As an asset manager, your content and digital assets have the power to work for you 24-hours a day, seven days a week. However, to reach and engage investment advisors today, you not only need to create valuable and thought-provoking content consistently, but you also need a distribution plan to ensure it finds the right prospects. 

When you have a capable team of marketing experts handling your digital advertising strategy, you’ll be able to develop relationships with new RIAs, retain and grow your assets under management, and become recognized as a trusted leader in the financial services industry. 

However, the challenge many asset managers face is determining if they need additional staff to execute their digital campaigns effectively. To help address that concern, it may help first to understand the core elements of digital marketing and the required skills for each.

Any time a company advertises or promotes its brand, products, or services using digital channels, it engages in digital advertising. This includes advertising on search engines, on your social media pages, or through your content promotion on any other online platform.

Asset managers wishing to boost their online visibility and grow their AUM must understand the three primary types of digital advertising strategies to optimize their ability to reach and engage investment advisors.

Paid Search

Every time an RIA searches for investment solutions or insights, they may encounter a variety of paid search ads. Since they are interested in a topic, ads related to their specific search are more likely to garner their attention. This makes paid search an attractive advertising option for many asset managers. Paid search is a very targeted and cost-efficient way of reaching advisors with content that specifically addresses the topics they are searching for.

Paid Social

While paid search targets prospects who already know what they want or need, paid social is more about boosting online visibility and building loyalty and trust. Paid social can also advertise a new investment or strategy, essentially introducing prospects to something they didn’t know they needed. As a result, it helps you elevate your brand and drive quality traffic.  Paid social includes ads placed on popular platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

Programmatic Campaigns

Programmatic advertising campaigns use technology to buy and sell advertising space across various platforms automatically. These campaigns provide a rich supply of data that allows you to focus on a particular audience. In most cases, programmatic campaigns are less expensive than other types of ad buying. And programmatic advertising allows you to efficiently optimize and target the right audience in real-time. 

The Skills Needed for Success

While there’s a time and place for each type of digital ad strategy, the results of your advertising campaigns will only be as effective as the ads you’ve created. You need eye-catching designs and professional copywriting to craft a successful digital ad. You’ll also need a comprehensive ad strategy and staff that understands the nuances of media buying. 

Many asset managers need to take this a step further, finding a specialist who knows the ins and outs of buying ad space targeting investment advisors who use private real estate and other alternative investments with their clients. That requires a unique skill set that combines specific industry knowledge with digital advertising acumen. 

Asset managers recognize it is virtually impossible to find a single individual with all of these skills. So, to effectively execute digital advertising campaigns, you need to either build an in-house digital marketing team or outsource this vital task to an experienced marketing agency that works explicitly with asset management firms.

Creating an In-House Digital Marketing Team 

To create your own in-house digital marketing team, you need several highly qualified individuals who can handle critical tasks, including:

• Strategy
• Search Engine Marketing Specialist
• Search Engine Optimization Specialist
• Graphic Design
• Copywriting
• Web Development
• Media Buying
• Reporting
• Analytics

Not only does it take time to find, hire, and train qualified candidates, but it can be expensive. The average cost to build out a team like this is well over $1 million. 

While some asset managers prefer to have their own internal teams managing digital marketing, many find that the time and expense required to build in-house expertise are too burdensome.  

The Benefits of Outsourcing Digital Marketing

There is a growing trend among asset managers to outsource their marketing. However, firms operating in the highly regulated financial services industry should recognize not all marketing agencies are created equal.

From correctly positioning investment products and services to understanding complex compliance and regulatory requirements, there are significant benefits to choosing an agency specializing in working with asset management firms.