Financial advisors should be among the first to warn people against taking significant actions without establishing a plan -- but marketing professionals often see RIAs trying to gain recognition and clients without establishing their goals or methods for measuring success.

During “Proven Marketing Strategies to Grow Your Business,” a panel discussion at TD Ameritrade’s National LINC conference in San Diego, the chief marketing officers of four large RIAs discussed some of the biggest mistakes – and best practices – that they see advisors making in their marketing efforts.

“I see firms falling into the mistake of trying to do it all rather than prioritizing a couple of strategic initiatives that can drive them forward,” said Karen Lee, chief marketing officer at Mercer Advisors. “In marketing there’s lots of pressure to get things done… step back, look at your strategy and create a marketing plan that focuses effort on a couple of things.”

Advisors often fail to establish goals for marketing campaigns like creating more brand awareness or generating more leads, which is why Mercer takes time while developing a marketing program to figure out where the firm can get its highest return on investment, said Lee.

Firms who don’t may end up with an inefficient or ineffective scattershot approach to marketing as they gather information, hire outside agencies and attempt to be opportunistic, warned Allison Hillgren, director of marketing and communications for Beacon Pointe Advisors.

“You have to split the line between being reactionary and sticking to a course,” said Hillgren. “It really depends on resources. You want to react to data and information you can gather and strategically shift, you don’t want to react to every single digital marketing pitch you get out there.”

While the marketing directors on the panel each came from large and influential RIAs, they gave some advice that holds true for firms of any size.

Harness Automation

Jud Mackrill, chief marketing officer for The Carson Group, recommended that advisors automate some of their marketing functions, especially in digital marketing. Yet smaller firms should be careful that they’re not paying exorbitant sums for services that can be found for free.

“Marketing automation software is super helpful,” said Mackrill. “It’s a linchpin for us … it’s important to find a tool that will work for you to actually adopt. Sometimes we see firms paying $2,500 a month for marketing software when they should have been using a free version of MailChimp. Find something you like and put a plan in place before pulling the trigger, and use the data that’s available to you.”

Digital marketing -- e-mail marketing in particular -- requires advisors to be engaged, warned Edward Kummer, chief marketing officer for United Capital.

Create A Funnel For Lead Conversion

At United Capital, a specific subset of advisors is responsible for turning leads into prospects, and prospects into clients.

“We built a lead concierge program, which gets the people who come into the funnel through the funnel,” said Kummer. “It’s a high-touch process, we follow up with them. If you’re going to use marketing for lead generation, you have to make sure you’re set up to analyze it, and you have to have the conversion funnel filled to make the lead generation useful, otherwise it ends up being brand awareness stuff.”

Without a plan and a budget, marketing becomes more about brand exposure than building a client base through lead generation and transformation, said Hillgren.

Hire And Outsource Responsibly

While larger firms have more complex demands and the ability to bring more of the responsibility for marketing in house, they still outsource to meet a lot of their needs, said Hillgren.

“Everyone in this room has a different AUM,” said Hillgren. “Whether you’re large or small, I think the first hire you want to make is someone who has a plan. You can bring them in house our outsource, but you need that person who has the resources, department or people to execute on the plan.”

Marketing technology in particular is an area where RIAs might want to consider outsourcing. For example, while many firms may have the expertise in house to design and/or build a website, few have specialists who understand the nuances of search engine optimization and are able to keep up with Google’s constantly shifting algorithms, said Lee.

Use The Resources At Your Disposal

For small firms especially, established clients are a primary source of leads and referrals. They can also personally bring more business to an advisor.

“Leverage your existing client base,” said Lee. “Put in a referral program and, in addition, a shared wallet program. Discuss the benefits of you guys managing their entire wealth after looking at their balance sheet.”

Hillgren also recommended small group events. At Beacon Pointe, she occasionally brings in a topical speaker who has little -- or nothing -- to do with finance as a way to get to know clients – and their friends and family – as people. Such events, if held regularly, can be reliable engines of organic growth.

Harness The Experience Of Your Peers

When in doubt, ask another marketer or a fellow RIA, said Lee.

“Marketing is all about trial and error,” said Lee. “Understanding what works well at different companies, having insight, allows me to be less myopic and less siloed. Sharing with my peers has been helpful. I would encourage you to start the dialogue.”