The Power of Your "Brand" as a Financial Advisor

I used to think ‘branding’ for financial advisor was a waste of time and money. Boy was I wrong.

At the most simple form, think of the images these well-known brands conjure in your mind:

1. Walmart
2. Microsoft
3. BMW
4. TJ Maxx
5. Edward Jones
6. Goldman Sachs

If you spend a few minutes on just this short list it’s pretty amazing what you’ll come up with. Further, what companies would you want your firm (or you if you are a captive rep) to be thought of in the same light. Take Walmart, for instance. Do you equate the image of Walmart in your business? You do if you’re competing on price alone and offering all the same things every other advisor can offer.

What about Goldman Sachs? Do you think your clients respect you the same way this Wall Street titan commands it? Edward Jones is an interesting anomaly in our business. To me, they’re basically the equivalent of the local hardware store – more expensive than Home Depot; but with a local appeal that the big guns on Wall Street simply don’t have or don’t want.

Branding in my practice is far from perfect. But I’ve begun taking strides toward establishing my firm as somewhat a middle-millionaire boutique for the 50 plus crowd. We offer proprietary asset management strategies not used by the big wirehouses with personal attention like a local bank trust department. “Multi-disciplinary Wealth Management” is what the industry has coined this type of practice. Essentially, asset management, estate planning and tax preparation under one roof. This is oversimplifying things a bit. But you must start with something.

Image is Everything…

One of my first mentors in financial planning talked a lot about image. In his words, “you must look good, smell good and talk eloquently”. His first advice for me: Get a BMW, Mercedes or Jag. I didn’t take that advice. He came from the old-school insurance side of the business; and made millions selling life insurance and annuities. While ultimately I didn’t follow in his footsteps – he did walk the walk. And he walked it well: BMW, Hummer, Yacht and million dollar home (check, check, check and check). Where I think he went wrong, though, is that he was his brand. So beyond him there was no real business. Nothing of tangible value and very little one could emulate for success.

So I’ve focused on the image of building a business. Not an image of just myself. Do this and it will serve you well now and in the future.

Here’s Where You Start…

When thinking about your brand there are a few simple places to start. The beauty of branding for financial advisors, especially those who own their practice at the local level, is you needn’t a huge budget to establish your identity. The first steps can be done without dropping a single dollar:

Establish Your Unique Selling Proposition.

A USP is a marketing concept invented by Rosser Reeves in the 1960’s. Reeves, who wrote Reality in Advertising, came to the conclusion that the only way to make customers come to you was to create an advertising message about your product that contained the following three characteristics:

1. Each advertisement must make a proposition to the consumer. Not just words, not just product puffery, not just show-window advertising. Each advertisement must say to each reader: “Buy this product, and you will get this specific benefit.”
2. The proposition must be one that the competitor either cannot, or does not offer. It must be unique–either a uniqueness of the brand or a claim not otherwise made in that particular field of advertising.
3. The proposition must be so strong that it can move the mass millions, i.e. pull over new customers to your product.

Reeves used this idea to create unique selling propositions for many consumer products such as Anacin (“The pain relievers doctors recommend most”), M&M candies (“They melt in your mouth, not in your hands”), Colgate (“Cleans your breath while it cleans your teeth”), and Wonder Bread (“Helps build bodies in eight ways”). With the USP, he built those products and companies into billion dollar giants.

The strategy of creating and then sticking to a USP is as powerful today as it was then, and is still used by savvy marketers to build million dollar and billion dollar firms. If you have the right type of USP for your product or service, that type of outcome is not out of reach.

Since that time, the idea of the USP, also known as a unique buying advantage, has slowly expanded beyond its original bounds. Borrowing some of the findings of Doug Hall, we now also know that successful USPs should have the following characteristics:

• A Big, Overt Promise of BENEFITS for customers who buy the product or service
• A REAL REASON to BELIEVE that the benefits claim is credible and that customers can TRUST that those promised benefits will actually be delivered
• A DRAMATIC DIFFERENCE to those promised benefits that makes the offering unique and distinguishes the product or service apart from its competitors
• It should be short, simple, memorable, attention getting, persuasive, motivating and compelling just by its WORDING alone
• The USP should be an ECONOMICALLY FEASIBLE idea that can sustain a business for at least 5 years or more
• It should absolutely penetrate the business, by operational design and outward appearance, to lend overall guidance to the idea of customer service and managerial alignment throughout a firm

A USP can take minutes or years to develop. But a great USP is worth millions – so you should definitely have one.

Your Logo

Every company on the planet has a logo. And the design of these logos is as varied as the companies themselves.

Some companies spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on logos and trust their look to only the top advertising and design studios. Other companies pay almost nothing and give the design task to the local quick-print shop or a part-time freelance artist.

The design of your logo should be focused on communicating the name of your company and what it does. You can add a tag-line as part of your logo if the name of your company does not clearly state your business.

Don’t get hung up on symbols. It’s better that prospects see and remember your company’s name. Use a symbol in addition to your name if you like, but do not rely on a symbol alone to create your identity. That’s fine for Nike and Coke, but most B2B companies don’t have the nearly endless amount of marketing dollars necessary to make it work.

And try to stay away from using initials in your logo. The B2B world is saturated with companies whose names are made up of initials. You want to stand out, not blend in.

Whatever you do with your logo, don’t sell yourself short. It’s worth the investment to have a classy, professional look for your company. A logo that proclaims to the world “This is a quality company. We care about what we do. You can trust us.” This is one reason I chose the name Retirement Wealth Advisors, Inc. – A Registered Investment Advisor to be on all of my firm’s communications. We also use a tagline in our footer that reads: Wealth Advisory – Asset Management – Strategic Planning. Clearly it’s not genius, but clearly it’s way better than: Smith & Associates – Helping to Achieve Your Dreams. What a load of crap – yet many advisors do this all over the country. Madness!

As a last thought on logo design: Don’t do it yourself. Hire a professional. When you do it yourself it shows. And it communicates the message: “We’re too cheap to spend money, aren’t successful and don’t care”. Not exactly the marketing message a financial advisor should portray.

Electronic Collateral – Websites and E-Mail

If your a financial advisor and DON’T have a website you’re making a potentially huge mistake. If you have a website and it’s from one of those template sites like advisorsites.com or financial visions – you’re making one too. Wealthy investors are on the Internet, rely on it heavily and love to keep prospective financial advisors at arms length. Many of them will use your website as a key factor in whether or not to hire you to manage their assets.

So what do you want your site to say about you?

Put yourself in the investors shoes. You just retired and are ready to roll over your $1 million portfolio. You’ve met with these two firms and aren’t sure which direction to go. So you have a friend (relative, associate, etc.) at the house and decide to show them each of the companies websites to get their feedback. What are the odds they suggest Veltman over the others? Real slim. So is spending a couple thousand dollars on a top-notch website important? You bet it is. In fact, I’ve just commissioned a completely new site for my firm that will easily cost a few thousand. The ROI? If I get one client I otherwise wouldn’t have gotten because my site conveys the image they expect (or exceeds it) – I’ll make $15,000 plus each year thereafter. There’s almost no comparison to any other marketing effort.

E-Mail is another tumultuous item.

If you are currently using any form of free e-mail: STOP!!!
If you are currently using any form of non-branded e-mail: STOP!!!

You really should have a website. But if you don’t – you still should register a domain name to have firm branded e-mail. If you don’t know what I’m talking about think, [email protected] or your [email protected]. It’s not professional and you shouldn’t use it. Also, disclaimers and a professional signature line are an absolute must. If you ever get messages from wholesalers you know exactly what I’m talking about.

Just the Tip of the Iceberg…

Effective marketing for financial planners is multi-faceted. It’s not just about spending money and praying a lot. It’s far more complex than offering a nice product with friendly service. I know, I’ve spent hundreds of thousands on marketing. And every dollar has been, whether intended or not, quietly building a brand.

If you make no other changes to your marketing plan this year – at least be cognizant of these simple facts.