The majority of advice practices have a marketing plan but less than a quarter believe the plan to be effective, a new survey has found.
The findings are part of a series of surveys called SLICE, which ask advisers to share their views on a broad range of hot button topics relating to practices’ efficiency, profitability and viability. The latest SLICE survey focuses on financial planners’ marketing strategies.
83% of advisers surveyed said they had a marketing plan to assist in attracting new clients and maintaining existing relationships. Of those with a marketing strategy in place, 53% said it had opened up new opportunities, but 44% were unsure whether the new business opportunities arose as a direct result of having a plan.
Further, when asked to rank the effectiveness of their marketing strategy, less than a quarter of advisers rated their plan highly. Out of a scale of 0-10, with 1 being ‘not effective at all’ and 10 being ‘extremely effective’, only 22% of advisers scored their marketing strategy 8 or above. The majority (44%) rated their plan a 7, while 6% ranked their strategy at 3.
…there was a surprisingly wide variation in the sophistication of their processes
But despite a perceived lack of results, the majority of advisers did not seek outside support when building their marketing plan. 73% of those with a plan said they had developed it alone or with their business partner. When external input was sought in the creation of the marketing strategy, it was mostly from practice development managers employed by the licensee (47%) and business coaches (33%).
Susan Rochester, Director of Balance at Work, who co-authored the survey with Peter Dawson of the Dawson Partnership, said that while there was a strong focus from advisers on developing a structured marketing plan, many were unsure how to measure the effectiveness of their strategy.
“Although the majority of respondents say they track the effectiveness of their marketing via a range of means, there was a surprisingly wide variation in the sophistication of their processes. While some follow a process where all leads are tracked, monitored and the source identified, then report on results regularly to see what is working and what is a waste of time, others have very little in place,” Ms Rochester said.
