Marketing Fundamentals for Financial Advisors: Back to the Basics

Can you believe we’re halfway through the year? The mid-year point is always a great place to pause and reflect on your marketing goals. It’s a time to review what you’ve accomplished so far and refocus on where you’re headed in the second half of the year. Whether you feel on or off track with your marketing objectives, now is the time to realign your strategy. Below are a few key marketing fundamentals to help get you back to basics and finish the year strong.

1. Define your value proposition: Having a clearly defined value proposition that you use consistently for your brand story makes a difference in how people view your expertise—mainly because it forms the foundation of all your other marketing activities. If you haven’t already, consider outlining what you do, how you do it, and what separates your practice from the competition. To help with this, we have a Value Proposition Worksheet that can be found in the Resource Center.
2. Update your website: If your website is truly the heartbeat of your business, it should evolve as your practice does. A few best practices include a secure and responsive website design, highlighting your value proposition on the homepage, showcasing your team and areas of expertise, and providing opportunities for clients and prospects to engage with you. We have a Website Review Checklist in the Resource Center that would be a great place to start. 
3. Engage with email drip campaigns: Scheduling routine touchpoints with your current and prospective accounts helps you stay top of mind. It can also lead to building stronger relationships, establishing great thought leadership, and building credibility. Also, great communication can inspire more effective conversations about the value that you bring. Stay in consistent communication by automating the process with vendors like Constant Contact in our Vendor Affinity Program found in the Resource Center.
4. Share consistently on social media: As a small business owner, social media is arguably one of the best digital marketing tools available. By consistently posting relevant and engaging content several times a week, social media platforms enable you to highlight your expertise, humanize you as a person, help you connect with centers of influence, and ultimately increase market reach by interacting with prospects all over the country. We have a plethora of educational social media tools such as webinar replays, blogs, and podcasts in the Resource Center in addition to the curated content tool, Social Media Content Library.
5. Engage with our team and explore our marketing scorecard tool: Lastly, if you’re looking for a unique opportunity to engage with our team and your peers, we are now offering a three-part monthly workshop series. It’s an interactive and engaging look at marketing 101, 201, and 301 designed to meet advisors and staff where they are on their marketing journey. The workshop is offered several times throughout the year and you can begin where you feel it’s best for your practice. Sign up in the Resource Center through LPL University and check out the Marketing Scorecard Tool to get started with evaluating areas of improvement in the categories mentioned above.

Need More Support?

If you do not have the bandwidth to plan or publish your own content, Marketing Solutions is here to help. With Marketing Solutions, a dedicated marketing consultant will work closely with you to understand your business and brand. Then, with your goals and target market in mind, they’ll post relevant content, run your ad campaigns, track and measure your efforts to achieve success, and much more.

Questions and Consultations

If you have questions or would like to schedule a one-on-one consultation, or if you’d like to subscribe and receive email alerts when new articles become available, contact LPL Marketing Consulting at (800) 877-7210, Option 9, Option 5, Option 1, or email Marketing Consulting.

Consult your compliance department for information about the rules and use of social media and the review of all advisor marketing materials.

Katie provides strategic, customized marketing consultations to independent advisors, banks, and institutions on website design, content creation, and social media best practices. View full bio.