Podcast

Ep 166: The Shift to Personalized Marketing in the Financial Industry with Robert Sofia

- Matt Reiner

In this episode of Bridging the Gap, Matt Reiner and Robert Sofia cover an interesting side of our industry of innovative marketing strategies and technological advancements. They emphasize the importance of measuring marketing effectiveness using metrics like CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost), LTV (Lifetime Value), MQLs (Marketing Qualified Leads), and SQLs (Sales Qualified Leads). They highlight tools such as Snappy Kraken for comprehensive campaign tracking to ensure compliance and avoid fragmented efforts.

The discussion jumps into how different content types build trust and foster client relationships, ranking in-person interactions highest, followed by voice, video, and text. Advisors are encouraged to incorporate video into their strategies to build trust and connect better with clients, with practice and coaching to overcome initial discomfort. Robert advises advisors to target specific audiences to enhance lead quality and strengthen marketing magnets, as this focused approach can significantly improve marketing efforts.

The episode concludes with insights on how technology, private equity, and evolving client expectations are driving changes in the industry, necessitating advisors to adapt and innovate. By understanding the ROI of marketing activities and making data-informed decisions, advisors can boost their marketing efficacy and drive business growth. This episode is filled with interesting facts on how to better incorporate marketing strategies to enhance your firm!

Timestamps From This Episode
 
[12:01] Many advisors are content with slow business growth due to lifestyle satisfaction, market growth, and minimal marketing efforts. However, competition demands innovation and staying on the bleeding edge to avoid being overtaken.
 
[29:21] Monitoring audience growth from different marketing channels. Tracking conversion rates to evaluate effectiveness.
 
[35:17] Sustained, effective decision-making is crucial for successful business operations. It’s important to recognize the uniqueness of a product when considering promotion. The experience of transitioning from an old CRM to Salesforce serves as a valuable lesson, highlighting the necessity of investing time and expertise for a smooth transition. This principle applies to acquiring necessary resources, such as hiring the right people, rather than piecemeal solutions
 
[39:50] Video builds trust and expertise for advisors by allowing viewers to make an immediate connection and recognize their knowledge. It emphasizes the importance of being a good communicator to build trust, regardless of physical appearance.
 
[41:38] In the context of video content creation, it’s crucial to master the combination of voice, text, and visuals. Many advisors find it challenging to transition their in-person communication skills to video. The key lies in authenticity and being true to oneself, as scripted and overly polished content can backfire. Embracing the real self is essential, even though not everyone will resonate with it. The challenge is for advisors to develop this authenticity and appeal through video content.
 

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Subscribe, rate, and review Bridging The Gap here.   About the Show

Bridging the Gap is a financial podcast hosted by CEO Matt Reiner focused on bringing together leaders from the finance and the technology industries to focus on innovating the financial services industry.

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Host

Matt Reiner, CFA, CFP®

I’ve been fortunate to be around the wealth management business for over 25 years. Along with this, I’m also the CEO of a tech startup. These experiences have given me a bird’s eye view of both the technology and financial services spaces.
Guest

Robert Sofia , Chief Executive Officer & Co-founder of Snappy Kraken

Robert Sofia is one of three founders and serves as Chief Executive Officer, overseeing the company’s strategic direction and enterprise relationships. Robert possesses a unique blend of sales, marketing, and creative ability paired with financial industry experience. He excels at leading specialized teams, engineering financial marketing programs, and managing complex projects.

“It has been my privilege to serve solo advisers, growing practices, RIAs, family offices, BDs, GAs, BGAs, custodians, investment companies, and insurance companies. On average, my work has driven annual growth of 609% per year for the organizations I have operated or supported. This track record is something I am very proud of and that requires support from a diverse team of designers, developers, marketers, writers and project managers. I only work with top talent.”

Prior to founding Snappy Kraken with Angel and Brad, Robert was co-founder and COO for Platinum Advisor Strategies where he grew company sales over 6,000% between 2009 and 2016. Along the way, he served as Vice President for Fross & Fross Financial, Vice President of Marketing for Cebert Wealth Management Group, and Director of Business Development for Ford Motor Company. Robert has received numerous awards for his work including the INC 500, INC 5,000, Agency 100, Power 30 Under 30, and others. He has authored three books — two of which were bestsellers — and written about marketing for many national publications and financial industry journals including Forbes, INC Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, FOX Business, The Huffington Post, Business Insider, Investment News, Financial Planning, Wealth Management, ThinkAdvisor, Investment Advisor, Registered Rep, and many more. Robert is also an award-winning public speaker who has keynoted conferences for world-renowned companies including Ford Motor, Adobe, TD Ameritrade, and Prudential.