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67 (And Growing) Financial Advisor Niches: Yourself Apart from Your Competitors

By Maria | January 29, 2013

growthEYBI didn’t intend to write an article about niches for financial advisors.

However, when I went looking on the web for a list, I couldn’t find one! Amazing! Why? Years ago, when I examined the history of niche marketing, the information available suggested that this strategy originated in the financial sector!

You may remember a time when you banked at a commercial bank if you were a business, and a personal bank if you weren’t a business. You didn’t go to the personal bank if you wanted a business loan and you didn’t go to the commercial bank if you wanted a residential mortgage. Or maybe you remember a time when brokerage firms were either institutional or retail.

Looking at Niches
Niches are very broad segments of the population. They can be categorized by general characteristics such as an occupation, a passion/hobby, or by the type of service consumed. In many cases, the categories overlap. A niche has nothing to do with who can afford to pay you what you’re worth–that’s Step 2 and it involves creating an ideal client profile.

Below is a list of potential niches for financial advisors. Did I miss your niche? What would you add to the list? If you own a niched website post yours in the comment area of this blog for me to review.

General Population Characteristics

 

Passion/Hobby

 

Type of Service Consumed

 

Niched Website Examples:

While looking for niched websites, I came across one that listed age groups from 20 to 70, along with descriptions of the services offered to each age group.  That is not a niched website.  Most financial advisors’ websites aren’t niched.  Below are a few that have used niches to their advantage:

Brian Plain works with executives and business owners. The two niches that can be combined into one- top level executives.

Kelly Guncheon works with socially responsible individuals. April Rudin of The Rudkin Group submitted Russ Thornton’s website. Russ works with women throughout the divorce process and beyond.  The style, words, and photographs of Kelly’s and Russ’s websites clearly define their client niches.

© 2012 Elevating Your Business.  Maria Marsala is a Business Coach to Financial Advisors.  She helps independent and fee-based financial firms systematize their business processes, master marketing, multiply the bottom line, and increase free time.  Maria has been published in Financial Planning Magazine, Advisor Max, Dow Jones, The Street, Entrepreneur Magazine, and numerous other trade journals and magazines.  If you liked this article, you’ll enjoy Maria’s complimentary newsletter.   Subscribe athttp://www.ElevatingYourBusiness.com

 

 

 

DON’T HAVE AN NICHE YET? NOT SURE WHAT DIRECTION TO GO INTO?

Discover how creating a niche and ideal client profile can help you accelerate the growth of your business.  Attend our f.r.ee seminar, 24/7,  sponsored by BrightTalk, visit http://www.marketingwithintegrity.com/?p=3229

(c) 2012 Elevating Your Business, Maria Marsala, Coach to Financial Advisors

 

 

Topics: Ideal Clients | 4 Comments »

Note from Maria

  • Adrian Kidd

    very useful ideas and been giving them thought recently with a view to marketing it in Jan 2013!

  • http://www.ElevatingYourBusiness.com/ Maria Marsala

    Adrian,

    Glad that you found this list to be helpful.  So often prospects call me because the wanto figure out ways to market or create a plan so that they can earn more money, but what we do first is take a look a their niche and ideal client first.  Then we base their plans and marketing efforts on that client only. 

    Since you are looking into this issue, and I presume it’s cousin issue (how to find ideal client within a niche or even the niche you’re currently in), you might enjoy:

    These articles on the subject:  http://www.marketingwithintegrity.com/?cat=26
    The free webinar in January;  http://www.marketingwithintegrity.com/?p=3229

    Maria

  • Pingback: Do you have a niched website I can use as an example? |

  • http://www.wealthcareforwomen.com/ Russ Thornton

    Thanks for the mention and including my website as an example of a niche market. Glad April pointed you in my direction.