If your business isn’t growing, it’s dying. It may take a while, but the result will inevitably be its demise.

Now flip that. Businesses that are growing also tend to be thriving. Because they’re not only growing the bottom line, but they’re also filled with excitement and enthusiasm, which in turn attracts new business.  

Getting your firm into growth mode — or shifting it into overdrive if you’re already growing — is the key to your firm’s long-term survival. There are several things you can do to make that happen.

Begin by asking yourself, “How are we different?” You may know what sets your firm apart from the rest of the pack, but you can’t assume everyone else does. Especially new clients. Put yourself in their shoes. What is it about us that would make new clients want to take a second look? Only by conducting an internal inventory will you come up with the answers, and what you uncover just may surprise you.

Next, ask yourself this: “Who is our customer?” Again, it sounds easy, right? But the more closely you examine that question, the more you will discover. For instance, if you answer your clients are typically in the 50-75 age range, that reveals an urgent need to supplement your customer base with younger investors. Here’s another example: If you find your clients come largely from a few professions, such as attorneys and doctors, you need to expand your marketing efforts. Countless other groups from teachers to truck drivers make prime prospective clients. But you have to go after them.

Also, keep in mind the importance of staying on the lookout for niche markets. This growth area is frequently overlooked by financial advisors and their marketers. Say you come to find you have a certain knack for working with people within a specific group, such as Millennials in the tech field. Great! Take all the targeted knowledge, insights, and understanding you have gained and use it to reach new clients in the same arena. 

Support these new strategies by creating a vibrant online presence. The internet has grown from being a toybox to an essential toolbox. Your social media profile is your new business card. It’s also your entree to the entire world. Financial advisors are no longer limited to one geographic location. With social media, you can now attract customers from Manhattan to Moose Jaw.

But to make those connections, you must make sure your social media presence shines. Expand beyond your company’s website and engage people on peer-to-peer social media platforms such as Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter.     

Once that presence is established, be sure to add to it by creating useful content to engage your newfound audience. Make it substantive and creative, yet still approachable to the average person. Writing news articles, magazine feature pieces, and even social media and blog posts not only establishes you as a recognized authority in your field, but it also causes people to take interest in you, which then leads to some of them becoming new clients. (Though you’ll want to do it in measured amounts. A little self-promotion makes you look like an enthusiastic go-getter; do too much, and you risk coming off as a self-promoting grandstander. 

I could write another ten pages on this topic. The opportunities for marketing both your firm and you as a wealth management professional are endless. In fact, thanks to the social media revolution, there has never been a better time for getting the word out. You no longer have to depend on a high-dollar marketing agency to launch a glitzy campaign; you can do it all yourself on your phone and laptop.

But you have to do it. The world won’t beat a path to your firm’s door unless it knows your firm exists.  

So, what are you waiting for?