Step-by-Step Niche Marketing (for Financial Advisors)

Few people have been creating in the personal finance space as long as Carl.

And this week, he shared a gem about niche marketing that I wanted to expand on:

If you haven't found your niche yet, take some time to reflect on the first two questions. Then consider how much you charge per client and how much you want to make as an advisor.

If I had to guess, no matter what niche you pick and how narrow you go, there are 100 people in America who could benefit from (and pay for) your service.

2) "Research the problem" - Interview 10 people with your chosen problem. They don’t even have to have the problem; they could serve those who do (e.g., accountants or business consultants). Ask good questions and put in the work. Ask questions not with a view to answering them for one particular client but for scaling that answer to a whole group of clients.

I've never taken the step of interviewing people, but I consume a lot of people's opinions and thoughts on social media. I follow a lot of freelancers and when I see something about finance, I might use their post as inspiration to write a blog post, or reply to them offering help.

3) "Notice Patterns" - Record your conversations! Play them back and look for patterns. How do these people speak? What do they speak about?

Similiar to the previous point, if you see people in your niche talking about the same problem, do everything you can to help solve it.

Write a blog post, alter your service offering, host a seminar.

At AllStreet we noticed a lot of business owner and equity comp clients needing tax assistance, so we hired a tax person and expanded our offering.

We also made a new eBook and added it to our home page:

4) "Change your marketing to reflect what you’re learning. - This includes changing your LinkedIn subtitle so it doesn’t read “Financial Advisor” but something relevant to your niche, like “Helping optometrists purposefully plan their personal, professional, and financial life.”

Once you figure out who you provide value to, don't be afraid to start branding yourself in that manner. It can feel weird at first but if you lean into it, it just becomes what you're known for online.

5) Make it easy to share your work. - Tailor your content to where your target market hangs out, such as LinkedIn or Instagram. Leave comments on LinkedIn groups as well as post original content. When all other commenters are members of your niche, they’ll be intrigued to see regular comments (with links to helpful content) from a financial planner. Consistency is key. If you put up something specific every few days for a year, you’ll be amazed at how word spreads.

I love the last two sentences of this point. If you're consistent and intentional with where you're putting your message, it's bound to pay off.

6) Create artifacts - Artifacts (such as a white paper or a book) are a great way to stay in your target market’s minds when you’re not there. It's something physical that can be left in places your niche hangs out!

Within my own work, my artifact is Freelance Finances Made Simple. I wrote a 67-page eBook about everything someone needs to know getting started with money management:

I would also consider Converting Attn: Club to be an "artifact". It's a website that can be easily shared and anyone can start using the resources & getting value.

What kind of artifact could you create for your target audience?