The financial advisory landscape has evolved dramatically, yet many firms still market like it’s 2010. The result? A widening growth gap between average firms and top performers.
Despite median organic growth rates of about 5%, there’s a growing divide between average firms and top performers. The top 20% of firms are achieving organic growth rates of around 12.5%, driven by strong marketing strategies and a clear focus on serving their ideal clients.
Today’s clients are doing more research, demanding more value and expecting more personalization from the firms they engage with. Referrals alone are no longer enough to sustain success.
I’ve seen the shift firsthand as someone who has spent years helping advisory firms develop marketing strategies. What was once a profession that could thrive on word-of-mouth now requires a sophisticated, strategy-led marketing engine. Yet most firms are still showing up like Ted Lasso in his first soccer match: enthusiastic but wildly unprepared for the new game they’re playing.
Advisors Want Growth: Few Commit to Strategy
The irony is impossible to miss: in an industry built on strategic financial planning and investment management, many advisory firms approach marketing with surprisingly little strategy.
According to Schwab’s 2024 RIA Benchmarking Study, firms that invest at least 2% of revenue into marketing grow 45% faster than firms that do not. Yet, just one in three firms has a documented marketing strategy.
This disconnect isn’t surprising when we consider the history. Referrals were once enough. They required no marketing playbook. But today’s competitive landscape demands more than a passive approach, and there’s a shortage of experienced marketing strategists.
It’s a disruption similar to what happened in the media when streaming crushed traditional TV. Industry veterans had to learn a whole new model. Advisory firms now face a similar challenge: they need marketing leaders with specialized knowledge that simply hasn’t existed in the industry until recently.
The Growth Constraint Cycle
Without a clear strategy, firms fall into predictable traps:
-
Scattered marketing activities: Social media posts one day, a webinar the next—with no link to business objectives.
-
Low-quality leads: Without proper targeting, firms waste time on mismatched prospects.
-
Founder dependency: Growth remains heavily dependent on rainmaking founders, carrying unsustainable business development burdens that create burnout and bottlenecks.
-
Generic Messaging: In a crowded marketplace, it’s not a differentiator to claim you provide “comprehensive financial planning” and “personalized service.”
-
Over-reliance on referrals: They remain valuable, but they’re declining in effectiveness. Looking at the modern consumer, Ficomm’s research revealed a striking shift: only 29% of consumers now require a referral before selecting an advisor, with 45% choosing advisors based on digital marketing instead. For consumers under 44, the numbers are even more dramatic—only 17% require referrals while 57% select advisors through digital channels.
Building the Foundation Before the Funnel
Hiring a marketer or increasing the marketing budget isn’t enough. That’s like trying to win a race with a faster car but no driver.
What’s needed is a fundamental shift in approach: marketing strategy must start at the executive level.
This “inside-out” approach begins with uncompromising strategic clarity:
-
Why do you matter to them?
-
How are you different from the 10 firms that look just like you?
Only when these questions are answered should tactical execution begin.
I’ve seen repeatedly that firms that take this executive-led, strategy-first approach outperform those that delegate marketing to junior staff without proper strategic guidance.
Building the Marketing Engine
Firms growing sustainably don’t view marketing as a department. They treat it as a business discipline. Here’s what that looks like:
-
Documented ideal client profiles that define exactly who the firm serves best
-
Clear, differentiated messaging that resonates with that specific audience
-
Systematic lead generation processes that attract qualified prospects
-
Metrics that matter beyond vanity statistics to track meaningful business impact
-
Development of internal marketing capabilities with defined roles and career paths
This systematic approach transforms marketing from a series of disconnected activities into a powerful engine that consistently delivers qualified prospects who recognize the firm’s distinct value.
Meeting the Industry’s Evolving Needs
Recognizing the strategic marketing gap facing advisory firms, we’ve intentionally evolved our own business to address these challenges.
In the past year, we’ve:
-
Refined our ideal client profile to focus only on advisory firms seeking accelerated marketing-enabled growth
-
Redesigned our client experience to better serve the distinct needs of modern advisory firms
-
Streamlined internal operations to reinvest in our service team and enhance front-line support
-
Launched a proprietary training program to develop marketing strategists from within, addressing a key talent gap across the industry
As the financial advisory landscape continues to evolve, the gap between firms that master marketing strategy and those still waiting for referrals. The question is no longer if advisory firms need strategic marketing expertise. It’s how quickly they can build it before the window of opportunity passes them by.
And unlike Ted Lasso, who eventually found success through sheer optimism, advisory firms need more than just belief—they need a marketing strategy designed for the game they’re actually playing.
#Advisory #Firms #Break #Growth