On a weekly basis, I hear from advisors who have left a large wealth management institution, which spent millions upon millions of dollars on marketing and sponsorships to develop a household name, and going independent.
What these advisors may have underestimated is the marketing challenge of going from a platform which is a globally recognized name, to something not many have heard about.
And while many of these advisors do continue to grow through referrals and word of mouth after going on their own, at a certain point, friends of friends begin to diminish, and marketing and brand recognition will be needed.
It is during these times when I receive frustrated calls on how to market yourself as an independent firm. Or better yet, things to think about if you are considering going independent from a marketing perspective (and no, a press release, fancy website and a nice logo aren’t going to cut it!)
Here are our top three recommendations for any teams considering going on their own or have done so already, but are looking to grow outside of referrals:
1. Writing: If you’re not writing, you’re not digital.
Without a serious content-writing strategy that is consistent, you will not have the right keywords associated with your platform to show up anywhere on search engines. For example, if you are based in Long Island, NY and you focus on divorced clients, you should have a lot of constant writing with keywords associated with divorce and different parts of Long Island in your blogs. You should also give this process at least six months and lots of engagement.
2. Get press coverage: I’m not going to lie about this or sugarcoat the issue: There will be a lot more reservations around you and your practice now that you’re an RIA.
It’s a lot easier for investors to recognize or feel comfortable with a publicly traded company or bank than a firm founded and run by one person. Therefore, it’s a lot more important for you to build credibility around your practice. Besides writing, which I explained in section one, it will be important for you to get continuous press coverage and be published in local and national publications
3. Host frequent events that have a theme around them. Events which gather people around for a good time, food and drinks will be appreciated, but quickly forgotten.
If you can build events that create a viral effect, and that can get you in front of more and more people on a regular basis, can build a major local market marketing impact.
Our firm has an entire division that helps advisors take the entire legwork of financial advisor event planning off their plate. See one of our event planners’ background here.
Our Outsourced Chief Marketing Officer solutions can also help you implement all of these solutions without need for you to do so. Our team of expert marketers and sales consultants can be of major help to you. Please contact us to discuss any of these for your current or future needs.