In today’s fast-paced digital world, where trends come and go faster than you can say “hashtag,” financial advisors need a marketing strategy that stands the test of time. While social media platforms offer great opportunities for engagement, the sheer volume of content and the fleeting, viral nature of these platforms makes it challenging for financial advisors to establish a long-lasting presence.
There is one marketing strategy that has consistently proven its worth, though: staying in front of your network with email content marketing. In this article, we’ll explore why email and content marketing hold a timeless advantage over other marketing strategies.
What Is Email And Content Marketing?
Email marketing involves sending messages directly to your network to nurture relationships, build brand awareness, and drive engagement and sales. Content marketing, on the other hand, involves creating valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and engage a target audience.
When used in tandem, email and content marketing create a powerful combination that outperforms other marketing strategies every single time. You can utilize this strategy in a variety of ways, but we usually recommend creating a blog post or educational video that is then shared by email and social media (just like this one!).
Staying in front of your network, clients, prospects, and referral partners with your fresh content is the best way to:
- Remind people what you do
- Explain who you serve and the problems you solve
- Stay top-of-mind so people turn to you with their questions
- Share valuable, relevant information with your target audience
- Be the go-to financial advisor in your area
Don’t believe us? Here are 8 reasons why email and content marketing reign supreme.
1. Email Outperforms Social Media Every Time
With the rise of social media it may be hard to fathom that a good old-fashioned email still works, but it does. In fact, it’s been shown that emails generate more sales than social media, with 60% of consumers reporting that they’ve made purchases based on emails compared to only 12.5% of consumers who have made purchases from social media.
Additionally, emails have average open rates of 25% and click-through rates of 3%, which makes it a much better bet than the 0.9% click-through rate seen on Facebook and other social platforms.
It doesn’t hurt to share your content across all digital platforms, but email is the clear winner when it comes to performance.
2. Email Marketing Has Strong ROI
As a financial advisor, you want to get the best bang for your buck when it comes to your marketing strategy. Email marketing is the way to go. It’s been shown that email marketing generates up to $36 for every $1 spent—that’s a return on investment of 3500%! Now compare that to the estimated $2.80 return for every $1 spent on social media campaigns. Despite all the digital marketing tools cropping up for financial advisors today, email marketing is still one of the biggest drivers of revenue.
3. More People Use Email Than Social Media In Every Age Category
Globally, over 4 billion people use email and you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone in your network or referral list who doesn’t check their emails at least once a week.
As you can see from the graph below, every age group sends and receives emails (even retirees over age 65). No matter what age group your firm is targeting, you can rest assured that they’re using email. Not only that, but email usage is higher than social media in every age category, with the biggest difference seen in the 65+ category.
Source: OptinMonster
4. Email Has Real-Time Analytics
With most digital marketing tools—like ad campaigns and webinars—you have to let time pass before you can measure progress. But not with email marketing.
Email marketing is one of the only tools that lets you gauge your performance in real time. That means you can kick off a financial advisor email marketing campaign and immediately track key factors such as:
- Delivery rate: How many emails were successfully delivered to your subscribers
- Bounce rate: How many emails failed to be delivered
- Open rate: How many people opened your email
- Click-through rate: How many people clicked on a link in your email
- Email sharing: How many recipients forwarded your email to their friends or shared it on social media
- Unsubscribes: How many people opted out of future emails
This data is a key part of understanding what works and what doesn’t for your target audience. A high open rate may show that your prospects really like your subject line. But a low click-through rate may mean you need to adjust your call to action.
Additionally, most email marketing engines have A/B split testing tools, which let you try out various subject lines, calls to action, images, and more. These tools and real-time analytics are just another reason why email is the best way to deliver highly targeted marketing campaigns.
5. Blogs Generate More Leads
Sharing original content allows you to start conversations and keep your network informed. Blogs and videos are a great way to showcase your services to clients and prospects, establish yourself as an industry leader, and improve your online presence. All these factors help you generate more organic traffic and interact with more leads. In fact, studies show that businesses who actively blog see 55% more web visitors and generate 67% more leads than those that don’t.
Perhaps the most surprising statistic about content marketing is that 82% of consumers report feeling more positive about a brand after reading relevant, custom content. With stats like that, why wouldn’t you incorporate content marketing into your online strategy?
6. Blogs Boost Your SEO
In a world of ever-changing algorithms, SEO is a crucial component of marketing for financial advisors. Do you want to rank on the first page of Google search results? Want local prospects to find your firm easily? Not only do blogs help attract prospects to your website, but they also improve your website visibility and overall SEO ranking.
When you consistently create and publish high-quality blog content, Google recognizes your website as a valuable resource and rewards it with higher search rankings. By incorporating relevant keywords and phrases into your blog posts, you increase the likelihood of your content appearing in the Google results for related queries. Additionally, blog posts provide opportunities for internal linking, allowing you to connect different pages of your website and improve its overall structure.
Ultimately, blog posts not only drive organic traffic to your website but also contribute to long-term SEO success by establishing your websites credibility and relevance in the eyes of Google. (Want to see how well you stack up when it comes to SEO? Download your free checklist here!)
7. Blogs Are an Evergreen Marketing Strategy
Blogs serve as an evergreen source of marketing with distinct advantages over other digital marketing tools like ads. While ads provide short-term visibility and immediate impact, their life span is limited by budget and campaign duration. In contrast, blogs have a lasting presence and continue to generate value long after they are published. Once a blog post is indexed by search engines and shared across platforms, it remains accessible to audiences indefinitely, consistently driving organic traffic over time.
8. Blogs & Emails Help You Stay Top-of-Mind Through Every Stage of the Sales Cycle
Blogs and emails are invaluable tools for financial advisors to stay top-of-mind with clients and prospects, especially considering the average sales cycle in the industry can span up to one year. Through consistent blog content, advisors can establish themselves as industry experts, sharing valuable insights and addressing relevant topics that resonate with their audience.
By providing informative and educational content, you can remain visible throughout the lengthy decision-making process. Additionally, emails allow for personalized and targeted communication, allowing you to nurture relationships with regular updates, personalized advice, and complimentary consultations.
The combination of blogs and emails ensures that financial advisors maintain a consistent presence, building trust and keeping their network engaged over each stage of the sales cycle, ultimately increasing the likelihood of conversion.
Here’s a breakdown of how your content may vary by stage:
- Awareness stage: This is the introductory stage where you explain to prospects who you are and what you do. Blog posts like “Why I Became a Financial Advisor” and “Who We Serve & How We Help” are perfect.
- Interest stage: Now that your prospects are aware of your financial advisory firm, you can drive home what makes your firm unique. Think about using a monthly email campaign to share custom content that highlights your experience and value.
- Decision stage: This is where you offer complimentary consultations, free reports, or anything else that will call your prospects to action. Regular email check-ins during this stage of the funnel can make a huge difference in your conversion rates.
Do You Need Help With Email & Content Marketing?
If you’re reading this article thinking, “Yeah, yeah, that’s much easier said than done,” you’re not alone. We’ve worked with hundreds of financial advisors who felt overwhelmed by their marketing. If you’re ready for custom-content marketing solutions that free up your time and minimize your costs, Indigo Marketing Agency has got you covered. Schedule your free consultation to get started today!
