If you’re a solo advisor, you already know the tension.
Your clients expect deep, thoughtful planning. Your business needs consistent visibility. And your calendar? It’s already full.
Somewhere between client meetings, compliance, and actually doing the work, marketing becomes the thing you mean to get to, but rarely do.
So how does a solo advisor stay top-of-mind without sacrificing authenticity, quality, or time?
For Antonio “Tony” Lugo, CFP®, the answer lies in real conversations, thoughtful communication, and a system that works even when he’s busy serving clients.
You can view his in depth case study here: How a Solo Advisor Stays Top of Mind.
Tony Lugo is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional and Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor™ with more than 14 years of experience helping clients navigate complex financial decisions. Bilingual in English and Spanish, Tony believes that “a good life doesn’t plan itself.”
As Managing Director of Smart Wealth Strategies, Inc. which he founded in 2012. Tony delivers comprehensive, goal-based planning for professionals, families, and entrepreneurs. His work spans tax, insurance, estate, and investment planning, along with retirement strategies, Medicare, Social Security, and tax-efficient income planning.
At the core of his practice is a belief many advisors share but struggle to operationalize: meaningful planning starts with meaningful conversation.
Marketing was never the problem. Time was.
As a solo financial life planner, Tony genuinely enjoys storytelling and client communication. But building, scheduling, and maintaining consistent, compliant outreach simply wasn’t realistic on his own.
Past marketing tools left him frustrated. They felt rigid, difficult to personalize, and overly focused on “posting because you should,” rather than delivering content clients and prospects actually want to engage with.
What Tony needed wasn’t another platform, it was a partner that could do the heavy lifting while still letting him sound like himself.
When Tony first discovered Snappy Kraken he found the quality of the content thoughtful, well-written, and ready to use.
Snappy Kraken filled the marketing and communication gap without forcing him to sacrifice authenticity.
Like most advisors adopting new technology, there was initial hesitation around the learning curve, time investment, and compliance. But once implemented, those concerns quickly disappeared.
Over time, Snappy Kraken became a core part of how Tony communicates, supporting emails, video, social media, webinars, and events. Audience segmentation allows him to see where relationships begin and personalize communication based on how connections form.
Rather than relying on one-off campaigns, Tony built an always-on communication engine designed for long-term relationship building.
Over the years, his outreach has reached thousands of contacts through hundreds of social posts and emails, driving strong engagement, clicks, landing page views, and form submissions. But Tony avoids chasing vanity metrics.
What matters more is how conversations change.
Prospects often say they’ve been “following along” long before they reach out. Trust is already established. Meetings start warmer. Relationships deepen faster.
Snappy Kraken became more than a marketing tool—it became a way to scale trust while staying personal.
A few outcomes surprised Tony:
*These are approximated figures
The Takeaway for AdvisorsConsistent, thoughtful communication allows advisors to show not just what they know, but who they are.
Without Snappy Kraken, staying top-of-mind at scale while remaining personal and compliant would require time Tony simply doesn’t have.
Take communication seriously.
"Whether through an internal team or a partner like Snappy Kraken, advisors need specialists who understand how to communicate clearly, consistently, and credibly—because trust doesn’t happen by accident."