When I meet with asset managers, one of the first things I ask is if their websites generate leads. And almost universally, the response I get is, “no, our site wasn’t built to produce leads.” I tell them why that’s unfortunate because properly designed, an asset manager’s website should be its number one wholesaler working 24 hours/day, 7 days a week.

Signals, Not Leads

Rather than thinking of your site’s ability to create leads, it should be built to provide signals. For example, your site should track a prospective advisor’s onsite activity, capture nuggets of information from their actions, and tell you where they are in their discovery process and what they are interested in. With those insights, you can provide signals to your wholesaling team that empowers them to know precisely when and with what message to engage with that advisor.

Website Roadblocks

Since asset managers often invest heavily in their corporate websites, they should recognize their sites should play an essential role in helping their distribution teams raise assets. A corporate site is about far more than extending a brand or serving as a corporate brochure. Your site must become the cornerstone of a digital distribution strategy, and this is where I see many firms needing to catch up. 

If you are having trouble increasing your website traffic and engaging with prospective advisors, you might be constrained by one or all of the following roadblocks I often encounter.

1. Your website is not engineered for conversions

• You haven’t identified precisely who you’re trying to reach
• You haven’t created a journey for your prospects that builds relationships 
• You haven’t optimized for search engines
• You haven’t gated your premium content acquire registrations

2. You don’t have the right content 

• Your content only talks about your firm and your products
• You’re not answering questions your prospects need answers to 
• You are not helping solve your prospects’ problems
• You’re writing in off-putting industry jargon

3. You are not measuring and analyzing any of your traffic 

• You are not looking to see how you are performing 
• You don’t know what’s working (if anything) and what is not
• You’re not measuring, analyzing, and refining

Build for Conversions

Don’t be discouraged if any of the abovementioned shortcomings look familiar to you. You don’t need to rebuild your website to attract prospects and generate leads. Start by creating a single conversion path. Here’s an example of how a conversion path works:

• An advisor sees a post on LinkedIn that you just published an article on  your website 
• The advisor clicks through and reads your article on your website’s blog
• The advisor then clicks a call-to-action on your post and is directed to a landing page describing an eBook on private real estate and inflation
• The advisor completes a short form to download your eBook and is directed to a thank you page where he receives your offer. 
• The advisor has now converted and, more importantly, has signaled to your sales team that they have a potential need.  Your sales team now leverages this action to begin a dialogue with your prospective client.
• If this is an advisor your team has met with previously but not had follow-up communication with, the advisor’s action of downloading your eBook signals that they are still educating themselves and are following your firm.  
• Your team can now use this signal to follow up with a specific and tailored message.  For example, highlight something in the eBook that the advisor should pay particular attention to (even more powerful if you can tie that back to something you know about the advisor from previous conversations) and let them know that they can call you with any questions.

Simple Steps to Get Started

• Write 2-3 blog articles on a topic you are confident will interest your intended audience. Include a CTA to download an offer (eBook, etc.) you have created on a similar topic
• Gate the offer behind a landing page
• Amplify your blog articles and drive traffic to your site using SEO, email, organic social, and paid advertising 
• Measure your results, analyze them, and modify them (if necessary). Then, repeat the process with other content.

For a closer look at how this lead generation model works in a digital distribution strategy, register for our Digital Distribution Video Series for Asset Managers.