For decades, most of the wealth in the United States has been owed by baby boomers. But a great wealth transfer is underway, with $84 trillion expected to be passed down to younger generations by 2045 and $16 trillion in the next decade alone.
Gen X, millennials, and Gen Z will be the great beneficiaries of this wealth transfer. As these younger generations begin to accumulate more wealth, there is a major opportunity for financial advisors to engage with new types of clients. The financial advisors who thrive in the future will be the ones who successfully market to these younger generations now. Here are three tips for making your marketing efforts stand out.
Tap Into Your Existing Client Base
Why do 87 percent of Gen Xers and millennials choose not to continue with the same advisor as their parents? One reason may have to do with marketing — or the lack thereof.
For any advisor, client retention is key to a successful business. However, retaining clients can also breed complacency: If a family has been with you for decades, you may not feel the need to work as hard to keep their business year after year — especially when it comes to their children.
Your clients’ children represent a great marketing opportunity, though. For starters, there are large misconceptions among younger generations about financial planning topics. Take, for instance, the cost of life insurance. More than 50 percent of Gen Zers believe the annual cost of term life insurance is greater than $1,000. Forty percent of millennials think the same. (The average is closer to $160 a year.) As an advisor, use your connection to the family to help clear up misconceptions and explain all the benefits a financial advisor can offer.
How do you actually start the conversation? Here are three simple ideas:
- Develop educational materials for your clients’ children and share them with your clients.
- Hold a client-appreciation event and invite the whole family.
- Offer your existing clients a free one-on-one financial Q&A session with their children once they turn 18 years old.
Use Social Media Strategically
According to a report in Forbes, 79 percent of millennials and Gen Zers have gotten financial advice from social media. As any marketing executive knows, meeting people where they’re at is paramount.
One challenge for advisors is that the social networks favored by younger generations usually aren’t the ones advisors are most familiar with. In 2022, for instance, TikTok was nearly as popular as LinkedIn as a source of financial information. Additionally, nearly 60 percent of people say they use YouTube as a source of financial info.
TikTok and YouTube are two of the fastest-growing social networks and key places where younger generations get their information. Consider devising marketing campaigns that might work for these platforms. One possibility: Start a video series combating misconceptions about financial matters — for example, the price of life insurance.
Check Your Digital Footprint
Your website is key to your marketing strategy. The goal of any successful marketing effort is to create engagement with your brand and website.
To make sure you’re maximizing your website’s potential, consider this checklist:
- Review how your website looks on a mobile device. Younger people are much more likely to browse on their phones than on a computer.
- Maximize your Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Practice searching financial terms on Google and see if your webpage shows up on the first page of the results.
- Create regular content. Not only will this engage prospective clients and build your brand, but it will also improve your SEO — boosting your visibility online.
Marketing to new, younger clients doesn’t have to be daunting. With these steps, you can help grow your business and ensure that when the next generation is ready to hire a financial advisor, you will be top of mind.