FMG Suite, one of the largest marketing technology providers for independent financial advisors and insurance agents, announced Tuesday it has acquired Twenty Over Ten, a fast-growing digital marketing platform out of State College, Pa. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Twenty Over Ten, WealthManagement.com 2020 Industry Awards winner for its lead-generating tool, has been considering an acquisition offer from FMG Suite for the past two years. The company knew it needed resources to provide continuous, innovative services to its customers, so it considered the possibility. In August, the firm entered into serious talks to be acquired. And by Thanksgiving, Twenty Over Ten had signed over complete ownership to San Diego–based FMG Suite.
“We stayed close to them knowing that perhaps someday we’d have this opportunity to bring the two teams together,” said Scott White, CEO and president of FMG.
White said FMG had been eyeing Twenty Over Ten’s website-editing tool and plans to combine the lead-generating tool, Lead Pilot, which debuted at this year’s T3 conference, with its customer engagement tool set for advisors “to have a full marketing experience.”
“We really align in terms of what we’re really out to do at the end of the day, and that’s to find the very best, most innovative solution for financial advisors and insurance agents,” said Ryan Russell, co-founding managing partner of Twenty Over Ten.
The acquisition adds 34 employees, including the company’s copywriters, developers, designers and marketing professionals, to FMG’s staff of over 200. Ryan Russell and wife Samantha Russell, director of marketing and sales, will remain with the company. Samantha was recently named one of WealthManagement.com’s Ten to Watch in 2021 for her work empowering advisors in the digital marketing space.
The acquisition will also include additional marketing and website tools for independent advisors, as well as Twenty Over Ten’s client base, which now includes large independent broker/dealers such as LPL Financial, Cetera and Advisor Group.
FMG is not yet done with acquisitions, and White said the firm expects its next targets will focus on artificial intelligence.
FMG Suite, co-founded in 2011, has been buying up its competition for several years. With private equity backing, FMG Suite purchased a few of its competitors starting in 2016, the same year White took over as CEO and president.
Private equity firm K1 Investment Management helped FMG buy website provider Advisor LaunchPad in 2016. The following year, it snagged Agency Revolution, an insurance marketing automation software company that led it into the insurance rep market, and Advisors Assistant, a customer relationship management software provider.
In 2018, FMG bought Peter Montoya’s MarketingPro, a marketing automation platform that held a content library aligned with advisors’ compliance needs, and Platinum Advisor Strategies, which was co-founded by twin brothers and LPL financial advisors Robert and Thomas Fross.
K1 helped FMG with strategic acquisitions that broadened its products and services to independent financial advisors. K1 said in a company statement that it helped grow the marketing tech sector’s revenue sixfold and tripled its customer base to more than 40,000.
FMG has been building out its executive team with marketing veterans to lead its sales and marketing divisions. It also invested in adding a machine-learning curation engine, known as Curator, that pulls relevant third-party content from Forbes and the Wall Street Journal to its platform.
K1 sold FMG in June to Aurora Capital Management, a private equity firm focused on enterprise software and financial technology. FMG was the second company K1 unloaded because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
