How to Get the Most Out of a Trade Show for Your Niche as an Attendee

Attending a trade show or conference in your niche is a fantastic opportunity to grow your business, connect with industry leaders, and stay on top of trends. However, to truly maximize the value of your time there, it’s essential to approach the event with a strategic mindset. Whether you’re networking or learning, here are some ways to make the most of your attendance:

1. Set clear goals like networking, learning about trends, or building relationships with potential clients or partners.

2. Pre-plan your schedule by focusing on sessions and speakers that align with your goals for the event.

3. Network strategically by introducing yourself to speakers and fellow attendees, attending mixers, and using event apps to connect with others before and after.

4. Bring business cards or digital equivalents and relevant marketing materials to share with the people you meet.

5. Capture insights from sessions and vendors to improve your services, identify new opportunities, or generate ideas for your marketing content.

6. Engage on social media by using event hashtags, sharing updates, and connecting with attendees to boost your visibility.

By being intentional and prepared, you can turn your participation in a niche conference or trade show into a valuable business opportunity.

The Best Way to Spend Your Marketing Dollars

Allocating your marketing budget is always challenging. How do you know what is worth the investment? While marketing should be viewed as an ongoing cycle of experimentation and refinement, here are some rules of thumb for where to spend your marketing dollars:

1. Focus on campaigns that directly reach your niche rather than spreading your budget across general marketing tactics.

2. Spend on tactics that help build your marketing database of ideal niche prospects for ongoing nurturing.

3. Invest in passive lead generation options, such as online “find an advisor” directories or search engine optimization, that don’t require much maintenance after the initial setup.

4. Spend money on resources that save you time, such as a virtual marketing assistant or marketing automation software.

5. Hire coaches or sign up for marketing programs that will teach you how to accelerate your progress.

6. Outsource tasks you can’t handle yourself, like web development, search engine optimization, and graphic design.

Following these guidelines will increase your chances of investing in high-impact marketing efforts.

Adopt a Quarterly Marketing Plan Cadence for Better Results

According to the Kitces.com 2024 Marketing Study, 58% of advisors do not have a consistent marketing planning process (Page 15). In my experience, those who do have one tend to rely on annual plans, which often fall short. These plans typically focus on broad objectives rather than specific actions, leaving too much room for procrastination.

In our OnNiche® program, we invite advisors to participate in quarterly marketing planning sessions after launching their niche. We find that quarterly planning is more manageable and adaptable. As Brian Moran explains in ”The 12 Week Year,” shorter planning cycles increase accountability. This makes it easier to adjust strategies and helps ensure consistent progress toward your goals. This quarterly focus keeps you on track and leads to more tangible results.

As we near the end of the third quarter, now is the perfect time to adopt a quarterly cadence and create your fourth-quarter marketing plan.

Tips for Hiring a Ghostwriter

Writing your own content from scratch can be challenging and time-consuming. If you want non-AI help, consider hiring a ghostwriter. When you’re ready to hire, follow these key tips:

• Industry experience: Choose a writer with a background in financial planning and investment writing. Writers from other industries may lack the expertise you need and require coaching on basic topics.

• SEO knowledge: Your ghostwriter should have some understanding of SEO best practices to optimize your content for search engines, even if they aren't SEO experts.

• Review samples: Request writing samples, especially blogs or ebooks on financial topics, to assess their knowledge and style. Make sure their voice matches your brand.

• Check ratings: If hiring from a marketplace like Upwork, look for writers with top ratings and consistent quality.

• Stick with one writer: Once you find someone who delivers great work, stick with them to ensure quality and consistency.

Online Marketing Channels Can Be Risky

Updated from November 2022.

Relying on marketing channels you don't control can be risky. Over the years, I’ve witnessed numerous sudden changes by tech companies that have quickly and negatively impacted financial advisors’ marketing strategies.

For example, I’ve seen Google’s search algorithms shift, causing an immediate drop in the flow of online leads. Companies that once successfully reached their followers through Facebook posts are now forced to pay for ads to maintain any level of engagement. Social media platforms can also undergo drastic changes, as seen with Twitter’s transition to X, or even disappear entirely, like Google+.

Most recently, LinkedIn has cracked down on certain software used by advisors for automated campaigns, essentially shutting down methods that had been effective for years.

My recommendation when using online channels is to capture the names, email addresses, physical addresses, and mobile numbers of the audience you reach through these platforms and add them to your marketing database. This ensures you can still connect with your audience even if your primary methods are suddenly cut off.

Be sure to follow local and national laws pertaining to email and SMS marketing.

Not All Marketing Tactics Are Lead Generation Tactics

In the recently published Kitces.com 2024 Marketing Study, various marketing tactics were evaluated for their success rates. Client referrals topped the list at 95%, while newsletters lagged behind at just 11% (Page 25). However, these numbers can be misleading.

Rarely does a new client result from a single tactic—except, perhaps, in the case of direct, one-on-one interactions such as referrals, cold-calling, and solicitations, which naturally score high due to their direct measurability.

But as I discuss in my book, Uncomparable: The Financial Advisor's Guide to Standing Out Through Niche Marketing, effective marketing isn’t about relying on just one tactic; it’s about building an ecosystem. An ecosystem nurtures relationships through multiple touchpoints—from first awareness, to lead generation, to nurturing, to conversion—ensuring that no single tactic bears the full weight of client acquisition.

The ecosystem includes tactics that scored low in the study, such as social media, webinars, podcasts, newsletters, and blogging. When integrated into a cohesive strategy, even these lower-scoring tactics play a vital role in driving long-term success.

Not all marketing tactics are lead generation tactics; some play other essential roles in the ecosystem.

There Are No Bad Tactics, Just Bad Strategy

This tip was originally published in September 2022.

I often hear that ________ (fill in the blank) marketing tactic doesn’t work. That includes social media, podcasts, and videos, just to name a few. I have seen every marketing tactic succeed as well as fail. The difference is the strategy.

First, ask yourself: Who is your audience? Would this tactic work with them? Are you using the right marketing channels and content medium?

Second, what is your message? Is it unique, compelling, and relevant to your audience?

Finally, are you implementing consistently and for long enough to make an impact?

Before giving up on a tactic, take a step back and look at the strategy. The culprit of an ineffective tactic is often a lack or misalignment of strategy.

The Impact of Niche Marketing and Structured Planning

In July, Kitces.com released its 2024 marketing study, “How Financial Planners Actually Market Their Services.” Since it's unlikely that most people will read all 108 pages of the study, I am covering the key highlights over the next few weeks.

The study found that “most practices (65%) did not have an established niche, and 58% had no routine marketing planning process” (Page 15). However, “high-growth practices are far more likely to be niche-focused. While 45% of high-growth practices predominantly target at least one niche, only 29% of other practices do” (Page 65).

Last week, we learned that marketing is becoming more expensive and less effective. These findings suggest that one way to improve marketing results is to focus on a niche and adopt a formalized approach to marketing.

Read the entire study here.

The Cost and Commitment of High-Growth Financial Practices

This week, Kitces.com released its 2024 marketing study, “How Financial Planners Actually Market Their Services.” Since it's unlikely most people will read all 108 pages of the study, I thought I would highlight some key points of interest over the next few weeks. For this week, here are some key numbers:

• The median acquisition cost per client in 2023 was $3,800, a 75% increase since their 2021 study (Page 7).

• New client growth slowed from 10.6% in 2021 to 8.6% in 2023 (Page 7).

• Marketing expenditures for a typical high-growth practice were 12.5% of revenue (including both soft labor costs and hard dollar costs), whereas their peers spent 9.7% (Page 9).

• High-growth advisors commit 15% of each work week to marketing activities, compared to 10% for other advisors (Page 9).

These numbers suggest that marketing is becoming more expensive and less effective. However, those who are seeing the most success are the ones spending more time and money on marketing.

Read the entire study here.

Streamlining Multiniche Approaches for Large Advisory Firms

When a large advisory firm decides to implement a multiple-niche approach, it's important to set clear guidelines for each niche. First, every niche should align with an overarching theme. For example, if the overarching theme of the company is retirement planning, then each niche should be focused on retirement planning (e.g., Retirement Planning for Federal Employees, Retirement Planning for Business Owners).

Second, the firm must ensure that all niches fit within the company’s fee structure. If the company charges based on assets under management (AUM) and has a minimum account size of $1 million, then every niche must adhere to this standard. Changing the fee structure or adding new options should be done strategically for the entire firm, not just for one niche.

Having guidelines helps streamline a multiniche approach by ensuring that all niches reinforce the company’s core mission and messaging while maintaining operational efficiency.