Let’s be honest: most independent advisors treat marketing like I treated TikTok for years—some strange dance you watch from a distance and hope never becomes your problem. But here’s the truth: if you’re not making strategic marketing investments, you’re not just missing opportunities… you’re discounting your business’s future value.
When my kids were little, they decided to set up a lemonade stand at the end of our driveway. They were excited, dressed in matching aprons, with a homemade sign, a pitcher of lemonade, and wildly ambitious dreams of turning a profit. There was just one problem: no one showed up. They waited, and waited… and waited.
Turns out, having a product—even a decent one—isn’t enough if no one knows you exist. After a few hours, the only ‘sales’ they made were to me, and I already paid for groceries. That was their first real lesson in business: if you don’t have eyeballs on your offer, you won’t have customers. And in the world of advisory firms, that lesson still holds. Marketing is how you get noticed. Without it, your incredible service and thoughtful planning are like lemonade on a deserted road—no matter how good it is, no one’s stopping to try it.
Unfortunately, too many advisors are still winging it. They think having a website from 2012 and occasionally sending out email blasts qualifies as a “digital strategy.”
Meanwhile, private equity-backed RIAs are building entire media arms. Wirehouses have brand budgets bigger than your whole AUM. And the average independent?
They’re spending just 2.1% of revenue on marketing, according to the 2023 InvestmentNews Advisor Marketing Study. That’s not strategy—that’s an afterthought.
If you’re not showing up, your future buyers won’t either. They’re asking hard questions now: Is there a repeatable client acquisition engine? Is this a brand, or just a one-man band with a logo and a Gmail address? Is there organic growth, or does everything depend on the founder’s charm and Rolodex?
The firms that get premium multiples don’t just have revenue—they have visibility. They’re on podcasts. They’re on YouTube. They have funnels, follow-up automations, niche positioning, and a marketing function that doesn’t begin and end with a Mailchimp account.
So what’s in it for you? Everything. Marketing isn’t a vanity project—it’s enterprise infrastructure. When it’s running well, your brand builds trust before you say a word. It pre-sells. It pre-frames. And it drives clients to you, not the other way around.
Here’s your homework: Treat marketing the same way you treat compliance or portfolio management. As a discipline. As a system. As a must-have. If you don’t have a strategy, get one. If you don’t have help, hire it because the advisors who will win the future are the ones building a brand today.
Remember: Marketing means multiplication. Of leads. Of value. Of opportunity. Or you can stay invisible—and let the firms with a plan collect the clients (and the multiples) you were hoping for.
Build the engine. Build the value. And maybe—just maybe—you’ll get your weekends back too.
At Financial Gravity, we don’t view marketing as a nice-to-have—it’s foundational infrastructure. For advisors aiming to grow with velocity and build lasting enterprise value, marketing must be engineered, not improvised. This is especially true when it comes to educational seminar marketing, which—when executed at an agency level—has the power to fill rooms, generate qualified demand, and convert interest into assets under management.
That’s why we take a Done-For-You approach. Our turnkey seminar system delivers high-converting dinner events without draining advisor bandwidth. We handle everything—from targeting and advertising, to logistics, scripting, branding, and deliverables—so you can stay focused on high-value conversations and client outcomes. Most seminars reach full capacity or waitlist status within days, proving the model works when executed with precision.
But we don’t stop at seminars. Our ongoing monthly campaigns function as a full-service marketing agency behind the curtain—keeping you consistently visible to prospects, centers of influence, and client networks. This ensures that when advanced planning or multi-family office services become top-of-mind, you are the name they already trust.
If you want to grow faster, serve deeper, and stay focused on what you do best, you need marketing infrastructure that’s as professional as the services you provide. That’s what we deliver.
If you’re ready to stop winging it and start building marketing systems that drive growth, scale, and enterprise value, let’s talk. Schedule a complimentary strategy session today to discover how Financial Gravity helps advisors attract ideal clients, stay visible, and command premium multiples when the time is right.
