GK3 Capital

06/03/2026

Fund managers lose RIA deals after the meeting more than most people realize, and the problem isn't the pitch.

Ryan Woelk, Account Manager at GK3 Capital, watched this pattern play out firsthand. The call goes well, the advisor asks smart questions, they talk about fit and next steps, and then three weeks later, nothing.

What's actually happening:

By the time an advisor leaves a positive call, they still have to take your fund to their investment committee. That committee will ask questions they can't answer off the top of their head. Pulling that information together takes hours, and in an advisor's world, hours are hard to find. The deal doesn't fall apart. It just quietly disappears.

What changes it:

The fund managers that win aren't the ones with the best pitch. They're the ones that make the advisor's internal job easiest. Ryan breaks down exactly what that looks like, including what an Investment Committee Toolkit is and why it's the piece most fund managers are missing.

Read the full breakdown here: https://www.gk3capital.com/insights/why-fund-managers-lose-ria-deals-after-the-meeting

Where do deals most commonly stall for you after a positive advisor meeting?

06/02/2026

You're not getting leads. You're trying but they're not committing.

Most firms aren't struggling because of effort. They're struggling because their marketing pieces aren't working together as a system.

The reality:

80% of the buying decision happens before a prospect ever picks up the phone. Most firms have pieces of a marketing system but not a system itself.

The solution:

The GK3 Digital Operating Model connects all five: strategy, technology, infrastructure, content, and distribution, built specifically for how financial services buyers make decisions.

Over the next month we'll be breaking down each of the five components individually. And in financial services, where the buying process is longer and the stakes are higher, the system behind your marketing makes all the difference.

Watch the full breakdown on our homepage: https://www.gk3capital.com/digital-operating-model

What's the biggest gap in your current marketing setup right now?

05/28/2026

If you educate a prospect, they are 9 times more likely to buy from you.

That stat came out of the Endless Customers Live conference in Chicago, and it stopped the GK3 team in their tracks. Not because it was surprising, but because it confirmed something most of us already know. Nobody hands over their money without doing their homework first.

Why it matters:

80% of the buying decision happens before a prospect ever talks to a sales rep. The firms showing up with educational content during that research phase are the ones getting considered. The ones that aren't are being crossed off a list they never knew existed.

What we're doing about it:

Ryan Woelk, Account Manager at GK3 Capital, was in the room in Chicago when these numbers were presented. He sits down with host Colby Connor in Episode 4 of the Fund Better Podcast to break down what they mean for financial services firms and what GK3 has already built for clients based on them.

Watch the full episode here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2XToF9bTEAxnTaxJeKUhkq?si=dDa_dnGNQi--mdQe8OWeEQ

How is your firm showing up during the research phase before prospects are ready to talk?

05/27/2026

Most financial services firms treat lead generation like a gym membership. Something to get to eventually, just never urgent enough to prioritize over everything else already on the plate.

And when referrals are coming in and the team is busy, it's easy to convince yourself the status quo is fine.

The real cost: It's not just missed deals. It shows up in your payroll, your marketing budget, your competitive positioning, and your ability to grow predictably years from now.

Most firms don't feel it until the referral network slows down. By then the gap is already wide.

Colby Connor breaks down five specific hidden costs in our latest article and what most firms haven't calculated about what waiting is actually costing them.

Read the full breakdown here: https://www.gk3capital.com/insights/the-hidden-cost-of-not-having-a-lead-gen-system

If you're being honest about your pipeline, where does the unpredictability show up most?

The latest financial marketing news from GK3 capital

05/26/2026

Great work doesn't need a trophy. But it's nice when it gets one.

GK3 Capital took home Silver at the 32nd Annual FCS Portfolio Awards, presented by the Financial Communications Society. The recognition is for B2B Branding, Visual Identity System, in the Financial Institution category, for our work with Teucrium ETFs.

This marks our 5th consecutive year taking home an FCS Portfolio Award and our 8th overall.

The partnership behind it:

The award officially arrived today and watching John open the box made it real. None of this happens without the right partnership behind it. Grateful to Teucrium for trusting us with this and to everyone at GK3 who delivered.

What does strong B2B branding mean to you when it comes to standing out in financial services?

05/21/2026

The energy in a room tells you everything you need to know about a company culture.

Clara Martin, Senior Account Coordinator at GK3 Capital, has been with the team for a little over two and a half years. Ask her what made GK3 feel like the right fit and she doesn't hesitate.

It's the team. A group of digital experts across graphic design, content, paid media, and strategy who work together. The collaboration between all of them is what makes the work strong. And the energy in the room doesn't hurt either.

Right now, Clara is working on YouTube strategy for one of her clients, focused specifically on optimizing AEO visibility. Given that YouTube recently surpassed Reddit as the number one source for AI answers, the firms paying attention to that now are going to have a real advantage.

Clara is talking high-level visibility. Someone else is just making sure they’re visible. 👋

Watch her full spotlight below!

How is your team staying ahead of the curve with AEO?

05/20/2026

Most financial services firms look at their organic social numbers, don't see leads coming in, and conclude the channel isn't working.

Tess Grande hears it almost every month. Her answer is always the same: the problem isn't social media, it's the expectation.

The real purpose of organic social:

It's a trust and awareness channel, not a lead generation one. Measuring it against lead numbers is setting it up to fail.

Why the stakes are higher than most firms think:

An estimated $84 trillion is moving from Baby Boomers to their heirs over the next 20 years. Those heirs research firms online before they ever take a call. When that money moves, the firms that showed up consistently will already have a relationship with the people inheriting it. The ones that waited will be starting from scratch.

Tess lays out the full argument in our latest article, what organic social is built for, how to measure it right, and why it matters more now than most firms realize.

Read the full breakdown here: https://www.gk3capital.com/insights/is-organic-social-media-worth-it-financial-services

How is your firm currently measuring the impact of organic social?

The latest financial marketing news from GK3 capital

05/19/2026

Great content starts long before anyone hits record.

The lighting setup, the sound check, the pre-production planning, and the camera positioned just right. That's the part most people never see. And it's the part that determines whether the final product looks professional or pieced together at the last minute.

What you're looking at:

A look inside our production setup at GK3 Capital. Professional grade cameras, lighting rigs, clean audio setup, and a dedicated media room built specifically for this kind of work.

What's coming:

We've been busy. There's a lot of content in the pipeline and these photos are just a small preview. New formats, new faces, and more content we've been building toward all year.

What topics or content do you want to see more of from the GK3 team?

05/14/2026

The right culture doesn't take long to recognize.

Ryan Carmon, GK3 Capital's Social Media Manager, knew it in his first week. He was hired the same week as the company retreat, which meant his first week on the job came with the whole team in one place. The collaborations, the energy, the way everyone showed up for each other. He knew right away it was going to be a good fit.

What he's working on: A full omni channel paid media plan for a client that spans every major platform. YouTube, Reddit, Meta, LinkedIn, Google, and Programmatic. All of them working together to reach the right audience at every touchpoint.

Watch his full spotlight below. 🎥

What does your current paid media mix look like and which platforms are pulling the most weight?

05/13/2026

55% growth in marketing sourced revenue. 52% growth in pipeline. Same ad budget.

Clara Martin, Senior Account Coordinator at GK3 Capital, spent the past year as the day to day lead on a campaign that produced those numbers. It wasn't one big idea. It was a year of running five channels as one system and making a lot of small adjustments along the way.

The difference wasn't the channels: Most firms are already running Google Ads, programmatic display, email, LinkedIn ads, and SEO. The difference was that none of them operated in isolation:

• Programmatic built awareness
• Search captured the demand it helped create
• Email nurtured the leads who weren't ready yet
• LinkedIn kept the client visible through a long sales cycle
• SEO built an organic foundation that compounds over time

More budget isn't always the answer. It happened because every marketing dollar was working with the others instead of around them.

Read the full breakdown here: https://www.gk3capital.com/insights/b2b-financial-services-integrated-marketing-results

What's the biggest challenge your team runs into when trying to get multiple marketing channels working together?

GK3 Capital helps financial services firms grow AUM, build client trust, and achieve measurable results through proven digital sales and marketing strategies. Discover how our CEO and Founder, John Gulino, leads firms in driving transformative growth.