As advisors know, there are many small businesses locally, regionally and nationally that represent a large, untapped market of potential clients for RIAs and other advisors.
But small business owners exist across many industries and are immensely different from one another. That is the case even when those small businesses are in the same sectors. At the same time, they share certain similar characteristics around which advisors can formulate a strategy.
To find the best marcoms strategies that advisors can use to develop small business owners from prospects to new clients, we reached out to James Doyle, President of JConnelly; Lisa Graham, CEO and Co-Founder of Graham Media Partners; and Ray Hennessey, CEO of Vocatus.
We asked each of them: What are the best marcoms strategies for advisors to reach small business owner clients and prospects?
Their responses follow.
James Doyle, President, JConnelly
Starting and managing a small business involves a lot of time, energy and focus – something many financial advisors know firsthand. Knowing this, business owners can be a great target market for advisors.
As a financial advisor, successfully targeting and reaching small business owners requires a focused approach. An important key is identifying a niche within the broader market and tailoring communication strategies to their specific needs. Offer insights and discuss issues that appeal to small business owners.
Segment your audience. Not all business owners are the same; they vary by industry, size, structure, location and business life stage. Narrowing your focus allows you to develop content and messaging that resonates with the unique needs of your selected group.
Emphasize how your services align with financial challenges and how you can help solve specific issues. Business owners often have complex financial situations, including managing wealth, cash flow, risk and employee benefits. Communicate your expertise in helping them achieve goals like growing wealth, managing retirement plans and navigating tax complexities.
Marketing tactics should reflect the professional nature of SBOs. Consider placing digital ads or contributing expert content in trade publications relevant to their industry. This helps position you as a trusted authority and enables you to reach potential clients actively seeking financial advice.
Lastly, leverage the power of influence. Business owners are often well-connected within their communities and industries. By fostering strong relationships with them, you increase the likelihood of gaining referrals and extending your reach to a broader network.
Lisa Graham, CEO And Co-Founder, Graham Media Partners
Working with small businesses is all about relationships and authenticity. Luckily, these are also the cornerstones of a successful financial advisory practice.
Get your online house in order. Before you embark on a networking journey, make sure your website and social accounts are up to date. When you connect with prospects, the first thing they’ll do is look you up, so be sure to present yourself and your practice in a way that’s true to your differentiators, service offering and personality.
Prioritize. Business owners have unique needs and challenges – and there are so many business owners that advisors need to prioritize. If your firm prefers to deal locally and across industries, you can target more local companies of any type. If you’re targeting a niche with specific services – e.g., restauranteurs, farm owners, etc. – you may need to go beyond the local neighborhood.
Socialize. If you’re starting local, get out in the community! Check out your local business bureau or chamber of commerce and attend events. If you’re pursuing a wider reach, digital marketing will likely be a larger part of your strategy.
To effectively network and make inroads with small businesses, it’s all about authentic relationships, which means you can’t just collect cards at an event.
First, cultivate a non-transactional relationship: Connect on social media, email them periodically to keep in touch, or share a news article that they might be interested in. As they get to know you and your value proposition, you can turn your friends into clients.
Ray Hennessey, CEO, Vocatus
I’ve always been fascinated by how so few independent financial advisors position themselves as business owners and entrepreneurs.
After all, this is a key market segment for them when it comes to client prospecting. Yet you don’t see a lot of branding, marketing and communications strategies speaking to these clients from the standpoint of business owner to business owner. To me, that’s a missed opportunity.
Independent advisors and many practice leaders intimately know the challenges business owners face. They feel the pressure of growing a business, meeting payroll, performing diligence and making deals. Marketing communications can be tailored to these themes, treating this client segment as peers, positioning an advisor as an entrepreneur serving fellow entrepreneurs.
One of the biggest misses in advisor marketing to these audiences comes from prospecting. Too often, marketing strategies target prospects based solely on investable assets under management (AUM). Owners of private businesses, though, have most of their personal wealth tied up in their companies. Advisors only aggressively market to these owners after they have sold these businesses.
Instead, advisors need to build trust far earlier. Looking beyond AUM when prospecting and creating content that addresses themes around operating and growing a business allows an advisor to foster a relationship with business owners well before they have the kind of company exit, like a business sale, that yields more investable AUM. Advisors should market their practices as key partners in providing help and support before and during a business transaction, and the AUM will follow.
Jeff Berman, Contributing Editor and Reporter at Wealth Solutions Report, can be reached at jberman@wealthsolutionsreport.com.
