How to create your brand

How would you describe yourself?

Whatever your personal traits are, they’re the main reason clients deal with you.

Yet advisors tend to define their value as the services they offer, rather than their experiences and expertise.

Read: Do you have a brand?

Instead, use branding to communicate your personal values and skills to clients. For instance, you may love water sports and have special knowledge of marine insurance options, or you may have set up multiple complex RESPs because you’re a parent.

When developing your brand, consider your distinctive traits: how you built your career; awards you’ve won; family values; ethnic background; community involvement and religious beliefs.

You’ll also want to talk to your best clients about why they value your services. To get honest answers, use a third party to conduct interviews or a survey. That third party could be your business coach or another person in your office. Advisors who conduct face-to-face interviews find clients are sometimes unwilling to share all the details.

Read: Shaping your brand

When reviewing the results, keep track of key words they use to describe you and your team—they can become part of your brand language.

A personal brand is made up of the following key elements:

• A theme, story or analogy representing your business, which your audience can relate to.
• A logo that fits your brand.
• A mission statement that describes what you do, who you serve and your unique approach.
• A slogan communicating why you’re in business or your value.
• A corporate image reflecting your own personal brand.

Once you have these foundation elements in place, you’re ready to start your communication strategy, which should include a website, print materials, social media and newsletters.

Read: Overcoming social media barriers

Take your time during the development stages because you’ll be using this brand for the life of your business. You may choose to refresh your brand as time passes to remain current and modern. It’s up to you how often you want to review your logo for modifications but the story and the theme should remain the same throughout the life of your brand.