marketing Archives

How Vestorly transforms advisers’ web presence into qualified leads

Posted on December 31, 2013 by Bill Winterberg in Compliance, Social Media, Video Spotlight

Vestorly uses “smart data” techniques to convert advisers’ online audience into qualified leads

I recently met with Justin Wisz, co-founder of Vestorly, to learn more about the company’s technology offering to financial advisers.

Vestorly is a content marketing platform designed to enhance client acquisition for financial professionals. What does that mean in plain English? Wisz explains in the video interview above.

“Smart Data”

Vestorly helps financial advisers publish content online from a variety of aggregated sources (all compliance approved!) targeted to the interests of clients and prospects. Featured sources include personal finance content from Kiplinger.

As the adviser’s online audience grows, Vestorly captures lead information such as names and email addresses and then uses “smart data” techniques in the background to further associate leads with demographic information.

One goal of Vestorly is generate measurable ROI from the online efforts pursued by advisers.

Any activity in digital communications without a lead generation aspect is, frankly, a little bit of a waste of time and resources

– Justin Wisz, Vestorly co-founder

Vestorly is Free

Vestorly offers curated content from a variety of sources, smart data aggregation techniques, and compliance tools all in one platform, so how much does it all cost?

For individual advisers, Vestorly is free.

So why is Vestorly free for individual advisers? Watch the follow up video below to hear from Wisz.

According to Wisz, Vestorly combines a number of existing technologies common in online marketing, but not yet present among the financial services industry.

“Much of Vestorly is what we call status quo technology,” said Wisz.

“We think [that technology] should be free, especially for advisers who are just getting started with marketing in financial services,” he added.

Vestorly for the Financial Enterprise

But beyond individual adviser use, Vestorly is also built to suit the needs of large financial enterprises.

Vestorly’s enterprise relationships focus on integrations and expanding the utility of the content generation and lead generation functions.

In the extended interview below, Wisz describes how financial enterprises (e.g. broker-dealers and large RIAs) can compliment existing archiving and social media systems by tapping the Vestorly API for expanded features.

“I would see Vestorly as a major compliment to all the things that [broker-dealers] already have in place,” said Wisz.

“They’re now allowing reps to blog, send out email marketing, or do some social media marketing, but now it’s time to find out what they can get back,” Wisz added.

Lead generation for advisers: how to grow a prospect list and increase website ROI

Posted on March 19, 2013 by Bill Winterberg in Technology

Lead generation means rolling out the welcome mat for website visitors

Mention lead generation at a financial adviser conference, and you’ll likely be greeted with blank stares.

Since the inception of the financial planning profession, adviser growth has been dominated by referral-based practices.

The problem is that today more and more consumers (and future clients) are visiting websites and social media sites first to learn what they can about financial advisers.

These website visitors may or may not receive specific referrals from friends and colleagues, but they’re still going online to learn as much as possible about advisers and services before they reach out to schedule an initial appointment.

Lead Generation 101

Advisers can spend considerable time and money building an attractive and informative site, but if visitors only read information and never return, the investment fails to pay off.

Lead generation is the mechanism advisers can implement to cultivate a stronger relationship with website visitors by capturing names and email addresses to use for future correspondence.

This month’s column for Morningstar Advisor discusses lead generation techniques financial advisers can follow to realize a higher ROI on their website development.

Follow this link to read Increase Your Website ROI at Morningstar.com.

Financial adviser marketing tools for the Digital Age

Posted on January 8, 2013 by Bill Winterberg in Practice Management, Software

inbound marketing

Get onboard with these top tools for marketing in the Digital Age

As a financial adviser, you have the potential to benefit tremendously from the proliferation of new online marketing tools.

Now that we’re fully enveloped in the Digital Age, you have many new techniques and resources at your disposal to market your business and services to those who can benefit the most.

What’s so different about marketing in the Digital Age?

Digital Age marketing is characterized by “inbound marketing,” as opposed to “outbound marketing.”

Inbound marketing is the free, value-add content you create and post online for others to find, based on their needs (and, more importantly, search engine queries). It’s what the person on the left in the image above is doing.

Outbound marketing is more traditional, where you advertise using billboards, email blasts, and prospect seminars in the hopes of exposing your company/brand/profile to as many people as possible. It’s what the bullhorn guy on the right of the image is doing.

So which Digital Age marketing tools should you start using?

I wrote a succinct guide to marketing in the Digital Age for the January 2013 issue of the Journal of Financial Planning.

Click here to read Tools for Digital Age Marketing from the Journal of Financial Planning.

Simple strategies to enhance your written communication to clients and prospects

Posted on January 4, 2013 by Bill Winterberg in On Air

Written communications make up a significant portion of your client “touches,” between all of the emails, newsletters, and blog posts you write.

But sometimes your messages to clients fall flat.

There are a few simple strategies you can employ to make your communication more effective and engaging. In this latest On Air broadcast, Neil Rhein of Bull’s Eye Financial Communications shares his favorite techniques you can use to make sure your message is heard.

(click to watch on YouTube)

Live from NAPFA PMI: How advisers can stop sucking at marketing

Posted on October 26, 2011 by Bill Winterberg in Practice Management

I’m attending and presenting at NAPFA Practice Management and Investments this week, so when I have time, I’ll post periodic updates of key takeaways from this event.

Advisers always need help with marketing. One consultant offers strategies to increase referrals and new biz development.

Roughly 200 advisers queued up to the Grand Ballroom of the Brooklyn Marriott hotel to hear Richard Henry of Cambridge, MA-based Millennium Consulting Group deliver marketing strategies.

Henry introduced advisers to several marketing strategies that fall under the BOOM acronym: Big Opportunity Outbound Marketing. Here are some highlights from the BOOM program.

The Goldmine Strategy

Henry told of one adviser who pulled a client’s file and looked through the paperwork for names of the client’s other advisors. She found the client’s CPA and promptly called him, saying “We haven’t met, but we share several clients in common, so I’d like to get introduced over a quick cup of coffee.”

When Henry asked the audience how many would accept the invitation, over 80% of the room raised their hands. So Henry used the goldmine analogy, as most advisers have a goldmine of information about clients’ professionals in their volumes of client paperwork.

The Tax Document Strategy

Another strategy Henry highlighted is a technique to increase the convenience for clients. At the end of each year, advisers generate documents relevant to the preparation of a client’s tax return. Instead of handing those documents to the client, advisers can connect directly with the client’s CPA and exchange them directly (with the client’s permission, of course).

It’s a convenient service for the client, and the adviser and CPA now have the opportunity to work together and help each other directly.

Henry finished up with the “Would You Recommend?” strategy, where advisers should replace the word “referral” with “recommend” (Henry said referral implies some voodoo sales tactics), and the Golden Ticket Strategy, where clients give advisers a “golden ticket” to interview other professionals on the client’s behalf to find qualified professionals for the clients’ needs.

Advisers can follow Henry’s strategies with very little burden and effort, and the potential for the strategies to result in business growth is fairly appealing.

Kristen Luke’s $3,000 Marketing Plan for Advisers

Posted on February 9, 2009 by Bill Winterberg in Practice Management

Attention! There’s still time to register for the FPA of Oregon & SW Washington’s 2009 Mid Winter Conference in Vancouver, WA. Sessions begin Tuesday morning, February 10, at 8:00AM.

Coming to the conference? You won’t be able to miss me: I’ll be making many of the speaker introductions and other announcements. Catch me during breaks and say hello!

On with today’s post.

I’m a technology guy and not really a marketing guy, so allow me to refer an excellent blogger on marketing strategies for independent financial planners and investment advisers that frequent FPPad.com

Go visit Kristen Luke’s blog and add her RSS feed to your reader. Don’t have a reader? Use Google Reader, or you can always subscribe to email updates for most content, including Kristen’s.

FPPad