Using Paid Search, Podcasts & Email Partnerships to Attract Financial Advisors

Key Takeaways

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Finding the Right Audience: Some of the top Asset Management firms with the highest AUMs have seen a high percentage of traffic to their sites through paid search and referral marketing apart from direct and organic search. They have managed to maintain high average duration times on their websites as well as low bounce rates for visiting customers. These firms have managed to build audiences with interests and psychographics matching financial investors and advisors through: 

• Paid Search Ads: AM firms tend to create content that supports strategic thinking or actionable solutions to portfolio problems. Branded competitor keywords are often used as well as specific fund names. Long-tail intent based keywords are targeted to reach advisors searching for strategy and trends in finance. The ad content is straightforward and clear. It uses verbiage that indicates solving problems, building strong portfolios and learning investment tactics. 
• Podcast Content: AM firms are engaging with podcasts in two ways - through collaborations with other podcasts and by building their own. Collaborations often feature AM team members joining as guests to share information and ideas or through the promotion and sponsorship of other podcasts. AM firms are also producing their own content to build out a library of shows that users can access at any time or through targeted podcast searches. 
• Email Partnerships: Using niche publications that financial advisors are sure to be reading is a tactic many AM firms are using. Ad placements, sponsorships or email takeovers can be organized to get into the inboxes of thousands of readers who look forward to this content everyday. Often detailed papers or research are presented as promotional content to entice readers to click-through and learn more. 

Keeping Your Audience Engaged: A variety of landing pages have been tested from paid search ads, podcasts and email partnerships. To employ the main tactics represented, keep your landing page: 

• Clean & Clear: The first thing viewers land on should be well designed, easy to read and navigate. Accent colours, imagery and clean text should be used to address any content on the page. 
• Accessible: Make it easy for visitors to find different filters within the landing page as well as different pages in your navigation. Use bold imagery and buttons for your calls to action so that viewers can easily access information that will help them with their decisions. 
• Consistent with Promotion: Ensure consistency and tasteful repetition with ad copy and landing page headlines. This will assure the viewer that they are reading content they wanted to access and ultimately will help lower bounce rates.  

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In Q1 2021, six Asset Management (AM) firms with the largest Assets Under Management (AUM) have increased their web traffic up to +76% YoY.

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Each respective AM firm has seen a high distribution in average web traffic allocation across Paid Search (34%) and Referrals (33%) in their strategies to reach Financial Advisors (FA) in Q1 2021.

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Average Duration on Site (Q1 2021).

The average visit duration details the amount of time visitors are spending on a site. The industry benchmark for financial services currently sits at 01:51. All firms exceed this benchmark except for SSGA. Fidelity Investments and JP Morgan see the highest durations at 03:38 and 02:51 respectively.

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Average Bounce Rate (Q1 2021).

The average bounce rate measures the amount of visitors who enter a site and leave immediately without any engagement on page. The industry benchmark for financial services currently sits at 51.71%. Currently only JP Morgan, PIMCO and Fidelity Investments have been able to maintain a lower bounce rate than industry standards.

Visitors on the respective sites are most likely to browse...

audience interests:

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AM firms are reaching niche audiences to tailor traffic with the following tactics:

1. Paid Search
2. Podcast Content
3. Email Partners
   

1. Paid Search

SSGA, iShares and JP Morgan have the highest spends in paid search for Q1 2021. Top search ads across all competitors feature trends in the financial industry and how to overcome investment challenges. 

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AM firms have been taking a content approach that highlights their commitment to providing FAs access to top strategy and trends in the financial market.

Top content tactics for Strategy & Trends focused search ads include:

Landing pages for each search ad are clear, concise and represent the message in the copy. The content focuses more on providing information than calling users to action.

Top landing page tactics for Strategy & Trends focused search ads include:

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AM firms also allude to the benefit of their funds to help overcome trading obstacles such as risk and diversification. 

Top content tactics for Overcoming Investment Challenge search ads include:

Landing pages for ads addressing obstacles speak to the viewer with actionable prompts, allowing them to see how their funds can play a role in their portfolios.

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Top landing page tactics for Overcoming Investment Challenge search ads include:

2. Podcast Content

As a rising advertising model, podcasts offer AM firms the opportunity to find very niche markets of listeners to promote to. Podcast show verbiage and topics are catered to professionals who would be able to understand and engage with the terminology easily.

Several AM firms have also built their own podcast production. Distributing podcasts enables visibility on 3+ platforms including Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts.

Podcasts also live on landing pages hosted by the AM firm to give website visitors easy access to the shows while browsing.

3. Email Partners

Financial publications with niche and targeted audiences often host email newsletters that are blasted to their audience regularly.

These newsletters are often part of people’s daily routines and have strong credibility with their audiences. AM firms use these publications to build visibility and referrals back to their webpages. 

Frequently advertised publication emails include: Financial Times, Financial Advisor IQ, Advisor Perspective, ETF Trends.‍

The email ad landing pages often expand on the original feature in more detail and include clear CTAs to learn more about the company or their research. 

Top email partnership tactics include:‍‍