Marketing your RIA is an essential part of growing your business and attracting new clients. But between the day-to-day of running a business and the jargon and complexity of modern marketing, many RIAs struggle. How do you develop a strategy and then tactics to support your budget and goals?
As the most basic level, you’ll need to do three things: define your target market; create your value proposition; and finally build a steady online presence that leads to an in-person presence.
Define your target market
Before you start any marketing campaign, you need to have a clear idea of who you are trying to reach. One marketing truth is that if you try to be all things to everyone, you end up looking like you’re nothing special to anyone. Think about the people who are most likely to benefit from your services and share your investment philosophy. If you already are mostly serving a narrow niche, this is easy. But if, like most RIAs, you serve some executives, some retirees, some business owners, some accumulators and one or two ultra-high net worth… you’re going to need to dig deeper to find your focus.
For example, you might want to focus on a specific niche, such as physicians or tech entrepreneurs, or on a certain geographic area, income level, or life stage. You then will need to understand the needs, goals, challenges, and preferences of your target market and how they make financial decisions.
Your value proposition
Your value proposition is simply the unique value that you provide to your clients: it’s what sets you apart from your competitors. In the RIA space, that’s easier said than done. There are very few RIAs who don’t offer “white glove” service, personal attention, comprehensive investment management, and the expertise needed to help their clients meet their unique goals. It may be true, but when everyone makes this claim, it’s not going to help you stand out.
To define your value proposition, you need to articulate how you help your clients in a way that’s different from other RIAs. Fiduciary duty, a fee-only structure, or a holistic approach won’t get you there. Do you have expertise in a certain field, or a unique mission or core values? It takes time and creativity to write a clever and memorable message, and then build a compelling story and visual to support it.
Build a strong online presence that leads to an in-person presence
In today’s digital world, having a strong online presence is important for any RIA wanting to establish credibility. This online presence might include not only your website, but also social media, blogging, podcasting, a newsletter, webinars, and any other online platforms where you display your brand and expertise.
Your website is where visitors go to investigate your ability to help them. You need to make sure that your website is professional, user-friendly, mobile-responsive, secure, and optimized for search engines. At minimum, you need:
- A clear and compelling headline that summarizes your value proposition and captures your visitors’ attention.
- A concise and engaging introduction that shows you understand a visitor’s situation and can help them achieve their goals.
- A call to action that invites your visitors to take the next step, such as scheduling a consultation, signing up for your newsletter, or downloading a free resource.
- An about page that tells your story and introduces your team members.
- A contact form placed where it is most likely to be needed.
- Content that shows your thought leadership, unique approach, and expertise.
Social media is another powerful tool for marketing your RIA and building relationships with your audience. You can use social media to share:
- That content we mentioned above – showing your thought leadership, unique approach, and expertise – mentioned above.
- Your take on topical financial trends and headlines.
- Your involvement in the community.
- Your inclusion in any events or media.
Why do all this? Because even if you rely exclusively on referrals for new business, those who are referred to you are going to do some due diligence before contacting you. When you show professionalism in your messaging, your presentation, and your content, you’re more attractive. If all these are done haphazardly or not at all, you aren’t as attractive.
Your last challenge is for all these activities to be coordinated for consistency, executed to a high standard, and measurable so you can do more of what works and less of what doesn’t work. If it sounds like a lot… well, it is. Marketing is an important facet of your business growth plan, and if you like the idea of having an in-house creative team, with the power of an established brand name, an extensive website, robust social media, and content creators on your team… then let’s talk about building your legacy at Moneta.
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