Let me share a statistic that should concern every RIA principal: Only 27% of registered investment advisors have a marketing plan in 2025—down dramatically from 46% just one year ago.
Think about that for a moment. In an industry where growth is the #1 challenge, nearly three-quarters of firms are operating without a documented strategy for how they'll actually acquire new clients.
This isn't a minor operational gap. It's a strategic crisis that's costing firms millions in unrealized growth potential. And the most troubling part? Many RIA leaders don't even realize the price they're paying for this lack of planning.
The drop from 46% to 27% represents a 41% decline in marketing planning in just 12 months. This isn't a gradual erosion—it's a collapse.
What's driving this dramatic decrease?
Based on conversations with dozens of RIA principals, three factors emerge:
When referrals are flowing, marketing feels unnecessary. Why invest time planning when clients keep coming? This thinking works—until it doesn't. Then you're scrambling to build systems under pressure rather than from a position of strength.
Marketing ranks 7th out of 9 strategic priorities for RIA firms, while compliance and cybersecurity rank significantly higher. The challenge? You can be perfectly compliant and still fail if you don't grow.
Many advisors entered the industry to help people, not to "sell" them. But marketing isn't selling—it's education, visibility, and creating opportunities for the right people to find you. The best firms understand this distinction.
Let's talk about what this lack of planning actually costs. Not in abstract terms, but in real dollars and real opportunities.
Consider a typical growing RIA firm with $250M in AUM charging 1% fees:
That's from just 5-7 clients you didn't systematically pursue because you had no plan for reaching them.
Here's a pattern we see repeatedly:
The data shows 66% of RIA firms plan to hire a financial advisor or relationship manager in the next 12 months. Without a marketing plan to support these hires, many will fail.
The real cost? $150K-$200K+ per failed hire (salary + benefits + opportunity cost + recruiting costs).
Firms without marketing plans tend to compete on the terms presented to them rather than the terms they set. When your only lead source is referrals, you:
Firms with strategic marketing plans can target specific high-value client segments (like business owners, who 86% of RIAs serve) with specialized positioning and pricing.
Without a systematic lead generation approach, client acquisition becomes everyone's job and therefore no one's job. Advisors spend time on random networking events, sporadic social media posts, and inconsistent outreach—all with minimal returns.
A marketing plan creates clarity: who does what, when, and how success is measured.
Let's clear up a common misconception: a marketing plan isn't a 50-page document that takes three months to create and sits on a shelf gathering dust.
A functional marketing plan for an RIA firm should include:
Not "people with $1M+" but specific:
Why should your ICP choose you over:
This requires specificity. "Personalized service" isn't differentiation—everyone claims that.
Where will you reach your ICP? The data shows:
But using a channel and having a strategy for that channel are different things. Your plan should detail:
What insights, education, or perspectives will you share that demonstrate expertise and build trust? This isn't about promotional content—it's about helpful, relevant information that makes prospects think, "This firm understands my situation."
For the 86% of RIAs serving business owners, this might include:
Notice the word "systematic." Referrals shouldn't be hoped for—they should be engineered through:
How will you know if your marketing is working? Your plan should define:
What specifically will you do in the next 90 days? Who's responsible? What's the budget?
This is where planning meets execution.
Let me share a composite example drawn from multiple RIA firms we've worked with:
Firm Profile:
The Situation:
Over three years, the founding advisor tracked where referrals came from:
The Impact:
Referrals declined 40% year-over-year. With no other lead generation system in place, the firm:
The Cost:
The Turning Point:
After implementing a marketing plan with just three strategic components (LinkedIn thought leadership, quarterly client appreciation events with +1 invites, and CPA partnership strategy), the firm:
The most common objection we hear: "I'm too busy serving clients to work on marketing."
This is the exact paradox that keeps firms stuck. You're too busy serving today's clients to build systems that would create tomorrow's clients—which means you'll always be in reactive mode.
Here's the reframe: A marketing plan creates leverage.
Instead of the founding advisor being the primary business development engine (which doesn't scale), a plan creates systems that:
The firms that break through aren't less busy—they're more strategic about where they invest time.
Not all marketing plans are created equal. The difference between plans that sit on shelves and plans that drive growth:
Your marketing plan must connect to your CRM system. Every lead source, every campaign, every touchpoint should be tracked. This creates:
Yet many firms have CRMs they barely use. This is why our 60-Day Program addresses both simultaneously—you can't execute a marketing plan effectively without CRM discipline.
A plan that requires 20 hours per week from the founder won't get executed. Effective plans account for:
The first version of your plan won't be perfect. But plans that include quarterly reviews and adjustment allow you to:
Marketing in financial services has unique compliance considerations. Effective plans address:
Compliance shouldn't prevent marketing—it should guide it.
Here's what keeps me up at night on behalf of RIA firms: the window for easy growth is narrowing.
Right now, with only 27% of firms having marketing plans, there's a massive opportunity for firms that act decisively. You can establish thought leadership, capture search visibility, and build referral partnerships while most of your competitors remain passive.
But this window won't stay open forever. As more firms recognize the imperative for systematic marketing, competition for attention and visibility will intensify.
The firms that build marketing systems now will have:
Those that wait will face:
If you're in the 73% without a marketing plan, here's your starting point—a minimum viable marketing plan you can create in 2-4 hours:
Answer these questions:
Where does your ideal client spend attention?
Pick ONE to start.
Want expert guidance on implementation? Our 60-Day Program provides hands-on support for every step. Learn more →
What insights do you have that your ideal client needs? List 10 article topics you could write on.
What will you publish and when?
What would success look like?
When will you actually do this work? Block 3-4 hours per week.
Total time investment: 2.5 hours to create a 90-day marketing plan.
Is your growth challenge worth 2.5 hours of strategic thinking?
This is precisely why Vantage Point and TE+A Marketing created our partnership. We recognized that RIA firms face a chicken-and-egg challenge:
Our 60-Day Program solves this by:
You get the plan, the execution, and the results—without taking your focus away from serving clients.
Here's the reality: you're either planning your growth or hoping for your growth.
Firms that plan:
Firms that hope:
The data is clear: only 27% of RIA firms have marketing plans, yet growth is the #1 challenge. These two facts are directly connected.
The question is: which side of this statistic do you want to be on?
Download our Marketing Plan Template specifically designed for RIA firms—including compliance considerations, channel strategies, and measurement frameworks.
Schedule a Marketing Strategy Assessment →
In a 45-minute consultation, we'll help you identify:
The cost of waiting isn't zero. It's measured in missed opportunities, unrealized growth, and competitive advantage surrendered to firms that choose to act.
About the Partnership: Vantage Point and TE+A Marketing provide integrated CRM and marketing solutions for RIA firms. Our 60-Day Program helps firms move from referral-dependent to systematically growing in 60-90 days.
David Cockrum founded Vantage Point after serving as Chief Operating Officer in the financial services industry. His unique blend of operational leadership and technology expertise has enabled Vantage Point's distinctive business-process-first implementation methodology, delivering successful transformations for 150+ financial services firms across 400+ engagements with a 4.71/5.0 client satisfaction rating and 95%+ client retention rate.