Marketing support geared toward developing product knowledge generally had a more significant impact on an advisor’s business than it did on client acquisition or retention. This trend was strongest when the marketing support took the form of printed materials: Close to half of advisors (45%) said printed materials affected their product knowledge “very much,” relative to just one in four (26%) who reported the same impact on client acquisition and one in five (21%) for client retention. Marketing support in the form of website materials showed a similar pattern favoring product knowledge, but in general, fewer advisors reported that websites impacted their business “very much.”
Click to EnlargePerhaps not surprisingly, support in the form of general familiarity with an investment firm’s brand affected advisors’ practices differently. Slightly more advisors reported that brand awareness of an investment firm had a real impact on client acquisition (34%) and client retention (28%) than on product knowledge (26%). The biggest impact of brand awareness was in helping to generate greater comfort and familiarity with the investment firm (41%) among the advisors.
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