Recently, I asked subscribers to my blog about questions they'd like to see addressed. A couple of advisors responded with queries on marketing spending. One advisor wanted advice on producing a marketing brochure for his business. Another was considering investing in an "audio business card", a cd that he could give to prospects and to clients to pass along to their network.I have a two fold answer on whether it makes sense to invest in a brochure or audio business card.

First, I've seen too many advisors spend hours fine tuning a brochure or newsletter, well past the point of diminishing returns. Yes your material has to be to a good standard, but what will get really get results from a brochure or audeo business card isn't the quality of the production, it's how these tools are used. Many advisors fall into the trap of spending money on a marketing tool without thinking through exactly how they'll employ it for maximum impact - with the result that costly materials sit unused in cabinets or desk drawers.

Having said that, given today's skeptical client environment, I don't believe communication which is seen as "marketing" will give advisors the best return for their money - it's just too hard to overcome the cynical eye that many prospects cast towards anything which they see as a sales piece.

Instead, today's best investment for most advisors is a good quality website directed to your clients. This website can include market commentaries, research, audio files of conference calls conducted by the advisor or firm for clients, upcoming events and links to articles and BNN interviews you think clients might find of value; it can also include background on you and your team (remembering that the primary focus needs to be on information clients will find of value).

At one time, the expense of producing a professional looking was prohibitive - today costs have come down such that a solid website can be developed for well under $5,000, an amount which should be affordable for most successful advisors. You won't win awards with this - but then again you don't have to win awards. What you do have to do is have a professional presence in far and away the fastest growing medium for communicating with clients and prospects.

And by assembling a good quality website, you don't just serve existing clients but can also send the right message to prospects. In today's world, before deciding whether meet with an advisor, the first stop for many prospects is looking at his or her website - to all intents and purposes, today your client website has also become your marketing brochure for prospects.

I do recognize there are some hurdles to overcome. There is a significant upfront investment of time required to develop a good looking site. It takes an ongoing investment of time to ensure that a site is current and has fresh content - ideally you are adding a new article or commentary once a month.

I recognize that in some firms compliance limits what advisors can do. Where compliance prohibits having public websites, consider developing a pdf which you can forward to clients and prospects, which looks like a website but is really just an online brochure, updated frequently.

Despite the investment required and the hassles along the way, today a quality website is the one of the very best investments advisors can make, both in communicating to existing clients and in positioning themselves with prospects. In fact, while a website may still be a nice to have today, it's rapidly on the way to becoming an essential cost of doing business.

So my answer to where to focus marketing dollars is simple: When you think about where to target your marketing spending over the next while, ensuring you have a good quality website should be at the top of the list.