Thursday, February 21, 2013

Why Marketing For Financial Advisors Is Challenging And Costly

By Dr. Len Schwartz


For the past few years everybody is nervous about their money. Governments and large corporations have come perilously close to bankruptcy and many individuals have seen their investments shrink or even disappear altogether. This nervousness translates into people being more careful about who they trust to manage their money, investments and pensions for them. This is why marketing for financial advisors are now more necessary than before.

The internet is one of the easiest ways in which to gain the attention of prospective clients. Most people use the internet to conduct research before they make any significant decisions regarding the management of their money. Professionals simply cannot afford to ignore the power and influence of the internet and should therefore invest in a truly professional website. Not having a site is almost certain to guarantee professional failure.

The biggest challenge facing website owners is to implement an effective search engine optimization strategy. When users enter keywords in a search engine they are presented with a list of results numbering many thousands of sites. If a site is not listed near the top the chances of the user seeing it is very slim indeed. To gain a position at the top of the list requires the services of professionals.

One excellent way in which to direct potential clients to a website is to publish a newsletter that is delivered by email. Care should be taken to ensure that the newsletters contain interesting, relevant and valuable information. The idea is to establish the website owners as an authority on all matters relating to the management of money. Newsletters should not be too frequent, lest users start viewing it as spam.

There are numerous tools and templates available to allow just about anybody to construct a website or a newsletter. The problem is that these websites are often not secure and they simply cannot be optimized for search engine results. Trying to save money in this way is foolish. It is best to leave the design and management of an online presence to experienced professionals.

Online consumers tend to trust the personal recommendations of other users. Many consumers peruse consumer feedback websites before they make a decision regarding which professional they will approach. Money managers will do well to ask trusted clients to leave honest feedback on such sites. These personal recommendations are worth much more than any other form of advertising.

No single advertising method can be effective. A carefully planned mix of techniques is required. However, it is vital to take steps to measure the effectiveness of each method. If this is not done, money may be spent unnecessarily on costly campaigns that do not produce any results. Traffic to websites can be measured but it is equally important to equate the number of visitors with the amount of actual business conducted.

The instability of the markets everywhere in the world has made it difficult to devise marketing for financial advisors. Investors are scared and they are wary about trusting a money manager. The key, therefore, is to focus advertising campaigns on gaining trust and to portray the expertise of the money manager. Clients want to know that their futures are safe.




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