Answer the most important question on your prospect’s mind!

By Miguel Gomez

Your marketing materials should invite your prospects to take the first step in starting a relationship with you. The first step could be to subscribe to your email newsletter. Or to follow you on social media. Or to download a report from your site. Or maybe to schedule a call with you. While researching this article, I found seven firms that do a great job of targeting prospects, and I share their websites with you.

How do you get prospects to take the first step?

It depends. A person who’s never had any money and suddenly inherits $1 million is looking for something very different from a young doctor who has hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans or someone in a business that’s about to be sold for millions or someone who’s fed up with their current advisor.

Because they’re each looking for different things, they are attracted to different types of messages. However, at the same time, they’re looking for the same thing: someone who can help them solve their money-related issues.

How do you position your firm as THE firm to solve their issues? How do you answer the most critical question in your prospects’ minds: “Why should I hire YOU instead of someone else?”

Marketing and branding

Answering the “why” is where marketing and branding come into play. Everything you say online contributes to the creation of your personal brand. Every tweet, Facebook post, blog post, video, comment, online forum contribution, and you-name-it creates an image of you.

Even your absence from social media says something about you, so if you’re not a social media user, look at what your firm says on its website, the events it sponsors, the materials you share with clients, the handouts you give to prospects, and so on.

What image do your materials convey of your firm? When was the last time you reviewed all of them for consistency of look, message, and, more importantly, target audience?

Have you defined your target audience? Be true to yourself

While aiming for your target audience, don’t lose sight of being true to yourself. Think about what kind of wording you use. What’s your tone? Is it casual? Calm? Strictly professional? How much industry jargon do you use in your materials and overall communications?

If you give a friend your firm’s materials, would she be able to say, “That sounds totally like you!” My guess is: probably not.

Why do so many financial advisor websites look extremely similar? Their language is similar, and they use the same examples, the same clichés about their services, the same beach pictures with gray-haired people holding hands and looking who knows where.

Why? Are we, as a profession, afraid to show some personality, our personality?

Seven winning firms

I reviewed dozens of advisor websites between April and early May 2022, and I was pleased to discover that we’re not all hiding behind the same clichés.

Below is a list of seven financial planning firms that I believe are pushing the profession forward with their websites and online communications. Their clarity and directness, I’m sure, allow them to be very selective about who they work with. Their sites “filter out” prospects who are not a good fit. They almost shout who is best served by them. The firms vary in size, client type, and scope.

I don’t share the sites for you to copy what they do, but to offer a glimpse of how some go beyond the familiar riffs. Please take some time to go through them, and then come back to the closing of this article.

BrooklynFI (brooklynfi.com), led by AJ Ayers and Shane Mason, does a great job of describing themselves and what they do (What We Do — Brooklyn FI). They make clear the kind of people they work with: tech professionals and creatives on the path to financial independence. If you’re in their niche, I can almost guarantee that you’ll be attracted to become their client. And, if you’re not in their niche, you’ll probably walk away.

FlowFP (flowfp.com), led by Meg Bartelt, recently revamped its website, and again it’s very clear who the firm is trying to serve: women in the early to middle stages of their careers in tech. It’s not just the colors and pictures. What really stands out to me is the extensive use of questions that make the reader want to get to know FlowFP.

Brian Thompson Financial (btfinancial.com), led by NAPFA member Brian Thompson, says upfront he wants to work with LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs who run mission-driven businesses. He clearly communicates his firm’s values and what drives him forward. His podcast, “Mission-Driven Business,” reinforces his focus.

GuideFP (guidefp.com), led by Ben Wacek, does a great job describing its services through the “to-the-point” verbiage that speaks to its target audience of people interested in financial planning from a biblical perspective.

Abacus Wealth Partners (abacuswealth.com), led by NAPFA members Neela Hummel and Mary Beth Storjohann, has been at the forefront of client communications for years. I like the website’s inviting verbiage and the clarity of its explanations about what they do and their services. Even the firm’s pro bono section shows deep thought about how to present information in a compassionate and caring way. Count me as a fan.

Highball Advisors (highballadvisors.com), led by John McNamara, has a website that greets you with an image of a train. Keep scrolling on his website, and you’ll see more trains. Why? Well, because Highball works exclusively with railroad workers.

DigitalWealth (digitalwealth.la), led by Larry Koeppel, has a firm name that clearly identifies the kind of services it offers and the kind of people he works with: tech professionals. Not only does Larry lay out who he works with, he clearly explains his fees and what he does to earn them.

What did you make of these sites?

Interestingly enough, did you notice that three of the firms mentioned above work with tech professionals? Even though they work with “people in tech,” and arguably, “people in tech” may have similar needs and interests, notice how each firm approaches the subject in their own way, each of them adding their own flavor, which helps them to stand out among generalist financial planners.

Did you spend some time visiting these sites? What conclusions did you reach? Did you find inspiration to change anything in your own marketing materials? In my case, I’m going to be working precisely on this, both in my firm’s website and in my LinkedIn bio. I have to admit, I’m a little nervous about it.

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Miguel Gomez is wealth advisor – Hispanic investors at Lauterbach Financial Advisors, a NAPFA firm based in El Paso, TX. He may be reached at mgomez@lfa-ia.com.

image credit: istock.com/PeopleImages