The Problem:
Online Marketing for financial advisors is different and far more complex than general online marketing. Few businesses have the kind of restrictions financial advisors do.
The Business
An online marketing business that caters strictly to financial advisors. The business would be as much legal and compliance oriented as it would online marketing.
You don’t need to be excellent at one half and adequate at the other. You need to be top tier in both legal/compliance and online marketing to be the best online marketing firm for financial advisors.
True domination in both aspects would give the financial advisor a comfort that you could be solely relied on for both pieces and no extra monitoring would be required. This would lead to the advisor only doing business with your company.
Doableness
Online marketing is complex. I have been in online marketing since 2005. But it’s nothing compared to compliance and regulations for financial advisors marketing online. This business is doable for a small team that has both competencies.
My Thoughts
Large wirehouses (the Morgan Stanley Smith Barney’s of the world) may not be on their way out yet, but it will come eventually. They have extreme amounts of bloat, and don’t provide enough unique value. Wirehouse advisors are going to move to smaller, RIA (Registered Investment Advisor) shops. This will lead to the need to outsource a lot of the things the wirehouse was doing for them. Marketing and compliance is a big one.