Running ads for your advisory business can help you capture the interest of your ideal clients. You could try the tried-and-true traditional approaches, such as billboards or newspaper ads, but digital advertising can open even more opportunities. If you’re considering running financial advisor ads, it’s important to know how to leverage them effectively to get the best return on your investment.
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Why Financial Advisors Need an Advertising Strategy
Referrals and word-of-mouth can take you far as an advisor but they’re only part of the puzzle. As more investors use online searches to seek out financial professionals, digital ads have become increasingly important as a marketing tool.
Here are some of the advantages of using ads to market your advisory business:
- Digital ad campaigns can target your marketing toward specific channels or demographics so that you’re not wasting time showing ads to the wrong people.
- Your competitors are most likely using ads so incorporating them into your digital marketing strategy can help keep the playing field level.
- Online ads can help to reinforce brand awareness if you’re also active on social media channels where your ideal clients tend to spend time.
- Marketing with digital ads allows an opportunity to try different things and do some A/B testing to see which types of campaigns work best.
- Local ads can give your business a boost when people in your area are searching for ‘financial advisor near me’ or ‘financial advisor + zip code.’
Does running ads cost money? Yes, but when done correctly digital ads can help to generate a steady stream of new leads for your businesses so you can recoup those costs over time.
However, your paid advertising can be just one component of a comprehensive marketing plan. In fact, a Broadridge survey found that advisors with a “defined marketing strategy” onboarded 50% more clients than advisors without a clear plan in 2023.
If you’re looking to invest in marketing, consider SmartAsset AMP (Advisor Marketing Platform). This end-to-end marketing solution for fiduciary advisors can generate up to 540 client referrals per year (depending on the package tier you select) and deliver automated outreach campaigns.
Where Financial Advisors Place Ads
If you’re new to digital marketing, it helps to know where you can run ads for your advisory business. There are several possibilities for ad placements, including:
- Other social media platforms, such as X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, YouTube and TikTok
- Display ads on websites
- Interstitial ads
Each one has pros and cons regarding things like conversion rates, visibility and cost. Keep in mind also that it may take varying amounts of time to begin to see results, depending on which channels you’re using to advertise. If you’d like a shortcut to getting more leads, then you might try an online lead-generation service for financial advisors instead.
Creating an Effective Financial Advisor Advertising Strategy
Developing a strategy for running ads as a financial advisor is similar to creating any other type of marketing plan. Here are five common steps you may want to consider:
Define Your Target Market
If you don’t have a target client profile or persona established yet, that’s a good place to start. This profile or persona should reflect who you want to attract as a client, based on the niche that you serve. You might identify them based on factors such as:
- Age
- Education level
- Career status
- Marital status or family situation
- Annual income
- Net worth
You may create one persona or multiple personas, depending on the types of clients you serve.
Tailor Your Messaging
Once you know who you want to see your ads, you can work on fine-tuning your message. But why does this matter?
Whether an ad campaign resonates with its target audience often hinges on how that audience prefers to receive information. Everything from the format an ad takes to the images used to the way the message is presented matters when you’re trying to attract your ideal client. An ad that attracts a 30-something professional with no kids may go unnoticed by someone who’s counting down the last five years to retirement.
If you only serve one type of client with the same goals and pain points, then this step automatically gets a little easier. But if you’re working with a diverse client base, you’ll need to spend some time deciding what to include in the ads you plan to direct toward different segments.
Create a Compelling Design
Financial advisor ads that can convert are visually appealing and interesting enough to force the viewer to stop scrolling. If your ideal client isn’t attracted by an ad’s images, graphics or text they might go right on by it which is exactly what you don’t want.
There are different elements you can use in financial advisor ads, including:
- Stock images
- Infographics and charts
- Text
- Video
- Background music or voiceovers if you’re creating video ads
When designing your ads think about what’s most likely to trigger a reaction or response from target clients. At the same time, make sure that you’re keeping your branding consistent across different ad campaigns.
If you’re using one color scheme on your Facebook ads but a different one for display ads, for example, that could get confusing for prospective clients. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t test different versions of the same ad to see which one gets the most clicks, but it should be clear that both ads represent your business.
Choose Your Ad Placement Carefully
As mentioned, there are several places you might choose to run financial advisor ads. You could try running ads on all of those channels but if you have a limited budget or you’re simply wanting to test the waters, it may be more efficient to focus on just one or two targets to start.
This is where it pays to really understand your ideal clients and where they typically spend time online. Earmarking a sizable chunk of your ad budget to Facebook or YouTube might be wasted money if the investors you’re trying to gain as clients aren’t active on those platforms.
Also, keep in mind that getting better placement on certain channels may require you to spend more of your ad dollars. It’s important to consider how much of a return you’re likely to see to determine if it’s worth it to buy premium ad space.
Include a Call to Action
You want your ads to convert so that prospects eventually become clients. However, you might need to give people a nudge to encourage them to contact you.
Your call to action should be short and to the point. A simple “Schedule a Free Consultation Today” may be all you need to include. You can also use persuasive language to create a sense of urgency so that prospective clients reach out sooner, rather than later.
Bottom Line
Financial advisor ads can be a powerful tool for getting your business noticed and gaining new clients. Regularly reviewing your advertising and marketing strategy can help you identify what’s working for you and where you may need to adjust to produce better results.
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.
- While there’s no denying the importance of digital marketing, ads aren’t the only way to spread the word about your business. Email marketing, PR outreach and direct mail marketing are other options to consider when creating a comprehensive marketing plan for your advisory business.
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