Robert Sofia: What AI Can and Can't Do for Advisor Marketing

His book, "Blend Out: How Advisors Can Market Like the Greatest Brands in the World," details a host of techniques for standing out. Sofia, whose digital marketing firm serves advisors exclusively, highlights household names like Starbucks, Uber and Old Spice.

AI power permeates Snappy Kraken's workflow. For example, before releasing its campaigns, the firm elicits focus group-like input from AI agents inside "personas" that function as potential clients.

"AI is going to behave just how it behaves," Sofia maintains. "That's why you need to have a human in the loop."

In the interview, he emphasizes: "Getting awareness of you and your brand is harder than it's ever been. ... So the ability to market is central."

Here are highlights of our conversation:

THINKADVISOR: What's at the heart of your book? You name several familiar brands and firm leaders.

ROBERT SOFIA: It's about the problem advisors have: They can be skilled, trustworthy and deliver deep value. That is, they don't have a capability problem; they have a visibility and memorability problem.

The book focuses on boldness — having a bold brand that captures attention and has uniqueness. Something that's unique is more interesting and more memorable.

The industry is awash with [promises of] comprehensive planning, fiduciary advice, peace of mind. Those cliches don't accomplish the goal of being highly visible, memorable and unique.

Though the book is 5 years old, the ways to accomplish that are still relevant and just as important in the age of AI — maybe more important because AI isn't great at creating unique and original things. It's trained only on the most common things that are out there.

THINKADVISOR: Is AI the be-all and end-all of marketing for advisors?

SOFIA: Absolutely not. It's definitely not the answer by itself. To say that AI is the answer to marketing is like saying the keyboard is the answer to writing.

AI is a tool. It can be an accelerant, collaborator, enhancer. But without good strategy and depth of knowledge — people who know how to use it — it just creates noise, not signal.

THINKADVISOR: Are most advisors amenable to using AI? How much resistance is there?

SOFIA: The risks advisors are concerned about are real: compliance risks, hallucination risks. You need to have safeguards in place to address those.

Whether the advisors are for or against AI doesn't matter. AI is going to behave just how it behaves. That's why you need to have a human in the loop.

THINKADVISOR: How do you apply AI in your own firm?

SOFIA: We use it to look across campaigns and see what's working and what's not. For example, we generate personas [AI models with specific identities and backgrounds] of various buyers or clients with agents built into them.

They're each programmed with a persona designed to function like a certain individual we're targeting. Then we create the content and put it through the AI so it can evaluate and poke holes in it.

The persona might say, "I wouldn't respond to this because of A,B, and C" or "This doesn't strike me correctly." In that way, we use AI as a focus group.

THINKADVISOR: What's an example?

SOFIA: If we're creating content for retirees, we might have personas for a high-net-worth retired professional and a widow who never touched her finances.

These agents review the retirement content. It helps to identify gaps in the messaging.

THINKADVISOR: How does this apply when Snappy Kraken markets to advisors?

SOFIA: We have different types of advisor personas inside various roles with a [range] of education and licenses. They help us generate content, fact check, review content.

THINKADVISOR: Will AI make a real difference in advisors' marketing that will help them grow substantially?

SOFIA: It has the ability to do that. But it won't do it automatically. It's how you deploy the AI that determines that.

For many years marketing has been throw it up [against the wall] and see what sticks — just try to see what people like.

[In contrast], before we even launch a campaign to the public, we have a review process with, for instance, the personas of a pre-retiree, a skeptical prospect, and so on.

All those personas look at it, and we see how it performs with them. It increases our probability of success. [Later], newsletters are tailored to age and interests. That drives conversion rates up, and more meetings are booked. That means [advisors] are building trust and a relationship faster.

So, as part of a workflow embedded in different places, AI has improved the overall effectiveness of marketing.

THINKADVISOR: What's the biggest challenge to advisors' organic growth?

SOFIA: Consistency. Most advisory firms that grow organically are very persistent and consistent until they find what works — then they double down on it.

The larger population just chases shiny objects. They try something and don't stick with it; so they don't grow. They're not continually investing.

THINKADVISOR: Broadly, how important is marketing in the advisor scenario?

SOFIA: Very. Even if you're skilled, trustworthy and provide value, you need to make sure people know that you exist. Getting awareness for you and your brand is harder than it's ever been.

There's more noise, more competition. Further, most advisors are competing with well-funded competition in the space — whether private equity-backed RIAs or wirehouses.

So the ability to market is central.