Direct Mail Marketing for Financial Advisors

A solid marketing strategy can help to explore your firm’s growth and for many advisors, that means a focus on email and social media. Direct mail marketing is often overlooked but it can offer opportunities to connect with prospects in a more personalized way. Knowing how to create an effective campaign for direct mail marketing makes it easier to leverage this communication channel.

SmartAsset’s Advisor Marketing Platform offers financial advisors services like client lead generation, automated marketing and more. Learn about SmartAsset AMP today.

Benefits of Direct Mail Marketing for Financial Advisors

Snail mail might seem outdated, but there are some distinct advantages associated with launching direct mail campaigns as an advisor. Here are three common benefits to keep in mind:

Direct mail can be highly personalized. Sending direct mail allows you to tailor your message to selected groups, which can create a better user experience for the recipients. Personalized messages that speak to specific needs can help spark client engagement and potentially increase response rates, which in turn, may lead to more conversions.
Open rates may be higher. It’s all too easy for an email to be trashed without ever being opened, especially if the recipient is used to having their inbox bombarded with messages. They may, however, be more inclined to open a physical piece of mail out of curiosity about what’s inside.
Increases brand visibility. Branding is an important part of any marketing strategy as it’s what helps to make your business instantly recognizable. Direct mail can be an additional piece of your branding puzzle and act as a complement to online campaigns if you’re able to tie them together.

Here’s another advantage of direct mail marketing to consider: There may be less competition. Building out a digital footprint is practically a requirement for financial firms these days, but that may come at the expense of letting direct mail communications fall by the wayside. By incorporating postal mail into your marketing plans, you may increase your odds of grabbing a prospect’s attention.

Direct Mail Marketing Strategies for Financial Advisors

Two financial advisors reviewing their direct mail marketing strategy.

If you’re interested in pursuing direct mail marketing, it helps to know what kind of tactics tend to produce the best results. Here are five common tips designed to make shaping a direct mail marketing campaign easier:

Choose the right format. There’s more than one way to send direct mail to prospects and you’re not limited to the standard written letter. You may also send out:

Postcards
Flyers
Brochures
Catalogs

One of the best things about direct mail marketing is that you can tailor the format to the campaign.

For instance, if you’re launching an informational campaign on the topic of retirement planning in your 40s that’s targeted at an older millennial audience, they may be more responsive to an infographic-style flyer. Or if you’d just like to send a short reminder to your clients to reach out to schedule an appointment if they have questions, a simple postcard might work best.

If you’re not sure which format is the right one, you might try some A/B testing. That just involves sending out the same information in different formats to see which one gets the best response.

Select a strong hook. One of the keys to using direct mail marketing effectively is to create content that people will actually want to read. That’s where having a strong headline or opening line matters.

If you’re opening your mail with something boring, there’s not much incentive for the recipient to keep reading. Kicking things off with a solid hook, on the other hand, can compel their attention. There are different ways to create a strong hook, including starting off with an interesting statistic, asking a question or sharing something personal about yourself.

Learning how to write an effective hook can also help you with your digital marketing efforts. If you’re creating SEO-optimized blog content or articles, for example, it’s helpful to know how to open your content with an effective lede.

Tailor your message. Any time you’re sending out marketing materials, via snail mail or digitally, it’s essential to know who you’re talking to. That includes knowing who they are demographically, as well as what pain points they might be struggling with most.

Direct mail marketing offers an opportunity to mold your messaging to your audience. That’s important if you work with a variety of clients who may have different goals or needs that need to be addressed.

If you’re not already segmenting your mailing list, that’s something you might want to spend some time doing. That way, you can ensure that you’re sending the right messages to the clients who need to hear them.

Be consistent. One of the biggest marketing mistakes you can make as an advisor is taking a hodge-podge approach to what you do. Sending out direct mail at random, with no specific timeline or purpose in mind, likely won’t do much to help you build trust.

Developing a regular mailing schedule can ensure that you’re showing up in their mailboxes consistently. You can plan out your schedule in advance and decide ahead of time what type of communications you plan to send.

Consider outsourcing. If you’re struggling to develop a direct mail marketing campaign, you may benefit from working with a third-party provider. There are companies that provide direct mail marketing for financial advisors, which can include:

Helping you to create targeted messaging
Identifying potential clients
Developing marketing materials
Conducting A/B testing
Program scaling and management

Working with a third-party company could make sense if it’s justified by the potential return on investment. You might also appreciate being able to free up more time in your daily schedule to focus on things other than marketing your business.

Bottom Line

A financial advisor explaining how his direct mail marketing strategy works.

Direct mail marketing might seem a little outdated, but it can potentially yield tremendous value for your business. If you’re already using social media or email to market your advisory firm, adding in direct mail can be another way to grow your client base and solidify your brand.

Tips for Growing Your Advisory Business

SmartAsset AMP (Advisor Marketing Platform) is a holistic marketing service financial advisors can use for client lead generation and automated marketing. Sign up for a free demo to explore how SmartAsset AMP can help you expand your practice’s marketing operation. Get started today.
One way to make your marketing strategy more efficient is to repurpose content. For example, if you’re creating long-form articles or blog posts, you might be able to extract the most important points and condense them down to send out in a direct mailing. Or you may use snippets from an online webinar you offer to create short video clips for YouTube, Instagram or TikTok. That can save you time since you’re not having to create brand-new content from scratch.