As a financial services company, one of the most important strategies to grow your firm is financial services lead generation. It seems simple enough, but how do you know if your financial lead generation methods are working? How can you be sure that every dollar spent on advertising and marketing is producing results or at least helping to make you money in some way? In the article, we will cover the basic of what financial lead generation is through specific financial services lead generation channels.
What is lead generation?
Lead generation is the process of converting interest into sales. It can be achieved through many different means, but the methods that are most effective focus on building trust and relationships with potential clients in order to secure an appointment or phone call.
What are the types of lead generation?
Financial services lead generation can be broken down into three categories: inbound, outbound and referral. All three types have their strengths and should be utilised in order to create an effective financial lead generation strategy. In this section, we'll take a look at each type to understand how they work.
Inbound Lead Generation
Inbound lead generation is a method of attracting potential customers to your business by creating valuable content that they are likely to search for and find. It can be as simple as writing blog posts or more complicated such as video production and social media management - all three of these tactics are a viable way to generate financial advice leads. Using inbound methods will help you attract the type of client who may already be looking for services like yours.
Outbound Lead Generation
Outbound lead generation involves contacting potential customers through phone calls, emails, direct mail and other means. One of the most important aspects of outbound lead generation is making sure that you consistently follow up with these financial services leads. The process of following up with potential leads is called lead nurturing. It is designed to build familiarity and trust with the lead until they reach the point when they are ready to become a client. Lead nurturing techniques include follow-up calls, email newsletters, social post and more.
Referral Lead Generation
Referral lead generation relies on having an established network that can refer others to you. Referrals can come from existing clients recommending you to their friends and family or from partnerships you set up with businesses that have complementary service offerings.
How do you generate leads for financial services?
Financial services providers are always looking for fresh prospects. They generally don't have time to waste on cold calls or door-to-door tactics. In our experience, the best way to find leads for financial services is through digital marketing tools and strategies, targeting prospective customers with information about your product or service offering.
How do financial advisors generate leads?
To implement a successful financial advisor lead generation campaign, you must first determine why people will want to work with you. You need a solid marketing strategy that focuses on your strengths so that clients can see the value in working with you. In this section, we'll take a look at some digital marketing channels that can be utilised to demonstrate your value and reduce your cost per lead.
1. Establish a strong online presence
Your website is the face of your company. It's the first impression a potential client gets of your company, and it can make or break a sale. However, most financial advisors don't have the time or expertise to create an engaging website design that conveys credibility. This results in fewer financial services leads and, therefore, fewer clients. At Bectre, we specialise in generating leads for financial services firms through engaging websites and results-driven digital marketing strategies, generating more financial advice leads. This allows you to focus on running your company instead of worrying about how to create financial services leads online.
2. Use social media to engage with clients and potential customers
There are many social media networks to choose from, but we recommend the following for financial advisors: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube. They rank in order of popularity, so you should identify your target audience and then research which they prefer. If you see that your audience is active on any of those four channels, it's worth creating a profile and consistently generating insightful content that is valuable to your audience. This will help create brand awareness and ensure you are top of mind when they need help. If you want to make this process more efficient, you can utilise social marketing automation tools like Hootsuite and Sprout Social to schedule your social posts and post content to multiple social media platforms at one time.
3. Attend industry events, trade shows, conferences, and networking events
Getting involved with industry events, trade shows, conferences, and networking events can help to create new connections and business relationships. You can also attend these speaking events to make sure you are up-to-date on what is happening in the financial services sector. This will help you stay relevant in this competitive market. Going to events may also lead to new connections and relationships that might help grow your company through referrals, or you may even find a potential client at an event.
4. Offer educational seminars on topics of interest to your clients
Offering seminars pertaining to topics that are pertinent to the needs of your target audience can help you gain authority in your niche. These sessions are an excellent way for you to reach out and help members of your community become more familiarised with the services you provide. Some examples include conducting local seminars, educational workshops, or hosting lunches or dinners.
Can financial advisors and planners generate leads through SEO?
Financial advisors and planners can generate leads through SEO (search engine optimisation). This is a process that takes time, but the results are worth the investment. It allows you to position yourself as an authority online where potential clients are searching for help; you can then nurture this lead and convert them into a client. A great way to generate financial planning leads is using local SEO.
5. Generate Finance Leads Through Local SEO
As a financial planner or advisor, it's a great idea to invest in local SEO to reach prospects in your area using digital marketing. Your prospective clients aren’t going to look for you by flipping through yellow pages anymore; they’re going to Google and search for terms like “financial advisor near me”. Make sure your business is visible when people are searching for financial advisors in your area to ensure you are capitalising on this valuable financial advisor lead generation tactic. Start by setting up a Google business listing; if you add a physical address to your listing, then it will also appear in Google Maps. Spend some time optimising this listing, fill in your business name, phone number, address - use your target keywords throughout the descriptions of your services to help you appear at the top of searches.
To maximise your digital marketing efforts, you will also want to optimise your website by adding the business name, address and phone number. You need to make sure that the business name, address and phone number listing on your website match the Google business listing, as this is a positive ranking factor for Google.
6. Create a Targeted Landing Page
Landing pages are a great way to build credibility and promote your services. Creating a targeted landing page for a specific service that ranks well on Google is one key to getting qualified financial services leads. Landing pages allow you to demonstrate your value and expertise as a financial service provider while also increasing brand awareness. A well-designed, mobile responsive landing page with optimised content offers potential clients an immediate sense that they are dealing with a credible financial professional who will be able to help them. Creating qualified lead generation for financial services firms is a lot easier when you have the right tools; designing an optimised landing page is one tool that you'll want to include as part of your financial services lead generation strategy.
Generating leads through SEO is one of the most cost-effective lead-building strategies available. The problem is that most financial advisors don’t have the time or resources to learn about SEO, let alone how it can help them generate more leads. At Bectre, we help financial advisors and planners generate leads by creating engaging websites and proven SEO strategies. This allows you to focus on running your business instead of worrying about how to generate leads online. If you’d like help generating leads, then get in touch to book a free, no-commitment consultation or call us on 0432 412 024.
