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