Welcome to WomenShare: a marketing guide for women in financial services. In this episode of the podcast, Joanna Ehresman and Leah Alter are joined by a very special guest, Yelena Melamed. 

Yelena is the Head of Product for Catchlight, an AI tool designed to help financial advisors find and filter prospects and increase their conversions. She focuses on helping advisors leverage data and technology to grow their practices, and brings with her more than two decades of experience in financial services. 

In this episode, we explore how technology is transforming the financial services industry with three key themes that AI brings to the table: efficiency, personalized marketing, and predictive analytics.

If you are a financial advisor looking to stay ahead of the curve and enhance your growth strategies, this episode is a must-listen. Yelena's expertise and experience in the field will provide you with valuable insights and inspiration to take your practice to new heights.

Key Takeaways:

1. Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming the financial services industry, including how financial advisors grow their practices. AI can help advisors leverage data to focus on the best fit opportunities for their business and personalize their marketing and engagement efforts.

2. Efficiency is a key theme in AI adoption for financial advisors. AI can analyze big data and historical data to predict the type of prospects that advisors have been successful with, the most productive sources of leads, and where to focus their time and efforts for the best opportunities.

3. Personalized marketing and engagement are essential for financial advisors. By leveraging data and AI, advisors can create highly personalized campaigns and engagement cadences to target their ideal customers with tailored messages, leading to more meaningful interactions.

4. AI technology, like Catchlight, can provide insights on the types of clients that resonate with advisors. This two-way street allows advisors to understand if their target niche aligns with the clients they are attracting and adjust their strategy accordingly.

5. While data and AI are important tools, having a strategy and understanding your target market is crucial for success. Advisors should assess their past successes, their reasons for getting into the business, and define their best fit segments to send a targeted message and rally around those prospects.