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November 07, 2011 |
Conveying Your Story Through A Brand |
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Brands are a key ingredient to a successful advisor practice, but also
something advisors tend to neglect, according to speakers at last week’s
Schwab Impact conference in San Francisco.
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By Michael Byrnes
Brands are a key ingredient to a successful advisor practice, but also something advisors tend to neglect, according to speakers at last week’s Schwab Impact conference in San Francisco.
“Advisors have told us that they would like support when it comes to telling their story to clients and prospects. As a result, we initiated the ‘RIA Stands for You’ Campaign to help educate consumers about independent RIAs and to provide advisors with materials to help market themselves,” said Lindsay Tiles, managing director of Public Relations at Charles Schwab.
As additional support, Schwab brought in Betsy Henning from AHA! and Ann Schleck from Ann Schleck & Co. to offer advice on branding at the conference
“Brands are promises that create expectations,” said Henning. “A brand is not what you say it is, it’s what [clients] say it is.”
Another way to think of a brand is to consider it a symbol of a business’s reputation, she said.
Brands have rational and emotional components, the speakers said, adding that advisors need to determine what are the things they want their clients to think about when they think of their brand.
Henning encouraged the attendees to go beyond words and come up with stories to convey their brands. She said, “Stories are how cultures perpetuate over time,” she said. “People like to hear, remember and tell stories. Every story is one of those [brand] promises.”
“You want the stories to be on point, on strategy,” Henning added. “Stories have to be authentic. If not, they will never stand the test of time.”
A good story needs to be differentiated, relevant and valuable. They need to stand apart from the competition. She asked the attendees, “Do you know who [your competitors] are?” Then she said, “Figure out why you are different. You already have stories.”
Stories can be about the origin of the business, its culture, its successes, how it solves problems and its vision.
At certain times, some stories work better than others, Henning said. For example, prospects might like the success story and clients might want to hear about value stories, she said.
“Consistency is so important—telling and retelling stories,” said Henning.
Customizing Your Brand
Schleck had related advice on branding, especially around differentiation. She gave a hot rod analogy, saying, “What do people do with cars? They soup them up.” Her point was that the engine might be the same, but it is what the hot rod owners do after that personalizes it. Most advisors have the same skills and talents, like the engine in a car, but the differentiation is what makes them stand out, she said.
“If you don’t manage your brand, people will manage it for you. Before you know it, you will be a Buick, a car for older people,” said Scheck.
To have a strong brand, advisors need a differentiating idea or promise, delivered by the product or service, which is presented in compelling ways. Schleck said that most advisors have virtually the same value proposition.
She suggested four steps to building a brand:
1. Define your goals – What new things do you want to make? Is it your look?
2. Define the parts – Select the parts that go into your integrated collateral system.
3. Tune the engine – Install the story that will power your brand.
4. Design and detail – Give your brand it own look and feel. Creative designers can put it together in a cohesive system.
Mike Byrnes founded Byrnes Consulting to provide consulting services to help advisors become even more successful. His expertise is in business planning, marketing strategy, business development, client service and management effectiveness, along with several other areas. Read more at www.byrnesconsulting.com.
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Conveying Your Story Through A Brand |
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