If you’re not already integrating digital marketing into your Financial Planning firm, you’re missing out on huge potential for your business. But why is that? Digital marketing has many benefits. It will help you cut down on costs, streamline your business operations and reach out to an incredibly vast audience, extending your reach.
Recruit UK have a high success rate of placing digital marketers in Financial Planning firms of all sizes. We have noticed there is a real niche in this market. It’s an accepted fact that business is progressively moving online. Yet, many small businesses are still stuck in their traditional ways, using marketing advertising methods that are getting old fast.
Does your current company have a marketing strategy? Don’t get left behind.
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You need a digital marketing strategy and the resources to support it
This is crucial; without a clear strategy, you can quickly end up getting lost in the online world of the Financial Planning industry. You need a set of well-defined goals and objectives to guide you and your staff along the road to success. A good rule of thumb is to start with your client’s needs and their online behaviour. An in- house digital marker can talk to your current clients, understand their needs, and find out their online footprint. Are they active on social media? or do they use Google to their search needs? Your digital marketer may discover a need to focus on a few digital channels such as your website and google ads, or your strategy may involve a mix of web design, content creation, social media, email marketing and ad campaigns.
A realistic strategy takes time and experience. Sourcing this to an in-house Digital Marketer is a practical and cost effective decision.
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You need a great website that converts visitors into customers
Effective web design is crucial to your Financial Planning firm. To get the most from your website it should be technically well developed, user-friendly, secure, beautifully designed, mobile-friendly and built with email capture conversions in mind. Getting your website right should be a top priority.
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You need email marketing for higher returns
Email marketing is still ranked as the most effective form of contact with clients. Growing a targeted email list takes time, but is definitely worth the effort as the return on email campaigns far exceeds other digital channels including social media. Email platforms such as MailChimp allow you to send bulk emails to clients. These should be well designed, with appropriate content and copywrite. Email marketing will allow you to communicate with your clients, keeping you in the forefront of their mind and reinforcing your expertise, whilst also generating traffic to your website. Your digital marketer will know how to best target these clients, with the inclusion of blogs, video content and branded imagery, to professionally represent your Financial Planning firm.
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You need a clear social media strategy
Social media marketing is another great way for businesses to promote their brand. Social channels like YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook offer businesses a platform to build a unique audience and engage directly with clients. Your digital marketer can post blogs, videos, branded images, conduct surveys for market research, get customer feedback on your service, and keep clients updated with company events and new services. Social media campaigns will allow you to target specific clients, in specific locations, stretching your marketing reach and your presence. Done right, it’s not only a great way to educate and engage with your audience, but can also drive quality traffic to your website.
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You need to take advantage of Facebook advertising
Facebook allows you to really refine the audience you are targeting with your advertising, e.g. If you are wanting to target specific clients, you can tailor your ads to each segment of your client market (e.g. different images & copy for younger users vs. older, by gender or location).
With so many targeting options and combinations available, you can ensure that your budget is only spent on the most relevant audience, meaning you can get value out of even the smallest spend. Your digital marker can help you gain a fantastic advantage and an opportunity to win business you might have otherwise lost out on, giving you that edge over your competitors.
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You need to build relationships
Done well, social media will lead to relationship building between you and potential or existing clients. You can read their tweets to get an insight into their thoughts on your service as well as seeing what else they are discussing and sharing online. Your digital marketer will engage, comment, ask questions and join in the conversation, people will soon begin to attach a positive personality to your brand. You can also engage with journalists who cover the Financial Planning industry, as well as thought leaders and non-competing businesses.
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You need analytics to gauge how you are doing online
Whatever you do online, you want to know if it’s working or not. One of the most impressive aspects of digital marketing is the ability to measure results. Ad platforms like Google ads and social media ads come with built in analytics facilities that give businesses full control over ad spend. This is great for those of you on tight budgets who need to make every penny count. Your in-house marketer will also be able to monitor how your ads are performing in real time and calculate the ROI of each campaign you run. It will also enable you to monitor the benefits of your in-house digital marketer. Google Analytics is a free tool used to measure and analyse the traffic to your web pages, this will allow you to identify where your web traffic is coming from (search engines, social channels etc.) and decide whether these investments are performing as expected.
Key takeaways
A clear strategy outlining goals and objectives is an absolute must. Great web design, SEO, content creation, PPC ads, email marketing and social media can all play a role in your strategy. Employing an in-house digital marketer to conduct these activities is a more practical decision for most Financial Planning firms. Digital marketing activities are measurable, providing you with valuable insights into your online performance. This helps you make better decisions regarding strategy and ongoing investment.
What to do next
Before embarking on a digital marketing strategy for your Financial Planning firm why not talk to Recruit UK? They will work with you to develop strategies proven to increase brand awareness of your business. Call us today on 01179 450450, or email [email protected]