Traditionally, OSJs have been known for their regulatory services, ensuring financial advisors comply with industry rules and regulations and providing supervisory functions for independent financial professionals. Today, the role of the OSJ has expanded far beyond its compliance and supervisory responsibilities.
As the OSJ model has evolved, it’s changed how independent financial professionals can approach their marketing efforts, including new client engagements and business growth. Today, OSJs offer compliance oversight and supervision services, marketing support, business development strategies, technology solutions, networking opportunities, and succession planning for independent financial professionals.
It’s safe to say that OSJs play a pivotal role in shaping marketing for financial professionals, which we’ll discuss in this blog.
Embracing Digital Marketing
While the advent of the Internet caused significant disruption to how many industries marketed their services, the financial advice industry was slow to adapt due to the business practices of hundreds of thousands of financial advisors, registered representatives, and insurance agents. They still used Outbound Marketing tactics when other industries shifted to digital and inbound marketing, which depended on investors initiating contact without the benefit of social media or other online advertising.
Covid-19 was also a game changer as many financial advisors couldn’t meet with leads and prospects face-to-face. They had to rely on their websites, social media, or email marketing to serve as their “digital greeters.” If they had limited or no online visibility and/or their websites were outdated and not engagement-friendly, this put them at a disadvantage to other advisors who used digital marketing to position themselves online.
As an independent financial professional, embracing digital marketing is crucial to increasing your visibility and website traffic while establishing yourself as a subject matter expert on financial-related topics.
Personalization and Client Engagement
Investors no longer engage with communications that are irrelevant to them or their financial situations.
Today’s sophisticated technology platforms make personalization critical for client engagement and retention efforts. Your future clients prefer financial advisors who work with clients like themselves. They believe this specialized expertise will benefit them.
OSJs are responding to the Inbound Marketing trend by offering marketing support emphasizing personalized communication and client relationship management (CRM) tools. These tools enable you to maintain detailed client profiles, track interactions, and deliver customized content and advice. By leveraging data analytics, you can gain insights into client behaviors and preferences, allowing you to launch more targeted marketing strategies.
Educational Content
Another significant aspect of OSJ marketing support is the focus on educational content. In an industry often clouded by complexity, mystery, and jargon, your clients appreciate straightforward, informative content that helps them easily understand financial concepts and solutions.
An OSJ can assist in positioning you as a thought leader in your field by reviewing educational content, such as blog posts, newsletters, eBooks, webinars, and whitepapers. This helps build trust and credibility with potential and existing clients and enhances your reputation as an expert.
Networking and Collaboration Opportunities
As an independent financial professional, you don’t have to feel alone working in a vacuum. An OSJ serves as an excellent source for you to network with other independent financial professionals like yourself.
Networking is a powerful tool for business development in the financial advisory sector. Think of it as collaboration with like-minded professionals. A quality OSJ provides many avenues and opportunities for you to share best practices with other independent financial professionals.
This could be through conferences, seminars, online forums, or informal meet-ups.
These networking opportunities foster a sense of community among you and your peers and facilitate the exchange of innovative marketing strategies and client engagement techniques.
Collaboration can lead to new business opportunities and partnerships, further expanding a financial advisor’s new business opportunities.
Navigating Regulatory Compliance
While marketing is crucial for business growth, it must be balanced with strict adherence to industry regulations and standards. This is where the traditional role of an OSJ as a compliance office seamlessly integrates with the financial advisors’ evolving marketing support services.
The OSJ ensures that all marketing materials and strategies comply with industry regulations, protecting financial advisors’ businesses from potential legal consequences.
Tailored Support for Niche Markets
As you look for ways to differentiate yourself, one avenue to consider is targeting niche markets that require specialized knowledge and tailored marketing approaches.
Maybe your goal is to connect with doctors, small business owners, pre-retirees, early retirees, or women investors. This is another way that an OSJ can provide you with marketing support. An OSJ can provide you with niche market data and research tools that can assist you in identifying and targeting specific market segments more effectively, creating marketing campaigns that resonate with your desired audience while helping you stand out in a competitive marketplace.
Training and Development Opportunities
An OSJ can provide training and development programs focused on marketing and client communication. These services help you to stay current with the latest trends in financial marketing, digital communication strategies, and client engagement techniques.
About Evolution Financial Advisors
When Evolution Financial Advisors opened its doors, we set our sights on building a unique and improved journey for independent finance professionals like yourself. Our vision was shaped by five key pillars: independence, focus, personalized service, a sense of belonging, and top-notch business standards.
These pillars are the heartbeat of our mission, guiding us as we support you in pursuing your goals.
- Independence: From day one, we’ve offered stellar back-office support for those who run their firms, providing financial advice to individuals, families, and small businesses. We firmly believe that financial professionals, free from conflicts of interest, are in the best position to pursue their clients’ financial goals.
- Focus: We get it—being an independent financial professional means wearing many hats, which can make growing and managing your business challenging. That’s where Evolution Financial Advisors steps in to reduce that burden with outstanding client services, allowing you to concentrate on expanding your client base and serving your existing clients.
- Personalized Service: Since inception, we knew there was an opportunity to elevate the level of service for independent financial professionals, and we knew there had to be a better way to provide the support they needed to pursue their goals, including:
- Smoother transitions
- Cutting-edge technology
- Marketing assistance
- Detailed reporting
- Compliance support
- Community: Being independent doesn’t mean you’re on your own. Learning and growth often come from sharing experiences with others. That’s why we host networking events and family-friendly gatherings year-round. We believe in the power of a supportive community for you, your team, and your family.
- Best-In-Class Practices: You deserve a partner who brings nothing but the best operational practices to the table, practices that make your advisory firm more competitive. We’re committed to integrating the latest and greatest, including regulatory best practices, into everything we do for you and your team. This helps you add new clients and enhances the services you provide to your current clients.
Ready to learn more about our services? Let’s connect for an introductory call.
