Paid ads management for advisory firms and planners
An ad group at an advisory firm has a short life story: it names a service line, a searcher clicks, and a page loads. Everything between those moments is the work of paid ads management, and the contact form at the far end is the only place a click becomes a person.
This desk builds and runs paid ads on Meta Ads (Facebook and Instagram), Bing Ads (Microsoft Advertising) and Google Ads for independent advisors, planners and wealth management firms. The firm reads and approves each ad, and what the ads may say stays under the firm's control from start to finish.
Three ad platforms an advisory firm can put an ad group on
Google Ads campaigns cut from the service lines a firm lists
The broadest of the three for search ads. Ad groups follow the firm's service lines, its offices and the near-me wording people type, and each opens on the matching page. The Google Ads page goes into the build.
Bing Ads as a second stream imported from the first account
Bing Ads serves a smaller audience that often skews toward desktop. Since the structure can be carried over from a Google Ads account, adding a second stream is a modest step. The Bing page describes it.
Meta Ads (Facebook and Instagram) for awareness and for visitors a site already had
Plain, text-led ads aimed at those who have already browsed the firm's own site, none of which speaks to a reader's circumstances. The Meta page covers how that is kept clean.
Handed to the firm, and kept by the firm
The firm receives a built account: ad groups grouped by service line and by office, ads written from the firm's own text, a hard-edged negative keyword list, landing pages that echo the ads and tracking that tallies each call and each form under its source. A monthly summary lists what was added and edited.
Three things never leave the firm. One is the approval of each ad ahead of launch. Another is the card behind each platform account, because the platform sends its charges to the firm itself. The third is the choice of service lines and towns the paid ads cover. The desk suggests a layout; the firm accepts, trims or rejects it.
Each platform publishes separate rules for financial services advertisers, and the firm reads the ones that apply before any ad starts. The desk keeps ad wording plain so that reading goes smoothly.
Six ad groups an advisory firm might ask for, and where each click lands
| Ad group | Searches it is cut for | Where an advisory firm's click ends up |
|---|---|---|
| One group per service line | The firm's own service line names, such as wealth management servicesor retirement planning services | The service line page the firm approved |
| One group per office town | A town name plus advisor, set by town or by radius | The office page for that town |
| A near-me group | financial advisor near meand personal financial advisor near me | The nearest office page, or the main contact page |
| A firm-name group | The firm's own name as people type it | The home page or the contact page |
| A second-office group | wealth management advisors near meand town variants for the second location | That second office's own page |
| A site-visitor group on Meta | Nobody types anything: it reaches people who already visited the firm's site | The service line page they last read |
Five steps from a firm's service line list to a live ad group
The firm names its service lines and offices
A principal or an office manager sends a list of the firm's service lines along with the town of each office. The desk adds none that the firm left unnamed.
Drafts of ads and pages go to the approver
We write ad text and the matching landing page copy from the firm's own wording and send both to the person who signs off. Changes come back in the firm's hand.
The account is built and the keyword wall goes up
Ad groups are cut, locations go in by town or radius, and the list of negative keywords is loaded before any ad exists to run.
The firm reads the platform rules, then the ad goes live
Every platform keeps its own rulebook for financial services advertisers. The firm reads it, and the ads are turned on afterward.
Search terms and counts are read, and the list is trimmed
Searches that set off an ad are reviewed on a routine, stray ones are moved onto the negative list, and the summary lists every call and every form by source.
Two hooks on the ceiling: the platform's and ours
Picture two hooks. From the platform's hook hangs the string for clicks: as they arrive, the platform draws on the card the firm keeps with it, and the firm sets how much that string may carry. From our hook hangs the second string, the monthly management fee, starting at $895 for one platform, rising to $1,595 with a second and to $2,295 with a third. The strings never knot together, so a principal reads each on its own statement.
No startup charge hangs from our hook, and no contract keeps the firm attached to it. The price sheet carries the full ad plans, and the lead generation page explains the counting of calls and sent forms, with no record kept of what was said.
Six things a firm settles before a first ad group is switched on
- The person who approves every ad has been named
- Each office has a town and a page for the ads to open
- The service lines to advertise are listed, and the rest are left out
- The firm has read and agreed the list of negative keywords
- Tracking for calls and for forms is on, set to count and nothing more
- The platform rules for financial services advertisers have been read by the firm
Two beliefs about paid ads an advisory firm may carry in
Said at the planning tablePaid ads can run while the site is left as it is.
What the rod showsThe page an ad opens is part of the ad. One that lands on a different office address or on a service name the site dropped leaves the rod crooked, so the landing page is checked along with the ad.
Said at the planning tableA wider list of keywords is always better.
What the rod showsA broad list pulls in searchers who are unrelated to the firm: job seekers, students, do-it-yourself and software shoppers, company names, plus whichever searches lean on a price word or a title word or ask for help at no charge. The negative list keeps those out and is adjusted as search terms come in.
Questions an advisory firm asks about paid ads
Is paid ads management the same work as search work for an advisory firm?
No. The search side builds pages and listings that turn up on their own, while paid ads place a message in front of searches the firm picks. They share landing pages, so the two lines support each other. The search work page lays out the other side.
Can a planner see what ads say before they run?
Yes, every time. Each ad goes through the firm's approver first, and the firm has read the wording and the platform's rules before anything starts.
Does an advisory firm need an account of its own on each ad platform?
Because the platform draws on the firm's own card, the account that card is attached to is the firm's. We build and manage inside it, and the details are settled after the firm writes through the contact form.
What does the monthly fee for paid ads cover?
Our time on the account: building ad groups, drafting, keeping the negative list, reading search terms and sending the monthly summary. It covers nothing the platform bills.
Ask about ads for a particular firm
Say which offices the firm has, which service lines it would advertise and which platform or platforms it has in mind. Client details are left out.
Which pieces should your firm hang first?
Tell us the service lines you offer, the towns where your clients live and the neighbouring offices that point people toward you. Keep every client name, every account figure and every personal identifier out of what you send.
Ask us to hang the first piece of your search work
Send one question about how your firm turns up in search. The call is taken by our CEO, Ross Cohen, who ends it by naming the first pieces to hang.
The mobile below is only an illustration, and it forecasts nothing.