Part I: Establish an Effective Website Hub

This is the first of a five-part series –Financial Advisor: Digital is the New Marketing — providing core “new marketing” strategies for financial advisors including some special aspects for Schwab RIAs to leverage the RIA Stands for You campaign (RiAS4U).  Subsequent parts will cover, branding, engagement & targeting, social media and campaigns.  

Your website is the HUB of integrated marketing. It is:

website hub

  • The glue that brings together all the ways you touch clients & prospects
    — online and offline,
  • Central to your revenue strategy and
  • Validation in the eyes of prospects.

Five foundation elements of an effective website are: Professional web presence, Up-to-date design and branding, Fresh content/blog, Marketing automation technologies and Search engine optimization (SEO).

Let’s explore a few digital marketing tips to build on this foundation to create a modern digital presence.

1. Publish an FAQ or Resource Page: Potential Clients who come to your site, as well as your competitors, are searching, researching and “self-selling” on the web.

  • A Resource Page or FAQ Page helps prospective clients and shortens your sale cycle.
  • You might consider a video for this page as well.  Once a prospect sees a face behind
    a name it becomes more personal and engaging.  You can demonstrate your expertise and passion far more easily.RIA Stands For You
  • For Schwab RIAs, consider using RiAS4U campaign brochures and WSJ article “ Thinking About Hiring an RIA?” as content to enhance these pages.

2. Update your 3rd party outposts with your “about us” profile including your unique value proposition (UVP): A well crafted, search optimized “about us”/UVP on your web hub should align across all channels.

  • Potential clients should have a clear, consistent view of your story and differentiated value proposition wherever they find you on the web.
  •  Among 3rd party outposts your firm may be on (or should consider) include directories and profiles on Google Places, LinkedIn, NAPFA.com, FeeOnlyNetwork.com, specialized directories (e.g., advisors for physicians and medical professionals), Paladin.com, local business directories and more.
  • Schwab RIAs can leverage RiAS4U branding on their web hub “about us” with links perhaps to RIAStandsforyou.com home page videos of clients on the RIA difference and similarly across 3rd party outposts.
  • Further Schwab advisors can now participate in a new, searchable directory of independent registered investment advisor firms on its RIA Stands For You site.

3. Engage with Content:  Fresh, engaging content will set you apart from other Independent Financial Advisors and Wealth Management firms.

  • Publish a blog post series (with link-backs to your site) and leverage the series as a digest in the form of a newsletter.
  • According to HubSpot: “Companies that blog have 97% more inbound links (links that send people to your website) than those that don’t.”
  • Broaden reach by amplifying blog posts in social media and adding “share this” features.
  • Schwab RIAs can leverage RiAS4U branding in their blog posts and associated newsletter.

4. Deploy a “Marketing Engine” to help nurture, qualify and acquire new clients:  An integrated marketing approach, Salesforce/CRM for contact/lead management and marketing automation (email, landing pages, measurement, etc.) comprise a Marketing Engine.

  • Develop an integrated demand generation campaign that launches with a white paper targeted at one of your key market segments.
  • The components: an engaging email that triggers an online form to receive the white paper.  Also integrated: a call-to-action widget/”invitation” on your website, a post to your Linkedin activity feed and a series of tweets that trigger the same or similar form.
  • Automatically capture leads with your CRM system.  Nurture and qualify leads with drip email marketing and social media.
  • Schwab RIAs can deploy and integrate an online form on your website triggered by a RiAS4U call-to-action (CTA) “invitation” (with RiAS4U messaging and branding).  This will allow prospects to self-select the CTA and complete the form to, for example, learn about the RIA difference and complete a self-assessment online.

Are you ready for the “new marketing”?  We can get you up and running with smart digital strategies. Here are two options:

1. Download the Revenue Performance Diagnostic

2. Schedule a 1/2 hour complimentary consultation here!

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