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Written by: Joel Crampton
Back-to-school season is a good reminder that some classes are required, while others are optional.
Marketing works the same way. Get the core courses right first, then decide which electives are worth adding.
ONE BIG IDEA — Pass the Required Courses First
A lot of firms jump straight to the electives.
Podcasts. Paid ads. Webinars. AI tools. Video. PR. New social channels.
Any of those can work, but they get attention because they're new, visible, and easy to point to. Meanwhile, the less glamorous fundamentals often get pushed aside.
The Required Courses come first:
- Clear positioning
- A website that supports growth
- Consistent prospect follow-up
- Strong client communication
- Basic measurement
If your positioning is unclear, your website isn't helping convert prospects, follow-up is inconsistent, or you don't know what's working... adding more tactics usually creates more activity without much more progress.
Once the foundation is in place, electives become much easier to evaluate. You can choose them based on your audience, goals, capacity, and budget instead of feeling like you need to do everything.
You don't need to enroll in every class. You just need to make sure you're not failing the prerequisites.
ONE FRAMEWORK — Build Your Marketing Curriculum
Required Courses
These are the fundamentals nearly every firm should have in place:
- Clear positioning & audience identification
- A credible, conversion-focused website
- Consistent prospect follow-up
- Regular client communication
- Basic tracking & measurement
Upper-Level Courses
Once the foundation is solid, these can help expand reach and generate more opportunities:
- SEO & AI search visibility
- Email nurture
- Referral strategy
- Social media
- Events & webinars
- Lead generation campaigns
Electives
These can be valuable, but they're highly dependent on the firm, audience, resources, and strategy:
- Podcasting
- Paid media
- PR
- Advanced automation
- AI workflows
- Emerging platforms
The point is to choose electives intentionally, AFTER the core curriculum is working.
ONE RESOURCE — See How Your Firm Measures Up
Schwab's 2026 RIA Benchmarking Study is about as close as you'll get to an industry report card.
The study includes 1,200+ firms representing more than $2.5T in AUM and evaluates top performers across 15 measures of growth, operations, planning, and client service.
A few numbers worth grading yourself against:
- Revenue growth: 21% for Top Performing Firms vs. 11% for other firms
- Client growth: 12% vs. 5%
- Net asset flow growth: 15% vs. 5%
- New client assets: $58M vs. $21M
- Tracking lead sources: 85% of Top Performing Firms vs. 71% of other firms
Top Performing Firms were also more likely to have a documented ideal client persona, client value proposition, marketing plan, and referral plans.
In other words, the firms earning the best grades aren't just doing more, they have the fundamentals documented, measured, and consistently executed.
ONE NEXT STEP — Audit Your Course Load
Make a list of everything your firm is currently doing in marketing. Then label each one:
- Required — foundational to how you attract, convert, or retain clients
- Upper-Level — important, but only after the basics are working
- Elective — useful if it fits your strategy, audience, and resources
Now look at where your time and budget are actually going. If you're spending heavily on electives while a required course is still underperforming, rebalance the schedule.
Sometimes the smartest marketing move is dropping a class.
Related: Why Newsletters Rarely Get Credit for the Revenue They Generate