Open almost any advisor’s social feed, and you’ll find polished content saying essentially the same thing. Market updates. Retirement checklists. A reminder that it’s never too early to plan.
The words change. The message doesn’t.
For years, that was mostly harmless. Generic content took time to produce, so there was less of it, and showing up consistently was enough to stand out a little.
That’s no longer true.
Content got cheap. Attention didn’t.
AI tools can now write a clean, compliant-sounding post in seconds. Every advisor, every broker-dealer and every marketing vendor has access to the same tools, trained on the same material and producing the same kind of message.
The result is a flood of content that sounds competent and says almost nothing. Your prospects have adjusted the way anyone would. They scroll past all of it.
The cost of generic marketing hasn’t gone away. It has moved. You used to pay for it in hours. Now you pay for it in attention you never get, from prospects who never learn why you’re different.
More content isn’t the answer to generic content.
When marketing isn’t producing results, the natural response is to do more: more posts, a newsletter, a new vendor, a better-looking website.
Any one of those might be right for your business. Or it might be exactly the wrong move. Posting more generic content just adds to the pile you’re trying to rise above.
The advisors who break through aren’t the ones producing the most. They’re the ones whose marketing couldn’t have come from anyone else.
What specific looks like
A real marketing strategy for financial advisors starts before a single post is written. It starts with three questions most advisors have never answered in writing.
- Who, exactly, do you want to serve? “Business owners” and “pre-retirees” are categories, not clients. Your best clients have something in common beyond their age or their assets: a situation, a worry, a way of making decisions. That’s who your marketing should speak to.
- What sets your business apart? Most advisors know they’re different. Most struggle to say how. “We really care” isn’t a difference, because everyone says it. The real difference is usually something you do so naturally you’ve stopped noticing it.
- What do you want to be known for? Not everything you do. The one thing a referral partner should say when your name comes up.
Once those answers exist, everything downstream gets easier. Your content has a point of view. Your referral partners know who to send. Prospects arrive having already decided you understand people like them.
The window is open now
Here’s the part that matters most for independent advisors. Generic content has never been cheaper or faster to produce, and it will only get more so. That makes a specific, recognizable voice more valuable every month.
The advisors who invest in that voice now will own their niche for the next decade. The ones who don’t will spend it competing on price.
You don’t need to know which tactic is right before you start. In fact, it’s better if you don’t. Start with the business: your clients, your market, your capacity and your goals. Then decide what your marketing needs to do.
That’s where strategy starts.
Julie Mullarkey works with independent financial advisors and RIAs on marketing strategy, positioning and growth. If this raised questions about your own practice, start the conversation.