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While some find themselves ending up in a career as a financial advisor by circumstance, Jed Levene was always interested in the financial industry. With 17 years’ of experience, he now leads his company, Rockwater Wealth Management, to provide goal-based financial planning from three locations in Ontario, Canada: Orillia, Parry Sound and Barrie.
Jed spoke to me about how he saw the business grow since going online, and how his website with Advisor Websites has helped him expand his firm’s digital marketing presence to better engage with his target audience and capture more leads.
It goes without saying that a website for any business is a must-have in this COVID era as businesses that rely on strong customer relationships are transforming from predominantly in-person interactions to mostly online communications. A good site is especially important for referrals as it is the first stop for many people when deciding between competitors in any industry.
Jed explains further, “In the world we're in now, even just being able to see our picture and read our biography on the website is more important than ever. And it's not something I probably would have given a lot of thought to prior to all of this.”
Since March 2020, Rockwater Wealth Management has brought on a significant number of new clients that the firm hasn’t even met in person. Individuals are now much more accustomed and comfortable maintaining remote relationships, indicating that financial advisors are no longer competing within just their local city, but potentially their own state/province or even nationally. A website that stands out from the crowd is a big advantage.
On top of being an online brochure for referrals, Jed says his website has evolved to become a valuable engagement tool, providing access to clients to view their online statements, perform a quick calculation or read an article on emerging financial trends.
Jed has found that the contact form on his AW website is being used much more than the one on his previous site, and is proving valuable not just for potential clients. He says, “people no longer use address books or search for your business card, even existing clients will Google you just to get your contact info.”
Therefore, it’s very important to provide clients with a quick and easy way to contact you on your website. Rockwater Wealth Management is using two contact forms, one for general purposes and a second form targeted at subscribing to their newsletter.
If you have something valuable to offer, like newsletter content, having a lead-capture form dedicated to it can be highly effective and provides much more incentive for a hesitant prospect to enter their contact information.
One of the most impactful features Jed and his team is utilizing is videos. Not only does Rockwater Wealth Management have effective, tone-setting video elements on their website homepage, but they’ve also created a custom video explaining their firm’s process, which can be found after clicking on the homepage’s first CTA.
Jed always sends this video to prospective clients to help them get a better feel for the firm and to know what to expect if they work together. It saves the team time not having to conduct one-on-one meetings with every prospect when some of them may not be a good fit for the firm.
A fantastic benefit of this practice is that Jed is effectively sending visitors back to the website to access the orientation video, driving up site traffic and helping to boost SEO scores.
We asked Jed why he trusted Advisor Websites to build his site and digital presence, and here’s what he had to say:
“Because you can have people who are good at building websites and people who are good at marketing and people who know a lot about the advisor industry. But to have that all in a one-stop shop was very important because we didn't want to have to liaise between three parties with the hopes that the end product was a good mix of each of their individual influences. We just wanted one point of contact to get the whole job done.”
If you are still on our older Legacy platform, and would like to make the switch to Force in order to take advantage of all the benefits, please book a time to chat with us.