This article is part of a series of special reports appearing in the Sept. 14, 2020, edition of InvestmentNews.
Half a year into a pandemic-induced remote work environment, advisers are figuring out how to jump-start two traditional growth drivers, marketing and referrals, with digital touchpoints that are producing results.
An adviser’s digital presence has evolved into the new strategy for attracting and retaining clients. Gone are the days of in-person wine tastings and steak dinners. Instead, advisers are turning digital marketing campaigns and virtual events into prospecting opportunities.
“Even when things go back to normal, advisers think they will continue to do videoconferencing for client meetings,” said Lisa Salvi, vice president of business consulting and education at Schwab Advisor Services. “The pandemic and remote work has shifted the long-term view of what a client review meeting looks like and how clients want to interact with firms.”
At a time when advisers can’t sit across the desk from clients, using technology to engage with them is critical for firms ready to get back to growth mode.
Planning a successful virtual event, for example, starts with answering the same initial questions a firm should ask itself when planning in-person events, said Kristen Johnson, vice president of practice management and consulting at Fidelity Institutional.
“What’s the [adviser’s] primary goal, who are you targeting and what kind of environment do you want to create? In today’s virtual environment, it’s more important than ever to think creatively about the event content,” she said.
Advisers should connect their content to their clients’ passions, interests and challenges while leveraging video conference tools like polls and chat to encourage dialogue and make the experience livelier, Johnson said. “We’ve also seen clients be successful with bringing together the virtual and online worlds by sending packages with refreshments or collateral to use during the event.”
Advisers who want to take an extra step to ensure virtual events resonate with clients should digitally document their ideal client persona, Silva said. “A firm that documents a crystal-clear client value proposition attracts 45% more new client assets than firms that do not document.”
Registered investment adviser A New Path Financial embarked on an entire social media campaign targeting its ideal client — women, said the firm’s president and CEO, Nadine Burns. “We are doing targeted Zoom meetings for women using venues like the SheHive,” she said. “We are also starting an education program which we will begin on Zoom, using YouTube to send out timely videos to clients and telling our clients who we are helping so they can send referrals.”
Evan Beach, an adviser with Campbell Wealth Management, said his firm has run more than 70 virtual events this year to engage clients and prospects, from healthy cooking classes with a champion from the television show Chopped, to client yoga via Zoom and even a health and wealth event with a physician.
While virtual events are a great way to increase engagement, taking an investor from attending a cooking class to becoming a loyal client is a much larger leap.
Advisers are often tempted to showcase their analytical skills during turbulent times. However, data show that clients and prospects respond more to stories, emotions and the human side of advice, said Robert Sofia, CEO at marketing fintech Snappy Kraken.
“Advisers should follow what we call the HELP framework: humanize, empathize, localize and positive vibes,” Sofia said.
Snappy Kraken analyzed 12,000 actual financial adviser digital marketing campaigns running during the first half of 2020 and discovered the top performing campaigns incorporated all four elements.
“With all the disconnect happening due to social distancing, advisers cannot be on a video and maintain a strictly professional and stoic demeanor — be a human, that’s what’s going to help you connect,” Sofia said. “Send a short two-minute video to your prospects and clients telling them what you’re dealing with in your life, that’s how you humanize.”
In fact, advisers who sent a short video message with their digital marketing campaigns and focused on human elements had an average 37% email open rate, while those with email campaigns analyzing the pandemic and stock markets saw open rates at 27%.
“Advisers have to create an offer that people will have to opt into to make them give a name or phone number,” Sofia said. “I’ve seen advisers give a free risk analysis or a free 15-minute consultation by video.”
An adviser’s website should now be treated like a powerful relationship-building hub, said Schwab’s Silva. “Share blogs, social media posts or videos to really maximize the experience for clients,” she said. “You want your website to be speaking to someone and telling a story that’s going to resonate and inspire action.”
Notably, 95% of prospects are going to do research online before they reach out to a firm, so advisers’ websites should look really inviting and be very clear about the ideal client type. And the top two pages prospects are going to visit on a website are the page giving information about the firm and one with biographies of its advisers. “Make sure you’re really spending time on those two things,” Silva said.
A website is not useful unless advisers implement basic search engine optimization strategies, she added. Advisers should use title tags, create effective meta disruptions and sign up for Google Search Console. “Also, start a Facebook business page even if you’re not using it a lot,” Silva said. “Having that Facebook business page helps your search engine optimization a great amount.”
Content should showcase a firm’s perspectives and team, but it should also focus on issues that are top of mind for investors, like articles for small business owners on managing challenges during the pandemic or tool kits for clients juggling homeschooling and working from home, said Fidelity’s Johnson.
“Beyond that, make sure your site loads quickly, is optimized for mobile, has clear calls to action encouraging prospects to reach out, and highlights all of your firm’s capabilities,” she said. “That way you don’t miss out on opportunities to help investors with specific needs.”
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