Creating Brand Awareness as a Financial Advisor
This is a tough subject to talk about with most financial advisors because 99% of of you love numbers and want to know exactly where every penny is going. Unfortunately, not all social media marketing is that easy to track.
So, when I start talking about brand awareness, but can't tell you:
IF YOU PUT ($$$) INTO YOUR WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT
YOU'LL GET ($$$) IN VIABLE LEADS.
...that's where I lose most of you.
The truth is that spending time and money on your brand WILL have a direct impact on the leads you bring in.
Think about it this way: Let's say you're ready to move and you're looking for a realtor. Are you going to choose the one that exudes confidence or the one that looks like they just started yesterday? And that "digital confidence" has everything to do with branding and messaging.
If what you want are clients with millions of dollars in assets, you need to look like a practice that handles clients with millions of dollars in assets.
This doesn't just apply to your website. Your digital marketing needs to communicate this as well. Everything you put out there - from infographics to blog posts - needs to say to your ideal client, "I AM THE EXPERT YOU'RE LOOKING FOR."
Your first steps.
At this point, we're not talking about marketing strategy because you haven't branded yourself yet. You have to walk before you can run. There is NO POINT in spending any money on advertising (digital or otherwise) if you don't have a clear message, a distinct look, and an idea of who you're trying to attract.
1. YOUR MESSAGE
As the first of the year approaches, I encourage you to really think about your messaging. What do you love about what you do? What frustrates you about your industry and how would you like to change it? Why did you start on this path in the first place?
How can you say all of this in a succinct way? Believe me, I know this is no small task. For help with this, I encourage you to read Building a Storybrand by Donald Miller. He talks about creating a message that means what you say. Wouldn't that be a relief to our clients?
2. YOUR LOOK
Now, this can be the fun part, depending on how creative you are. The first thing I'd ask is are you happy with your logo? Because a lot of marketing comes from that. The font in my logo is lighthearted and fun - and that says a lot about the person I am the company I run. If you've had the same logo for years, it might be time to either change it completely or update it.
Same thing with your brand colors. Do you like them? Are they "you"? A great tool to use for choosing a color palette is the Coolors website.
A digital vision board might be another fun activity you can do while you're just hanging out watching movies with the family. Create a vision board for the practice that you WANT rather than the one you already have. Click here for more about that.
3. YOUR CLIENT
If you're having a hard time figuring out who you're marketing to, you're definitely not alone. Defining your ideal client as a financial advisor goes beyond age, gender, and income. But truly think about your ideal workday and who you have walking into your office.
And if you need a little more help, I'm happy to share my Ideal Client Profile created specifically for financial advisors. CLICK HERE to email me. I'm happy to share it.
MOVING FORWARD
Once you have your brand in place, it's time to make people aware of it. This is when you start creating newsletters and posting on social media. Start slow. Figure out what compliance is approving and what they aren't. Get comfortable with the different platforms (preferably where your ideal client is) and start interacting a little bit by liking and commenting on other people's posts (if allowed by compliance).
After you have either a level of comfort with doing this on your own OR you've found a professional you can outsource to, then it's time to move on to the next step and get more strategic with your outreach.
But for now...all you have to do are those three things.