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A research revolution

The migration from traditional online search to AI tools is one of the biggest changes to consumer behaviour since Google launched back in 1998.

In January of this year, HM Government reported that almost three-quarters (73%) of us were already using AI in our day-to-day lives. STRAT7 have found that 55% of UK adults (around 21.3 million people) have used AI tools like ChatGPT for personal finance.

It’s no surprise, then, that we’re seeing more and more consumers using AI to:

• Research an adviser they’ve been referred to
• Compare a shortlist of firms they’re considering
• Skip Google altogether and start their search with AI.

They’re searching differently, too.

Instead of typing “financial adviser near me”, consumers are giving AI-rich, detailed prompts about their goals, circumstances, location, and what they’re looking for in an adviser or planner. They ask follow-up questions, refine the recommendations they receive, and carry out research that’s both quicker and more thorough than a traditional Google search allows.

All of this filters down to your first meeting with prospects too.

Anecdotally, advisers and planners tell us that these initial meetings are becoming more rigorous. That makes sense when you know that AI responses often suggest questions prospective clients should ask before deciding whether you’re the right adviser for them.

Helping AI join the dots

The good news is that the fundamentals of good marketing haven’t changed. The challenge is that AI now evaluates them differently.

With Google, your aim was to appear high enough in the search results to earn the click.

With AI, your aim is to give it enough evidence to recommend you in the first place.

That means producing the information AI needs, demonstrating your expertise in the places it trusts, and making it easy for AI to understand who you help and why you’re a good fit.

So, here are seven practical ways to do exactly that.

1. Add detailed FAQs to your website

AI loves FAQs because it makes its robotic life easier.

The question-and-answer format, the natural language (rather than a wall of marketing jargon and SEO-fuelled keywords), and the direct information make FAQs one of the most effective ways to show up in AI recommendations.

Plus, they’re just as useful for humans landing on your website too, particularly if you categorise them elegantly.

To create a genuinely valuable list of FAQs:

• Use real questions asked by your prospects and clients.
• Provide detailed answers but keep them concise and clear.
• Think big: we’d recommend at least 50 questions and answers.

To help, here’s an example of one we built for Kate Evans at Exhale Financial Planning.

If you’d like something similar, you can sign up for our AI FAQ Service.

For a one-off cost of £440 + VAT, we’ll share a list of questions we know consumers are asking AI. We’ll invite you to add further questions specifically relevant to your business and provide a few notes by way of an answer for each one. We’ll then turn those into fully formed answers, categorise them, and upload them to your website.

Just email me and we’ll get the ball rolling.

2. Add location pages to your website

Many consumers still want an adviser they can meet face-to-face, which means they will usually include a location in their AI prompts.

If your website doesn’t clearly explain where you work and who you help in those areas, you’re making it much harder for AI to recommend you.

There’s a simple way to fix this:

• Create dedicated pages for the towns and cities you serve.
• Explain the type of clients you typically work with in each area.
• Include images to make them instantly recognisable to humans too.

Here’s an example of one we built for Keith Brooks at Paramount Wealth Management. He also has location pages for Glasgow and London.

Just like with the FAQs, we can take this off your plate with our AI Location Page Service.

We’ll ask for five strategic locations and build pages on your website that make it clear through text and imagery that you advise in those locations. For a one-off cost of £475 + VAT, you’ll take a big step towards being more visible to AI without lifting a finger. Again, just drop me an email and we’ll get started.

The only exception to location pages is if you work within a niche. If you only want to attract rock climbing instructors, focusing your efforts solely on Doncaster might be a little restrictive!

3. Collect reviews on Google and VouchedFor

As we always say, showing the value of what you do always beats telling.

Reviews are one of the strongest trust signals – not just for prospective clients, but for AI too. That independent evidence that you’re brilliant at what you do is hard to beat.

AI shows its workings, so we know the sources it uses to make recommendations. Both Google and VouchedFor consistently show up in that list, and we know from Otterly that firms are 3.4x more likely to be shortlisted by AI when it has 20+ verified reviews.

Start with a one-off campaign where you ask all clients for reviews on both platforms. Then, ask for reviews after every annual review meeting or when you’ve taken on a new client to keep your reviews topped up.

Making it a habit matters, because AI (and humans) value recency as well as relevancy. Fresh reviews demonstrate that you’re still delivering a consistently great service today, not just that you did five years ago.

4. Check your information on key directories

While you can see where AI looks for information, you can’t control where it looks.

Thankfully, you can control what it sees.

AI regularly uses directories when building recommendations, so it’s well worth correcting inaccurate or incomplete listings.

Take the Personal Finance Society (PFS) Find an Adviser directory. If you receive your accreditation through the PFS, you’ll have a profile on there. Your name, office address, and qualifications might be visible, but what about your website, email address, phone number, and social media links?

In our experience, this vital information is often missing from adviser profiles.

The first step is to discover what AI will find. Google your firm’s name (and the names of key advisers/planners) and click on every listing on pages one to five.

Remember, while most humans would never get past the first page, robots absolutely will.

The next step is simple: correct or update everything you find. Start with checking your entry on the PFS directory.

5. Get listed on other key directories

As we’ve said, directories are a major source of information for AI.

Once your existing listings are updated, don’t stop there. There are likely many more where your business isn’t visible yet.

Don’t just think about financial services directories like SOLLA and Resolution. General directories specific to your target audience, niche, or location, your local Chamber of Commerce, or Yell.com are all places we know AI will go hunting.

If you’re not sure where to start, run a dummy prompt posing as an ideal client of yours and see what sources are cited in the AI response.

6. Publish long-form articles to your website every month

AI massively values regular source material, but it can’t recommend expertise it can’t see.

That’s why we believe firms should publish at least three long form blogs every month.

These blogs should answer the questions humans ask of AI, the sort of things that your ideal clients are trying to find out online. This might include questions about their financial challenges or goals, or advice on finding the right advisers/planner for them.

If you can, scatter some of your differentiators throughout these articles. While there are no USPs in financial services, in our opinion, every firm has a long list of differentiators.

Things like being family run, being independent, your involvement in the local community – these are the things that make your firm what it is. These keywords may form part of the prompts your ideal clients are asking AI, so it makes sense to include them where possible.

Create a differentiator list for your business by clicking here and using the one we’ve created as a starting point.

7. Build other expertise indicators

AI is always keen to look for evidence that other people recognise your expertise, not just claims you’ve made about yourself.

Once you’ve worked through the suggestions above, consider:

• Speaking at conferences
• Getting your name in the newspaper
• Entering (and ideally winning!) awards
• Collecting client testimonial videos (with transcripts)
• Appearing on podcasts or webinars (with transcripts).

Whatever independent evidence you have that demonstrates the great work you do, publish it on your website. This isn’t the field of dreams – we can’t build it and expect people (or robots) to come – so don’t be shy about promoting your own achievements.

Ready or not

First off, a big thank you to Adam, Rohan, and the team at Plannex for inviting us to be a part of such a fantastic day. Tickets for next year’s event are already on sale, and you can click here to grab yours.

If there’s one thing I hope the audience took from my talk, it’s that AI isn’t a passing trend.

The genie is well and truly out of the bottle.

While it’s easy to feel overwhelmed, don’t think of this as a brand-new way of marketing for AI. Think of it as simply making your expertise easier to find, understand, and trust for the benefit of both humans and robots.

If you need help making your firm more visible, whether that’s adding FAQs and location pages to your website, producing regular content, or developing a broader AI marketing strategy, we’d love to have a chat.