Lead generation for financial advisors is a fundamental part of creating a constant flow of prospects that may eventually become leads or clients. It is basically the process of discovering leads to fill up your sales funnel through various means of marketing strategies. Although it is similar to paid advertising, lead generation may include non-paid sources too, such as referrals.
Most financial advisors find lead generation an arduous task. According to a report from Hubspot, 61% of marketers consider generating traffic and leads to be their biggest challenge.
If you don’t wish to end up in that pool of 61% of marketers, then consider practicing the following lead generation strategies that will multiply your prospects by twofold.
Lead Generation for Financial Advisors
There can be dozen of ways to generate leads for your business, but here we presents 6 most effective and efficient strategies that are guaranteed to give you results. These are:
- Gated Demo
- Search Engine Optimization
- Paid Marketing
- Local Community Networking
- Zoom Meetings and Sessions
- Leverage Existing Clients
Let's introduce each of these lead generation strategies with a short description.
1. Gated Content
Who doesn’t love free stuff? Take that and turn it into an incentive so you may benefit from it. Gated content is a marketing strategy that involves sharing information in exchange for the readers’ email. It is one of the most cost-effective ways to generate leads for your business.
Gated content can only be accessed once the viewer has offered particulars such as their name, telephone number, and most commonly, their email address. In return, they get full access to a premium blog, an e-book, or a whitepaper.
Here are some more gate content ideas that may create for your website visitors or blog readers:
- Case studies
- Research material
- Webinars
- Videos
- Online consultations
Related: 5 Ways To Build Your Business as a Rookie Advisor
2. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search Engine Optimization aka SEO involves increasing the ranking (visibility) of your website on Search Engine Result Pages aka SERPs. With the competition becoming increasingly intense on the internet, and Google algorithms becoming more complicated, it is essential for every website owner to improve their SEO strategy to derive desired results.
You can go about it by first conducting a thorough SEO audit of your entire website, and analyzing errors, shortcomings, and room for improvement. Strategize a well throughout SEO framework for your website, built upon the result of the audit. It would be advisable to outsource the task to a specialist so you can focus on your business, while the specialist makes every necessary effort to increase the ranking of your website.
3. Paid Marketing
SEO-driven results take time but if you need to make leads fast, you may opt for paid marketing as well, aside from SEO.
An efficient paid marketing campaign includes researching and selecting the right keywords. Then you organize those keywords into further well-organized campaigns and ad groups. You set up landing pages that are optimized for converting your leads into prospects.
When designing a campaign for your financial advisory services, the key is to know your target audience well and design your campaign around words that your audience is searching to seek your services.
4. Local Community Networking
Jonathan Marc Hairgrove says, “Having a blog and doing social media is great but if you don't cut through the immense noise that is already online and on social media your efforts will be in vain.”
One of the advantages when aiming for a local target audience is that the market is small and there is less competition. In addition, word spread easily and fast, increasing the chances of word-of-mouth.
Use events to connect with the community by stepping out there. Participate in various outreach programs, sponsor events to create awareness for your financial firm, set up webinars and seminars, and arrange free workshops, to name a few.
5. Online Zoom Meetings
Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, going virtual is now the most preferred way to offer consultations and services. Going remote gives you an opportunity to reach prospects that may not be comfortable with face-to-face meetings.
You may arrange free short online sessions and promote them on social networks like LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter. Deliver video sessions on topics that answer the most asking questions or most common concerns of people that are seeking financial advice.
6. Leverage Existing Clientele
Brian Tracy, the CEO and Chairman of Brian Tracy International, once said, “Follow up and follow through until the task is completed - the prize won.”
You might be surprised to know how well referrals still work as an excellent lead generation strategy. It is one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to find leads through the current client list (no matter how short it may be.)
The strategy is simple: stay in touch with your current clientele. Of course, the manner you choose to do that depends on which method would be more effective for that individual client. Some simple way of doing this is to browse through their social media, remember their birthdays, wish them on their cultural days, get familiar with their routine and interests and simply get personal.
The stronger the bond you are able to develop between your client and yourself, the most likely they are to refer your financial services to others since a good rapport and trust have been developed.
To Sum It Up
Business development depends on the quality of leads it generates. With the increasing competition out there, a business owner nowadays must constantly discover and experiment with various strategies for generating leads.
