3 Tips for Advisors to Improve Their Marketing

A third way to improve email engagement is to present "positive vibes," he said, explaining that people are more likely to respond to uplifting stories and good news and it will "create a positive association with you and your brand."

However, "none of that matters if people don't see" your marketing content and never even open an email, he also said. Emotional, creative and empathetic subject lines perform better than straightforward or educational openers, he said, adding videos should be kept to under two minutes.

Changing Up Your Campaign

The top overlooked factor in marketing is that you should never rely on only one campaign, he said.

"To get maximum results … you've got to change your marketing on a monthly basis [or] even a weekly basis" based on what people care about now and what's happening in the news, he said.

But firms should not have to start from scratch each time they want to start a new campaign, he said, noting how important it is to have a strategy on the shelf you can pull out when you need it.

2020 So Far

Sofia also discussed findings based on data for the first six months of the year. There was a 42% decline in the performance of advisors' general educational content  on "evergreen" topics in the first half of the year, largely because of the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.

In stark contrast, the performance of timely content soared a whopping 370%, he noted. "Relevance is key," so don't rely on your normal marketing content during a crisis like this, he added.

In addition, he said, "producing great content is not enough."

It is a great idea to turn any video an advisor has posted on YouTube or elsewhere online into a "lead generation tool," such as by adding a form for people to submit questions to the advisor, he said.