Trying to grow your financial advisory practice? If so, then you’re probably trying to find ways to attract new leads.
With so many financial advisors in the market today – all vying for the same business – lead generation has become more difficult than ever. Traditional means of generating leads (such as cold calling, direct mail, and newspaper and magazine ads) don’t work like they used to. And the competition online is fierce.
However, not all is lost. In fact, with a little planning and a good amount of consistency, you can establish a lead generation strategy that will help your practice rise above the competition.
In this article, we’ll give you our top 10 lead generation strategies for financial advisors in 2023, so you can attract your ideal clients and watch your financial firm flourish.
Top 10 Lead Generation Tips For Financial Advisors
Whether you’re just starting out, or you’re looking for new ideas, here are 10 lead generation strategies you can apply to your financial advisory practice today.
1. Develop a Strong Online Presence
The first step for any financial advisor is to build a strong online presence. That starts with a professional website that’s engaging, modern, and optimized for SEO. In fact, your website is one of your most valuable assets in your marketing strategy, and it can help generate leads.
But how do you go about building a strong online presence? Here are 3 tips:
a. Invest in Your Website
Most prospects will come to your website before they contact you, so you want to make sure that your first impression is a strong and engaging one. Otherwise, you may lose them to your competitors.
While you can get out-of-the-box website templates, you may want to consider a stronger investment in your digital home. People looking for a financial advisor will have already done quite a bit of homework, and will be committed to spending some time on your website getting to know you. At the end of their journey, you want them to feel confident in contacting you.
If you’re not sure where to start, here are a few items to include on your website:
- Bios of all your professionals, including videos if possible
- Compelling reasons why prospects should choose you (what’s your unique value proposition?)
- Your company values, mission, and services
- Resources like blogs and articles
b. Use Gated Content
If you’re looking to collect email address or other contact information from your prospects, adding gated content to your website is a great way of doing this. Gated content is essentially content that people can gain access to in exchange for their contact information.
Often, a great option for gated content is a unique and well-written ebook, whitepaper, or case study.
Here’s an example of what a gated content page can look like:
Tip: Want to add gated content to your website, but don’t have time to create or manage it? Check out Value Builder’s Smart Content, designed just for business advisors like you.
c. Pay Attention to SEO
Lastly, consider hiring someone to help you optimize your website for search (also known as search engine optimization, or SEO).
An SEO expert can help you stand your best chance of ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs) when someone searches for a financial advisor like yourself.
2. Create High-Quality Content
There’s a wide variety of content you can create and distribute. In fact, there’s a whole subsection of marketing, called content marketing, dedicated just to this. (If you want to learn more, check out our Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing for Financial Advisors).
The key here is to ensure the content you’re producing is high quality. Since there is so much content available online, your audience isn’t going to stick around long if they’re not getting value from it. And to generate new leads, you need people to be engaged.
Here are 4 types of content that financial advisors typically produce:
a. Blog Posts
Blog posts are one of the most common types of content. They can serve several purposes such as:
- Improving your website visibility through SEO optimization
- Showcasing your expertise
- Providing content for you to share on social media and in email marketing
When it comes to blogs, creating them simply for the sake of doing so won’t get you very far. Make sure your content is value-rich, unique, and underscores your expertise and helpfulness.
Once you’ve posted your blog post, remember that you can repurpose a lot of its content and information to fuel other aspects of your marketing strategy, like social media, email newsletters, and so forth.
b. Social Media Posts
The sheer ubiquity of social media can make it intimidating. Where do you post and how often? How do you find your audience? How can you cut through the noise and stand out?
No matter which way you slice it, social media is an essential component of marketing and can really impact your lead generation.
Platforms that financial advisors commonly use are LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Other platforms like Instagram and TikTok generally aren’t used by as many B2B (business to business) financial advisors, although advisors who work with individuals might have some luck on Instagram.
The quality of your social media content is just as important as where you post. Plus, when sharing your content, make sure you have a regular posting cadence. Choose how often you can realistically post (once per day, week, or month?) and stick with it.
Not sure what to share? Some ideas for posting can include:
- Your own blog posts
- Your firm’s news
- Other industry news
- Advice and insight
- Polls and interactive content
- Other interesting and value-rich blog posts
c. Podcasts and Webinars
Podcasts, webinars, and other live or pre-recorded online events have gained popularity, particularly over the past several years.
What makes podcasts, webinars, and events so effective in generating new leads is that they offer you the opportunity to deep-dive into topics that showcase your expertise, while also giving immense value to the audience and a sense of who you are and your firm’s culture.
The outputs of these events can also be repurposed into blog posts, downloadable materials, and social media content. You can share pull quotes, audio and video clips, and slides and useful tips.
d. eBooks
eBooks deserve a separate mention as they’re a great way to showcase your expertise. And, when you use eBooks as gated content, they can help you build a list of warm leads that you can then nurture through email marketing.
Not sure what to write about? Some ideas for eBooks include:
- eBooks that answer common questions
- eBooks that help solve industry problems
- State of the industry eBooks
- How-to guides
Tip: Don’t have the time to create content for your marketing strategy? Value Builder offers prebuilt eBooks, whitepapers, webinars, landing pages and more – designed for financial advisory firms like yours.
3. Utilize Social Media Effectively
While we’ve already briefly touched on social media, its importance can’t be overstated.
Platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter can help your target audience discover you, therefore helping you gain leads from an audience you may not have otherwise had access to.
It should be noted, though, that social media should be integrated into your regular marketing strategy so your messaging is frequent and consistent across the board. This is why creating a social media calendar can help.
There are some great resources that can help you with creating, organizing, and posting your social media content. Here are a few to get you started:
When using social media for lead generation, make sure you always include your contact information (or a call to action, known as a CTA) in your profile.
Using hashtags and posting at optimal times when you think your audience is online can also help you reach a larger audience.
4. Implement Email Marketing Campaigns
Email marketing is still one of the most effective ways to attract, nurture, and convert leads into customers.
By using email marketing, you can create lists of prospects, segment them by their interests or demographics, and then create personalized emails packed full of valuable content.
Building an email list can take some effort. Use strategies like gated content (e.g. a free eBook download in exchange for an email address), add a popup on your website, add signup buttons to your social media channels, and build an email signup landing page.
When writing your emails, the key is to give your subscribers something unique that only they will receive – hence the motivation behind them actually providing you with their email address. Again, creating value-rich content is the key.
Not sure what to share in your email? Here are some ideas:
- Summarize your most recent blog post and link to it on your website for those who want to keep reading
- Send an ungated version of your latest eBook
- Share tidbits from your whitepapers or case studies
- Provide your take on recent industry news
- Invite readers to exclusive online or in-person events
At the end of each email, gently invite the reader to contact you if they want your assistance. This lets you establish a trusting relationship based on value – without being pushy.
Tip: Value Builder’s email marketing tools with ready-made content is proven to drive 54% higher email open rates.
5. Offer Free Consultations
Are you offering your prospects a free consultation? If not, you could be missing out on potential leads.
Free consultations give you the opportunity to meet with potential prospects face-to-face, at no cost to them. It’s a low-stakes and low-investment commitment on their part, which can be highly effective on yours.
Make sure you promote your free consultations on your website and across your marketing campaigns, including mentioning them in your social media posts and in marketing emails. You can also put a clear CTA on your firm’s website header or contact page inviting visitors to contact you for a free consultation.
By offering free consultations, you can attract more leads, build trust, and answer any questions they may have. Thus, your firm will be the first one they contact when they’re ready to convert from a lead to a customer.
6. Network at Industry Events
The financial advising industry is built largely on trust and authority. Individuals and businesses are looking to you to lead them to financial security and success. So, naturally, networking and relationship building is necessary to your own firm’s success.
This is where networking at industry events can really pay off. While networking can take some time away from your office and client work, the leads you can gain are well worth the investment.
Here are a few tips to help you prepare for industry events:
a. Jot Down Speaking Notes
Whether you’re a keynote speaker, or simply mingling and getting to know other participants and networkers, prepare a few talking points that are unique, personalized, and hit on the right notes. This can calm your nerves and let you make the most of your time.
Consider sharing information about your firm’s values, teams, and successes. And make sure to ask lots of questions, so your prospects feel heard and important.
b. Prepare for Common Questions
You’ll most likely get bombarded with lots of questions, many of which will be various iterations of the same ones. This makes it easy to prepare in advance. The good news is a lot of the questions you’ll be asked, you’ve already been asked before.
c. Get Personal
There are usually a lot of professionals at networking events, and while there are commonalities, getting a little more personal will help you and your firm shine above the rest.
What do we mean by this? Getting personal means getting personable. Clear some time in your schedule to invite prospects or colleagues in your industry to a follow up lunch or coffee. Get comfortable talking “non shop-talk,” such as sharing your interests, bringing up light-hearted family topics, and so on.
Basically, let prospects get to know you and see the real person behind your firm. This will go miles in building trusting, long-lasting relationships.
d. Make It Easy to Get in Touch
The last thing you want to do is forge a valuable connection…and then have no means of follow up.
Prepare business cards (including virtual cards), have some brochures or other materials ready, and make sure prospects can easily provide you with their email addresses.
7. Build Strategic Partnerships
When it comes to lead generation, don’t overlook the power of strategic partnerships.
By partnering with other businesses or consultants in adjacent industries to yours, you can gain new clients through cross-promotion and referrals. As an added bonus, you both can also benefit from each other’s expertise, network, and maybe even share resources.
But strategic partnerships do take some time to consider. Who you partner with is just as important as why you’re looking for a partnership. Vetting potential partners is made easier with networking and word-of-mouth referrals. You can also identify key candidates on social media platforms like LinkedIn.
8. Leverage Online Reviews and Testimonials
Before you book a table at a restaurant, chances are you read their reviews. The same goes when people are trying to decide if they want to work with you.
A great way to increase the number of leads you get in a week is to make sure you have stellar reviews available online. The financial industry is all about trust and that means your potential clients are looking for honest, objective, thrid-party reviews and testimonials of your services. They want social proof that you’re the right firm for their needs.
It’s good practice to reach out to your current clients to ask them for a testimonial or a review. If you have a Google Business page set up, send them a direct link to your profile so they can leave a review easily. You can also do this with other review sites like Yelp, Trustpilot, GoodFirms, and more.
Alternatively, asking your clients to leave reviews on your LinkedIn or Facebook page can go a long way in establishing your credibility. Tagging can help solidify your position online, and expand your reach.
Once you have testimonials rolling in, make sure you add them to your website as well, so prospects who are researching you can find them easily and in a variety of ways.
9. Utilize Paid Advertising
Depending on the audience you’re looking to target, paid advertising can be incredibly effective in generating leads.
There are a three main options you can choose from when utilizing paid advertising (you can also use a combination of all three; the key is to target the right audience):
a. Google Ads
Google Ads is an online advertising program from Google. It uses only the Google search engine platform (not Bing, etc.) and works on a bidding model where you bid to display your ads to users and pay per click.
Google Ads places your ad in search engine results pages (SERPs) or on non-searchable websites, apps, and videos, etc. (or both).
b. Facebook Ads
Facebook Ads is similar, but only works within the context of the Meta ecosystem. These are ads that you pay to have displayed to a target audience (the wider the audience, the more expensive the ad will be).
c. LinkedIn Ads
Similarly, LinkedIn Ads works within the LinkedIn ecosystem, and will target your ad to a particular audience, demographic, or region (or all three).
Since online advertising can get complex, it’s common for financial firms to outsource this work to an agency with paid media expertise. Doing so will help avoid wasted ad spend and typically generate much better results.
10. Implement a Referral Program
Referral programs are definitely the standard in the financial industry. By offering a referral program, you not only have access to a wider network of potential clients, but can also reward current clients and colleagues in the industry for referring clients to you. A win-win.
Here are a few tips to help get started with a referral program:
a. Start With Your Top Clients
Your top clients already have a great experience with you. They trust you and you have given them proven results, and will most likely be happy to refer friends, family, colleagues, and partners to your firm.
b. Keep It Clear and Simple
Asking your clients, “is there anyone you know who might need my services?” is asking a lot of them. They may draw a blank simply because what you’re asking them to do is qualify referrals for you.
Simply say something like, “please don’t hesitate to pass my name along.” With this statement, you’re removing the risk your clients might feel in sharing your information, and the mental labor they’re exercising.
c. Promote Your Referral Program
People won’t know you have a referral program unless you tell them. Showcase your referral program on your website, social media, or email newsletter. By doing this, you can craft the message you want them to receive, framing it with testimonials, results, and other social proof.
Start Generating Leads Today
Now that you have 10 lead generation ideas, it’s time to turn them into action.
If you’re looking for help to get started, check out Value Builder and find out why it’s the leading software for financial advisors who are looking to generate leads so they can find, keep, and win more business.
