be sure they are qualified before your meeting.

Lead Nurturing

Not every lead will agree to an appointment – at least right away – so it’s important to have a lead nurturing strategy in place.

And you need a lead nurturing program that stays in touch over the long haul – many weeks, months, even years.

If you are relying on yourself or a sales rep to stay in touch by phone, that will only last for a short time and leads will start falling through the cracks.

Here are some of the ways you can stay in touch …

  • Drip Emails
  • Retargeting Ads
  • Reminder Mail
  • SMS Text

Marketing Support

Every marketing program needs some level of support using various marketing materials and technology. We can provide a range of marketing support materials using a combination of copywriting, graphic design, web development, technology integration and video editing.

Video Interviews

Video is playing an increasingly important role in content creation. We can conduct Zoom video interviews with your team, your customers or anyone else – and then use video excerpts on your website, in emails and in your social media.

Case Studies

There is no better way to demonstrate your expertise than with case studies. Being able to show how you helped a customer achieve their goals can be a real game-change.  We can combine your case studies to include both text and video.

Lead Magnets

Lead magnets are everywhere. Whether they are ebooks, how-to guides, special reports, white paper, tip sheets or informational videos – lead magnets are a good way to generate opt-in leads. We can help you develop your own custom lead magnet.

CRM/Automation

Every business needs to keep track of their leads and sales through some sort of CRM, or Customer Relationship Management. We can help you set up and implement a new CRM, or help you make the most of the system you already have.

Let’s start with a chat

If it looks like we can help you, let’s get acquainted. Just a brief chat would do – maybe 15 or 20 minutes. Click here to schedule a call (or Zoom meeting). Or call 508-473-8643 (M-F/9-5/Eastern).