Millennials are the largest generation in America with around 80 million consumers spending 200 billion dollars just this year. According to research by the Pew Research Center, the Millennial population is projected to peak at 81.1 million by 2036 and by 2050 there will be a projected 79.2 million Millennials.
Considered the most diverse generation ever, Millennials appear in every social class and have a wide range of lifestyles. Tech-savvy and well educated, Millennials grew up in a world where the line between the virtual and the tangible became thinner than ever before.
The average age of financial advisors in the U.S. is 50.9 years and 43% are older than 55, according to Cerulli Associates, and most aren’t keeping up with the technological changes required to attract the business of newer generations. Traditional marketing techniques like cold calling, direct mail, newspaper/magazine ads, and even referrals are proving ineffective with Millennials.
Here are 4 tips to help financial advisors engage Millennials more effectively.
1. Share your knowledge upfront
Millennials expect honesty and authenticity from the start. The only way to gain their trust is to be transparent and provide real, actionable advice. The knowledge and expertise you gathered over the years is your biggest asset, and you need to use it in your lead-capturing efforts.
Start by Identifying common problems that affect Millennials and how your expertise can help solve them. Create articles, white papers, fact sheets, and checklists that address these issues and offer them freely or in exchange for basic contact information.
Be specific and focus on one issue at a time. Don’t try to solve multiple problems by providing a myriad of services in one single engagement piece. Be truthful. Millennials are the most educated generation ever and they will do their research before believing you.
One of the defining traits of Millennials is that sharing is an intrinsic value to them. Share meaningful and valuable content with them, and they will make sure it gets shared within their own network.
2. Create meaningful experiences that deliver instant value
Another characteristic that defines Millennials is the need for instant results. If you still expect your potential clients to reach out to you on business days, from 8 to 5, on your landline, then you are going to have a hard time growing you Millennial client portfolio.
Make sure that your lead capture content can be consumed easily and quickly. Each engagement piece should take no more than five minutes to go through. At this point, the goal is to provide enough value to determine if you are someone they want to invest more time in.
A great way to provide instant gratification is with self-discovery and self-improvement tools to your leads. Surveys, Quizzes, and Voting Polls create a sense of inclusion with Millennials and allow them to discover new information about themselves.
Be conversational and use your personality when creating this type of content. It’s important to remember that there’s a person interacting with the content. Be professional, but don’t use overly formal language.
3. Take a mobile first approach
A recent study from B2X shows that around 25% of Millennials spend at least 5 hours each day using their smartphones, and 85% of all smartphone users have it within reach at all times. It is paramount that your Lead Capture efforts take a mobile first approach.
While optimizing your website for mobile devices is a good start, you should not stop there. Make sure that all of your engagement pieces are mobile-friendly. Stay away from spreadsheets, word documents, and all other media that requires a big screen and a mouse to work with. Focus on simple and responsive content that can be consumed on the go and using a small tactile screen.
And lastly, use the same tools that Millennials are familiar with. They rarely use mobile phones to make phone calls, so you need to share your engagement pieces using the same channels they use. Social networks, blogs, text messages, chat apps, and email are the way to get in touch with Millennials.
4. Make use of social media
Almost 30% of all the internet usage in the U.S. is spent on social networking. If you don’t have active profiles in several social networks, you’re missing out. A study by Putnam Investments revealed that 81% of financial advisors are using social media for business with LinkedIn as their preferred network, followed by Facebook and Twitter.
While these numbers are encouraging, most advisors don’t understand how to use their lead-capture content together with their social media profiles.
It’s not enough for potential prospects to just see you on social media. You need to implement a process to guide them through your content and make them engage with you. Having clear call to actions for your engagement pieces will help potential clients navigate away from the social network and onto your website, where an offer they can’t refuse is waiting for them.
Social networks are also a great way to gather feedback from your current clients and to share it with everyone in your network — with no effort from your part. Just make sure you keep your current clients happy and the feedback they provide on social media will become a great source of new prospects.
The bottom line
Millennial earning power continues to grow and financial advisors can’t ignore it if they wish to stay relevant over the long term. They need transform the way they do business with the help of technology and the Internet.
The younger generation wants connection, trust, and transparent relationships. With the right message, and the right tools, financial advisors can secure their share of the 20 trillion dollar in net worth projected for the Millennial generation by 2030.
