Lead magnets are a powerful, yet often underutilized, tool capable of grabbing the attention of prospective clients. A lead magnet is something you offer to prospects in exchange for their email address or other contact information. Financial advisor lead magnets take different forms. And as they can help you build out your list, it’s helpful to know how to leverage them.
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What Is a Lead Magnet?
A lead magnet is something a business offers to potential customers for free in exchange for their contact information. Lead magnets are widely used across various businesses and industries to attract prospects and gather their email for marketing purposes.
The following are some of the benefits of lead magnets for financial advisors:
- They’re cost-effective, as it’s possible to create lead magnets with minimal investment.
- Lead magnets can increase trust with your target audience when they provide genuine value and/or establish your expertise and authority.
- They offer a point of entry for forging relationships with prospective clients, since clients must share their contact details to get the lead magnet.
- A good lead magnet can increase conversions and help you close more sales if you’re able to demonstrate your value from day one.
A lead magnet is an integral part of the advisor sales funnel. It sits at the top of the funnel when the prospective client is in the awareness stage. The more attractive your lead magnet is, the more prospects will enter the funnel, giving you more opportunities to convert.
Financial Advisor Lead Magnet Examples
Deciding which type of lead magnet to offer depends on your niche and who you’re trying to attract. The most effective financial advisor lead magnets are ones that solve a problem, answer a question, inspire prospects to take action or otherwise provide tangible value.
If you’re looking for lead magnet ideas, here are a few options that you might consider:
- Newsletters
- E-books
- Checklists
- Cheatsheets
- White papers
- Case studies
- Infographics
- Ultimate guides
- Templates
- Quizzes
- Calculators
- Online classes, seminars or workshops
- Free consultations
You can also experiment with multiple formats to test what type of content gets the most engagement or the best response from your prospects.
Financial Advisor Lead Magnet Strategies
Creating a lead magnet is the first step. You next have to decide how to promote it to capture email addresses from prospective clients.
Here are seven general tips that can help:
- Create a landing page. A landing page is a page on your website that’s devoted to your lead magnet. It should include details about the lead magnet, as well as a sign-up form to collect email addresses. By setting up a landing page with a unique URL, you can then promote the landing page elsewhere on your site or social media accounts.
- Make sign-up forms accessible. When prospects come to your website, they should be able to easily find a sign-up form to access your lead magnet, even if they’re not on the lead magnet’s landing page. For example, you might include a simple form in your site’s header or footer so that it’s the first and last thing visitors see.
- Use SEO to drive traffic to your lead magnet. SEO stands for search engine optimization and it refers to strategies that are designed to help websites and webpages rank higher in search engines. Optimizing your lead magnet landing page with keywords that prospects may be searching for could make it easier for them to find you.
- Include it in your content. If you’re creating content for a blog that’s attached to your website or writing guest posts for another financial site, you can include a call to action that directs readers to your lead magnet landing page. If you’re creating video content for YouTube, TikTok or another platform, you can add the link to the lead magnet as a pinned comment.
- Promote on social media. In addition to your website, you can use social media to spread the word about your lead magnet. You can include a link to your lead magnet landing page in your bio for your social media sites. You can also create a banner or header image for your social media sites that teases what prospects will get when they sign up.
- Consider digital ads. Social media ads and search ads can help you reach your target audience, and a lead magnet is an excellent way to attract their interest. You might create a simple but eye-catching ad with a sign-up link to your lead magnet and promote it on your ideal clients’ preferred social media platforms.
- Put it on your business cards. Adding a QR code or URL to your business cards is another way to promote your lead magnet offline. For example, say that you’re hosting a free workshop on retirement planning through a local college. You might close the event by handing out business cards, then direct attendees to sign up for the lead magnet using the code or URL printed on the back.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How Do Financial Advisors Generate Leads?
Financial advisors can generate leads through a variety of avenues, such as establishing a website and social media accounts, promoting lead magnets, asking clients for referrals and digital ads. Other ways to attract the attention of prospective clients is through participating in community events, running direct mail marketing campaigns or advertising with billboards and local media.
Are Lead Magnets Effective?
Lead magnets are an effective marketing tool when they provide value to the people they’re targeted toward. Financial advisors who fully understand their ideal clients and their needs have an advantage when creating lead magnets that help to inform, inspire or solve a problem. Taking time to develop a target client persona can help you determine what kind of lead magnet may generate the best results.
How Many Lead Magnets Do Financial Advisors Need?
There’s no magic number for how many lead magnets a financial advisor should have. One is enough to get started and it may be all you need if it’s something that speaks to your target audience. That being said, more lead magnets could mean more opportunities to attract prospects if each one addresses a different topic or pain point.
Bottom Line
Financial advisor lead magnets can cover a lot of ground. You might find it helpful to brainstorm what kind of knowledge or value you can deliver to prospects. If you haven’t taken the time to create a lead magnet yet, consider where it might fit into your marketing plan.
Tips for Growing Your Advisory Business
- Lead magnets are just one lead generation tool you might use to attract new clients. If you have limited time to spend on marketing, you may benefit from a partnership. SmartAsset AMP is a marketing platform designed with growth-focused advisors in mind. Schedule a demo to learn how you can leverage it to grow your business.
- Any time you’re talking about financial advisor marketing, you also have to talk about compliance. The SEC’s marketing rule holds registered advisors and broker-dealers to certain standards. These standards dictate how they can promote their businesses, and what kind of claims they can make. Monitoring compliance trends can help you keep track of the latest changes as you shape your marketing campaigns.
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