Brand, Story And Message- Effective Financial Advisor Branding

Your branding is what makes you stand out from other independent financial advisor online. If done right, your messaging should give ideal prospects the feeling to be heard and understood. Many of our clients started out at companies like Merrill Lynch or Edward Jones. Now that they have their own brand, they want a clear and concise message in a relatable voice. To attract and convert ideal clientele and further build their business. In this article, we’re going to look at how you can develop a brand, story and message that will make who you are and what you do abundantly clear.

How To Craft A Unique Brand As A Financial Advisor

We’ve asked more than 100 retirees and pre-retirees to explain what motivated them to hire their financial advisor. Their answers reveal key insights that most overlook.

Marketers are used to identifying the language your ideal clients are using when they’re talking about their problems. Most often they use what your clients say word for word to write your marketing message. This is called “Voice of Consumer” research. Unfortunately, there’s a big problem with this approach.

Voice of Consumer Vs. Desire of Consumer

The issue with VoC research is that in most cases your prospects or clients don’t have the awareness to put into words what they’re feeling or experiencing. They’re going to make their best attempt to describe deep emotions, motivations, and desires. Undoubtedly, expressing yourself truthfully and clearly is not an easy tasks. Therefore what they really mean often does not get across from what they say. That’s why it is vital to go beyond the Voice of Consumer to craft your a message and brand that truly speaks to those prospects.

Speaking Directly To The Desires Of Your Clients

Building your financial advisor brand is all about matching your expertise with the solution for your ideal clients pain points. To reveal your ideal clients core pain points and desires, you have to look beyond the words they use. Pose questions that shed light on their true ambitions. Subsequently, you can take those words and craft a message that describe what they want better than they could ever say it themselves. You want a prospective client to visit your website and think, “This is exactly what I’ve been looking for.” For this reason we use Desire of Consumer (DoC) research during our Deep(er) Dive™ process to craft your marketing message. Getting your messaging right is challenging. If you want help, click here to visit our contact page and tell us about your project.

Make Who You Are And What You Do Crystal Clear

It only takes a split second for someone to make up their mind about your financial advisor brand. Hence people who visit your website should, within the first few seconds, know exactly who you are, what you do, who you serve, if it’s right for them, and where to take the next step. Might sound like a tall order, but it can be easily done with a well-designed website! There are several key locations on your site where these identifying bullets should be present:

• Top of homepage/ “The Above the Fold”
• The About page
• “Start Here” or Services page

There are other places on your website you can take advantage of, but we’ve found that these are the three highest leverage points. To make the most of this brand strategy, you should always include a clear and compelling call to action that invites your visitors to take the next step to work with you.

Example #1 – Valtinson Bruner Financial Planning

On the “Above the Fold” of the Valtinson Bruner Financial Planning website, you’ll see that there is clear messaging indicating what they do and who they serve (retirees). Below is a clear call to action leading visitors to their Unique Discovery Process. Their About page uses the “Upside Down” strategy with benefit bullets -questions their clients can answer “yes” to and identify with. This is a great example of Desire of Consumer research in action. That’s where the magic happens! It’s hard to get your messaging right. That’s why we use Desire of Consumer research to craft a marketing message that speaks to the desires of your clients. We call it the Clone-A-Client™ Process. If you’re looking for help with your message, click here to visit our contact page and tell us about your project.

Example #2 – Milestone Asset Wealth Management

Again, on Milestone Asset Wealth Management’s website you’ll see that there’s a clear statement explaining why people work with them. This is made up of three punchy statements that ideal clients will connect with. Above that, there’s a clear call to action. Their Unique Discovery Process page makes it obvious who the service is for. This information helps visitors understand whether your services are what they’re looking for. This saves you a lot of time jumping on sales calls with people who aren’t the right fit! Usually, financial advisors depend on the first call to figure out whether there’s a good fit between them and their prospect. But when you have a message focused on your client, effective branding, and an Unique Discovery Process, you can let visitors self-identify before even scheduling the call.

Final Thoughts on Crafting a Magnetic Brand, Story and Message

To get away from boring “corporate robo-speak” that plagues many websites, you need to have magnetic branding and messaging. Luckily, there’s a process to craft an effective Brand, Story And Message. Take inventory of what you know about your clients! Use what they’ve said about you and combine that with the language they use to figure out their deeper motivations and desires. Utilizing both, Voice of Consumer and Desire of Consumer research, is the secret sauce. There are several places on your website where your Brand Story And Message should be implemented. To help you get the best results possible, take a look at how Milestone AMG leverages their website. If you need help building a captivating brand or composing your unique message, click here to visit our contact page and tell us about your project.