As a financial advisor, your branding is critical. In essence, it determines how people view you and understand your services. But is your branding powerful enough to stand apart from the crowd?
Due to the increase of robo-advisors as well as human competition, many financial advisors are struggling with a “crisis of differentiation,” as Marie Swift, president and CEO of Impact Communications, Inc, puts it.
Even though this statement seems grim, all is not lost. By specializing in a niche, using strong messaging, prioritizing consistency, and taking advantage of online platforms, you can craft an advisor brand that is irresistible to those in need of financial guidance.

Specialize In Something

Focusing on a specific niche will help differentiate your brand, empower you to charge higher prices as a subject matter expert, and simplify your branding efforts.
If you aren’t sure what your niche could be, review other financial advising brands. Are they focused on niches? Do you see an area that is underserved? Is there a popular niche at which you could excel and beat out the competition with? Perhaps a niche naturally developed in your client base where you can double down on branding around the clients you already best serve?
Consider choosing a niche based on your business’s particular working style (like tech-enhanced advising), audience age (millennial advising), location (Californian advising), or client focus (B2B business advising). As long as your niche is not too narrow, you should be able to attract people looking for the exact services you offer.
If you still want to offer a wide variety of services, feel free to do so, but center your branding efforts on your niche of choice.

Deploy Strong Messaging

Once you’ve determined your business’s specialty, you’ll need to create messaging that clearly describes your advising services in an engaging way.
First and foremost, develop a robust business description for your “About Us” page that fully describes your niche, services, values, and goals. Then, break down the description into key phrases, like slogans and taglines, that can be used in your advertising efforts. You may want to create a branded hashtag that can be used across social media as well.
Another key to strong messaging is choosing the tone you want to use in your copy: whether your brand will be youth-friendly or business-centric, choose a writing style that matches that focus. Choosing a brand color to associate with your messaging will help too; a signature color, like Starbucks green, can increase brand recognition by 80%.

Prioritize Consistency

Consistent brand presentation across all platforms increases revenue by up to 23%, and 90% of consumers expect their brand experience to be similar across all platforms and devices.
To ensure your branding is consistent and professional across your websites, social channels, products, and content, you may want to create a style guide that can be referenced by content creators and customer-facing employees. It should include details about key phrases, company values, writing style, and visuals.
You should also conduct a regular review of your websites and other collateral to catch any instances of off-brand content.

Boost Your Online Presence

Content marketing efforts receive 3x the leads per dollar spent than paid search. In addition, companies with blogs produce 67% more leads each month than companies without them.
In other words, people like to see that you know your niche well and can prove it with content that provides value. Post on your blog and social accounts regularly, establishing yourself as a top thought leader in your industry.
A well-constructed brand will demonstrate your value to the public and, ultimately, help your practice thrive. If you’re not sure where to start, enlist the help of a professional.