The firm
Fiduciary Financial Group manages about $1.2 billion from the Bay Area, with a significant client base in Idaho as well. Two client profiles dominate: successful retirees, often retiring early with substantial means, and tech professionals holding significant stock equity compensation.
What sets the firm apart is an in-house tax team. Tax preparation and tax planning run alongside wealth management rather than being handed off, which makes the advice more comprehensive and the firm harder to replace.
Scotch tape on a billion-dollar firm
Trevor Scotto is direct about why the website lagged. "We're CPAs, right? We're not the best at marketing. We want to outsource that the best we can."
The firm had been growing quickly and the site kept up by improvisation. "We were throwing scotch tape at it, if you will, for quite some time. And then it got to a point where we kind of looked back — whoa, we're over a billion now. We should probably modernize the experience."
They had a website manager who did good work. The constraint was structural: a request for an update took two to five business days. "We didn't know any better, and that was kind of the norm."
“We were throwing scotch tape at it. Then we looked back — whoa, we're over a billion now.”
The build
Trevor's summary of the process is short: "We barely did any work." The firm described the vision, handed over the existing site as a starting point, and asked for something more modern.
"We were blessed with a 99% completed project," he says. A few final minor tweaks, and it was live. He is candid that he knows nothing about building or designing websites — and that this is precisely the point.
The backend arrived shortly after launch. Since then, edits happen in place. "I can make a change on the website pretty much instantly, so there's no more lag time." Just as importantly, the fear is gone: "I don't have that fear of breaking the website anymore."
“We were blessed with a 99% completed project. We just did some final minor tweaks and then it was live.”
Ten leads, in the wrong season
Two weeks after launch, the firm had already received ten leads through the website.
The timing makes that more striking, not less. Fiduciary Financial Group gets most of its referrals during tax season and extension season; summers are quiet. "For us to get as many as we did already is pretty cool," Trevor says — and he expects the comparison at the next peak to be worth watching.
He is also clear that the site is new enough that the SEO and AEO work has barely begun to compound. "I feel like we haven't even scratched the surface yet."
“It's only been like two weeks, but we've already received 10 leads on the website.”
What instant actually buys you
The clearest example Trevor gives is small and telling. A team member, Carson, earned his CFP® designation. "Literally within five minutes I was able to update that everywhere on the website."
Under the old model that is a request, a queue, and a wait of several business days for a change that matters to a prospect reading the team page today. The same applies to the firm's tax resource pages, client login links, and the roster of companies where clients hold equity compensation.
The platform also drafts content. Trevor logs in about once a week and works from its recommendations, with a preview step before anything publishes. "It comes up with recommendations, which is pretty cool. And it has the flexibility of, if there's something I want to build, it'll help brainstorm."
The economics
Asked whether he would recommend the move to another advisor, Trevor goes straight to cost. A professional agency doing equivalent work runs "three to five grand a month, who knows, maybe more."
The comparison he finds more interesting is upward, not downward. "It feels like we can finally compete with firms that are dumping like 50 plus grand," he says — a firm of CPAs, without a marketing department, holding its own against competitors with far larger budgets.
His one-sentence summary is about time rather than money. "As a partner of a firm where time is so limited, it's nice to be able to go in, make some changes very quickly, and it's done right and it's done very well."