Sometimes, it’s difficult to see the big picture of an RIA’s marketing strategy from the inside. So, we brought in an outside perspective.
Our latest episode of Marketing Matchup invited RIA marketing veterans and free agents Monique Kellerman and Meghan McCartan to speak with candor about the state of marketing in the RIA industry, what works, and what doesn’t.
Marketing strategy lives or dies on buy-in at all levels
Kellerman and McCartan have both built marketing programs inside large organizations and advised firms on a consultative basis. From their perspectives, they see common threads emerge around successful marketing strategies.
In short: RIA marketing works when it reports to the CEO, has real authority, and is part of the decisions that shape the client experience.
CEO support allows teams to educate advisors, build consistent programs, and shift perceptions about what marketing could deliver. Without that alignment, McCartan said, marketing becomes a production shop focused only on deadlines and one-off requests.
Sometimes, she said, it is the marketer’s job to connect the dots for the rest of the leadership suite.
“We were telling advisors, ‘Marketing can help you grow.’ Some of them were skeptical and said ‘Thanks, but we really don’t need you to help put our faces on billboards.’ And we’re like, ‘That’s not what marketing is.’”
Once she explained the link between marketing and the conversations and referrals that drive RIA business growth, the advisors understood the assignment.
Kellerman added that marketing sits at the intersection of every major function at an RIA. Without access to data, CRM insights, and executive-level priorities, the team cannot build campaigns that reflect how prospects actually make decisions.
Firms undervalue marketing because they undervalue the lifetime value of a client
In banking, Kellerman said, budgets start with lifetime value. Teams calculate how much a client is worth over the full relationship and spend accordingly. Wealth firms rarely apply that same logic.
Many RIAs default to a flat percentage of revenue, which creates budgets too small to make a real impact. Both guests argued that this habit keeps firms stuck. A single $5 million relationship can produce decades of revenue. When firms look at marketing through that lens, they stop thinking about spend and start thinking about return.
McCartan’s warning was equally important. Even when the math supports investment, marketing is still the first place firms cut when conditions tighten. That instinct slows growth and interrupts the consistency needed to build momentum.
Repeatable systems outperform one-hit campaigns
Kellerman said too many firms build “one hit wonders.” An advisor requests a campaign. It launches once. It disappears. The firm starts over.
Strong programs look different. They focus on moments that always exist in the market, like inheritance, business transitions, retirement decisions, and build repeatable systems around them.
From Kellerman’s perspective, content marketing is one of the strongest and most consistently adaptable programs a marketing team can pursue.
“Channels will continue to grow and evolve, but fundamentally, knowing what problems you’re solving, and the type of people that you can help, gives you the foundation to create content that’s going to pique [a prospect’s] curiosity and bring them through the door,” Kellerman said. A strong grounding in content can manifest in talking points in a media relation campaign, podcast conversations, collaboration with CPAs and other professional services, or in social media channels, she said.
Watch the full conversation below, and be sure to subscribe to Marketing Matchup on the podcast platform of your choice.
