How to Find Your Ideal Clients as a Financial Advisor

Establishing or growing an advisory firm requires a certain level of understanding as to what your clients need and expect. And building your business around ideal clients can set the stage for long-term sustainability. In a broad sense, ideal clients for financial advisors are those customers who are most closely aligned with your services, experience and investment philosophy.

SmartAsset’s Advisor Marketing Platform (AMP) offers financial advisors services like client lead generation, automated marketing and more. Learn about SmartAsset AMP today.

Attracting Ideal Clients for Financial Advisors – Practical Tips

Working with ideal clients can yield some undeniable benefits. Advisors who understand and actively attract ideal clients may experience better outcomes for revenues, profitability and retention. Increased client satisfaction and engagement can also lead to more referrals, an important driver of growth.

So how do you find these ideal clients for financial advisors and acquire them? Below are some actionable tips to help you grow your client base.

1. Develop an Ideal Client Persona

A client persona (or buyer persona) is a detailed description of who you would most like to work with. Developing client personas is a useful exercise for advisors. It can help you gain clarity on exactly who you would like to serve and how they would benefit from what you’re offering.

Client personas offer a view into who your target clients are both demographically and financially. A comprehensive buyer persona should include details about your ideal client, such as:

Age, gender and occupation
Location and relationship status (i.e., married, single, widowed, etc.)
Financial goals and motivations
Financial fears or concerns
Behavior and relationship with money
Social media habits
Hobbies and interests

Why spend time creating personas? Because they’re influential in shaping your prospecting approach. It becomes much easier to tailor your financial advisor marketing strategy when you know exactly what kind of messaging you need to share, and where you need to share it.

2. Nurture Your Digital Presence

Investors increasingly rely on search engines to find professional financial advice. You may know who your ideal clients are, but do they know about you?

A strong digital footprint can increase your brand’s visibility in local searches and other areas of the internet where your ideal clients are most likely to spend their time. Elements of a solid digital marketing plan can include:

An SEO-optimized website (SEO stands for search engine optimization, which refers to tactics that are designed to help your site rank higher in search results)
Branded social media accounts on the platforms that your ideal clients use most often
One or more valuable lead magnets that encourage ideal clients to join your email newsletter list
Content marketing, including short- and long-form video and text content, which speaks to the pain points of your ideal clients and includes a compelling call to action (CTA)
Online seminars or virtual workshops that focus on topics your ideal clients are most interested in
Digital ads and/or sponsored content
Collaborations with other advisors, financial influencers or financial brands
Public relations outreach

But, with all these elements, which do you prioritize? The simplest answer is to choose the digital marketing activities that are likely to yield the best return on investment. For example, a digital ad campaign on Facebook may yield few leads if your ideal clients spend most of their time scrolling Instagram or TikTok. If you’ve already developed a detailed buyer persona, then you should have an understanding of where and how your ideal clients consume content online.

It’s also important to consider your end goal. For example, you may want your ideal clients to visit your website and fill out a contact form or sign up for your email list. In that case, all other marketing efforts you undertake should be designed around that CTA.

If you’re struggling to gain a foothold, digital marketing platforms and tools can help.

For example, LinkedIn Sales Navigator can help with identifying your ideal clients and conducting outreach efforts through the LinkedIn platform. SmartAsset AMP, meanwhile, helps growth-focused advisors connect with leads who are ready to commit to working with a qualified advisor.

3. Make a Connection

A financial advisor meeting with ideal clients.

One thing you’ll hear time and time again is that advisors need to have a unique value proposition that makes them stand out from the competition. It’s more challenging to find your ideal clients if you’re unclear about what makes you stand out from the crowd.

Go back to your ideal client persona. Then ask yourself what would make you valuable to a prospect based on your:

Professional experience and background
Education and credentials
Investment style or philosophy
Personality
Life experience or personal background

Clients want someone they can rely on to understand their needs and concerns. However, they may also be looking for a more personal connection. The challenge for you is to figure out where those connections lie and how to emphasize them in your marketing.

Sometimes it’s fairly obvious. For example, if you come from a military family, you might gravitate toward clients with a military background since you have personal experience in that area.

In other instances, you may need to dig a little deeper. Analyzing your biggest competitors is a good place to start. Understanding what they’re doing, either with their services or marketing messaging, to attract the same type of ideal clients you have on your radar can help you pinpoint where you may need to adjust your strategy.

4. Encourage Referrals

If you already have a few ideal clients under your belt, consider how you can leverage those relationships to generate more referrals.

For example, say your ideal clients are professional couples in their mid-30s who have children or plan to start a family. You might mention that you’d be happy to offer a free portfolio review to any friends of theirs who are in a similar place.

Client appreciation events are another opportunity to encourage referrals. This is where it pays off to know a little about your clients, beyond their financial status. You can tailor the events to reflect their interests and hobbies. Or offer experiences they’ve mentioned adding to their bucket list.

Smaller touches, like personalized birthday cards or a simple, but thoughtful holiday gift can also help to build goodwill and remind clients that you value their business.

Bottom Line

An advisor meeting with their ideal client. The value of ideal clients for financial advisors can’t be understated.

The value of ideal clients for financial advisors can’t be understated. When you and your clients are aligned, it elevates the experience for both of you and helps contribute to your firm’s growth. The strategies shared here can help you identify who you genuinely want to serve and the most impactful ways to attract them.

Tips for Growing Your Advisory Business

With so much noise online, it’s to your advantage to find a way to stand out if you’re ready to grow your business. Partnering with a digital advisor marketing platform can offer a much-needed visibility boost if you’re challenged by new client acquisition. SmartAsset AMP (Advisor Marketing Platform) is a holistic marketing service financial advisors can use for client lead generation and automated marketing. Sign up for a free demo to explore how SmartAsset AMP can help you expand your practice’s marketing operation. Get started today.
Finding your ideal clients may be more of an uphill climb if you’re starting a new advisory firm with zero AUM. In that scenario, you’ll need a solid marketing plan. However, you may also find it helpful to focus on networking and building spheres of influence with attorneys, accountants and other professionals. Those relationships could be a significant source of referrals to help you grow your business in its initial stages and beyond.