Marketing for financial advisers: what works in a post-commission world

The way Australians find and choose a financial adviser has changed fundamentally. So has the entire approach to financial adviser client acquisition.

The Hayne Royal Commission did not just reshape regulation. It reshaped public expectations. Trust collapsed. Scrutiny intensified. The old marketing playbook, built on product relationships, referral incentives, and brand proximity to major institutions, became a liability almost overnight.

Advisers who have grown their practices since then have done it differently. Understanding what works now starts with understanding what the market actually looks like.

Trust has recovered, the window is open

The reputational damage from the Royal Commission was real, but the profession has done serious work to repair it.

A 2024 study by the FAAA found that trust in financial advisers has reached an all-time high, with 94 per cent of advised clients trusting their adviser to act in their best interests. Clients describe their advisers as trusted, transparent, reliable, and easy to deal with.

The recovery creates a real marketing opportunity. Prospective clients who might have avoided advice entirely after 2019 are now open to the conversation.

Adviser Ratings reported a 36 per cent increase in client leads through its consumer search platform in 2024. Twenty-four per cent of unadvised Australians now express interest in obtaining financial advice, up from 22 per cent the year prior.

The demand is there. The question is whether your practice is visible and compelling when that demand reaches a decision point.

Referrals still work, but client acquisition has changed

Referrals remain the dominant source of new clients for most Australian advice practices. That has not changed. What has changed is the context in which those referrals land.

A prospective client who receives a personal recommendation will still check you out online before making contact. They will look at your website, search your name, read any content you have published, and form a view about whether you are the kind of adviser they want to trust with their financial life.

If they find nothing, or something generic and undifferentiated, the referral may not convert.

The referral model and the digital presence are now inseparable. One validates the other. A strong referral gets a prospect to the door. A credible online presence gets them through it.

Content is the new credential

In a profession where commissions are gone and fee-for-service is the norm, the marketing challenge has shifted from promotion to demonstration.

Prospective clients want evidence of expertise before they commit to a fee. Content is how you provide that evidence.

This does not mean publishing market commentary that looks the same as every other adviser’s newsletter. It means writing and speaking directly to the concerns of the clients you want to serve.

If your practice focuses on pre-retirees, write about the decisions people face in the decade before retirement. If you specialise in business owners, address the planning questions that keep them up at night.

Specificity builds credibility. Generic content builds nothing.

The channels that work best for Australian advisers include a well-maintained website with original articles, a LinkedIn presence with regular substantive posts, and an email newsletter to existing clients that keeps your expertise front of mind and generates introductions.

Short video content is growing in reach and allows advisers to convey warmth and clarity in ways that written content alone cannot.

Cosition yourself within compliance

Marketing for financial advisers operates within real constraints. ASIC’s guidance on financial services advertising is clear: promotional material must not be misleading or create false impressions about returns, outcomes, or expertise.

Testimonials have historically presented compliance challenges, though reforms under the Delivering Better Financial Outcomes framework are progressively modernising the rules.

The constraint is also an opportunity. Because the compliance bar is high, many advisers underpublish and undermarket. Practices that invest in producing compliant, substantive content occupy a space most competitors have left empty.

The principle is simple. Focus on education, not promotion. Explain concepts. Address common misconceptions. Help prospective clients understand what good advice looks like and why it matters.

This approach builds trust without triggering regulatory concern and positions your practice as authoritative rather than merely available.

Your niche is your marketing strategy

The practices that market most effectively have made a clear decision about who they serve.

A generalist practice struggles to produce content that resonates because there is no specific audience to write for. A practice that specialises in a particular life stage, profession, or financial situation has a focused audience with identifiable concerns and can build a presence that speaks directly to those concerns.

Specialisation also makes referral networks more productive. A professional community, whether that is a group of small business owners, medical professionals, or engineers approaching retirement, is a tight network where reputation travels fast. One strong relationship in that community, managed well, can generate consistent introductions over years.

Measure what matters

Marketing is often treated as an activity rather than a system. Practices that grow consistently treat financial adviser client acquisition as a system. They track where new clients come from, understand which content generates enquiries, know which referral relationships are active and which have gone quiet, and review their conversion rate from first contact to onboarding.

The data does not need to be complicated. A simple spreadsheet recording source, status, and outcome for every new enquiry will reveal patterns over time. Those patterns tell you where to invest your time and where to stop.

The post-commission era has been difficult for many practices. But it has also clarified what genuine, sustainable marketing looks like.

This is built on expertise, trust, and specificity. Not on product relationships and promotional volume. That is a better foundation to build from.