Today, clients can find brokerage firms nationwide thanks to online marketing strategies. Investors don’t have to stick to the ‘big name’ brokerage firms because they can get to know a brokerage business by reviewing its website, reading its blogs, and following it on social media.
Because every broker has the same opportunities to attract clients, it’s important to know how to get clients as a brokerage firm that sets you apart from the competition. You must use creative ways to stand out from the many brokers competing for the same business you want.
How to Get Clients as a Brokerage Firm
There are many ways to attract the right brokerage clients as a brokerage firm, starting with narrowing your audience and understanding your target market. Next, you’ll build your brand, show your authority compared to other brokers, and tighten your content strategy to find the ideal investors and become a standout broker.
Consider your target client or the investor you provide reputable services for, and focus your marketing efforts there. You might have several target clients or demographics, and that’s okay. Just be sure to segment each audience into their demographics so your marketing efforts work.
If you’re ready to learn how to get clients as a brokerage firm, follow the ten steps below to leverage the growth opportunities and learn how to win clients.
Define Your Target Market
To have a successful brokerage firm, you must not waste time marketing to just any investors. Instead, you must narrow your target market and focus your marketing efforts on the audience that could help you get more dream clients.
The key is to know where your clients spend time, the types of investment products they want, what kinds of advertisements they respond to, and how they prefer to communicate so your firm can grow like other brokers.
Know the demographics of your target audience, where they spend time, what they like to do, and what type of information they need from financial advisors. Narrowing your audience and knowing how to communicate with them will help you get new brokerage clients and grow your business.
Build Your Brand and Presence
Your potential clients want to get to know you before they talk to you, so it’s your job to show you are a confident and trustworthy broker by providing relatable and relevant content online to establish credibility.
Most people will look online before deciding which brokerage firms to call to see if they are a good fit and to ensure they are trusted professionals. To find clients, you must use digital marketing, building a brand identity that viewers can identify with and remember when they need investment advice to create long-term success.
To build your brand and get more investors to trust you with their investments, you should:
- Have a professional brokerage firm website
- Be present and active on the social media platforms your audience uses
- Use proper SEO tactics to get your website and social media sites found at the top of the search results
Any marketing materials you create should have the same brand presence. This allows your audience to get familiar with you and to be able to recognize you whether they find your website, social media accounts, or a flyer in the mail.
Develop a Content Strategy
A content marketing strategy is the key to building relationships with your audience and sets you apart from other brokerage firms. As we said earlier, most people use the internet to research before reaching out to a new business. If they can’t find you online, it’s as if you don’t exist, whether you are an existing or brokerage firm, and it will be hard to get new clients.
However, this doesn’t mean slapping together a website or making sporadic social media posts, as it won’t help you find more clients.
You need tried-and-true methods that actively bring new clients. Your content marketing should have a strategy with relevant topics so you become the thought leader in the industry. A few ideas to include it in are:
- Create a brokerage firm blog – An up-to-date blog with current information helps potential clients find you. If your blog post contains relevant and helpful content, utilizes a keyword strategy, and uses creative strategies, you may show up on the first page of the search engines, increasing awareness of your brokerage firm. Your blog posts could be on anything from basic investing tips to complex topics that show you as a leader in the industry. The key is to offer a value proposition to your audience.
- Consider videos or podcasts – Consider implementing videos or podcasts into your content marketing strategy about financial literacy and investment topics your audience might need help understanding. Some people respond better to these materials than written blog posts, mainly to save time giving you another avenue to get clients.
- Network – Networking for brokerage firms means talking to anyone who comes into contact with individuals or business owners who could use your services. Connect with other professionals online on LinkedIn or Facebook and individuals on Instagram. Also, attend networking events to find potential clients who need help with investing to build your authority.
Engage With Your Target Audience
Many brokerage firms set up a social media page but don’t give it the attention it needs. They don’t engage with their followers to get new clients. To be a brokerage firm, you want to show that you are the expert your audience needs.
One of the best client engagement tips to get more clients is to give your social media pages a personal touch by showing behind-the-scenes footage or pictures of you getting involved with the community. Show your audience you are a real person who cares about your clients and the community, too.
The best way to do this is to interact with your audience. Most platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram make responding to comments or direct messages easy. This is another way to get personal, providing human interactions with your audience and letting them know you are responsive to their needs.
This is important for most people when choosing a brokerage firm because they want someone they know they can communicate with easily and who will be easy to work with while managing their portfolios.
Leverage Referrals
Referrals are one of the best ways to find future clients. You can get a successful referral from satisfied existing clients, other business owners, friends, family, word-of-mouth, and even social media. Never be afraid to ask for referrals.
- From satisfied clients – If you have happy clients, they will likely refer you to other investors. Create incentives for your current clients to provide referrals to their friends and family for your services and watch your client referrals increase.
- Business owners – Let business owners in the community know of your services so they can refer you to their clients. For example, commercial real estate brokers can refer clients looking to diversify their portfolios with other types of investments, as can banking professionals and other business owners.
- Friends and family members – Make sure everyone you know knows what you do and offer. You never know when they’ll come across someone who is a good fit for you and can refer them your way so you get a new client.
- Social media – Anyone can share social media posts, which will spread the word about your services without you trying. Create meaningful posts that people want to share, whether an existing client or someone who follows you, and you’ll get in front of a much larger audience without much effort and help you find new clients.
Network and Establish Relationships
The key to growing your client base is constantly networking. You can network online and in person if you attend networking events. In both areas, you want to create and maintain relationships. The key is to know your clients’ contact expectations and use that to your advantage.
Here are a few ways to reach more prospective clients:
- Cold calling – Even today, cold calling is a popular way to build a new brokerage firm business. If picking up the phone and making a cold call isn’t something you enjoy, focus your efforts on search engine optimization so your blog posts and other content marketing pieces reach the right individuals.
- Email marketing – Emails are the equivalent of cold outreach, but electronically. But just like you need a well-thought-out script for phone calls, your email marketing strategies must be strong to ensure your audience opens and engages with your emails. Just sending emails isn’t enough; without a strategy, they’ll likely end up in spam.
- Follow-up – Relationships aren’t built on one phone call or email. After the first contact with a potential client, you must keep up the relationship by following up. This doesn’t mean following up and asking for the sale. Instead, continue providing value to the prospective clients so you become a natural choice, and they choose you among the many successful brokerage firms available.
Utilize Targeted Advertising
The internet and social media make it easy to target your advertisements. It’s different from the old days, when you would create an ad to throw on the radio or TV and hope it eventually reached the ideal client. With paid ads, such as Facebook or Google ads, you can target the right demographics so only the people most interested in your services will see the advertisements.
You can also watch the analytics to see how your advertisements do, making changes to ensure the right audience sees your message.
Collaborate With Strategic Partners
Become the leader in a community, company, or anywhere else so you become the ‘go-to’ brokerage firm. For example, create partnerships with other local businesses you can collaborate with and help each other market.
The key is to build authority to show your audience you are the leader in the industry that will provide them with what they need.
Speak at Seminars and Industry Conferences
Take advantage of opportunities to speak at events and speaking opportunities to get in front of people within your demographic. Use the opportunity to show the value of what you offer without selling and providing free information. Provide sneak peeks of your services while providing valuable investing tips to your audience. You can also use this strategy online and offer a webinar to reach a larger audience and showcase your industry expertise.
Be Active in the Community
Community involvement is one of the best ways to show that you care about the people around you and that you aren’t just in business to make money, helping you get new leads. Attend as many local events as possible, offering free services, providing advice, getting your hands dirty, helping the community with a common problem or concern, and showing that you have common interests.
You can use the opportunities to volunteer your time or even offer free consultations to build relationships within the community. This works best when you join groups and get active in your community.
FAQs
How Do Brokerage Firms Prospect New Clients?
Brokerage firms have many ways to find potential clients, including email or content marketing, social media campaigns, and asking for referrals. The key to finding new clients is understanding your audience and who fits your target market best.
How Many Clients Should a Brokerage Firm Have?
Successful brokerage firms have 50 – 150 clients, but you can have more or less, depending on what you can handle and the type of clients you serve. The right number of clients for you may differ from that of other firms.
What Type of Feedback Should Brokerage Firms Seek From Clients?
The best information brokerage firms can get from current and past clients is constructive criticism. Find out what they love and what they wish could improve to help you provide the best services your audience wants.
What Are the Most Effective Ways to Market a Brokerage Firm’s Services?
There isn’t a one-size-fits-all way to market a brokerage firm’s services. The proper method depends on the target audience. However, most firms benefit from online marketing, including a solid content strategy and email and social media marketing.
What Platforms Should Brokerage Firms Use to Reach Potential Clients?
Most professionals find brokerage firm clients on LinkedIn and in Facebook groups, with Instagram also being a potential platform. Incorporating copywriting is essential for connecting with your audience effectively. Focusing on Google Ads can help you reach the right audience, so it’s vital to narrow your niche and understand where your target market spends their time.
Final Thoughts
Knowing how to get clients as a brokerage firm is important as the industry grows. The stronger your marketing tactics become, the easier it is to be the authoritative figure in the industry. The key is setting yourself apart from the others and showing value to your new clients to help them choose your firm over the competition.
