Published on Jan 28, 2026 • Updated on Oct 2, 2026
This article was written by Adem Tumerkan
Content Editor, Dunham | 2025 ThinkAdvisor Luminary Award Winner | 2026 Wealthies Finalist — Thought Leader of the Year | Macroeconomics, markets, geopolitics & global trends
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“Content is king” has become more than a cliché for financial advisors. It describes how modern prospects actually decide whom to trust. Prospective clients are flooded with information, but still struggle to find clear, jargon-free guidance they can rely on.
They do not want product pitches. They want help understanding what to do next with their finances. Advisors who consistently show up with useful insights - through blogs, newsletters, videos, or concise market commentary, etc - begin earning trust long before a prospect ever books a meeting.
That is the core advantage of content marketing for advisors.
Simply put, content marketing for financial advisors is the practice of using educational content - such as blogs, newsletters, videos, and market updates - to attract prospects, build credibility, and strengthen client relationships over time.
Instead of chasing leads, advisors use content to:
Answer common client questions
Explain complex topics in plain language
Demonstrate expertise and perspective
Stay visible and relevant in a crowded market
Done right, content marketing can work in the background as your 24/7 prospecting engine - letting potential clients find you and building trust long before someone even reaches out.
If you want to go deeper on prospecting systems, download our "6 Prospecting Hacks Every Advisor Needs to Attract More Clients" guide – offering practical, digital-first strategies you can use right away to attract new leads, build trust, and grow your practice.
As Jennifer Valdez, President of Americas at Intelliflo, explains:
“There is a significant need and desire for financial advice across the board, but many simply don’t know how to access it.”
This presents a massive opportunity for financial advisors. By creating educational, easy-to-understand content, you position yourself as the trusted guide younger generations — and their growing wealth — are searching for.
Cold calls, generic ads, and mass emails are losing effectiveness as clients grow more selective and more skeptical.
In contrast, content marketing is an inbound strategy - meaning it helps advisors be found by people who are already looking for answers (not just interrupting people who aren't ready to talk).
Content marketing allows advisors to:
According to Broadridge, more than half of financial advisors now use educational articles, blogs, or newsletters as part of their marketing - and those who do report higher client engagement and retention than peers who do not.
According to a 2023 Broadridge survey:
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Advisors who did this saw higher client engagement and retention rates.
What about the other 47% who didn’t?
The most common barriers were:
Sound familiar?
If so, don’t worry - there are ways to simplify content creation without overwhelming your schedule.
Nobel Prize–winning physicist Richard Feynman believed that if you can’t explain something simply, you don’t truly understand it.
That lesson is invaluable for advisors.
Clients don’t want technical lectures. They want clarity.
One useful framework is the Feynman Technique:
Choose a financial concept (e.g., market volatility or retirement withdrawals)
Explain it in plain language
Identify gaps or confusion
This approach doesn’t just improve understanding - it builds confidence and trust.
Creating original content isn’t the only path forward.
Advisors can:
Curate high-quality third-party content
Share short market updates via newsletters or LinkedIn
Repurpose one idea across blogs, videos, or webinars
For instance, a 2023 Putnam Investments survey found that:
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The takeaway was that whether you write or curate, consistent visibility online is critical.
The future of client acquisition is digital.
Younger investors are already online, searching for answers. Advisors who show up with clear, relevant, and approachable content are the ones who earn trust—long before a portfolio review ever happens.
Whether you create original insights or share compliance-ready resources, content marketing helps you:
Build authority
Strengthen relationships
Grow your practice sustainably
Ready to start? Explore Dunham’s marketing material for compliance-approved articles and insights built for financial advisors.
What is content marketing for financial advisors? Content marketing for financial advisors means using blogs, newsletters, videos, and market commentary to educate prospects and clients, build credibility, and stay visible before a first meeting ever happens. It replaces cold outreach with an inbound system, so prospects find the advisor while they're already searching for answers online.
Does content marketing work for financial advisors? Yes, and the data backs it up. Putnam's 2023 Social Advisor Survey found 68% of advisors who gained new clients had created their own original content, compared to just 46% of advisors who didn't see that success, a 22-point gap. Consistency and distribution seem to matter more than volume or polished writing.
What percentage of financial advisors use content marketing? Broadridge's 2023 Financial Advisor Marketing Playbook found that 53% of financial advisors actively share educational content with clients, most often through newsletters. Advisors who keep this up tend to report stronger client engagement and retention than those who skip it.
How can financial advisors simplify complex financial topics for clients? Advisors can borrow the Feynman Technique: explain one concept in plain language, notice exactly where the explanation gets confusing, then add a simple analogy to close that gap. This approach builds trust faster than a technical rundown, because clients walk away understanding the reasoning behind the advice, not just the bottom-line conclusion.
This communication is general in nature and provided for educational and informational purposes only. It should not be considered or relied upon as legal, tax, or investment advice or an investment recommendation, or as a substitute for legal counsel. Any investment products or services named herein are for illustrative purposes only and should not be considered an offer to buy or sell, or an investment recommendation for, any specific security, strategy, or investment product or service. Always consult a qualified professional or your own independent financial professional for personalized advice or investment recommendations tailored to your specific goals, individual situation, and risk tolerance.
Dunham & Associates Investment Counsel, Inc. is a Registered Investment Adviser and Broker/Dealer. Member FINRA/SIPC.
