Master different web channels to attract customers

How should advisors innovate their approach to financial advising in a digital age? This question was the focus of a panel entitled Advising in a digital era: How to stay ahead of the curve, which took place on Dec. 5, 2024 in Toronto, at the Canada Sales Congress.

You need to know who your ideal customer is - Angelina Hung

National Best Practice Leader for Desjardins Group, Reh Bhanji moderated this three-panel session by throwing out the first question to Angelina Hung, principal, Financial Tech Tools: how should advisors innovate their approach to financial advising in a digital age?

“You need to know who your ideal customer is,” answers Hung. Financial Tech Tools provides financial advisors with digital marketing strategies to help them grow their business. It also provides them with investment and personal insurance content, including blogs.

Once the ideal customer has been identified, she believes the advisor must ensure that his or her website remains up to date. This is the first of what Hung calls the four pillars of financial services in the digital age. She cited a LIMRA report which found that 73% of consumers are willing to learn about life insurance and other financial products online. This statistic comes from LIMRA's 2024 Insurance Barometer Study.

The four pillars of financial services in the digital age, according to Angelina Hung:

• Pillar number 1: Have an up-to-date website 
• Pillar number 2: The industry has a lead magnet that positions you as a trusted advisor. 
• Pillar number 3: You need to reach out to your prospects and clients on a regular basis, e.g. through e-mail newsletters. 
• Pillar 4: Make sure that you’re posting relevant content to your ideal client on social medias. 

Shawn Bellefeuille is a Certified Financial Planner with Desjardins Financial Security Independent Network (DFSIN), the non-Quebec arm of SFL Wealth Management, and head of Retirement by Design in Ontario. He specializes in life and health insurance through DFSIN, and in group savings through the brokerage, Desjardins Financial Security Investments.

Before the pandemic (of COVID-19), we went out to meet people. Today, they find us - Shawn Bellefeuille

Reh Bhanji asked him how his organization has distinguished itself in the omnichannel digital age. Bellefeuille says he's had to reinvent his practice. “Before the (COVID-19) pandemic, we needed to find the people. Now, people are finding us. We’re adding value, education, concepts and showing who we are as a team,” explains Bellefeuille.

He says he achieved this shift by launching a series of podcasts on sports and leisure and a book entitled The Pursuit of Retirement. A website and webinars round out the customer acquisition pipeline. “That adds credibility, giving a little more education to people that can check out who we are before they come and meet with us.” 

Bellefeuille says this approach fits in with his company's core values and identity. “We thought it was an easy conversation to have with people that are similar to us, because as we all know, typically our clientele all resemble us to a certain extent, by their age and interests. I’m a pickleball player and there’s a lot of people playing pickleball,” he says. Pickleball is a racket sport that can be played indoors or outdoors.

Retirement by Design's podcasts allow him to talk to customers about more than just tax and regulations, Bellefeuille points out. For example, they'll get advice from a trainer on how to play sports safely. For Bellefeuille, it's a way of telling people that the company isn't just trying to sell them something.

Boosting response rates  

Brent Swatuk, regional vice president, Ontario & Atlantic, Desjardins Insurance, sees podcasts as an excellent way for advisors to build their reputation. Rej Bhanji asked him how they could be used in niche marketing. 

Swatuk illustrated this by transforming the old adage that it's not what you know, but who you know that's important. He notes that since the advent of digital, what's important is no longer who you know, but who knows you. “Who can you impact? Which problem can you solve and who would you solve that for? The biggest thing is figuring out who you want to go after,” he says.

Determining this, he explains, will enable you to establish a strategy to better understand the target audience's way of thinking and core values. At that point, it becomes easy to set up a process that will get those ideal customers from point A to point B.

E-mail marketing has a higher response rate than anything else that you're doing - Brent Swatuk

Swatuk contends that in the age of social networking, getting the word out will bring those people who know you into the process. He recommends email newsletters. “E-mail marketing has a higher response rate than anything else that you're doing,” he maintains. All the big marketing agencies do e-mail marketing, he underlines. Understanding what customers are thinking accelerates click-through rates. Track and measure all your (e-mail marketing) activities, he says. 

Added value and trust 

Angelina Hung believes that the advisor must develop trust in three stages on the Web: at the prospect stage, at the customer stage and at the stage beyond the customer. “When the prospect becomes a client, the other part of it is making sure you deliver on what you promised,” she says. Then it's time to communicate with customers by e-mail or send them relevant information on social networks, she adds.

It's beyond the stage where the prospect becomes a customer that the time comes to ask for referrals, according to her. “That’s when you are starting a referral campaign. You start to ask for testimonials on a regular consistent basis,” says Hung. She suggests e-mail or other digital means, but stresses the importance of picking up the phone. “This is huge!”

Choose your path  

According to Shawn Bellefeuille, advisors must choose their own path, even in the digital world. “Don’t try to be everything for everybody. That doesn’t work and it’s exhausting. You’re giving your time and energy, not being able to help people on that deep level,” he says.

Bellefeuille also urges advisors to find their passion. “Ours is retirement planning. The story we hear about people that want to retire are so cool. That’s how I heard about pickle-ball. Now, you can’t get me out of the court. Find how they want to spend their time, what are their vacation plans… those hopes and dreams conversations with clients are amazing.”