Marketing & Markets: Insights from our Partners at Virtual Innovate

This week, nearly 600 independent financial advisors joined Stonewood for our Virtual Innovate Summit conference. 

(If you missed this online training, watch this blog space next week for an opportunity to still access all the learning!)

A highlight of the training? Deep-dive sessions on marketing and the markets that our top partners shared. Miss the insights? Here’s a quick recap:

Automated Webinars | Generate Leads While You Focus on Business

Don’t have time to host webinars in addition to your other marketing efforts? Want to expand your marketing footprint? Prefer to have other experts do the presenting for you? 

Automated Webinars are for you. 

Keith Cooper with RA Marketing shared the tremendous success advisors are having with automated webinars. Some of the highlights: 

• Going on vacation this summer? An automated webinar can keep your marketing efforts going while you’re away. Continue generating leads - even while you’re at the beach. 
• Looking to expand your footprint? Automated webinars allow you to reach savers anywhere in the United States - and then meet with them virtually. 
• Top topics that convert? In 2025, that would be taxes and guaranteed income messages. 

If you’re ready to automate your lead gen, connect with RA Marketing.

Lead Gen with LinkedIn | Nurturing Your Connections into Clients

Ready for a great insight from Tyson Bailey at Trained Advisor? 

Information alone doesn’t move clients — connection does. 

Most advisors have a LinkedIn presence. But for all their posting, they’re often not converting their LinkedIn connections to clients. Here were Tyson’s top insights to improve conversion: 

• Your LinkedIn profile should make you look like an industry thought-leader, not a financial salesperson. Make sure your profile is optimized to attract leads.
• Letting prospects opt in to free resources will help move them from LinkedIn connections to CRM database prospects. The top-converting resources? Physical books (may we suggest one of these), guides, webinar invites, and self-evaluation tools (like Retirement Tax Bill).
• You can automate your LinkedIn messages and outreach. Remember, it takes multiple touchpoints for trust to be built and for a prospect to engage, so stay consistent and work with proven message sequences. 

If you’re ready to put your LinkedIn connections to work, reach out to Trained Advisor.

Mastering the Markets | Building Your AUM (assets under management) Business

Today’s fastest-growing advisor practices are incorporating AUM into their business models. But how do you get started - and once you’re started, how do you optimize your services and stand out in your community? 

Joe Casey, with AUM Navigator, wrote the playbook and shared it with attendees. My biggest takeaways: 

• Don’t overlook opportunities in your existing book of business. Growing AUM doesn’t always require new leads, especially if you can identify value gaps in existing client plans.
• Surround yourself with mentors. Investing in your own knowledge is the most effective way to tactically manage your clients’ assets without changing third-party managers of RIAs - and will help you develop skills to invest and trade the markets. 
• An effective AUM strategy is one of the best ways to attract higher-net-worth clients. It’s not just how you manage funds but how you communicate what makes you special that can be your biggest differentiator. 

If you’re looking to increase your AUM knowledge, tools, and connections, Joe and the team atCatalyst Wealth Coaching can help.  

Putting it to Work

The best part of a training conference comes after the event - when advisors get the opportunity to put all that learning to work. 

If you’re ready to grow your practice this year, Stonewood is ready to help. Learn more about our software, lead gen, and training here. 

And as I said - watch this space next Friday for a special offer giving you access to more Virtual Innovate insights and learning!