Wealth Management Marketing: 5 Digital Plans for Attracting Clients

Building trust is critical in the investment industry. Your clients will be trusting you with substantial assets – so they need to be sure you know what you’re doing before they choose you. 

Wealth management marketing can act as a bridge between where your prospects are now (looking for investment and wealth-building advisors) and where you want them to be (reaching out to you for help because they know, like, and trust you).

If you want to help prospective clients find your firm online when they’re searching for investment advisors, it’s time to leverage the power of digital marketing for wealth management.

Read on to learn five proven digital marketing strategies for financial advisors that will help your firm get found online and attract new clients.

What Is Digital Marketing for Wealth Management?

Digital marketing simply refers to the use of online channels like search engines, content creation, and email marketing to connect with new customers.

But it’s not only about prospecting.

“Your digital presence can either help or hinder your ability to attract and sign referral-based business – the bread and butter of most wealth advisors.”

Jon Nastor

Managing Partner, DCP

Since investment advisors are governed by the laws and regulations of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), it’s important to recognize that all of your firm’s marketing campaigns need to be compliant with SEC regulations.

This extra step might cause investment advisors to think twice about marketing. But complete digital marketing strategies include compliance and legal reviews. They’re simply part of the process.

And when you take the time to plan ahead for these necessary approvals, prospective clients can get accurate, helpful information that helps them make confident decisions about hiring a wealth management firm.

Essential Marketing Strategies for Financial Advisors

Whether your wealth management firm is strictly seeking local clients or is a virtual firm that serves clients worldwide, digital marketing can help you attract more business.

Here are the top five most powerful digital marketing strategies for wealth management firms.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization): Optimizing for the Affluent

Search engine optimization – the process of improving your website to increase visibility in search engines – is the most effective digital marketing strategy for wealth management firms.

Why? Because your prospects are doing online research before engaging with a wealth management firm.

If you want to show up in the search engine results when prospects are looking for information, trying to solve their problems, and researching wealth management companies, you need to make your website search-friendly.

As the content marketing agency of Copyblogger, we’ve been using search-friendly content to sell products and services since 2006, so we know these SEO strategies work. Now we provide search engine optimization, content creation, and email marketing strategies to wealth management firms and other financial services organizations. 

Many agencies make SEO sound complicated, but it’s essentially about three simple elements:

SEO and content marketing, our next digital marketing strategy, go hand in hand. By creating high-quality content and optimizing that content for search, you can dramatically improve your firm’s visibility and increase the number of visitors your website attracts.

If you want help creating a digital marketing plan for your wealth management firm that includes content creation and SEO, take the next step to see if we’re a good fit for you.

Content Marketing: Educating and Engaging Prospects

For your wealth management website to be effective in this competitive market, it needs to be more than just an online brochure that promotes your company’s services.

You can build trust with your prospects and clients, increase your authority in the wealth management industry, and stand out from your competitors by publishing high-quality content that addresses your readers’ needs.

Your potential clients will be relying on you to manage significant assets, so they need to feel confident in your knowledge and skills. They need to know you’ll help them make the best possible decisions. Building trust with potential clients is critical because people won’t work with you if they don’t trust you – and creating content is one of the best ways to do that.

Along with establishing your expertise, content marketing also makes your authority more visible. Google loves original, authoritative content, so writing on subjects that may affect your clients and are relevant to your services can increase your search engine visibility.

Content marketing can take multiple forms, including:

• Blog posts
• Ebooks
• Videos
• Case studies
• Podcasts

Thought leadership content enables you to provide your expert views on relevant topics, so you can guide your audience and help them understand how certain situations or current events will affect their financial situation.

Having a content-rich website is now crucial for reaching younger investors. The majority of Generation Z (64%) learn about finances through online research, so it’s crucial that you create content that speaks to their needs.

Post content on your site regularly to stay relevant to your audience and rank well in the search engines. Consistent, strategic content development not only boosts your authority, but also shows that you’re up-to-date on current events and active in your industry.

On Cresset Capital’s blog, the firm shares insights on topics like estate planning, entrepreneurship, charitable giving, and market updates. 

If you’re looking for help with content marketing, check out our step-by-step framework for creating a content development strategy that helps you craft high-quality, targeted content as part of your digital marketing for wealth management strategy.

The next strategies below complement a strong digital marketing foundation of SEO and content marketing.

Email Marketing: Personalized Client Communications

With an astounding 38:1 ROI, email marketing is still one of the most effective digital marketing strategies you can leverage for your firm. Because most people check their email at least once a day – and let’s face it, for most of us, it’s far more often than that – email marketing gives you a direct way to connect with your potential clients.

Wealth management firms can build a list of email subscribers by giving away a lead magnet – a helpful piece of free content like an ebook, report, tip sheet, or calculator – in exchange for a visitor’s email address. 

Once you start building your subscription list, you can create email funnels that offer additional valuable content and promote your services. 

Your wealth management firm needs at least two automated email sequences:

With these sequences in place, you can start automating your lead generation process – especially if you have a strong content marketing and SEO strategy that regularly drives organic traffic to your website. 

After new subscribers join your list and go through your automated sequences, continue to provide new content by publishing a regular newsletter. This content will create consistent touchpoints that help you stay top-of-mind with individuals ready to hire a wealth management firm.

When designing your campaigns, stay up-to-date on the SEC’s laws about sending and receiving emails. Always follow local and federal regulations for connecting with prospects and clients.

Social Media Marketing: Building a Brand and Community

Targeted messages on social platforms can strengthen your appeal to new clients and help you connect with current customers – but social media marketing is a tricky arena for wealth managers due to strict SEC and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) compliance rules. 

If you do choose to do social media marketing, be careful about your comments, likes, and shares, because these can be considered “investment advice” or endorsements by your firm.

Before choosing a social media platform for marketing, research where your target audience is spending their time online. LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, or even TikTok might be platforms that can help you reach your audience – but you’ll need to choose carefully, depending on the age and demographics of your prospects.

Once you’ve identified the right social media platforms, grow your audience and kick off conversations with prospects by:

• Posting links to the content on your website
• Offering live Q&A sessions
• Participating in groups
• Offering a lead magnet to entice people to join your email list
• Posting investment FAQs and tips

The advisory firm Edelman Financial Engines posts links to its online content, as well as notifications about upcoming virtual events, on its popular Facebook page.

Podcasting: Sharing Expertise and Insights

Forty-seven percent of Americans listened to a podcast in the last month. Adding a podcast to your digital marketing strategy can help you increase your visibility and grow your authority in your field while building relationships with your target audience.

Edelman Financial Engines hosts a podcast called Everyday Wealth that gives listeners tips on building and preserving wealth. 

Setting Goals for Your Wealth Management Marketing Strategy

Setting specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals is key to a successful digital marketing campaign in wealth management. These goals help focus your efforts, guide resource allocation, and track progress effectively.

SMART goals help you:

• Define Clear Targets: Specific goals provide direction for your marketing strategy.
• Track Progress: Measurable goals allow you to gauge success and make adjustments.
• Ensure Feasibility: Achievable goals keep your strategy realistic.
• Stay Relevant: Goals aligned with business objectives ensure your marketing stays on track.
• Establish Timelines: Time-bound goals create a sense of urgency and help prioritize tasks.

Here are some examples to illustrate how SMART goals work:

• Increase Brand Awareness: Aim for a 30% boost in website traffic in six months.
• Boost Client Acquisition: Target 50 new clients over the next year.
• Enhance Client Engagement: Increase email open rates by 15% in three months.
• Improve Client Retention: Reduce client churn by 10% within six months.

SMART goals inform your digital marketing strategy and resource allocation by:

• Choosing the Right Strategy: Goals help determine the best marketing tactics, like focusing on content marketing for brand awareness.
• Allocating Resources: SMART goals guide how you distribute your marketing budget, staffing, and time to achieve the desired results.

By setting SMART goals, you create a focused and effective digital marketing strategy that drives client acquisition, engagement, and retention.

Powerful Digital Marketing for Wealth Management

Getting started with digital marketing to connect with clients for your wealth management organization can seem daunting at first, but the five strategies above offer a powerful roadmap for igniting the marketing spark at your firm.

If you need help creating an effective digital marketing strategy that expands your reach to new clients, take the next step today to find out how we can create a customized SEO and content marketing plan for your wealth management firm.