Digital Marketing Plan Examples for Financial Advisors

Executing a digital marketing plan takes a lot of work and patience. Part of the difficulty lies in the fact that digital marketing is so broad and encompasses many facets. A large portion of it includes social media, email marketing, and creating an optimized website–but it can also include sending text messages, networking online, writing ebooks, as well as other actions.

‍Your digital marketing plan comes down to deciding whom you’re going to target (based on demographics, lifestyles, or other factors), connecting with them as much as possible, and measuring results on an ongoing basis so you can adjust your plan as needed.

Before you can execute your plan, you will need to define your mission statement, marketing objectives, target audience, and budget.

Examples of Mission Statements

‍Any marketing plan should begin with your company’s mission statement. A mission statement is a sentence or short paragraph that describes the purpose of your organization. This statement should convey your core values, goals, and vision.

To discover your mission statement, ask yourself the following questions:

What do we offer?
Whom do we serve?
Why do we do it?

Mission statements are meant to inspire others as well as define your brand. A poor example of a mission statement for a financial advisor would be, “To capture more leads in order to increase revenue.” A much better one would be “To empower others to establish financial freedom” or “To motivate others to take control of their financial well-being.”

Marketing Objective Examples Using SWOT and S.M.A.R.T

You can begin figuring out your marketing objectives by conducting a SWOT analysis, which stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Strengths and weaknesses are the pros and cons that you possess individually in terms of your work, as well as those of your business as a whole. Opportunities and threats are external factors that exist within your industry. Conducting a SWOT analysis will give you a general idea of what your marketing objectives should be.

You can then turn these ideas into an actionable plan by using the S.M.A.R.T. method. S.M.A.R.T. stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based. Each goal must meet these five criteria in order for it to be effective.

‍For example, stating that you want more clients is too general. If you state that you want X number of new clients by the end of the year, however, that goal is more specific, measurable, and time-based. Any goal you make should also be relevant–meaning it pertains and adds value to your business–and realistically attainable.

Examples of Marketing to Different Target Audiences

As the saying goes, if you try to market to everyone, you will end up marketing to no one. Before executing any digital marketing plan, you will need to define your target audience.

You can start the process by conducting some market research. Some factors you’ll want to look at are the groups your competitors are targeting, consumer trends, possible demographic sizes, and growth potential. You’ll want to factor in your own background and interests as well. For example, you may decide to target professionals in the medical industry because you previously worked in that field.

As a financial advisor, you may wish to target more than one group, such as young couples and near-retirees. Keep in mind that each group will have it’s own life factors, beliefs, and habits. You should, therefore, create separate buyer personas for each segment you’re targeting and adjust your content accordingly. This means you will need separate social media, ad, and email campaigns. You may also want to create separate landing pages on your website.

For example, you could create one batch of social media posts geared toward young couples and another one for near-retirees. Each of these sets of posts could link to separate landing pages with content specifically tailored to them. You could apply the same method for your email marketing campaigns.

Segmenting populations means more work. It can, however, produce a greater ROI than an all-encompassing digital marketing strategy. Segmenting populations–and then creating targeted messages specifically for each of those groups–has been proven to be more effective than generalized messages.

Digital Marketing Budget Examples

You will need to come up with a digital marketing budget in terms of both time and money. Two ways to do this are to divide your budget by digital tool or by population segments. Below are some examples of how to create your plan using each method.

By Digital Marketing Tool

Besides crafting messages that resonate with your target audience, you also have to choose how these messages get delivered. In the digital marketing world, the four most popular delivery methods are social media posts, emails, ads, and articles. This isn’t all inclusive, however. Networking online, sending text messages, or being a guest on a podcast are just some of the other digital marketing tools you can use in your plan. ‍

When creating your budget, you can divide your expenses by percentages. Here is an example of what this might look like:

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By Population Segments

This type of marketing budget is only relevant if you are targeting more than one group. Let’s say, for example, that you decide you want to equally target both executives and small business owners. Some costs will apply to your overall marketing expenses and are not specific to either group, such as website hosting and maintenance and analytics tools. This would be shared costs.

Your digital marketing plan for these two groups, plus the shared costs, might look something like this:

Shared costs=30% of total budget

10% web hosting and maintenance

10% analytics tools

5% social media tools

5% email marketing tools

Marketing tailored for executives=35% of total budget

10% custom social media posts

10% online ads

5% outsourced articles

10% outsourced digital newsletter

Marketing for small business owners=35% of total budget

10% custom social media posts

5% online ads

10% outsourced articles

10% outsourced digital newsletter

Of course, you’ll want a way to keep track of your budget each month. You can use an online tool, like the ones by Hubspot or Google Workspace, to do this.

A financial budget doesn’t include the amount of time that will be involved in executing an effective strategy. Digital marketing can be very time-consuming so it’s important to find the right digital tools to help automate the process.

Automation can help you reach more prospects and maintain your relationships with clients while simultaneously growing your firm. TIFIN Content is here to help you streamline your digital marketing plan. We create and distribute social media and email content that is tailored to your target audience and marketing objectives.