Interview with AdviceTech.LIVE Speaker Dave Christensen of FMG Suite
Dave Christensen
Chief Product & Technology Officer at FMG Suite
AdvisorTech.LIVE Panel: Advisor Marketing Tech
How did you get your start in financial services?
In 2001 I was recruited to lead product at 50 Below Sales & Marketing, a SaaS company providing website and ecommerce solutions in a number of verticals. One of those was Financial Services where I had the privilege of building the first website programs for Smith Barney, Ameriprise, and others.
In 2006 I moved my family to Sierra Leone to complete an adoption. I needed a flexible schedule, so I left 50 Below to found a SaaS company providing marketing tools to captive insurance carriers like Farmers, Farm Bureau, and American Family. In 2011 I sold my company to Craig Faulkner to launch FMG Suite.
What’s something that you know now that you wish you’d known when you started your career?
It’s rarely a crisis. When I started my career, it felt like everything was a crisis. The tech startup world perpetuates this vibe and many times it leads to crisis decision making and a lack of creativity.
In hindsight, most of the “crisis” moments were just another day. Things usually work out over the long term. I really appreciate that financial professionals get to be there in moments like this to bring long term perspective to their clients.
What excites you most about the financial advice profession right now?
There’s so much opportunity in this profession and I admire how financial professionals truly are heroes of their communities. What they do extends beyond managing money—it’s making a difference in families’ lives and helping them transition through every stage of life.
There’s also an entirely new generation of investors out there that remains untapped. That opens up so much opportunity for the profession and for us fintech firms to innovate and disrupt the marketplace to meet the changing needs of the new age investor.
Being able to help financial professionals deepen those relationships with clients through marketing makes my work rewarding.
My team develops products that make it easy for financial professionals to keep investors informed on important financial topics, communicate during those moments that matter to help grow their business, to celebrate milestones with their clients, and create efficiencies to free up time to focus on what matters most—helping families and spending time with their own families. Plus, it satiates my own passion around content marketing by creating solutions that help others become extraordinary marketers.
Is there something your company does that you don’t think advisors know about that they should be aware of?
Yes, I can closely relate to this, and to this day, people still think FMG Suite is a website company. That may be where we started but within nine years, we’ve grown to an all-in-one solution that solves digital marketing needs, event planning and promotions, and personalized print options.
There are so many technology options out there and technology fatigue is a real thing. It’s overwhelming for a financial professional to manage so many different technologies independently, let alone be able to use them effectively. We offer many solutions and firmly believe that a cohesive marketing ecosystem solves a huge pain point for advisors today— being able to manage all their marketing efforts within one platform.
With that said, here a few things we offer that advisors might not know about.
PPC Advertising
In this new way of doing business, the table stakes of a website, email, social, and the occasional direct mail piece is not enough anymore. FMG Suite has those covered. But gone are the in-person meetings or client appreciation events that drive referrals. Advisors have to pay to play now, in order to survive and grow their business in this new normal. FMG Suite offers PPC advertising services to help advisors reach new leads and drive that traffic back to their website. This includes setting up a Google Adwords campaign, retargeting and remarketing campaigns, one-on-one strategic guidance for lead gen, social advertising, and analytical insights. All of this is too complex for the busy advisor to learn and implement effectively so we offer a very personalized experience to help launch, maintain, and optimize.
Direct Mail
Snail mail is definitely not dead and making a strong comeback. A recent study by Demand Metric and PFL found that 82% of marketers found events integrated with branded and personalized direct mail are the most effective channels for reaching target audiences. FMG Suite offers a variety of print options including a beautiful Seasonal Magazine that’s filled with educational and lifestyle articles. Greeting cards are key in deepening client relationships and we have a variety of cards for every occasion to ensure advisors never miss a birthday or anniversary. As for events, yup, we offer those too. FMG Suite has a wide range of tools to help financial professionals plan and promote their events—whether virtual or in-person events (once we’re able to have those again). These campaigns include the mailed invitations, promotional emails, presentation content, event info on the advisor’s website, and can even collect registrations. Again, all of this is managed within one interface.
Any words of advice for advisors looking to update their tech stack?
Look for solutions that are flexible, easily scalable, and work together seamlessly. You’ll want technology that can evolve as your business grows and marketing needs change.
You should aim for technology that has an open interface that can integrate with other tools in your technology stack.
Select partners that understand this industry, your needs as a financial professional, and the complex regulatory requirement to help you remain compliant.
Lastly, with so many tech vendors, find one that has the support you need to manage your tools effectively. Customer service can be so impersonal these days so find one that provides you with the support that makes your life easier.
What are you looking forward to the most about attending AdviceTech.LIVE?
To be able to talk to so many financial professionals that are making a difference. I hope I can provide at least a nugget of value to help them successfully move beyond this pandemic.
Also, I’m honored to be speaking with other leaders in this space and hope we can come together to provide financial professionals the best marketing solutions to make their lives easier while still growing their business.