Marketing Tips for Financial Advisors During COVID-19

Coronavirus has appeared in Atlanta and is rapidly spreading. At Hyperchat Social, we are taking the proper precautions. We are practicing social distancing and working from all of our home offices. In your practice, you are probably handling client worries left and right.

As a financial advisor, your first instinct when the markets are going crazy may be to halt all marketing efforts and handle the clients that you have presently. Advisors with that mindset are missing the massive opportunity that COVID-19 has presented to the financial industry.

We are always looking for opportunities for advisors to ramp up their marketing efforts. Coronavirus is that opportunity. People are freaking out and are looking for guidance. With everyone inside all day practicing social distancing, the average screen time has increased. Now more than ever, people want to hear from an expert and get that peace of mind when the financial landscape is a little choppy. On top of that, people are looking for news on social media.

There are a few simple ways we recommend ramping up your marketing efforts in your financial practice.

LinkedIn Messaging

As we know, LinkedIn is a very social yet professional platform. Right now, people are watching their 401k rollercoaster with the stock markets. As a financial advisor, you know how the markets go and are probably not worried in the current moment but that does not mean your connections aren't worried!

1st Degree Campaign

Take this time and blast a message out to your 1st-degree connections and offer support. You never know who is looking to redo their financial situation.

This message can be anything from providing a free risk analysis to offering time to go over their financial situation. No matter your angle, people will appreciate you reaching out in this trying economic time, and you never know what accounts could come from directly sending a message.

New Connections

Now may also be the right time to start building some new connections. After all, while people are practicing social distancing, people are faster to respond to LinkedIn messages than ever!

Some specific services that financial advisors offer that are of value during this time include 401k rollovers, retirement planning, and investment planning. Craft up some messaging offering free consultations and eBooks regarding these services and use LinkedIn's filters to find your ideal client. While LinkedIn's standard search filters do not have much to offer, Sales Navigator can help you find exactly who you're looking for.

LinkedIn allows the user to also target employees at certain companies. If you heard of a huge company doing layoffs, you can find those people on LinkedIn. You can also narrow down this search by years at current company, years in current position, and years of experience using Sales Navigator.

We recommend using an automated service like DuxSoup or LinkedIn helper to blast your messages out for your 1st, 2nd, and 3rd degree for maximum efficiency. Check out this blog to find out exactly which service fits your needs.

Facebook Advertising

Another avenue that could lead to new business for financial advisors is Facebook Advertising. The massive advantage of Facebook advertising is the ability to find specific kinds of people online.

When you think of those most affected by the Coronavirus Pandemic, it's those small business owners worried about cash flow, it's high-level executives who have millions in the markets, it's those laid off by huge companies. All of these people are on Facebook, and all of these people are on their phones.

Start by crafting an image in Canva, selecting the 'Facebook Ad' sized image (1200 x 628 px) using striking graphics and bright colors to stop the scroll on social. For the COVID-19 advertising, we want to achieve, the Lead Generation objective on Facebook is going to be your best bet. This objective allows you to build a custom form of information you want to know about your lead.

Lead Generation Ad

When you select lead generation as the objective for your Facebook ad campaign, Facebook requires the social media user to fill out a simple lead form before directing them away from your ad.

There are two great advantages Facebook advertising gives you when setting up this campaign. Facebook allows the marketer to select which information they would like to receive from the prospect. Facebook then pulls this information directly from the user's profile. This makes the process extremely easy for social media users to input their information to decrease the chances of the prospect clicking off the page.

The lead form system that Facebook uses is extremely user-friendly. The platform comes equipped with a data library where Facebook stores the prospects' information and easily downloadable in an excel spreadsheet.

Finding Your Ideal Client

This is where it gets interesting. Building your custom audience is critical, especially with this subject matter.

Let's say you wanted to get in front of people who have recently been laid off by a major company. You would use the targeting search and select 'Company X: Employer'. To break it down further, you can narrow the prospect by age, location, and even household income percentage. Take a look at your audience size and reach and ensure it's not too narrow of a search.

To target a business owner, there are several different filters Facebook offers to find them. The best filters we have found are 'Digital Activities: Small Business Owners' and 'Digital Activities: Business Page Admins'. These filters take into account a user's activity on Facebook and match it to those that are common of a small business owner. The advertiser can then, of course, narrow the search further. As always, keep in mind the audience size and reach of the ad to ensure you do not narrow too far.

Content

The brands that are going to benefit from the quarantine are those that are staying in front of their followers. They are posting useful and informative content. With everything happening with the pandemic, people are looking for news and updates on social.

Share local articles about the Coronavirus in your city. Or share a list of events and stores closed in your area. What are your company's plans for social distancing and how will your operations work? Your followers need to know!

Be a source of information for your followers. They will start to see you as a resource for information they care about.

Overwhelmed yet? This is a lot of information, so we don't blame you. If you want to rev up your social presence during these times, go to tryhyperchat.com, and let's start Turning Social Into Sales.