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How to invest in marketing as a financial advisor

Do you spend thousands of dollars on ads mail drops social media or other marketing? Elite financial advisors spend a ton of money on marketing activities and events but there is another way to invest in your marketing that might be a little bit easier on the pocketbook. I have always said " Investing in your clients is one of the best investment a financial advisor can make"! 

How to invest in your ideal clients

When I was a financial advisor, I used to have a conversation that sounded something like this. “ What activities and events do you love to do in your spare time?” One day my client said they love to do lawn bowling. I asked him to tell me more about it. They said,” Hey why don't you come by the club and try it out it'll be fun”. So I went to the club in the afternoon to go lawn bowling with my clients. We then decided to go into the clubhouse and have a drink. They introduced me to several members of the club including the president of the Lawn Bowling Club. The president asked me after a conversation if I would be interested in sponsoring their trophy for the upcoming championship. “Sure I said and gathered some details and off I went. Several weeks later. Here I was at the lawn bowling championship watching my clients, meeting and connecting with my clients' friends, and presenting the championship trophy sponsored by my firm. Did I make a lot of connections? Absolutely. Did it eventually turn into additional business? Absolutely, and even though I never joined the Lawn Bowling Club, my clients were happy to introduce me to everyone because I invested in them, I invested in the community, and their interests.

What were my marketing costs?

First off there was the hard dollars which was a few hundred dollars for the trophy as well as a sponsorship banner at the Lawn Bowling Club and a few door prizes. The second cost was soft marketing dollars. The amount of time it took to attend my clients' events. The amount of time to attend the championship event. This was two half days out of the office to spend time or invest time with my ideal clients and their friends. I know what you're thinking. Investing all that time in order to just meet people and potentially have new clients sometime in the future. I turn my clients into raving fans! Having raving fans is a lot better than having a bunch of people that you met and networked with. (Raving Fans: A Revolutionary Approach to Customer Service Hardcover – May 19 1993 William Morrow Publisher) https://www.blanchard.com/

The goal was to invest in my clients and have raving fans. Their enthusiasm spilled over when people at the club would ask about me. This led to people proactively talking to me at the club asking for my business card and reaching out to me directly. I didn't just attend another networking event in hopes of business.

What clients can you invest in?

Start by asking your ideal clients this question “ What events or activities (sports/clubs/volunteer/charity) are you involved with in the community?  We know that high net-worth HNW clients- spend over 20% or more of their free time was spent, playing sports, pursuing hobbies, or doing volunteer work. Imagine in your CRM system if you had your top 25 ideal clients and what activities they are involved in. Imagine if you were sponsoring and investing your time in those activities. Imagine what that could do for your business as a financial advisor. Imagine you spend your time and money with your best clients to create 25 raving fans. Sure you have great meetings and conversations and great feedback with them. Sure you have an ideal client experience when they meet with you. Take this from the boardroom to the playing field and now you have built a pipeline of introductions from your best clients. You have also built an activity matrix of events that you'll attend and have fun hanging out with your raving fans. You're not there to network although that will happen and you're not there for introductions although that will happen the goal this would create an extraordinary experience for your clients outside of the boardroom. Isn't that easier than investing money into networking courses and time to network with people that you hope you might convince to do business with? Now go and add one question to your ideal clients' agenda. "What events or activities are you involved in within the community because we invest in our clients". 

Where do you want to be in three years (2027)? 

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We are here to serve your practice, let’s talk

Contact us to help get clarity around your goals on paper, and have the goals conversation by contacting Grant at grant@ghicks.com or click on the link to set up a no-obligation 20-minute discussion https://my.timetrade.com/book/JMTNJ regardless if we work together, let’s have a chat and listen to your biggest practice management concerns to help you get clarity around your future business.

Grant Hicks, CIM, is President of Advisor Practice Management and co-author of “Guerrilla Marketing For Financial Advisors” 1st and 2nd editions. www.advisorpracticemanagement.com for speaking, workshops, or coaching, contact Grant at grant@ghicks.com Grants combined financial advisor clients manage over 5 billion AUM, and earn over $50 million dollars combined! 

Enthusiastically yours,

Grant Hicks, CIM, President
Advisor Practice Management
www.advisorpracticemanagement.com

PO Box 382 Lantzville BC V0R 2H0
Cell 403 970 8895
Email grant@ghicks.com to book a meeting click here https://my.timetrade.com/book/JMTNJ 

PS Where do you want your financial practice to be at the end of 2025? AUM, Revenue, and time off? 

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