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STEP INTO DIGITAL: How to Position Advisors for Online Success

Step into digital - how to position advisors for online success

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Page 1: Step into digital - how to position advisors for online success

STEP INTO DIGITAL: How to Position Advisors for Online Success

Page 2: Step into digital - how to position advisors for online success

Advisor Websites is a global software leader providing website and digital marketing solutions for the financial services and insurance industries. With a multi award-winning platform, Advisor Websites partners with its customers to create and maintain an exceptional and compliant digital presence that turns online traffic into new business. Advisor Websites partners with more than 125 financial institutions across North America including Sun Life, Investors Group, LPL Financial, New York Life and major custodians like TD Ameritrade, Fidelity and Charles Schwab. Advisor Websites empowers more than 6,000 financial service professionals to engage new prospects and clients online with a results-focused, mobile responsive website. Advisors receive education and training on digital marketing best practices, have access to a library of pre-approved content and more than one dozen custom integrations including Salesforce, Redtail, Hootsuite, Mailchimp and Riskalyze. With an enterprise platform built at its core, Advisor Websites is designed to meet the legal regulatory compliance and security rules and policies that guide the financial industry.

Advisor Websites is a Strategic Partner of the Financial Planning Association, and participates as a sponsor and speaker at many industry events such as the FPA Business Education conference, and TD Ameritrade Annual. Named a 2015 Best Service Provider by Wealth Pro Magazine, and a 2015 Best Place to Work in British Columbia, the company is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

Loic JeanjeanDirector, Sales and Marketing1.866.638.0273 x212

For more information contact:

1

AboutAdvisor Websites

Page 3: Step into digital - how to position advisors for online success

What is

?Advisor Websites is the easy-to-use, compliant website solution for financial advisors. We’re experts at financial web design and work with thousands of advisors across North America to build and maintain a website that achieves results (think: new leads and happier clients).

With Advisor Websites, you can:

Build and publish a website you love

Be fully compliant online

Login and customize your content anytime

Integrate your website with tools you’re already using

What is

?

Try Advisor WebsitesFree for 30 days

Advisor Websites is the easy-to-use, compliant website solution for financial advisors. We’re experts at financial web design and work with thousands of advisors across North America to build and maintain a website that achieves results (think: new leads and happier clients).

With Advisor Websites, you can:

Build and publish a website you love

Be fully compliant online

Login and customize your content anytime

Integrate your website with tools you’re already using

2

Book a Demo

Page 4: Step into digital - how to position advisors for online success

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Table of ContentsIntroduction

Why it Matters

The Digitally Elusive Generation

Don’t Forget the Boomers

Industry Challenges

What Financial Advisors Need to Compete

The Key Elements of a Modern Digital Strategy

Content is Always King

Social Media Integration

Easing the Social Media Compliance Burden

Responsive or Mobile-Friendly Design

Final Thoughts

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Introduction

With many broker-dealers, custodians and advisory firms already looking ahead to Robo Technology, most have yet to put the essential pieces in place to position their financial advisors competitively in the digital world.What it means for the firms and financial advisors; and what it will take to compete for next generation clients.

Who is this Guide for? Marketing, Distribution and Technology Officers of Broker-Dealers, Custodian and Advisory Firms along with any stakeholders in Advisor Growth and Retention.

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Why it Matters

Sitting at the threshold of the greatest intergenerational transfer of wealth, in which an estimated $30 trillion dollars will pass from baby boomers to the next generations over the next three or four decades, financial advisors could be looking at an unprecedented opportunity for growth or they could be facing the greatest threat to their survival.

Why the disparity in outlook? Some financial advisors will be better positioned to capture the attention and trust of the next generations; while others will be all but invisible in a digitally-wired world. The financial advisors that fail to connect with the children of their baby boomer clients, stand a better than even chance they will lose the assets upon their transfer. Although many factors can contribute to the heirs’ decision to take the money and run, it is the inability to relate to the next generations in a manner compatible with their preferences and expectations for social interaction and communication that can weigh the heaviest. Generations X and Y are anchored in a technologically-driven mores that must be understood and fully embraced by anyone who hopes to gain their favor and, in the case of financial advisors, their trust.

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The Digitally Elusive Generation

Financial advisors won’t have to wait until the Great Wealth Transfer to feel the effects of Gen X and Y unresponsiveness, because it’s happening right now. According to Fidelity research, the emerging affluent are twice as likely as their millionaire, baby boomer parents to find their financial advisor through Internet research and social media.1

The Fidelity study revealed even more about the preferences of the emerging affluent investor (age 21 to 49, $50,000 to $250,000+ of assets; $100,000+ income):

1 Fidelity Research. The 2014 Fidelity Millionaire Outlook. https://www.fidelity.com/about-fidelity/institutional-invest-ment-management/emerging-affluent-search-for-an-advi-sor-online

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60%

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The study’s authors fully expect these percentages to increase as more advisors make themselves digitally available. The conclusion drawn by the study is that, if advisors don’t have an online presence and don’t demonstrate an ability or desire to communicate with next generation clients and prospects through social media and other forms of digital interaction, they risk irrelevance.

· Nearly 60 percent of emerging affluent investors have a significantly more positive impression of advisors with a good website.

· 38 percent follow their advisor on social media sites

· 30 percent say they are more likely to relate to a financial advisor who has a social media presence.

38%

30%

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Don’t Forget the Boomers

While most of the financial services industry has been laser-focused on the baby boomer generation for the last decade, it may have missed a technological transformation that has occurred in that same timeframe; which is that boomers are not only online en masse, they now comprise more than half of all Facebook users. More than 65 percent of adults ages 50 to 65 and nearly half over the age of 65 use some form of social media. In that group, women, who will control half of the nation’s wealth by the year 2020, are online the most.2

2 Pew Research Center. Social Media Fact Sheet http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheets/social-networking-fact-sheet/ January 2014

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Industry Challenges

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last four or five years, the trend has been undeniable, and its trajectory grows steeper with every passing year. Although very few firms are fighting the trend, the chasm between where clients are, regarding technology, and where many advisory firms are is as wide as ever with most financial advisors languishing in technological mediocrity, or worse, when it comes to establishing an effective online presence.

“...the chasm between where clients are, regarding technology, and where many advisory firms are is as wide as ever with most financial advisors languishing in technological mediocrity, or worse, when it comes to establishing an effective online presence.”

Some firms are currently undertaking major initiatives to catch up, while others continue to struggle with the same fundamental issues that have slowed their entry into the digital world from the beginning. For many firms, compliance issues continue to be a drag on efforts to fully embrace the potential of web marketing for their advisors; however, other issues may be slowing the march forward:

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Slow adoption: Financial advisors tend to be slow adopters of any technology. However, the transformation from traditional marketing practices to web marketing has been especially slow, hampered in part by compliance issues, but primarily from reluctance. Aging advisor population: Financial advisors have been slow adopters as a whole; however, older financial advisors have avoided the transformation like the plague. Their excuse? Their clients are older as well and happy with the traditional advisory relationship. The reality? As the research indicates, at least half of their clients are online and using social media. Compliance: For some firms, compliance issues continue to slow progress; although many firms have worked through the compliance issues by fully adapting the FINRA guidelines and investing in new technology that aids in oversight and review of web content. Inadequate technology and resources: Many independent advisory firms have been able to react more quickly to the technology needs of their financial advisors due to their nimbleness and their ability to control compliance issues at a local level. Although they’re gradually progressing, larger firms with centralized marketing and compliance departments have been limited in their ability to respond except on a mass scale which limits the ability of financial advisors to personalize their websites or actively engage in social media. Although it may satisfy the need to have a website, it does very little to create the critical online presence today’s advisors need.

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Unquestionably, advisory firms face numerous challenges in moving to the forefront of the type of technology that will keep their financial advisors competitive in the quest for next generation clients. The larger challenge, however, will be retaining financial advisors who fear the deep descent into obscurity that will occur without the means to market themselves. Numerous surveys have identified marketing as the top concern for financial advisors who have little appetite for old-school approaches; yet the vast majority of financial advisors are still sitting on the outside of the digital world looking in.

“Numerous surveys have identified marketing as the top concern for financial advisors who have little appetite for old-school approaches; yet the vast majority of financial advisors are still sitting on the outside of the digital world looking in.”

In a digital world, in which financial advisors must be able to raise their visibility, establish their authority build influence, and communicate effectively with their clients and target markets, broker-dealers and advisory firms must find ways to help them create an online presence using the best practices of advisor web marketing.

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What Financial Advisors Need Just to Compete

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What we all know to be true is that having a web presence is critical, if for no other reason than to validate one’s existence to the market. At a minimum, a website is today’s business card, without which there is no legitimacy. Recognizing this, many financial advisors or their firms rushed to create static websites, which sufficed as a business card, but were largely unimaginative and technologically lacking.

For the more discerning, tech-savvy next generation client, these templated websites don’t instill a high level of confidence. Anything less than a modern digital strategy is very likely to render a financial advisor invisible to a market that is poised to control $30 trillion of assets.

For the more discerning, tech-savvy next generation client, these templated websites don’t instill a high level of confidence. Anything less than a modern digital strategy is very likely to render a financial advisor invisible to a market that is poised to control $30 trillion of assets.

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I. Fresh, compelling, original Digital Content

II. Integrated Social Media

III. Responsive Design

At its core, a modern digital strategy must include certain key elements for positioning a financial advisor in the market, identifying the target market, conveying a core message, and a method of cultivating contacts and relationships. The basic components of an advisor digital portfolio, or web apparatus, should include a website, a blog, email marketing, and a social media presence on relevant networks, all integrated into a comprehensive strategy. With that as the structure, the key elements that are essential to the strategy include:

The Key Elements of a Modern Digital Strategy

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I. Content is always King

The whole purpose of the Internet is to house content that can be instantly delivered to users based on their needs, preferences, and priorities. Consider the last time you searched for relevant content; when you came across a site that lacked content, or contained content that wasn’t current, compelling or useful, you probably clicked right through to the next site, all in a matter of seconds. The impression was near instantaneous. Now imagine a referred lead, maybe the son of a baby boomer client, going to one of your advisor’s static, templated website and finds no fresh or compelling content. No way to learn anything distinguishing about the advisor; no way to gain any insight into his or her practice; no way to determine his or her level of expertise. In this case, the first impression is most likely going to be the last impression. Aside from the fact that digital content is what people look for when they go to a website, it serves three very critical purposes:

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· It keeps the user on the site, and/or keeps them coming back. Whether it’s the static content on the web pages, or the blog posts, or the pod casts, or the availability of webinars, fresh, compelling, well-written, digital content is the primary driver of user “stickiness,” increasing the chance for interaction with the advisor. · It can be what differentiates the advisor. At a minimum, the static web content on the web pages must be well written and imaginative to the point where it helps to establish the value of the advisor, offering some sense of personal insight and professional distinction. However, it is often the fresh content that is published daily, weekly, or, at a minimum, monthly, that offers the greatest insight into the practices, methods, expertise, and philosophy of the advisor that users look for. · It’s essential to raise the visibility of the advisor. It is content that establishes the advisor as an authority and helps them build influence in their target market, whether it sits on their website or is funneled out to social media. It’s what the market responds to creating opportunities for making new contacts and generating leads. It’s also what the search engines respond to in ranking websites. Websites that contain always fresh, relevant, compelling content rank much higher than those that don’t. · It is what spurs the call-to-action. Whether it’s a timely blog post, pod cast, an offer of a free report, or invitation to a webinar, it is the content that triggers action. Financial advisors with well-placed content consistently receive calls from clients or prospects responding to an article or pod cast.

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Of course, digital content can also be the bane of OSJs and compliance officers, which is why most financial advisors do not currently post fresh content. Understanding the significance of content in advancing the online presence of their advisors has spurred several broker-dealers and advisory firms to find ways to streamline the processes for content review and publishing. The digital content component may be the most essential in an effective digital strategy, without which, financial advisors will likely remain invisible. A word about Blogging The most successful inbound marketing strategies are built on a foundation of original, handcrafted content that provides its audience with value. Blogs are the primary tool for adding a constant stream of fresh content that can raise visibility, enhance the advisor’s brand, expand market reach, and engage clients and prospects. When integrated with the advisor’s social media apparatus, it becomes the hub of their online presence, directing traffic between social media sites and the advisor’s website.

Did you know? Companies that blog 15 or more times per month get 5 times more traffic than companies that don’t blog at all.

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It has been well-established that, in the digital world, if you want to be found, connected and relevant, you must have an online presence, and the driver of social engagement, lead generation, website traffic and referred leads is social media. For much of the next generation, and an increasing number of boomers, you simply don’t exist unless you are actively engaged online. According to a Putnam Investments survey of more than 700 advisors, the number of financial advisors using social media has been steadily increasing for the last five years, with 73 percent of men and 82 percent of women now on board. 66 percent reported that its use has led to significant client growth averaging nearly $2 million in assets. LinkedIn continues to be the primary go-to site for advisors, but the survey indicates an increase in activity on Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

II. Social Media Integration

01 00 200 300 400 500 600 700 800

700+ Advisors surveyed

73% Male Advisors

82% Female Advisors

On board with Social Media

66% Reported Growth via Social Media

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The marked increase in social media use by advisors is not surprising considering the significant increase in social media use by mass-affluent and high-net worth clients. A study by LinkedIn reveals that nearly 90 percent of mass affluent users ($100,000 to $1,000,000 in investable assets) indicate they are highly engaged with financial companies and that nearly half are engaged with them through social media. One of the main reasons they cite is to research advisors and firms to help in their decision to work with one. It is also well-established that social media is the preferred form of contact and communication for an increasing number of mass affluent and high-net worth clients.

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With a social media presence, financial advisors create the opportunity to engage with potential clients wherever they are. And, with the ability to fine-tune their presence to the markets they want to target, they can narrow their focus and sharpen their message for those they want to attract. The objective of social media engagement is not to “sell” or even offer your services; rather it is to establish yourself as an authority (and a friendly person) who is willing to engage with other over topics that are important to them. An increasing number of advisors are starting to engage on a more personal level on social networks such as Facebook. Regardless, the goal is to increase visibility, make connections, and cultivate relationships. As it relates to the digital strategy, social media plays a critical role in delivering content and driving traffic to the advisors’ websites. When advisors offer up a relevant article on a social media site, it will link the interested user back to the website where they can continue to learn more about the advisor. It is through a proactive social media campaign where advisors will develop most of their contacts that can be converted into legitimate leads.

Did you know? 28% of investment professionalshad investigated an issue based on something theyhad seen on Twitter and 12% had made an investmentdecision after reading Twitter.

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With the release of FINRA guidelines pertaining to social media use, many firms have been able to develop protocols that are easily followed. Some firms have introduced social media training and coaching along with tools and resources advisors can use while accounting for compliance, legal and branding issues. With the introduction of new technology, firms can now automatically monitor and archive online posts that can be reviewed by their compliance departments. Recognizing the significance a professional, well-orchestrated social media strategy can have on business development, most firms are moving more quickly to developing solutions for greater ease of use.

Easing the Social Media Compliance Burden

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III. Responsive or Mobile-Friendly Design

Once thought to be a luxury of website design, responsive or mobile-friendly design is quickly becoming an essential requirement. Each year, as the number of different types of devices, platforms and browsers increase, web design has to take into account all of their various sizes and shapes in order to able to deliver an optimal web experience. If you’ve ever tried to view and navigate a non-responsive website on a smart phone or even an IPad, you’ll know what we mean. With more users (especially next generation clients) relying on mobile devices to browse the Internet, a website must be able to respond to the screen size and orientation of the device. That also includes responsiveness to the user’s preferences – landscape or portrait, image size, and type of device (i.e. able to switch from an IPad to an IPhone). Of course, that would eliminate the need to develop different designs for different devices; however, it also means finding a web designer or website provider specializing in responsive design.

Did you know? The latest data shows a consolidation with mobile digital media time in the US significantly higher at 51% compared to desktop (42%)

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Final Thoughts

The financial services industry is finally starting to realize that technology has shifted the power of the message to the consumer. The days of mass marketing, and forcing the message onto the consumers are over. Web technology and social media along with the continuous innovation of the devices that deliver it, have empowered consumers to dictate through their behavior, preferences and expectations which messages they want to receive, and how and when they will receive them. More importantly, they fully control how they and when and to whom they will respond.

The impact on the ability of financial advisors to be able to connect with their desired markets and communicate in a way that engenders trust hinges on the technology they have available at their fingertips. In the next five years, the success of your financial advisors will come down to how effectively they can scale and manage client acquisition and retention in the digital arena. For next generation clients, advisors will have to be able to demonstrate their nimbleness and proficiency in high tech before they can achieve high touch and high trust. Providing such a customized experience for all clients and prospects is simply beyond the realm of financial advisors without a comprehensive, well-designed digital strategy.

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Broker-dealers and advisory firms intent on moving their advisors to the forefront of web marketing should consider partnering with technology providers that can assist in the development and delivery of a comprehensive digital strategy that includes responsive websites, integrated social media, content creation as well as the training, coaching and resources to implement it.

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“In the next five years, the success of your financial advisors will come down to how effectively they can scale and manage client acquisition and retention in the digital arena. For next generation clients, advisors will have to be able to demonstrate their nimbleness and proficiency in high tech before they can achieve high touch and high trust. Providing such a customized experience for all clients and prospects is simply beyond the realm of financial advisors without a comprehensive, well-designed digital strategy.”

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Try Advisor WebsitesFree for 7 days

Advisor Websites is the easy-to-use, compliant website solution for financial advisors. We’re experts at financial web design and work with thousands of advisors across North America to build and maintain a website that achieves results (think: new leads and happier clients).

With Advisor Websites, you can:

Build and publish a website you love

Be fully compliant online

Login and customize your content anytime

Integrate your website with tools you’re already using

Try Advisor WebsitesFree for 30 days

Advisor Websites is the easy-to-use, compliant website solution for financial advisors. We’re experts at financial web design and work with thousands of advisors across North America to build and maintain a website that achieves results (think: new leads and happier clients).

With Advisor Websites, you can:

Build and publish a website you love

Be fully compliant online

Login and customize your content anytime

Integrate your website with tools you’re already using

Page 26: Step into digital - how to position advisors for online success

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