How to Choose Marketing Activities: Part 1—Client Journey Stage

Before you start filling your 2026 marketing calendar, let’s talk strategy.

It’s that time of year when many advisors start thinking about next year’s marketing plans. If that’s you, you’re in the right place. Over the next few weeks, I’ll walk through six key considerations to help you choose marketing activities that actually work for you:

1. Client Journey Stage

2. Operational Efficiency

3. Time Frame

4. Quality vs. Quantity

5. Marketing Preferences

6. Budget

Let’s start with the first one: Client Journey Stage.

Every prospective client moves through three phases before deciding to hire you—awareness, consideration, and decision. The best marketing plans include a little of each.

• Awareness (Top of Funnel): At this stage, prospects don’t know your firm or even realize they have a financial challenge. Your goal is visibility and helping them recognize themselves in the problems you solve.
  Examples: SEO, podcasts, social media.

• Consideration (Middle of Funnel): Prospects now understand their problem and are exploring solutions. This is your chance to educate and show how you’re different.
  Examples: Webinars, blogs, newsletters.

• Decision (Bottom of Funnel): Prospects are ready to take action; they just need confidence in their choice. Help them feel certain you’re the right fit.
  Examples: Online reviews, case studies, personal outreach.

It’s common for advisors to lean too heavily on middle- or bottom-of-funnel efforts and not enough on top-of-funnel visibility. A healthy mix often looks like 50–60% awareness, 25–35% consideration, and 10–20% decision.

The takeaway: A balanced plan keeps new people discovering you, current prospects learning from you, and ready-to-hire clients choosing you.

Need help building your marketing plan? Learn more about our annual marketing plan service.

Kristen Luke

Founder of Kaleido Creative Studio and OnNiche®

The Scariest Marketing Mistakes Financial Advisors Make

You don’t need a haunted house to feel chills—these marketing mistakes will do the trick.

👻 Note: I had a ghostly assist from AI with this article—proof that human + machine can make a frightfully good team.

It’s Halloween, and while haunted houses and ghost stories can be fun, there’s nothing scarier than the marketing mistakes that haunt financial advisors all year long.

Here are five of the most frightening, plus how to keep them from creeping into your business. 

1. The Invisible Audience 🕸️

The scariest thing in marketing? When no one’s listening. If you’re not clear about who you’re talking to, your message disappears into the void.

The fix: Focus your efforts on a well-defined audience. The clearer your niche, the more your message will be heard.

2. The Phantom Strategy 👻

Ever feel like your marketing efforts are floating around with no direction? That’s because there’s no real plan holding them together. Random acts of marketing are like ghosts. You see traces of activity, but nothing tangible.

The fix: Ground your efforts in a clear strategy so your marketing has form, focus, and purpose.

3. The Half-Committed Haunting 🕯️

Some of the most chilling results come from great ideas that were never fully executed. Advisors start a podcast, newsletter, or event series, and then ghost it halfway through.

The fix: Finish what you summon or let the idea rest in peace. Consistency is what turns ideas into results.

4. The “Everyone Says I Should” Curse 🧙‍♀️

Doing something just because everyone says you should (like being on social media) is how advisors end up chasing phantoms instead of real opportunities.

The fix: Do what enchants your audience, not someone else’s.

5. The Fear of Standing Out 🎃

Many advisors play it safe, worried they’ll scare someone off by being too specific. But the real fright comes from blending in.

The fix: The most powerful marketing is bold, clear, and distinct. It attracts the right people and repels the wrong ones. 

The takeaway? You don’t need a magic spell or a crystal ball to fix your marketing. You just need focus, consistency, and the courage to commit. Because the only thing truly terrifying in marketing … is doing nothing at all.

Kristen Luke

Founder of Kaleido Creative Studio and OnNiche®

It’s Better to Be Clear Than Clever

Clever marketing might win attention, but clear marketing wins clients.

When it comes to marketing, too many advisors try to be clever with their messaging, especially on their websites or when describing what they do. The problem is, clever often confuses, while clear convinces.

Let’s look at a fictional example. A firm wants to sound different, so instead of saying, “We help physicians plan for retirement,” they write something like, “We are the pulse of financial wellness for physicians.” It sounds creative, but a prospect shouldn’t have to decode what you actually do.

Don’t make it hard for someone to understand your value. If you make them work too hard, they’ll shut down and move on. That doesn’t mean your language can’t be compelling. You can still use strong, engaging words to pique interest, but clarity must always come first.

Clarity builds trust. When someone understands exactly who you help and how, they instantly know whether you’re a fit for them. Confusion, on the other hand, creates friction, and in marketing, friction kills momentum.

Here’s a simple rule of thumb: If someone has to ask, “What does that mean?” your message isn’t working hard enough.

A few ways to stay clear instead of clever:

• Lead with what you do and who you help. “We help tech professionals navigate stock options” is much stronger than a vague tagline about “unlocking potential.”

• Say it out loud. If it doesn’t sound natural in conversation, it probably won’t land in writing.

• Test it. Ask someone outside your industry to read your website or listen to your pitch. If they can’t immediately tell what you do, it’s time to simplify.

The takeaway? Being clever might get attention, but being clear gets clients. When in doubt, choose clarity every time.

Kristen Luke

Founder of Kaleido Creative Studio and OnNiche®

How Financial Advisors Can Stand Out Through Niche Marketing

Build Your Marketing Around an Audience, Not an Audience Around Your Marketing

If you start your marketing plan with tactics instead of people, it’s already off track.

One of the biggest mistakes I see advisors make is starting with the marketing tactic instead of the audience. They decide they want a podcast, a newsletter, or a YouTube channel, then scramble to find an audience for it.

That’s backwards.

If you don’t know exactly who you’re trying to reach, your marketing will feel like shouting into the void. The most effective marketing doesn’t start with a medium—it starts with an audience.

Before you launch anything, ask yourself these questions:

1. Who am I trying to reach? Be specific. Not just “retirees” or “business owners,” but a particular group with shared needs or values.

2. Where do they spend their time? Do they spend time on Instagram? Listen to podcasts? Attend conferences? Your marketing belongs there, not everywhere.

3. What do they care about most right now? Build your content around their problems and goals, not the things you want to talk about.

When you build your marketing around an audience, everything becomes easier. You know what to say, where to say it, and why it matters. Instead of trying to make people pay attention to your content, you create content that fits into their world.

The takeaway? Stop building your marketing with the hope that an audience finds it. Start with your audience and build your marketing around them. That simple shift can make your efforts more focused, relevant, and effective.

Kristen Luke

Founder of Kaleido Creative Studio and OnNiche®

When Your Niche Grows Up

What happens when your clients outgrow your niche?

When advisors think about niches, they often focus on a specific moment in time, such as college planning for families or financial planning for young physicians. Those are great niches, but here’s the challenge: What happens when your clients grow out of them?

Many niches are tied to a stage of life focused on an immediate pain point rather than a lifelong need—that’s what makes them effective. The parents who hired you for college planning won’t need that service once their kids graduate. The young physicians who relied on you early in their careers may eventually want advice on practice ownership, retirement, or selling their business.

It’s important to start talking about this with your clients at the outset of the relationship, so they don’t assume they’ll need to move on. Plant the seed early that your services will evolve as their lives do.

Here are a few ways to do that:

• Paint the bigger picture. During onboarding, show clients how your work fits into a longer-term financial journey. For example: “Right now, we’re focused on college funding for your kids, but once they leave the nest, we’ll shift our focus to helping you prepare for retirement.”

• Build flexibility into your services. Design your service model so it can expand over time. This might mean adding pricing structures or service options that align with different life stages.

• Communicate consistently. Reinforce that you’re not just their advisor for this stage of life, but for the stages that come after.

The takeaway? When you help clients see that your expertise grows with them, you turn a time-bound niche into a lifelong client.

Kristen Luke

Founder of Kaleido Creative Studio and OnNiche®

You Already Live in a Niche Economy—Your Practice Should Too

If the world has gone niche, why are so many advisory firms still trying to be everything to everyone?

Last week, while waiting in line at XYPN Live to have Carl Richards sign his new book, Your Money: Reimagining Wealth in 101 Simple Sketches, I overheard two advisors talking. Both had been in business for about 20 years. They agreed that focusing on a niche would have helped them grow faster when they started, but now it was “too late” and “not for them.”

I understand their perspective. You can absolutely build a practice on strong referral relationships and maybe even through local SEO if you’ve got good reviews and little competition nearby. But here’s the problem: The world your business operates in today looks nothing like it did 20 years ago.

We live in a niche economy. It used to be that everyone watched the same TV shows, read the same newspapers, and listened to the same radio stations. Now, people curate what they want: podcasts, newsletters, YouTube channels, and communities tailored to their exact interests. There’s no such thing as true mass marketing anymore. The only thing close to a mass-market audience is the Super Bowl.

The implication for advisors is clear: If the world has gone niche, your practice should too. Being everything to everyone isn’t how people consume information today. People pay attention to the voices and messages that speak directly to them.

The takeaway? You’re already living in a niche economy. The sooner your practice reflects that reality, the easier it will be to connect with the right prospects.

Kristen Luke

Founder of Kaleido Creative Studio and OnNiche®

Highlight Pictures of Your Office Online

If your office looks warm, professional, and inviting, why hide it until someone shows up in person?

Do you have a beautiful office worth showcasing? If so, don’t keep it a secret and only let people discover it once they walk through your door. Sharing photos of your office online can actually influence a prospect’s decision to meet with you.

Why? Because your office space says a lot about you and your firm.

• It can make your business feel more inviting and comfortable than prospects might imagine.

• It can match a prospect’s design aesthetic, creating an instant sense of connection.

I’ll give you a personal example: I chose my current dermatologist based on photos I found of his office online. The space looked like my living room, and I knew immediately that we’d be a good match.

Where to Feature Your Office Photos

1. Website Photo Gallery: Create a dedicated photo gallery on your website, often on the About page, where visitors can get a sense of your space.

2. Throughout Your Website: Don’t limit your photos to one page. Sprinkle them across your site where appropriate.

3. Google Business Profile: Prospects often check Google before calling or visiting. A profile with welcoming photos of your office creates a strong first impression.

4. Local Listings: Add them to sites like Nextdoor and Yelp, where prospects might be searching.

5. Professional Directories: Many industry or referral directories allow for images. Use that space to stand out.

The takeaway? First impressions often happen online, not in person. By sharing photos of your office, you can create comfort, trust, and connection before a prospect ever walks through the door.

Kristen Luke

Founder of Kaleido Creative Studio and OnNiche®

Are You Asking Too Much of Your Marketing Staff?

The truth is, no single person can handle every aspect of marketing, and expecting them to is a recipe for frustration.

Many advisory firms mistakenly believe they can hire one person to handle all of their marketing needs. In my experience, that almost never works. Let’s look at two common roles firms often hire for:

1. A Marketing Coordinator

A marketing coordinator is great for managing day-to-day marketing administration. They can coordinate events, handle email marketing, post on social media, and even create basic graphics using Canva or AI tools. However, they typically aren’t equipped to provide strategic insight, make recommendations, or take on specialized roles like content creation. That leaves a gap that the senior advisor or owner often ends up filling, or one that requires outside marketing support.

2. A Marketing Director

A marketing director excels at high-level strategy, building partnerships, and designing campaigns. They can often handle much of the content creation as well, especially with the assistance of AI. But you can’t expect them to manage the day-to-day execution a coordinator would handle. You’ll still need someone to take on those tasks. And because marketing directors operate at a higher level, they often want to bring in outside agencies for specialized projects such as video production or podcasting.

The takeaway? Don’t expect any single hire to cover all of your marketing needs. You’ll need multiple roles in-house or a mix of freelancers, agencies, and consultants to fill the gaps.

Kristen Luke

Founder of Kaleido Creative Studio and OnNiche®

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We Want Your Take! Have you tried hiring one person to cover all of your firm’s marketing needs? Did you find gaps in what they could deliver, or did you build a team to balance strategy and execution? Join the conversation and share your ideas at the OnNiche® Public Square!

Who’s Really in Charge of Your Marketing Strategy?

One of the biggest headaches I see in marketing isn’t bad ideas—it’s too many good ideas that don’t mesh together.

When it comes to hiring marketing help, clarity is everything. Too often, businesses bring on multiple vendors—consultants, agencies, freelancers—without defining who’s responsible for what. The result? Confusion, conflicting advice, and wasted time.

If you’re hiring a marketing consultant for big-picture strategy and a marketing agency for implementation, you need to decide upfront: Whose strategic advice takes priority? Likewise, if you hire an SEO company and a copywriter, make sure you know who has the lead. Otherwise, you’ll end up stuck with confusing choices and second-guessing every decision.

Here’s why this happens: In marketing, there’s rarely one “right” way to do things. There are different approaches, and each specialist sees the world through their own lens.

An SEO company will focus on ranking in Google, optimizing every word and page for search engines.

A copywriter will focus on persuasive messaging that resonates with your audience and drives conversions.

Neither approach is wrong, and in many cases, the best solution is a mix of the two. They just have different priorities. But without a clear hierarchy, you’ll end up getting pulled in two directions.

The takeaway? When you hire multiple marketing partners, establish a chain of command. Know whose advice you’ll prioritize for strategy, and whose role is to execute within that framework. Doing this upfront will save you headaches later and ensure your marketing specialists work toward one goal instead of against each other.

Kristen Luke

Founder of Kaleido Creative Studio and OnNiche®

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We Want Your Take! Have you ever found yourself caught between conflicting advice from different marketing partners? How do you decide whose perspective takes the lead—your consultant, your agency, or your specialist vendors? Join the conversation and share your ideas at the OnNiche® Public Square!