While convinced that digital marketing is an essential tool for developing advisor relationships today and driving new business, many asset managers remain uncertain about their digital efforts' effectiveness.

For one thing, digital marketing is forever changing, and simply keeping pace with new platforms and strategies can paralyze an in-house marketing team. Also, many firms struggle with measuring the success of their digital campaigns or knowing where to make improvements.

But despite these concerns, few would argue that digital marketing isn't essential. So, how do you gain the confidence that your digital strategies deliver the results you need? Fortunately, there are best practices you can put in place right away to help ensure you're getting the return on investment you expect.

1: Who, What, and Where

Know exactly who you are trying to reach, engage, and convince to do business with you. We call this a persona in industry jargon, a fictional characterization of your ideal client. Also, know what is troubling your persona or what answers or solutions they seek. And then know where to reach them. Are they on search engines, podcasts, or social platforms?

Your digital marketing program can move into high gear once you have thoroughly and accurately answered the who/what/where questions.

2: Create Compelling Content

You have heard the phrase, content is king, which has been attributed to a comment Bill Gates made in 1996. Those words hold true today as content is the fuel that drives your digital marketing. As mentioned, once you know the questions your persona is asking and the solutions they are looking for, you know what type of content to create.

Make sure your content is relevant, engaging, and memorable, and ensure that you provide it in many different formats, including eBooks, blogs, infographics, videos, and webinars.

Provide your content in different formats and across multiple platforms

3: It's More Than Email

Email marketing may be the digital strategy of choice by many asset management firms aiming to generate more leads and business among investment advisors. And while it can prove to be effective when used in a very targeted manner, don't forget to complement your email campaigns with other online strategies.

Digital advertising on search engines and social media and organic search engine optimization (SEO) are potent methods of raising your awareness among prospective advisors who may not be familiar with your firm or your investment solutions. Effective digital marketing uses all these tools.

4: Your Website is the Journey

The epicenter of digital marketing, your website should be designed to attract visitors, inspire them to download a piece of content in exchange for their contact information and keep them returning so you can nurture relationships over time.

This is the process by which asset managers earn trust among advisors. It can't be rushed, and it can't be forced. By constructing your website so that prospects take their journey of discovery at their own pace, you create the opportunity to build relationships digitally.

5: Unite Sales and Marketing

Growing your asset management business today requires seamless and selfless sales and marketing integration, traditionally two departments that haven't gotten along well.

Data insights now inform and equip sales professionals to be laser-focused in targeting prospective advisors. Similarly, marketers benefit from digital intelligence so that content and messaging are crafted in a personalized manner that advisors demand. Sales and marketing teams are highly dependent on each other in digital marketing, so any previous barriers need to come down.

6: Measure and Optimize

Digital marketing strategies can be tracked, measured, and evaluated in ways traditional marketing efforts never could. Every step of a digital campaign can be assessed for effectiveness and optimized so that ongoing programs generate improving results. Indeed, continuous improvement is what makes digital marketing such a valuable strategy.

Every step of a digital campaign can be assessed for effectiveness

There are other components of digital marketing we haven't touched on here. Still, if you concentrate your efforts on refining these six elements of your digital strategy and making frequent adjustments and improvements to your programs, you should begin to experience the successes your campaigns were always designed to deliver.