Granted, they may not come right out and speak the lie in this way. But every time they tell an advisor there's nothing wrong with using the same content as tens of thousands of other advisors, they're not telling the truth.
Here are two reasons why this particular deception is so dangerous:
First, it leads advisors to an action that undermines their credibility. And credibility, one could argue, is the most important thing for a financial advisor to have.
Second, it makes all advisors look the same. Instead of capturing attention by standing out, they just blend in. This lack of differentiation means getting noticed by fewer prospects. So in effect, this practice gets the opposite result of what is intended. Rather than helping advisors, it actually hurts them.
Think: can you imagine any company of significance using the same marketing as their competition? Would Walmart and Amazon ever publish the same content? Of course not! It's a terrible business practice.
And yet, advisors get duped into doing this all the time.
The Proper Way
How can advisors make sure they are doing the right type of marketing for their business? One key way is by refusing to publish the same content as their competitors.
There are really only three types of content advisors should use (in order of value):
- Original Content
- Exclusively Licensed Content
- Curated Content
Original content is best because it showcases the things that make an advisor unique, cannot be duplicated, and is custom tailored for the target audience. Exclusively licensed content is a close second because it cannot be used by competitors and allows for differentiation within a geographic area. Curated content has less value because there's really nothing unique about it, but it does give advisors a chance to share helpful resources and highlight what they care about.
Crisis of Differentiation
There is a major crisis of differentiation in our industry today. Sadly, advisors are being sold a bill of goods by marketing providers and that only exacerbates this problem. To be fair, there are some marketing companies who offer great custom solutions for advisors, but they are the exception. The vast majority of advisors are being duped into a practice that hurts their business and our industry as a whole.
Don't be a victim of the biggest lie advisor marketing companies sell. The next time you're evaluating a marketing partner, tell them you require either original content or exclusive rights to a protected territory. If they won't deliver for you, move on.
You can read more about the different types of advisor marketing content and its value in the prior article in this series, The Worst Kind of Financial Advisor Marketing.
Robert Sofia is co-founder and CEO of Snappy Kraken, a firm that provides content and automated marketing solutions for financial advisors.
As a MarTech entrepreneur and marketing consultant, Robert Sofia has served over 1,000 companies since 2005. His list of clients includes solo advisers, ensembles, RIAs, family offices, BDs, GAs, BGAs, custodians, investment companies and insurance companies. On average, for the past 13 years, Robert's work has driven annual growth of over 600% per year for the organizations he has operated or supported.
Robert has received numerous awards for his work. Snappy Kraken, took first place in the FinTech Startup Competition hosted by the XY Planning Network in September 2016.
Robert has authored three books — two of which were bestsellers — and written about marketing for many national publications and financial industry journals.
He is an award-winning public speaker who has keynoted conferences for world-renowned companies including Ford Motor, Adobe, TD Ameritrade and Prudential.
