Are you winning enough clients?

Summary:

• There has been a rapid and large-scale shift across many industries towards working remotely.
• Organisations are investing in remote working technology and infrastructure.
• The popularity of virtual communication platforms has surged.

COVID-19 took the world by storm, bringing economies to their knees, schools deserted, shopping centres empty, entire sectors were closed as people were forced to take refuge amongst the confines of their own home. As a consequence, it drove change across every aspect of not only the economy but everyday life.

Wealth management firms and independent financial advisers (IFAs) were no exception. While many changes to business processes and operations were already taking place prior to the pandemic, COVID-19 has given many added impetus and urgency. The effect of COVID-19 on the wealth management industry was broad and far-reaching. It not only affected wealth managers but also their clients as they felt confused, anxious, and disoriented. Portfolio values were down at first, redemptions up and clients were unable to meet to discuss their affairs.

With the onset of forced lockdowns and restricted travel, the move to digital accelerated, becoming a shift of necessity rather than choice. Bricks-and-mortar retailers shifted online, triggering a move to digital with buy-now, pay-later (BNPL) vendors popping up offering solutions to replace physical cash. The wealth management space digitised almost seamlessly. Advisers were able to adapt through the use of virtual technologies such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams to keep meetings going with their clients. COVID also gave rise to “Robinhood traders” a frenzy of bored retail traders. A move to a completely digital offering took many IFA’s by surprise. Critical to an adviser’s business is the handling of sales. Client referrals have long been the main source of growth, going digital was a drastic change. Some adapted, some didn’t. In this article we look at a whitepapers written by Orion Adviser Tech, Deloitte and Morningstar to discuss 5 post-pandemic ways to generate leads.  

Below are five ways to supercharge your IFA client book according to these experts:

1. Blogging

The whitepaper talks about blogging as one of the primary ways to communicate with clients and prospects. Writing a personalised blog is a great way to reach your target audience and explain complicated investing concepts, express ideas, commentary, discuss markets and share news about your firm and how you can help.

It’s a great idea to document your own personal financial journey through COVID and share general investment advice. “Blogging builds content that you can post on social, send in an email, and continually draw people back to your website.” Regularly update your blog and share your knowledge. During hard times such as the pandemic, people are in desperate need of advice, blogging is the great way to demonstrate you have the expertise and skills to help an investor with their problems – even before ever meeting. “Blogging also increases your visibility. You can use this technique to fill up the schedule for your social media posts, link to blogs in emails, and even use your blog posts to create videos and/or longer content.”

The more people that read your blog, the more likely Google will rank the site higher which means the readership will continue to grow. You may even want to charge a subscription fee if the readership is sticky. Consistent, topical blogging can lead to a strong and successful business.

2. Email Marketing

In the same way as blogging, email marketing is the second part of the overall digital marketing plan. This needs to be a big part of prospecting because emails became one of the main forms of communication during the pandemic. “Emails keep you in front of prospects while also allowing for deeper discussion and education.” The whitepaper suggests using Drip campaigns. That is a strategy that sends pre-written emails using a template to the prospecting database at regular intervals over a period of time. A decent online software package that does this is Mailchimp. Automated emails can be sent over a period of time at regular intervals. In the body of the email, you can share a blog article that has been written. To keep prospects engaged perhaps offer a zoom meeting. “Studies have shown that people who visit a website from email are more likely to buy a good or service (4%) compared with visitors from search engines (2.5%) and social media (0.6%).”

3. Social Media

The first place to look for prospects is LinkedIn. It contains not only professionals, but investors and high-net worth investment groups such as Australian Value Investing Forum or Impact Investing Australia. Social media allows you to share content, find prospects and followers to share that content with friends, family and colleagues. By making yourself known digitally, it creates a pathway for client referrals to reach you. Keep in mind, social media is social. “It’s not just about posting informative updates; you also have to take time to engage.” Engage with prospects and clients. Post blog articles on LinkedIn. Respond to comments and private message those that do communicate with a follow up meeting. Similar to blogging, social media rewards consistent activity so ensure you posts are consistent.

4. Retargeting Ads

Retargeting, also known as remarketing, is online advertising that ensures your brand is in front of bounced traffic after a prospect leave your website. For example, when you search for a product and then ads for that product follow you around everywhere. This is retargeting.

• Cookies are a tracking devices attached to each visitor.
• After a visitor leaves a site and loads up another website, the cookie follows them.
• If the next website has advertising space, the cookie talks to the ad placement provider and loads ads to suit your interests.
• This acts as a subconscious reminder that you should buy a certain product.
• A good provider of retargeting is Social Garden

Retargeting works best with a combination of other lead generation methods. As it takes more than just a banner ad to convince someone to use your services.

5. Video & Podcasts

The most effective tool for communication is via video or a podcast content. Video content via a mobile phone is simply, cheap and effective. Video has absolutely dominated social. If you aren’t creating video content chances are you will likely fall behind. But don’t worry about it being a 5 start production. Most videos are simple and raw done with a smartphone. And that’s what really matters to your audience. The idea is to once again draw prospects back to your website/blog to capture their email address so you can offer them a meeting. Therefore, the video content should reside on either your website or blog. This page can then be shared on social media or on an email send out.

What type of video content works?

• Personal financial support video.
• Market news video – Just a summary of overnight markets and news events of the day every morning and / or at market close.
• Educational videos – Knowledge based videos that help a client learn.
• Onboarding videos – Videos that entice a prospect to contact you for financial advice.

While COVID-19 has left a trail of uncertainty, one thing is for certain, the post-COVID wealth management landscape has changed forever. And that has brought about a real need for proper financial advice. Wealth managers and advisers have never been in greater demand to navigate through turbulent markets. At the same time, the wealth space has fast-tracked the move to digital and there are no signs of it returning to the norm. In short, it’s never too late to move to digital. Using the above five steps as a guideline, make your move to digital today.

Ishan Dan

Ishan is an experienced journalist covering The Inside Investor and The Insider Adviser publications.