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Most advisory firms don’t have a marketing problem. They have a leakage problem.
The symptoms look like marketing issues: not enough enquiries, leads that stall, referrals that never quite materialise. But dig deeper and the real causes become clear. Somewhere between attracting attention and converting it into clients, something keeps dripping away. Often several things at once.
Here’s what the numbers tell us: advisers with defined marketing strategies onboard 50% more clients and generate 168% more leads than those winging it. Yet fewer than 30% actually have a documented strategy. That gap between knowing marketing matters and doing it well is where most growth potential disappears.
This isn’t about working harder or spending more. It’s about finding where the bucket leaks and plugging those holes.
We’ve identified 25 growth leaks common across UK advisory firms, grouped into six categories. Some will feel familiar. Others might finally explain why certain efforts never delivered.
What Is a Growth Leak?
A growth leak is any gap in a firm’s marketing, sales, or client experience where potential business quietly escapes. Unlike obvious problems (a broken website, no marketing at all), leaks often go unnoticed because individual activities appear to be working. The issue is what happens between those activities.
Strategic Leaks: Foundation Problems
These leaks undermine everything else. Fix these first.
1. Random Acts of Marketing
A LinkedIn post here, a newsletter there, maybe the occasional referral lunch. Activity without architecture.
The NextWealth 2025 Business Benchmarks found that advisers feel confident about serving existing clients but score notably lower on strategy and growth execution. Plenty of firms are running hard without knowing where the finish line is.
The fix: Pick one growth goal. Build everything around it for 90 days. Want more business owners within five miles? Or pension transfer enquiries? Or better client retention? Choose one. Alignment beats volume every time.
2. No Clear Owner of Growth
Someone owns compliance. Someone handles client servicing. But who actually owns growth?
When business development becomes everyone’s responsibility, it ends up being nobody’s priority. Growth activities get squeezed into spare capacity that rarely exists.
The fix: Assign someone to own growth decisions, not just marketing tasks. This doesn’t mean hiring a marketing director. It means one person having authority to decide what happens, what gets dropped, and what success looks like.
3. Messaging That Explains What but Not Why
Most adviser websites and brochures nail the service descriptions. Financial planning. Investment management. Retirement advice. Protection.
The problem? Every competitor says exactly the same things.
People don’t choose advisers based on service lists. They choose based on whether someone understands their situation. FMB research found reliability and reputation rank as the top factors when selecting an adviser, not service range.
The fix: Anchor every message to a client moment of doubt or decision. Not “we provide retirement planning” but “wondering if retirement is actually achievable?” Connect services to the concerns keeping prospects awake at night.
4. A Niche Too Polite to Be Memorable
“We help anyone who needs financial advice” isn’t positioning. It’s a white flag.
The firms winning clients describe who they help in ways prospects immediately recognise. Business owners approaching exit. NHS consultants with complex pensions. Recently divorced professionals rebuilding wealth.
With over 5,000 IFA firms operating in the UK, blending in is a growth leak all by itself.
The fix: Define the specific client situations where genuine expertise creates real value. Then talk about those situations explicitly. A narrower focus attracts a more engaged audience, even if the total pool seems smaller initially.
Website and Digital Leaks
Where online presence quietly fails.
5. Websites That Explain Everything but Persuade Nothing
Here’s something that might surprise: FMB research found only 41% of people rated a high-quality website as moderately important when choosing an adviser. Among over-55s, even fewer cared.
Does that mean websites don’t matter? Not quite. It means websites stuffed with credentials, qualifications, and service lists don’t convert. Websites that speak directly to specific concerns and offer clear next steps do convert.
The fix: Rewrite the homepage around one outcome the ideal client wants. Not what the firm does, but what that client will have or feel after working together.
6. Weak Next Steps
“Contact us” isn’t compelling. Neither is “Book a consultation” for someone who just discovered the firm.
Prospects need confidence-building intermediate steps. A guide addressing their specific concern. A short video showing what working together looks like. Something that matches where they actually are in their decision process.
The fix: Replace generic contact buttons with clear, low-commitment moves appropriate to each visitor’s readiness. Someone researching pension options needs different pathways than someone urgently seeking IHT planning.
7. Traffic With Nowhere to Go
Many adviser websites attract decent traffic but capture almost none of it. Visitors browse and leave without any way to stay in touch.
This matters because only about 5% of leads are actually ready to buy when they first engage. The other 95% need nurturing, which becomes impossible once they’ve vanished.
The fix: Every high-traffic page needs a reason to capture attention or email. Not generic newsletter signups, but something valuable to visitors on that specific page. A pension page might offer a consolidation checklist. A business owner page could offer an exit planning guide.
8. Landing Pages Trying to Say Too Much
Dedicated landing pages dramatically outperform sending campaign traffic to homepages. But many advisers undermine this by cramming landing pages with comprehensive information about everything.
The fix: One promise. One problem. One action. A landing page for workplace pension seminars doesn’t need the firm’s entire history. It needs credibility on that topic and easy registration.
9. Sending Paid Traffic to Generic Pages
Financial services keywords rank among the most expensive in Google Ads, some costing £4+ per click. Sending those expensive clicks to a generic homepage is literally burning money.
Cold traffic needs immediate clarity. Someone who clicked “pension transfer advice” wants instant confirmation they’ve found what they’re looking for.
The fix: Match paid traffic to dedicated landing pages addressing exactly what the ad promised. Yes, this means creating multiple landing pages. The conversion improvement makes it worthwhile.
10. Ignoring Local Intent
This leak flies under the radar for many firms. 46% of all Google searches have local intent. And 82% of smartphone users include “near me” when searching for local businesses.
For advisory firms, the opportunity is significant. Around 72% of people who search locally visit a business within five miles. These aren’t vanity searches. They’re trust signals from people ready to engage.
The fix: Optimise for local. Complete the Google Business Profile. Target keywords like “financial adviser [location]” or “pension advice near me.” Generate local reviews consistently. This costs nothing but attention.
Content and Communication Leaks
Where good intentions produce invisible results.
11. Content Without Conviction
Safe content gets ignored. Point of view builds trust.
Too many advisory firms produce content so hedged and careful it reads as generic. Market updates stating the obvious. Blog posts covering what everyone else covers, adding nothing distinctive.
The fix: Every piece should contain at least one perspective the firm would actually defend in conversation. Not controversy for its own sake, but genuine views developed through client experience.
12. Sounding Like Everyone Else
Financial services has developed its own dialect. “Holistic wealth management.” “Client-centric approach.” “Comprehensive planning solutions.” These phrases appear so often they’ve become wallpaper.
The fix: Before publishing anything, ask: “Would a competitor say exactly this?” If yes, it’s not differentiation.
13. Creating Instead of Repurposing
Producing endless original content exhausts most advisory teams. It’s unsustainable and unnecessary.
One strong idea should power weeks of content. A detailed guide becomes a blog series, which becomes social posts, which becomes an email sequence, which becomes a webinar topic. Finance websites publishing educational content regularly see 40% more traffic than those without.
The fix: Build content systems, not just content pieces. Each major piece of thinking should fragment into multiple formats across multiple channels.
14. Avoiding Video Because It Feels Uncomfortable
The data on video is hard to ignore. 96% of people have watched an explainer video to learn about a product or service. 85% have been convinced to buy something after watching video. And 89% say video quality impacts their trust in a brand.
For financial advisers, where trust is everything, video offers something text can’t. People want to see and hear who they might work with.
Yes, the discomfort is real. But so is the opportunity cost of avoiding it.
The fix: Start simple. A 60-second introduction. A brief answer to a common client question. Videos under one minute see 50% engagement rates. Authenticity matters more than polish.
15. Social Posting Without Relationship Intent
Posting to social media and hoping for engagement isn’t strategy. Neither is broadcasting to an audience that doesn’t exist yet.
Inbound engagement for financial firms using social media increased 20% from 2023 to 2024, while posting frequency actually decreased slightly. Quality beats quantity.
The fix: Focus on relationships, not broadcasts. Comment thoughtfully on others’ content. Respond meaningfully to engagement. Participate in actual conversations.
Email and Lead Nurturing Leaks
Where potential clients slip away quietly.
16. Email Used Only for Updates, Not Guidance
Many adviser emails read as announcements. Market updates. Regulatory changes. Firm news. Information without value.
Financial services email marketing achieves 45% open rates and 99% deliverability when done well. The potential reach is substantial. Whether it creates value depends entirely on content.
The fix: Every email should help recipients make better decisions or understand their situation more clearly. The inbox should feel like guidance, not noise.
17. New Leads Dropped Into Silence
What happens after someone downloads a guide or registers for a webinar? For many firms, a single acknowledgment email followed by silence until someone manually follows up. Maybe.
This is one of the biggest conversion leaks in advisory marketing. Nurtured leads generate 50% more sales at 33% lower cost. Lead nurturing emails achieve up to 10x the response rate of standalone blasts. Yet 65% of businesses lack proper nurturing processes.
The fix: Build automated sequences for new leads. A helpful email series over the first 14 days maintains momentum and builds familiarity. Those first two weeks determine whether interest becomes conversation or fades to nothing.
18. One-Size-Fits-All Communication
Sending identical messages to everyone isn’t efficiency. It’s disrespect for their different situations.
Prospects exploring options need different communication than existing clients awaiting annual reviews. Business owners face different challenges than approaching retirees.
The fix: Segment communications by client type, life stage, or demonstrated interests. Even basic segmentation produces meaningful improvements.
Client Experience Leaks
Where service delivery undermines growth.
19. Avoiding Pricing Conversations
Many firms keep pricing vague, fearing transparency will scare prospects away. The opposite is often true.
The FCA’s Consumer Duty requires firms to demonstrate fair value to clients. But beyond compliance, clear pricing builds confidence. When prospects can’t understand what working together costs, trust erodes before the relationship begins.
The fix: Present pricing clearly and confidently. Explain value at each price point. Confidence grows when expectations are clear from the start.
20. An Invisible Process
People can’t trust what they can’t see.
When advice feels like a black box where information goes in and recommendations eventually emerge, anxiety fills the gap. What’s happening? When will they hear something? Is everything on track?
The fix: Map the client journey and make it visible. Show stages, timelines, and what happens at each step. Transparency about process builds trust in outcomes.
21. No Defined Client Journey
This extends beyond process visibility to the entire relationship. Many firms think in transactions: initial meeting, recommendations, implementation. But clients experience emotions, concerns, and decisions at multiple stages.
The fix: Map emotional and decision milestones, not just service steps. When do clients typically feel uncertain? When do they need reassurance? Design the experience around these human moments.
Referral and Reputation Leaks
Where the best growth channel underperforms.
22. Inconsistent Review Generation
Trust compounds when feedback is consistent, not occasional.
83% of consumers use Google to find local business reviews. 76% watch video content when researching businesses. Reviews aren’t optional extras anymore.
Yet many advisory firms have sparse, outdated reviews, if any at all.
The fix: Build review generation into the client experience systematically. After positive interactions, make it easy for satisfied clients to share feedback. Consistent, recent reviews matter more than a handful of glowing testimonials from years ago.
23. Referral Hopes Without a System
Research shows the vast majority find financial advisers through word of mouth (34%) or referrals (24%), with another 33% learning about advisers from family, employers, or other professionals.
Referrals remain the most powerful growth channel. Yet most firms rely on hope: hoping satisfied clients will mention them, hoping professional connections will pass leads along.
The fix: Design moments that naturally invite introductions. Not awkward referral requests, but touchpoints where satisfied clients can easily share information with people they care about. A guide worth forwarding. An event worth inviting someone to.
24. No Professional Referral Network
Beyond client referrals, professional referrals from accountants, solicitors, and other advisers represent huge untapped potential.
The fix: Build genuine relationships with professionals serving similar client types. Offer value before expecting referrals. Create easy ways for partners to make introductions.
25. Too Many Tools, Not Enough Direction
MarTech sprawl is real. Many firms have accumulated email platforms, CRM systems, social schedulers, and analytics dashboards that don’t talk to each other and nobody fully uses.
85% of advisers find it challenging to allocate time for marketing, with the average spending just 2.1 hours per week on it. When those limited hours disappear into wrestling with disconnected tools, nothing productive happens.
The fix: Strategy simplifies. Tools follow. Before adding technology, be clear about what problem it solves. A few well-used tools beat a graveyard of half-implemented solutions.
How Digital Propositions Solve Multiple Leaks at Once
Many of these leaks share a common thread: they stem from capacity constraints and operational friction. When advisers spend excessive time on administration, client reviews, and repetitive tasks, growth activities get squeezed out.
This is where digital advice propositions change the equation.
The 40/10 Problem
Most advisory firms face a structural challenge that makes growth difficult: roughly 10% of clients consume 40% of the firm’s resources while generating disproportionately low revenue. These aren’t bad clients, but the traditional service model doesn’t work economically for them.
This creates a growth ceiling. Advisers are too busy servicing existing clients to pursue new business. Marketing happens sporadically. Lead nurturing gets neglected. Referral systems remain hopes rather than realities.
What Forward-Thinking Advisers Are Doing
Firms focused on building more valuable businesses are adopting digital propositions that address multiple growth leaks simultaneously:
Leak #17 (leads dropped into silence) gets solved through automated onboarding and engagement sequences built into the platform.
Leak #20 (invisible process) disappears when clients have 24/7 access to their financial profiles, goals, documents, and communications through client portals and mobile apps.
Leak #21 (no defined client journey) becomes manageable with systematised advice workflows that ensure consistency across every client relationship.
Leak #25 (too many tools) resolves when everything, from CRM to back-office to investment platform, operates within a single integrated system.
JustFA: More Than a Platform
JustFA provides UK financial advisers with an all-in-one digital advice and investment platform that directly addresses the growth constraints most firms face.
The efficiency gain is substantial. Advisers using JustFA can service three times more clients digitally than through traditional methods. When onboarding, reviews, and report generation are automated, the time freed up can focus on new business and high-value client relationships.
The revenue impact follows. Firms restructuring with JustFA typically achieve a 10% increase in new assets and up to 40% revenue boost within the first year. This comes from two sources: freed capacity generating new business, and the ability to profitably serve client segments that were previously uneconomical.
The client experience improves. Clients get modern, branded portals and mobile apps where they can access their financial profiles, track performance, update information, and communicate with their adviser. This isn’t just convenience, it’s the visibility and engagement that builds loyalty and generates referrals.
The setup is fast. JustFA builds a complete digital proposition under the adviser’s own brand in just four weeks. This includes branded client portal and mobile app, document templates, investment platform integration, staff training, and ongoing support.
Everything stays under the adviser’s brand. Unlike some platforms that insert themselves between adviser and client, JustFA operates as infrastructure that powers the adviser’s proposition. Clients interact with their adviser’s brand, not JustFA’s.
For advisory firms serious about growth in 2026, the question isn’t whether to adopt digital propositions. It’s how quickly they can free up capacity to pursue the opportunities they’re currently too busy to chase.
FT Adviser noted that JustFA’s “technology could increase advisers’ client base tenfold.” That’s the kind of growth leverage that transforms businesses.
Learn more about JustFA or get in touch to discuss how a digital proposition could work for your firm.
Fixing Leaks Creates Compounding Returns
The advisers making progress aren’t doing more. They’re doing less but with intention.
Each leak fixed doesn’t just remove a problem. It creates capacity for other improvements. Clearer messaging attracts more aligned prospects. Better lead nurturing reduces wasted sales effort. Systematic referral generation decreases reliance on expensive marketing.
The FCA’s Consumer Duty framework provides a useful lens here. The regulator emphasises outcomes over activities: whether clients actually receive value, understand their options, and get support when needed. Growth that comes from genuinely serving clients better creates sustainable advantages.
When the path is clear, clients decide faster, trust builds sooner, and referrals happen naturally.
That’s the work ahead in 2026. Not louder marketing. Clearer leadership.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the most common growth leaks for UK financial advisers?
The most common growth leaks for UK financial advisers fall into six categories: strategic problems (unclear positioning, no growth ownership), digital presence issues (weak websites, poor local SEO), content failures (generic messaging, avoiding video), lead nurturing gaps (no automated sequences, one-size-fits-all communication), client experience friction (invisible processes, unclear pricing), and referral system weaknesses (no systematic approach to generating referrals or reviews).
How can financial advisers generate more client referrals?
Financial advisers can generate more referrals by building systems rather than relying on hope. This includes designing moments that naturally invite introductions (guides worth sharing, events worth inviting others to), making it easy for satisfied clients to share feedback through consistent review generation, and developing professional referral networks with accountants, solicitors, and other advisers serving similar client types.
Why is local SEO important for financial advisers?
Local SEO is important for financial advisers because 46% of all Google searches have local intent, and 82% of smartphone users include “near me” in searches for local businesses. Approximately 72% of people who perform local searches visit a business within five miles. For advisory firms, optimising Google Business Profile and targeting local keywords like “financial adviser near me” captures high-intent prospects at no cost beyond attention.
What is the 40/10 problem in financial advice?
The 40/10 problem describes a common challenge where approximately 10% of an advisory firm’s clients consume 40% of its resources while generating disproportionately low revenue. This creates a structural growth ceiling because advisers spend excessive time servicing these clients, leaving insufficient capacity for new business development. Digital advice propositions help solve this by enabling more efficient service delivery for these client segments.
How can financial advisers improve their website conversion rates?
Financial advisers can improve website conversion by focusing on persuasion rather than explanation. This means rewriting homepages around outcomes clients want (not services offered), replacing generic “contact us” buttons with confidence-building intermediate steps, ensuring every high-traffic page captures visitor information, creating dedicated landing pages for specific campaigns, and matching paid traffic to relevant landing pages rather than generic homepages.
What makes video marketing effective for financial advisers?
Video marketing is effective for financial advisers because 96% of people watch explainer videos to learn about products and services, 85% have been convinced to buy after watching video, and 89% say video quality impacts brand trust. For advisory services where trust is fundamental, video allows prospects to see and hear who they might work with. Videos under one minute achieve 50% engagement rates, making simple, authentic content effective.
How does Consumer Duty affect financial adviser marketing?
Consumer Duty affects financial adviser marketing by requiring firms to demonstrate fair value and ensure clients understand their options. This means pricing must be clear and transparent, communications must be understandable, and processes must be visible rather than opaque. Marketing that helps clients make informed decisions aligns with Consumer Duty requirements, while vague or confusing messaging creates compliance risk.
What is the average time financial advisers spend on marketing?
Financial advisers spend an average of 2.1 hours per week on marketing activities, with 85% finding it challenging to allocate sufficient time. Advisers with defined marketing strategies generate 168% more leads and onboard 50% more clients than those without strategies, yet fewer than 30% have documented marketing plans.
How can digital advice platforms help financial advisers grow?
Digital advice platforms help financial advisers grow by solving capacity constraints that limit growth. By automating onboarding, reviews, and report generation, platforms like JustFA enable advisers to service three times more clients digitally. This frees capacity for new business development, makes processes visible to clients (building trust), systematises the client journey, and consolidates multiple tools into single integrated systems.
What should financial advisers look for in a digital advice platform?
Financial advisers should look for digital platforms that operate under their own brand (not the platform’s), provide integrated client portals and mobile apps, automate time-consuming tasks like onboarding and reviews, include built-in investment platform functionality, offer rapid implementation (weeks not months), and deliver measurable efficiency gains. The platform should solve the 40/10 problem by enabling profitable service to client segments that are uneconomical under traditional models.
Key Takeaways
- Growth leaks are gaps where potential business escapes between marketing, sales, and service activities
- Strategy leaks (random marketing, no growth owner, weak positioning) undermine everything else
- Local SEO captures high-intent local prospects at zero cost
- Lead nurturing generates 50% more sales at 33% lower cost than non-nurtured leads
- Referrals remain the most powerful growth channel but require systems, not hope
- Digital propositions solve multiple leaks by freeing adviser capacity
- Fixes compound because each improvement creates capacity for others
This article is part of JustFA’s educational content series for UK financial advisers. JustFA is an all-in-one digital advice and investment platform helping advisers build more valuable businesses through increased efficiency, better client engagement, and accelerated growth.