The 52: How to Differentiate Your Firm

Week 41

How to Differentiate Your Firm

I often hear financial advisors ask how they can differentiate from other advisors who say they do the same thing as their firm (even if they don’t). Instead of asking yourself, “How do I differentiate?” ask the question, “How do I become incomparable?” If you want to sound different, you have to be different in a way that is obvious to your prospects. Here are five ways to do that:

1. Focus on a niche that most advisors don’t exclusively serve (e.g., United Airlines pilots).

2. Be an expert in an area most other advisors don’t serve (e.g., the Federal Employees Retirement System).

3. Develop a unique proprietary process that can’t be compared with any other firm’s process. (Hint! Not the CFP Board’s seven-step financial planning process or CEG’s wealth management process.)

4. Have a unique distribution method (e.g., your office is in an Airstream you drive to the client).

5. Offer best-in-class customer service. (This is extremely difficult because the only way for this to work is through widespread word-of-mouth from your existing clients—think Ritz-Carlton and Nordstrom.)

The 52: You Aren’t Imagining It. Closing Web Leads Is Harder

Week 40

You Aren’t Imagining It. Closing Web Leads Is Harder

Many financial advisors covet website leads—those prospects who reach out because they found you on a Google search. It feels like they are the answer to easy marketing. But web leads aren’t always quality leads. Compared with leads from other marketing sources, such as referrals, web leads are generally less qualified, more likely to shop around for advisors, or less likely to commit to hiring an advisor. For these reasons, you can expect your sales close rate to be much lower than your average for other leads. While web leads may mean the marketing is easier, they also mean the sale is harder.

The 52: Update Your Headshots

Week 39

Update Your Headshots

The “Team” page is usually one of the three most visited pages on a website. That is why this page needs great bios and professionally taken headshots. If your website still features headshots with you in a suit, arms crossed, in front of a photography backdrop, it’s time for an update. Today’s headshots use native backgrounds—usually outside or in your office—and the body language is candid and relaxed. Wear the same attire in your headshots as you would in a meeting with clients. And make sure to get both portrait and landscape versions so that you have flexibility when deciding on options for your website.

The 52: New Discovery: Visual Capitalist

Week 38

New Discovery: Visual Capitalist

While doing some research recently, I came across a site called Visual Capitalist. While I’m not usually a fan of canned content, these visuals are compelling and could complement your original content, such as a blog or newsletter. You can use the graphics for free if you provide proper attribution and link to the original source, or you can buy a license to modify them for your brand.

The 52: Choose a Marketing Agency Based on Your Approach

Week 37

Choose a Marketing Agency Based on Your Approach

How do you know which marketing agency will be the right one for your firm? We recommend you pick an agency that matches your marketing approach, whether that is a transactional, relationship, or expertise approach.

If you use a transactional approach, a direct lead company like White Glove could make sense. If you use a relationship approach, a company that can help with referrals, like The Client Driven Practice, might be the right fit. Or if you use an expertise approach, a firm that can help position you as an expert through content marketing, like Kaleido Creative Studio, may be the way to go.

By first choosing the right marketing approach, you will find it easier to select the right marketing agency.

The 52: Start Planning for the Holidays Now

Week 36

Start Planning for the Holidays Now

The calendar has just flipped to September, which means it’s time to start planning your holiday cards, gifts, and events (live or virtual). It’s even more important to get an early start this year because COVID-19 means production and shipping are taking longer than usual. Make it your goal to have your holiday affairs planned by the end of September if you want to avoid headaches.

The 52: Google Reviews Can Positively Impact Your Web Leads

Week 35

Google Reviews Can Positively Impact Your Web Leads

Back in May, the SEC allowed financial advisors to use popular review sites like Google My Business and Yelp. While most firms we work with have adopted a “wait and see” policy when it comes to using these new marketing channels, we have had a few firms embrace reviews with positive results. They have seen dramatic improvements in their local search engine rankings or have received feedback from prospects that the online reviews influenced their decision to contact the firm. While these developments are anecdotal and only a small sample size, early results suggest that getting reviews on Google My Business can positively impact web leads.

The 52: To Be an Expert, You Must Share Your Expertise

Week 34

To Be an Expert, You Must Share Your Expertise

Think of five people you consider to be an expert you respect. They can be people in your business or industry or in other areas of your life, like academic affiliations, hobbies, interests, health, and family. Now that you have them in your head, think of what they have in common. They all share their original thinking through some form of content (e.g., lectures, keynote speeches, books, columns, podcasts, blogs, and YouTube channels). For you to be viewed as an expert by others, it is not enough to be able to perform the work; you must be able to share your knowledge with your audience. If you want to be perceived as an expert, it’s time to start creating original content.

The 52: Set Your Younger Advisors Up for Success with a Niche

Week 33

Set Your Younger Advisors Up for Success with a Niche

Young advisors employed by an RIA are often at a disadvantage when it comes to attracting new clients to a firm. They generally lack the network, relationships, and experience needed to convince prospective clients to work with them.

If firm ownership would like to help their young advisors overcome these challenges, they would be well served to coach them into working with a niche. A niche will help the advisor:

1. Focus their marketing time and direction

2. Stand out from the crowd

3. Take ownership of their marketing

4. Overcome the lack of a large network

5. Overcome a perceived lack of experience

6. Overcome any apprehension around sales and marketing

7. Believe bringing in clients on their own is achievable.

The 52: Understand Plagiarism to Avoid Liability

Week 32

Understand Plagiarism to Avoid Liability

Did you know, your team may be posting plagiarized content on your website and they don’t even know it? Most people know that copying someone else’s writing verbatim is plagiarism, but there are less obvious forms that can create liability for your firm, such as paraphrasing or following inspiration articles too closely in structure and sentiment.

Here are seven ways to avoid plagiarism:

1. Write in your own words.

2. Put quotation marks around verbatim copy.

3. Give credit to the original source even when paraphrasing.

4. Include links to the original source.

5. Include sources for all data, charts, and graphs that are not proprietary to you.

6. Use footnotes.

7. Use a plagiarism checker like Grammarly to make sure you, your team, and your freelancers aren’t accidentally plagiarizing.