FAQs
We have a highly talented team of marketing specialists who serve as our clients’ out-sourced marketing department. Our AMG team includes a chief marketing officer/marketing strategist who leads the charge in developing a strategic marketing plan – and oversees its implementation on behalf of our clients. The real value of using our team for your marketing efforts is that our experts are at the top of their game for each marketing specialty; including, but not limited to, marketing strategy, website development, graphic design, content development, social media management, marketing technology support, search engine optimization (SEO) and digital marketing expertise. Our clients have access to all of this high-level expertise at a fraction of the price of one full-time, in-house marketing professional.
The most common way we charge our clients is by a monthly retainer. The amount for each client’s monthly retainer varies based on the size of their firm, their firm’s specific growth goals and their budget. In general, our out-sourced marketing retainers can vary from $2,500 per month to $10,000 per month depending on their needs, goals, bandwidth and budget. We also do project work for our clients (i.e. website development, brand development and pitch book creation projects.) For project-based work, we provide our clients with an estimate prior to engagement.
Our founder, Kristy Gusick, got her start in the financial services industry in 1994. At that time, she worked for a regional manager within an independent broker/dealer where she helped recruit and launch new advisors, conduct compliance reviews, transition captive advisors, manage client accounts and support senior sales leaders. She then moved on to launch a successful financial advisory firm from scratch, which she successfully sold to another advisor in 2005. After that, Kristy discovered what she loved most about her work: growing a business and helping others do the same. This realization led her to start helping financial services firms with their marketing and business development in 2007. Along the way, in addition to working with financial advisory firms, Kristy and her team began working with accounting firms. Financial advisors and accounting professionals often work hand in hand with each other to provide high level service to their mutual clients, so working with these two industries was a natural fit. All of our team members have a deep level of experience and knowledge around the specific nuances for both financial advisory firms and accounting firms.
Yes. We are always building new websites or refreshing existing websites for our clients. Whether our clients are on a marketing retainer or simply hiring us for a single, one-off website project, we excel at creating “cutting edge conservative” (some are more conservative and some lean more cutting edge) websites which showcase our client’s value and expertise. We have a team of marketing strategists, project managers, website developers, ghostwriters, graphic designers and SEO specialists who we leverage all the time on behalf of our clients’ needs. In today’s digital marketplace, it’s essential to be findable online as well as provide your website visitors with a fabulous first impression on your site – that’s what we love doing for our clients!
Yes, we have several highly experienced copywriters who excel at translating our clients’ highly technical thought leadership expertise into down to earth, easy to read, digestible content. They write web copy, ghostwrite blog posts, craft bios, develop sales materials, write scripts for videos as well as various other copywriting projects as needed. They are also extremely talented at taking feedback from our clients and crafting it into language that reflects our client’s own “voice.” And they are used to working with very busy professionals, so our writers know how to be efficient with their time when interviewing clients during the ghostwriting process.
Determining the return on investment of marketing initiatives is a constant challenge. Not every marketing initiative will directly result in a new client. However, each initiative should have a measurable result such as media impressions, click rates, increased referrals, or social media metrics. We have several ways of reviewing and measuring success, although we’ve found it may take a while to see real, measurable results from a solid marketing plan that is consistently providing long-term, sustainable results (i.e. 12-18 months). However, we take baseline measurements right out of the gate to help us all track results. Here are some examples of the most commonly-tracked items that we review with our clients on a quarterly basis:
- SEO reports and analytics
- Social media analytics
- Blogs created
- Web content written
- Marketing training and/or individual BD coaching meetings conducted
- Digital communications produced and sent (opened, bounced, clicked and opted out)
- Leads/prospects generated (and tracking where they came from)
- New clients obtained
- Website updates completed
- Networking/COI meetings attended
- Marketing pieces developed
- Client, prospect and COI feedback (verbal, written, digital)
- Compliance communication efficiency
The time our clients spend with us varies. We have several clients that have been with us for many years. These clients have found that using us as their outsourced marketing department really works for them. However, we also have clients who greatly appreciate having us create the strategic marketing plan and then assist in getting that plan off the ground at their firm. With these clients, we often work in partnership to either hire an internal marketing person to take over their marketing efforts – or have us train an existing staff member to take over. Lastly, we have some clients who look to us for project help creating a new brand, building a new website or designing sales materials for them.
Absolutely! Part of our unique value is the creation of a strategic marketing plan for our clients AND overseeing the implementation of their plan as well. We have a very talented group of marketing strategists who lead the development of our clients’ marketing plan – and they also serve as the marketing leader to ensure our team of marketing professionals implements each part of the plan as it progresses. On-going implementation is definitely our sweet spot and something our team really excels in doing.
We are always in regular contact with our clients. Every month we facilitate a marketing meeting with our clients. During these meetings, we have an agenda created to guide updates on their on-going marketing initiatives. We also ask for our client’s input, feedback and comments on the work we are doing because we believe working in partnership and receiving client feedback is essential to our success. We provide ongoing telephone and email support for our clients throughout the month.
Absolutely! We truly enjoy partnering with our clients’ internal administrative and marketing staff members. In fact, we have formed some extremely rewarding relationships with some of our clients’ internal team members – even helping those individuals develop greater skills and confidence to take on even more marketing responsibilities over time. We find a lot of satisfaction in empowering others, so this type of partnership is a mutual fit for us and for our clients.
Yes, we have worked with several different types of compliance departments from LPL’s compliance to specific compliance specialists within one of our RIA firm clients. Sometime our clients ask us to communicate directly with their compliance department and other times, they just want us to provide the content or marketing piece to them so they can submit it for compliance review. Each client is a little different; therefore, our team has learned to be flexible and meet each client’s individual compliance needs.
Yes, this typically happens during the audit and planning process. We will do a deep dive to assess what your past, current and potential future target market looks like. With that said, sometimes new potential target markets arise as we are working together. Target markets should become more refined as time goes on if your marketing is doing its job. We base our recommendations on the information you provide us around your current client base, your past client experience and your aspirational future clients. We also conduct our own research into your competitive landscape and your potential opportunities within a proposed niche.
Will you build out lead generation opportunities? (events, webinars, funnels, email campaigns, etc.)
Yes, if lead generation is determined to be a business goal of your firm. Marketing as a rule needs to support the firm’s overall strategic business goals, so if aggressive growth is one of your 1, 3, 5 year goals, then we will absolutely be working with you to build-out strategic lead generation marketing campaigns to support growth.
Yes we do – and we highly recommend it for all of our clients. We generally do not recommend paid per click ads for our clients, but rather we implement strategic organic, content-based SEO on behalf of our clients. Organic SEO requires more strategy up front to clearly understand your target A-level prospects, so our SEO and content development team can know what type of keywords / phrases your target prospects use in their searches. While organic SEO produces higher level, targeted and qualified website leads, organic SEO also requires more patience. A high-level SEO engagement generally takes anywhere from 8-16 months to produce high quality leads however, once the “faucet” is turned on, our clients generally experience a high number of incoming, quality prospects through their websites. (Feel free to ask us about our SEO success stories!)
SEO is not a “one and done” effort. It’s an ongoing strategy that is continuously evolving and growing. Paid SEO will typically have a more immediate result. Organic SEO is achieved over time. SEO success is based around specific keyword performance and the traffic they generate to a website. We set goals in ranking for a business’s 4-5 most important terms. Once we have reached these goals and the website is ranking well, we move onto another set of terms. It can take up to 6 -12 months to rank well depending on competition, local saturation of the market, and the value of the keyword itself.
Yes, and we really enjoy it! For our clients who desire to develop their confidence and knowledge with marketing and business development skills, we have a full line-up of marketing training programs. We also do individual coaching for professionals who are looking to accelerate their personal business development efforts. In addition, we work with clients to create individual marketing plans for their professionals who want to develop, implement, and have accountability around their marketing efforts.
A brilliant firm message is the basic core differentiator of your brand. It helps to build awareness and convey meaning. Every interaction you and/or your team has with a client, prospect or referral source is an important opportunity to solidify your firm’s brand. Because of this, it’s especially crucial to ensure your brand is strong, consistant and differentiated. Let our team help you define and communicate your firm’s brand message.
Yes, AMG has created pitchbooks for many of our financial services clients. Our design and content team will create these materials to be as unique as your firm. We will work with you to design everything you need – from a customized pitchbook to a branded marketing PDF referral piece. Once you have approved the content and designs, we will send you digital and print ready files.
A solid brand image can build your firm’s reputation, make you stand out from the competition and project your values to attract your ideal client. To help you create or refresh your firm’s brand image, we look at your firm’s current graphic personality and work with you to create a new, fresh brand identity that provides a visual reflection of the value your firm provides its clients. This branding initiative will set up your firm for years to come!
Yes, AMG has named countless firms and has a tried and true process that works. A brilliant firm name requires thought, time and research. We can help you and your team find a name that represents you and your firm.