Hyper Pony Studio

Owner

North Square Investments

Digital Marketing Consultant

FortéOne

Fractional CMO | Chief Marketing Officer

Ariel Investments

C.S. McKee

UX Collective

Contributing Writer

MAQTOOB

Digital Bootcamp

Instructor

The Simons Group

Senior Designer

👑 Web, Marketing, & Design Expert for Advisory and Consulting Firms 👑 Websites driven by marketing expertise 👉 hyperponystudio.com

👋 Hi I'm Manda!

Follow me and ring my 🔔 if you're in the financial services industry and want to learn more about:

👉 Marketing persuasion techniques 
👉 Writing copy that converts
👉 Attracting potential clients
👉 Turning those prospects into clients
👉 Professionally presenting your brand 
👉 Attracting your ideal clients
👉 Creating an EFFECTIVE website
👉 Establishing trust and building authority

🔻 🔻 🔻 Want to work together? 🔻 🔻 🔻

For advisory and investment firms:
🔹 Complete brand, website, & marketing overhauls
🔹 Ongoing marketing and fractional CMO services
🔹 Deep-dive website audits

For independent financial advisors:
🔹 Deep-dive website audits
🔹 Web and marketing flash audits
🔹 Ignite Your Site course coming soon!

Learn more, view samples of my work, or start your project at hyperponystudio.com!

👑
Hyper Pony Studio 
Digital marketing for the financial services industry

I’ve been away from LinkedIn a long time. Here are some lessons I didn't expect:

👉 Being away did not reenergize me nor invigorate me. In fact, the longer I was away, the harder it was to come back and the harder it was to come up with content for posts. Social media is not a natural state. When you get away, you don't miss it. You might miss the people, but you don't miss the rest.

👉 My feed is a s***show now. I had my feed under control - it was filled with people I like. Now I'm only seeing posts from 2 and 3 weeks ago and my feed and notifications are filled with people I don't even know. I'm going to have to wrangle it back into submission.

👉 Leads kept coming and prospects kept showing up on my calendar even without LinkedIn. This was probably my biggest surprise. A year ago, ALL of my prospects came from LinkedIn. Now they come from referrals, from websites I've created, from organic search, AND from LinkedIn.

👉 My favorite part of LinkedIn is the people. Even though I wasn't posting here, I stayed in contact with my friends via email, text, and even the DMs here. As much as I'm having to push myself to get back to the grind of posting consistently, it's worth it for all of the amazing people I've met - and will continue to meet - here.

Have you ever taken a break from LinkedIn? How did it go for you?

Manda Szewczyk

👑 Marketing Overhauls for Financial Advisors & RIAs 👉 Sharing digital marketing tips

Your biggest competition as financial advisors isn’t other financial advisors or TikTok influencers. 
 
It’s DIYers. 
 
People who think they can do what you do. 
 
But the reason they think that is because they don’t REALLY know what you really do. 
 
They see you talking about 401ks and Roth IRAs and emergency funds. 
 
And they think, I already do that. I don’t need this person. 
 
But they don’t see all of the things they are missing when they are DIYing. 
 
They don’t understand the details like you do. 
 
And they don’t realize the bazillion OTHER ways you help your clients. 
 
🔻 🔻 🔻 
 
So, how do you make it clear? 
 
Tell stories. 
 
👉 Talk about how you found extra tax savings for a client 
 
👉 How you helped a client improve on and fast-track their retirement plans 
 
👉 How you made time to help a client make a big financial decision 
 
👉 How you ran the numbers to help someone make the best choice for their refi 
 
The stories don’t have to be long. 
 
They don’t have to be eloquent. 
 
But they need to be SPECIFIC!! 
 
You want people to understand that they can’t do what you do – and that the value you provide more than pays for itself. 
 
🔻 🔻 🔻 
 
Do you use stories or case studies to show prospects what you do?

Hey advisors, if the services section of your website looks like this👇 you might want to make some changes.
 
Here's why: 
 
👉 If I'm on your site because I'm looking for a NEW financial advisor, nothing here is telling me you're any different than every other advisor out there. 
 
👉 If I'm on your site because I'm looking for my FIRST financial advisor, nothing on this list means anything to me. 
 
So how do you fix it? 
 
👑 If your target market is people who have a financial advisor, but are looking to switch, you have to let them know why you are BETTER! 
 
👑 If your target market is people who have never worked with an advisor before, you need to break down these concepts so they are EASY to understand. 
 
Either way, a list like this isn't going to cut it. 
 
* * * 
 
SO TELL ME: 
What do YOU like to see on a services page?

No alternative text description for this image

Hey advisors, are you thinking of starting a newsletter? 
 
You might be tempted to go out and subscribe to ALL the newsletters to see what everyone else is doing. 
 
But instead of doing that, 
subscribe to JUST ONE. 
 
Start with ONE popular newsletter from your industry. 
 
👀 And pay attention. 
 
What happened when you subscribed? 
 
👉 Did they send a thank-you? 
 
👉 Did they ask you to confirm your email? 
 
👉 Did they offer you links to past issues? 
 
👉 Did they send you a welcome email? 
 
👉 Did they tell you when to expect your first issue? 
 
👉 Was there a lead magnet? 
 
👉 What was the subscription form like? 
 
👉 Did they have a separate landing page for their newsletter? What was on it? What got your attention? 
 
When you go bananas and subscribe to 25 newsletters at once, you miss out on all these details. 
 
And these details are ALL part of the newsletter experience! 
 
Take notes! 
 
Write down the parts of the newsletter experience that were especially delightful. 
 
And THEN subscribe to another one. 
 
And keep at it! 
 
Check out newsletters from your peers and industry leaders, and then branch out and subscribe to popular newsletters in other industries! 
 
Over time you'll see what works, and what doesn't, and you'll have a MUCH clearer picture of what you should do with your own newsletter! 
 
* * * 
 
So tell me: what "must-read" newsletter do YOU subscribe to?

I see the same mistakes over and over, but they all have easy fixes!

Today we're talking about not showing your personality on your website. 

Why is that a problem?

Because you're just blending in with the other 100k advisors out there.

Check out this carousel for tips to add more personality to your site!

- - - - - - - - - - - - 

Want to know what the OTHER mistakes are?

Check out my podcast episodes with @hillary-meehan where we break them down one-by-one!

Links in the comments 👇

Carousel

So many financial advisors and wealth managers are NOT doing a good job with their messaging – especially on their websites.

Check out the carousel below for two VERY different writing samples from two wealth management websites.

Same service. Same general target market.

You tell me: Who would you rather work with?

- - - - - - - - 

Now go read your own site.

Even better, read it aloud.

- Is it friendly?
- Is it natural?
- Do you sound like a person?
- Does your writing connect with the reader?

If not, it might be time for a rewrite!

In this makeover, we're improving a Wealth Management website homepage – without altering the brand at all.

Same images, same colors, same fonts, same overall look and feel – but a MUCH more user-friendly site – and more likely to turn visitors into clients! 

Check out the carousel below for the before and after – as well as tips you can use to improve your own site.

So tell me:
👑 What do you think of this week's makeover?


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

👋 Hi, I'm Manda! 
 
I offer marketing overhauls and fractional CMO services for financial advisors and RIAs.

I'm fully booked, but follow me here or subscribe for:

👑 Marketing advice to attract more prospects
👑 Strategies to turn your website into a marketing machine 
👑 DIY tips to level-up your marketing

Subscribe at hyperponystudio(dot)com/subscribe

It doesn't matter how great your website messaging is if nobody can read it.
 
Here are some tips 🔻
 
Open your website on a desktop computer, laptop, tablet, and phone and make SURE everything (yes everything) is easy to read. 
 
Better yet, ask someone older (someone who will be honest with you). 
 
Some things to watch out for: 
 
👉 If you're going to place text over an image or pattern, make sure there is a LOT of contrast between the image and the text color. Readability is WAY more important than using a cool image. 
 
👉 Choose a font that is easy to read – in it's normal state, but also in bold and italics. Again, readability is more important than showing off a creative font. 
 
👉 Use all-caps in moderation. Nobody wants to try to read a full paragraph of all-caps copy. 
 
👉 Pay attention to contrast. Do not use a light color on white, or a dark color on black. There are contrast testers that will tell you if your text color is legible based on its background color. Link in the comments! 
 
👉 Don't use complimentary colors (colors across from one another on the color wheel) on top of one another. It causes an odd vibration that is extremely uncomfortable to read. 
 
👉 Give your text a LOT of room to breathe. Make sure that it's not running into the edges of your page or into images or other blocks of text. 
 
👉 Use a font size that's large enough for older people or those with visual impairments to read. Again, clarity over design. 
 
👉 Don't replace real text with images. Images won't work with screen readers, and can't be enlarged as easily with accessibility settings. 
 
* * * 
 
Did I miss anything? 
 
Is there anything that annoys YOU when you're trying to read a website?

I see the same mistakes over and over, but they all have easy fixes!

Today we're talking about not using your niche to your advantage. 

If you're doing this, you're...

👉 You're missing out on serious benefits
👉 You're losing potential clients
👉 You're stagnating your future growth

Check out this carousel to learn how to lean into your niche on your site!

- - - - - - - - - - - - 

Want to know what the OTHER mistakes are?

Check out my podcast episodes with @hillary-meehan where we break them down one-by-one!

Links in the comments 👇

Hey advisors, what do YOU think about a business when you see outdated content on their website?

I feel like the business is off of their game. I lose trust. 

Imagine this:

👉 You walk into a bank advertising a 2017 holiday promotion. Would you want to bank there?

👉 Or you're in line at a grocery store selling magazines from 2021. Would you start checking the expiration dates on your food?

👉 What about the car company bragging about being "Best in Class" in 2019? Are you buying that car in 2025?

It's a little thing that's a big thing.

👑 Check your website and remove anything that feels old, dusty, or outdated. 

It's not worth losing that trust.

On a side note: 
When do you think an award is too old to be featured on your website homepage? After a year? Two? Five? 🤔


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

👋 Hi, I'm Manda! 
 Your friendly neighborhood web expert for the financial services industry

I'm fully booked, but follow me here or subscribe for:

👑 Marketing advice to attract more prospects
👑 Strategies to turn your website into a marketing machine 
👑 DIY tips to level-up your marketing

Subscribe at hyperponystudio(dot)com/subscribe

Outdated Content Is Hurting You!

I see the same mistakes over and over, but they all have easy fixes!

Today we're talking about not using your About page as a sales page. 

Why is that a problem?

Your About page will be the second most visited page on your site.

Some prospects will land on your about page without ever seeing your home page.

You've got to make it count!

Learn how to make the most of your About page in the carousel below.

- - - - - - - - - - - - 

Want to know what the OTHER mistakes are?

Check out my podcast episodes with @hillary-meehan where we break them down one-by-one!

Links in the comments 👇

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