How Financial Advisors Can Stop Wasting Money On Advertising
Today I want to tell you why we don't recommend paid advertising to most financial advisors we work with.
This video was prompted by several prospect meetings we've had recently where advisors have come to us and said,
"Hey, we want to get serious about our digital marketing. We've set aside some money to run some ads. What would you recommend that we do?"
I think most of them have been surprised that our default recommendation is usually, "Don't do digital advertising, at least not yet," and here's why.
The Hidden Weakness in Advisor Ads: The Trust Gap
One thing that makes digital marketing for financial advisors different from most of the world is what you're asking for. We like to say, "You're not selling a $20 T-shirt." You are asking someone to trust you with their financial future. That's a huge ask.
The result is that a much higher level of trust is needed for most people to become an actual client. Not just check you out. Not just learn more but to become a client and move their financial planning to you.
That's why word of mouth is still the number one driver of new clients for financial advisors. It's the shortcut for trust-building. "I know this person, and they trust you; that's a good enough start."
But when we talk about advertising, we're actually talking about skipping that step. We're trying to help you connect with new clients at scale. We still need to build that trust without that word-of-mouth referral.
See, the thing about digital advertising – paying to place an ad in front of your ideal client – is that there's no introduction. We still need trust. That’s why the buying cycle is much longer for advisors than for most people who use advertising.
That's the initial conversation we generally have with financial advisors. All the same, we do run paid ads for a number of our clients. It leads to a second question, "I know that you guys do paid ads for other advisors. Why are you telling me not to?"
Let's start with the number one reason we tell people not to.
Ads + Trust = Success
We've already mentioned the need to build trust. People will not trust you with their financial future the first time they meet you, especially if they don't have an introduction.
The problem is that many of these advisors who say, "Hey, we want to get started on digital advertising," have put little to no effort into their organic marketing.
As a quick jargon note, organic marketing is all the other marketing where you're not paying for the placement. It's free to post on social media. It's free to send an email whereas you pay to place something in front of your ideal target audience, such as Facebook Ads , Google Ads, or LinkedIn Ads.
The problem with doing paid advertising is that you are paying to put your brand in front of faces that are new to you, but then there needs to be a follow-up. We often wish they would turn into clients sooner, but for financial advisors, now is the time you start building that trust once you've introduced yourself to your ideal client.
If you do no organic marketing on the backend (like social media, blogs, or emails), you have a hit-or-miss window on that initial ad. In our experience, it's generally a waste of money to do paid advertising with no organic nurturing to back it up.
I like to say doing paid ads without organic marketing is like inviting someone over to your house when your house isn't fully built.
They might show up, but they won't have anywhere to stay. You need to work on your organic marketing, building and representing your brand well first.
Now, let's talk about two of the strategic ways we like to use ads for financial advisors.
Advisor Ad Strategy 1: Fill Your Top-of-Funnel Audience
Think again about the sales cycle, from first introduction to the eventual conversion to a client. That window of time is generally longer for financial advisors because of the gravity of your pitch. You're asking for something really big.
That informs how we strategically (and selectively) use ads. We use them to expedite specific steps in the advisor's funnel – versus expediting the whole process.
The top of the funnel is your broadest audience. Think about your social media following. In the digital sense, this is often the first layer of introduction. They're interacting with you but have not given you their contact info.
We use smaller ad spends to help fill these top-of-funnel audiences with more of their ideal clients. For example, we would target profiles like (depending on the advisor):
Industry specializations
Business owners
Pre-retirees between 50-65
Gatekeepers like CPAs
That way, as we build the size and quality of your audience, we also again have our organic marketing nurturing them, helping them get to know you and your value proposition.
Advisor Ad Strategy 2: Turning Followers Into Leads
The next place we choose to spend ad dollars is in step 2 of the funnel: getting contact info which turn into leads.
Assuming we're growing your top-of-funnel audience...
Assuming we are building trust by putting out high-value content organically...
We also focus on ads as a catalyst to move people from spectators to participants. It's one thing for them to consume your content; it's another thing for them to step out of the crowd, identify themselves to you, and allow you to nurture that relationship further.
We run lead magnet ads like eBooks, webinars, and other value-added resources in this situation. We tend to heavily target our existing audience and lookalike audiences connected to our existing following. We want to target people with some familiarity at this level. While we're not asking them to become clients, we are asking them to step out of the crowd.
We still need nurturing to follow up at this level, but that's a topic for another day.
Need Help With Your Lead Generation?
Bottom line? I don't recommend jumping into paid digital advertising unless you have a strong brand presence and consistent organic marketing. You need to build trust once you've introduced yourself.
With organic marketing as the core of your strategy, we like to use advertising campaigns for two things:
to fill the top of your funnel (audience) with ideal prospects.
to move your audience from spectators to leads.
Between those two steps, we build that trust. There is no substitute for trust in advisor marketing.
At Evergreen, we help advisors build intuitive digital marketing strategies that help you connect and convert your ideal client at scale. If you need help accelerating your lead generation, let’s chat.
