June 26, 2023 – CMO, Louis Calabrese, discusses recent digital marketing trends that can impact your practice. To read the article, please scroll below.
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Digital marketing continues to become critically important for financial advisors as more and more investors use online channels to research investments, manage their finances and receive communications from their wealth managers. Some foundational tactics we have all heard of to create a solid digital presence include a well-designed website, informative blog or articles, email automation, and active social media channels. Some trends gaining momentum and excitement are video content, artificial intelligence, and data and analytics.
Video content: Video continues to gain popularity as a highly engaging and effective medium for communication for several reasons. First, it’s more economical than ever. Buying the right equipment and technology no longer costs thousands of dollars, and most of us have some of the best cameras on the market with our mobile phones. Second, video is more engaging than anything written. According to Wikipedia, YouTube is the number 2 most widely viewed website in the U.S., behind Google. In addition to YouTube, Zoom is used to record videos or webinars. Vimeo is a popular video-sharing website, while Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram are ways to distribute videos. Third, content has always been king, but now blogs can become vlogs by using video to deliver financial educational content, share investment and economic insights, and conduct virtual meetings. In addition, what’s trending are personal interest content and operational reminders. Personalized interest content may include a video message wishing a client a happy birthday or happy anniversary. In contrast, operational reminder videos may include retirement plan contribution deadlines or tax deadlines that can quickly scale. Don’t forget, no matter what video you produce, always post it on your website and drive viewers using SEO tactics, social media, and email.
Artificial Intelligence (AI): These two words seems to be everywhere. As for AI in wealth management marketing, several trends are occurring. We discussed video as a better way to deliver content, but who creates the content? It’s more complicated than most financial advisors think because it takes time to come up with a topic, write and edit it, and don’t forget about compliance. There is not much at this time regarding compliance review (don’t worry, it’s coming), but AI will be a game changer when it comes to helping write content, video scripts, emails or social media posts. It will also be instrumental in personalized messages, automating marketing tasks, and optimizing marketing campaigns. The two AI tools that have been getting all the attention lately have been Chat GPT and Bard from Google. If you haven’t signed up yet, give it a try.
Data and Analytics: Similar to digital marketing, it seems like we have been talking about data and analytics for a long time in wealth management. They have always been very important, but now it is becoming critical when it comes to marketing. Since you can’t report on something you don’t have, data comes before analytics and is probably the biggest obstacle for most wealth managers. Not because it’s hard to obtain data from clients, it’s because it’s rarely front of mind to ask for the data and even harder to document the data in one place, preferably a CRM (e.g., Salesforce, Redtail, Hubspot). Data collection and storage must become part of a financial advisor’s daily operation. For example, be active listeners when a client calls or is in a meeting. It’s amazing what they tell their financial advisors or staff about themselves or what’s new in their lives, which should be noted and captured. With the right data, you can track client behavior, demographics, major milestones in their life, personal interests for more targeted messaging and provide better investment and wealth planning advice to them and their family. It fits perfectly with the Know Your Client rule. With great data comes great analytics. Most CRMs provide reporting capabilities to be able to “slice and dice” the data to create a more impactful marketing plan.
Digital marketing micro-trends will continue and the adoption of these new ways to market by financial advisors will be more important than ever to the success of their practice.
