Interview with AdviceTech.LIVE Speaker Samantha Russell of Twenty Over Ten
Samantha Russell
Chief Marketing & Business Development Officer at Twenty Over Ten
AdvisorTech.LIVE Panel: Advisor Marketing Tech
How did you get your start in financial services?
I was part of the team that launched Twenty Over Ten—our founding team was made up of designers, developers and content creators. I was the person handling the “Sales and Marketing” side—it was incredibly challenging coming into the industry from the outside but at the same time, the challenge has been an asset for me as I was able to look at the role of marketing in financial services with completely fresh eyes, and help advisors communicate and talk with their target audience in a way that was most compelling for the end user, not the advisor
What’s something that you know now that you wish you’d known when you started your career?
I wish I would have known all the advanced SEO (search engine optimization) tactics that I know now!
But that is the nature of SEO—it is constantly evolving so you have to keep learning. It keeps you on your toes.
What excites you most about the financial advice profession right now?
The number of advisors embracing a niche and getting really specific about who they serve best—who they will (and won’t!) work with—it is every marketer’s dream.
It is SO much easier to create messages that will resonate with your audience and attract the right people when you know EXACTLY who those people are—what motivates them, what keeps them up at night, and what they dream about for their future.
Is there something your company does that you don’t think advisors know about that they should be aware of?
Advisors may realize that we have expanded beyond websites and now (with the launch of Lead Pilot) we offer an integrated ecosystem of digital marketing products—that has redefined how financial advisors go about marketing and lead generation.
And, all of these products are completely agnostic—so they can be used individually, or they can be used together to maximize ROI. Best of all, all our products are built around the premise that “the key to connection is customization”—so users can customize ANY element of ANY piece of content in our library immediately, greatly improving ability to realize ROI from and forge connections
Any words of advice for advisors looking to update their tech stack?
Sign up (and actually use) the free trial of any tool you are seriously considering. Too often I see advisors who have signed up (and spent thousands of dollars) on a new tool without really knowing how it would work for their firm in practice.
If a company has built a great tool and they can stand behind it, they should allow you to use the tool on a free trial or month-to-month basis to make sure it is a good fit before having to commit long-term to it. (We offer a 14 day free trial that actually allows you to use ALL the features of our tool.)
What are you looking forward to the most about attending AdviceTech.LIVE?
“Being in the room where it happens!” (The tagline for the event). Hahaha, but really, having so many leaders from across fintech all in ONE place, coming together for a great cause is unprecedented—I’m so excited to be a part of something so revolutionary, that allows advisors really to compare, apples to apples, the best products and tools available to them.