Marketers as Financial Advisor COIs: Everyone Wins

Financial professionals consistently seek ways to add value to their clients through Centers of Influence or COIs, essential partners (accountants, lawyers, property and casualty insurers, etc.) that can solidify the client-advisor one source relationship.  Notice a glaring obvious omission in the form of the et cetera? If you guessed marketers, gold star! You win nothing other than my lasting admiration. Well done.

It stands to reason that adding a marketing strategist to a COI network would be an advisory practice differentiator. Recently, I asked several financial advisors if they had a marketer in their COI pool. I could see the idea emoji lightbulbs gleaming over their heads via Zoom. There was consensus that this was a missing piece of the client service puzzle, one that could propel customer growth for their clients while opening strategic growth channels for advisors themselves. The “how” of this was an open question. Let’s break down the client benefits, ways advisors can identify market opportunities, and take on any perceived hurdles.  

Marketers as COIs: The Client Advantage

By offering clients access to marketing whether as a COI referral or as part of a formalized financial planning agreement, advisors can go beyond managing capital crossing over into customer base expansion. Moreover, they could essentially white label their service providing tailored guidance on budgeting for marketing projects, assessing the ROI of campaigns, and aligning financial objectives with marketing imperatives.

Client Acquisition Growth: The Advisor Advantage

Customer growth for clients can be a market expanding victory for the financial advisor, too. They can work with their marketing COIs, team, or consultant to develop and share success stories and client case studies that target prospects in said client’s industry. They can leverage the client relationship for guest blogs, podcasts, and other media crafting a compelling winning narrative to drive brand reach and potential client acquisition.  

Hurdle-Free Zone

In my conversations with financial advisors, two things consistently came up as hurdles: compliance and a lack of marketing acumen. When I asked them to say more about compliance, they spoke of the challenges of getting business plans approved by broker-dealers and internal reviewers. Adding marketing to the mix seemed like an unnecessary headache. Their concerns made sense and framing marketing as a COI relationship as opposed to a business plan element seemed to alleviate their unease. Also, this solves for the second hurdle. Financial professionals can stay in their lane while leveraging COI relationships to maintain their trusted advisor status, including marketing.

Marketing = Winning for Financial Advisors and Clients

Adding marketing as a financial advisor COI source is a smart move that helps both the client and the advisor. For businesses, it aligns money smarts with building a customer base and strengthening their brand. For advisors, it's a chance to stand out, attract more clients, and build long-lasting relationships.