How to Choose Your Niche Within Financial Advising So You Can Reach More People
If you’ve ever researched strategies to effectively market your financial advising services online, you’ve probably come across this advice at some point:
Choose a specific niche
Know your target audience
Create an ideal customer profile
Develop an ideal client avatar
Whichever term you come across, they all point to one thing: having a clear understanding of the people you want to help. Why is this advice so popular?
Because if you try to reach everyone, you’re unlikely to connect with those who could benefit from your financial expertise the most.
While many people can benefit from having an expert financial planner on their side, who are you most likely to resonate with based on where they are in their life? And who do you want to specialize in being able to serve more consistently?
Many financial advisors face the challenge of being afraid to niche down when offering their services online. I’ve been there myself – afraid that niching down would limit my potential reach. But here’s what I discovered: niching down has actually helped me make a much greater impact. It allows me to understand and serve my audience (financial professionals) on a much deeper level.
Benefits of Niching Down as a Financial Advisor
The most common misconception about niching down is that it limits who you can serve with your financial advisory services. This is not true!
When you niche down, you’re simply directing your marketing efforts toward a set of people you can easily focus on helping. Other like-minded individuals will be drawn to your services naturally – and you’ll never have to turn anyone away as long as they meet your criteria or investment minimums, if you have any.
Here’s how niche marketing in the financial advisory world benefits both you and the clients you’re trying to help:
1) Save Time with a More Focused Message
Having a niche saves you time, effort, and frustration in your marketing because you no longer have to try to speak to everyone.
When you know the clients you want to connect with, you can do your research. Learn where they hang out online – and be there too. Discover the financial challenges they’re facing and show them how your services will help solve these issues.
You can address their pain points more specifically because you know what they’re going through. This allows you to connect with them on a deeper level with the language you use throughout your website, social media, blogs, or emails.
2) Market Yourself More Authentically
When you connect with a niche that you feel passionate about helping or have special knowledge about, your natural enthusiasm shines through. Clients can sense that passion and will be naturally drawn to working with you.
You won’t have to worry about saying the “wrong thing” or coming off as “salesy” because you can simply be yourself with this audience. This is the foundation of a more mindful and honest marketing approach.
When you niche down, you’ll know that there are people out there who are asking the kinds of financial questions only you can answer and that when you build trust with them through your customer journey, they will be ready to work with you. When you try to make your message generic, you might miss out on reaching these clients because they’re unsure if your services are the right fit for their financial needs.
3) Solve Their Financial Challenges More Effectively
When you understand what most of your target audience struggles with, you can provide more specific and tailored strategies to help them overcome their financial challenges.
Think about it from your own perspective. If you were a business owner and needed help with taxes, wouldn’t you rather hire an accountant who specializes in working with business owners rather than someone who works with everyone?
This specialization allows the accountant to understand the complexities of running a business and provide personalized advice.
Offering financial planning, investment strategies, or retirement advice through your practice is similar. Imagine a physician who is on the verge of retirement and is seeking financial advice. Do you think they’d rather work with an advisor who has experience helping other doctors or one who serves a more generalized client base?
How to Choose Your Niche in Financial Advising
So how do you figure out what niche to focus on to grow your financial advising practice? Here are a few ideas to help you get started:
1. Consider Your Career and Past Work Experience
Did you have a career before you became a financial advisor?
Whatever field you were in, think about others in that profession who may need help with their financial planning. How could your services best address their specific needs?
For example, if you worked in the legal profession, you may know firsthand the stress that comes with high student loans and the complexity of tax planning and planning for retirement. Your niche could be lawyers who need help planning their financial future.
2. Consider Related and Shared Demographics
Are you a parent? Do you identify as part of the LGBTQ community? Are you passionate about serving a particular age group, such as millennials or retirees?
If you relate well to people who share similar characteristics or backgrounds, consider how you could market your services to these groups.
In addition, you may have values that differentiate you from other advisors, such as sustainability, ethical investing, or a focus on helping people plan their charitable giving.
Don’t worry – you can still be inclusive when you pick a niche of people to market to. You’re not turning anyone away. What you’re doing is focusing your message on one group whom you understand best.
Think of it like this: if a doctor specializes in knee surgery and markets to people needing knee surgery, he’s not discriminating against others who have heart problems. He’s simply focusing his expertise in a way that best helps his specific group.
3. Consider How You’ve Helped Clients Turn Challenges into Strengths
Has your financial guidance helped a specific group of people overcome pressing financial planning challenges?
Maybe you’ve helped dozens or hundreds of business owners plan for retirement successfully, or helped many millennials navigate a complex inheritance situation.
Other people that fall into those groups and are still facing those same challenges could greatly benefit from your experience in helping people just like them.
Creating lead magnets, case studies, and pages on your website that explain the challenges that you’ve helped these people overcome can help showcase your expertise and increase the level of trust that people feel when considering your financial advisory services.
Use Your Niche in Financial Advising to Simplify Your Marketing
Whenever you write content for your website or social media, put yourself in your ideal client’s shoes. Use specific examples they can relate to. When you do this, you will connect with them on a much deeper level – and they’ll be more likely to trust you with their financial future.
If you’re not sure which niche to focus on, you can also speak to a financial advisor marketing consultant and fractional CMO who is a CFP and has experience in the financial industry in addition to marketing expertise that has helped advisors grow their business. Click here to schedule a call.