Social media and networking: How advisers market their business

Victor Sacks, director of VS Associates is another adviser who chooses to lean into content creation as a means of marketing his business. 

Sacks set up his business in 2016 and initially focused on traditional media like local papers, radio and leaflets but got “absolutely nothing” from this approach after two years. 

Instead, Sacks now focuses on face-to-face networking and online marketing to reach new clients. 

He also posts regular videos to his Youtube channel in a series called ‘Fridge Talks’ where he breaks down finance for the average consumer. 

“I love it, it’s a great bit of fun. I accept that there are people out there who might say ‘oh, I don’t want to deal with him, I want someone quiet and reserved’, and that’s great.

“My website very much lays out who I work with: business owners, the self-employed and start up businesses. Amazingly I don’t have anyone over 75 as a client, so it suits my business” Sacks said. 

Demand for advice

The recent turmoil in financial markets has pushed mortgages, pensions, gilts and swap rates to the top of the news agenda, triggering panic across the general public. 

But these uncertain times are leading clients to contact their adviser.

For example, Bishop said in one week alone his firm saw inbound calls jump 400 per cent.

“When things go wrong, financial advisers are very, very busy,” he told FTAdviser. 

“The huge irony with financial planning or independent financial advice is when you're in a bull market, clients couldn't care less.

“There were some rather ‘click-baity’ headlines that came out about pensions. So you can imagine the phone calls we got, not just from our clients,” Bishop said.

“It's when things are going well, or it's perceived that the markets are doing well, that your clients are very lackadaisical. And you've got to really push them. I mean, you can offer some of them a free review, and they won't even take it.”

The gasps from the audience just tell you that the knowledge gap between what we know and what consumers know, is huge Martin Stewart, London Money

The same rings true for the mortgage industry. 

Earlier this month, a clip of an audience member on question time went viral. 

The woman in question relayed how she had a lender pull a 4.5 per cent mortgage offer and tell her that the best she could get was now 10.5 per cent, eliciting gasps from the audience.