Margaret Wong, investment advisor, “Understanding the financial consequences of the life decisions that you make”
Bill Singh, financial planner, “Helping you look forward to the next phase of your life”
Jane Adams, financial representative, “Helping you educate yourself financially”
Robert Langlois, financial representative, “Helping you set goals for your future”
Maureen Bewes, insurance specialist, “Partnering with you to protect your family”
Take a close look at the tag line that you currently use. Does it describe what you do in your terms or in client terms? Can clients immediately understand the benefit to them of working with you?
Your brand should clearly communicate the following:
Your approach to your client relationship
The services you provide, written from a client perspective
An easy way for clients to remember what you do for them
Put the "life" in your practice in 2003 — previous stories
It’s important to note that your brand is not your company’s brand. Too many advisors let their company dictate the brand and then try to build a separate relationship with the client based on this brand. The problem with this approach is that an advisor-client relationship is a very personal one. If it is to persist, you have to create a separate identity that tells or reminds the client why he deals with you.
Communicating your brand
Many advisors use a business card and a list of products or services in an attempt to create an identity in the mind of the client or prospect. Business cards are not effective as a marketing tool because they force the advisor to put “left-brain” or non-emotional descriptions of products or services on the card. Outside the tag line, how much can you really communicate on a business card?
Some advisors have opted to use a simple brochure as their business card and then to write text aimed at client emotion and “right-brain” or emotional thinking. The advantage of a brochure is that you can personalize it and really get to the essence of what you stand for, what your clients can expect of you and how you can help them. These brochures don’t have to be fancy and it is fairly easy to make them compliant with your firm’s regulations.
Finding your own battlefield
The key to marketing yourself and your practice is to find ways to look different from everyone else. This may mean focusing on how you deliver your services rather than on what you deliver. Remember that today’s client and prospect needs a way to identify or label you. Deciding on what that label should be is the key to creating a successful marketing strategy.
• • •
Be sure to check back to the Practice Zone for the fourth part of this series where Barry looks at some individual marketing programs and how you can create an image for yourself.
• • •
Barry LaValley is president of LaValley Communications and a partner in The Centre For Retirement Success. His company provides advisors in Canada and the U.S. with information on how to create a life planning focus in their practice and use it to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. He also conducts client workshops on life planning and the 10 key factors of a successful retirement. Barry helped author a new book entitled Your Clients for Life along with American authors Mitch Anthony and Carol Anderson that is available in book stores or through Barry’s Web site. Barry can be reached at barry@lavalleycommunications.com or through his Web site at www.lavalleycommunications.com.
(12/17/02)
John Jones, financial advisor, “Helping your relate your money to your life”
Margaret Wong, investment advisor, “Understanding the financial consequences of the life decisions that you make”
Bill Singh, financial planner, “Helping you look forward to the next phase of your life”
Jane Adams, financial representative, “Helping you educate yourself financially”
Robert Langlois, financial representative, “Helping you set goals for your future”
Maureen Bewes, insurance specialist, “Partnering with you to protect your family”
Take a close look at the tag line that you currently use. Does it describe what you do in your terms or in client terms? Can clients immediately understand the benefit to them of working with you?
Your brand should clearly communicate the following:
Your approach to your client relationship
The services you provide, written from a client perspective
An easy way for clients to remember what you do for them
Put the "life" in your practice in 2003 — previous stories
It’s important to note that your brand is not your company’s brand. Too many advisors let their company dictate the brand and then try to build a separate relationship with the client based on this brand. The problem with this approach is that an advisor-client relationship is a very personal one. If it is to persist, you have to create a separate identity that tells or reminds the client why he deals with you.
Communicating your brand
Many advisors use a business card and a list of products or services in an attempt to create an identity in the mind of the client or prospect. Business cards are not effective as a marketing tool because they force the advisor to put “left-brain” or non-emotional descriptions of products or services on the card. Outside the tag line, how much can you really communicate on a business card?
Some advisors have opted to use a simple brochure as their business card and then to write text aimed at client emotion and “right-brain” or emotional thinking. The advantage of a brochure is that you can personalize it and really get to the essence of what you stand for, what your clients can expect of you and how you can help them. These brochures don’t have to be fancy and it is fairly easy to make them compliant with your firm’s regulations.
Finding your own battlefield
The key to marketing yourself and your practice is to find ways to look different from everyone else. This may mean focusing on how you deliver your services rather than on what you deliver. Remember that today’s client and prospect needs a way to identify or label you. Deciding on what that label should be is the key to creating a successful marketing strategy.
• • •
Be sure to check back to the Practice Zone for the fourth part of this series where Barry looks at some individual marketing programs and how you can create an image for yourself.
• • •
Barry LaValley is president of LaValley Communications and a partner in The Centre For Retirement Success. His company provides advisors in Canada and the U.S. with information on how to create a life planning focus in their practice and use it to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. He also conducts client workshops on life planning and the 10 key factors of a successful retirement. Barry helped author a new book entitled Your Clients for Life along with American authors Mitch Anthony and Carol Anderson that is available in book stores or through Barry’s Web site. Barry can be reached at barry@lavalleycommunications.com or through his Web site at www.lavalleycommunications.com.
(12/17/02)
John Jones, financial advisor, “Helping your relate your money to your life”
Margaret Wong, investment advisor, “Understanding the financial consequences of the life decisions that you make”
Bill Singh, financial planner, “Helping you look forward to the next phase of your life”
Jane Adams, financial representative, “Helping you educate yourself financially”
Robert Langlois, financial representative, “Helping you set goals for your future”
Maureen Bewes, insurance specialist, “Partnering with you to protect your family”
Take a close look at the tag line that you currently use. Does it describe what you do in your terms or in client terms? Can clients immediately understand the benefit to them of working with you?
Your brand should clearly communicate the following:
Your approach to your client relationship
The services you provide, written from a client perspective
An easy way for clients to remember what you do for them
Put the "life" in your practice in 2003 — previous stories
It’s important to note that your brand is not your company’s brand. Too many advisors let their company dictate the brand and then try to build a separate relationship with the client based on this brand. The problem with this approach is that an advisor-client relationship is a very personal one. If it is to persist, you have to create a separate identity that tells or reminds the client why he deals with you.
Communicating your brand
Many advisors use a business card and a list of products or services in an attempt to create an identity in the mind of the client or prospect. Business cards are not effective as a marketing tool because they force the advisor to put “left-brain” or non-emotional descriptions of products or services on the card. Outside the tag line, how much can you really communicate on a business card?
Some advisors have opted to use a simple brochure as their business card and then to write text aimed at client emotion and “right-brain” or emotional thinking. The advantage of a brochure is that you can personalize it and really get to the essence of what you stand for, what your clients can expect of you and how you can help them. These brochures don’t have to be fancy and it is fairly easy to make them compliant with your firm’s regulations.
Finding your own battlefield
The key to marketing yourself and your practice is to find ways to look different from everyone else. This may mean focusing on how you deliver your services rather than on what you deliver. Remember that today’s client and prospect needs a way to identify or label you. Deciding on what that label should be is the key to creating a successful marketing strategy.
• • •
Be sure to check back to the Practice Zone for the fourth part of this series where Barry looks at some individual marketing programs and how you can create an image for yourself.
• • •
Barry LaValley is president of LaValley Communications and a partner in The Centre For Retirement Success. His company provides advisors in Canada and the U.S. with information on how to create a life planning focus in their practice and use it to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. He also conducts client workshops on life planning and the 10 key factors of a successful retirement. Barry helped author a new book entitled Your Clients for Life along with American authors Mitch Anthony and Carol Anderson that is available in book stores or through Barry’s Web site. Barry can be reached at barry@lavalleycommunications.com or through his Web site at www.lavalleycommunications.com.
(12/17/02)
John Jones, financial advisor, “Helping your relate your money to your life”
Margaret Wong, investment advisor, “Understanding the financial consequences of the life decisions that you make”
Bill Singh, financial planner, “Helping you look forward to the next phase of your life”
Jane Adams, financial representative, “Helping you educate yourself financially”
Robert Langlois, financial representative, “Helping you set goals for your future”
Maureen Bewes, insurance specialist, “Partnering with you to protect your family”
Take a close look at the tag line that you currently use. Does it describe what you do in your terms or in client terms? Can clients immediately understand the benefit to them of working with you?
Your brand should clearly communicate the following:
Your approach to your client relationship
The services you provide, written from a client perspective
An easy way for clients to remember what you do for them
Put the "life" in your practice in 2003 — previous stories
It’s important to note that your brand is not your company’s brand. Too many advisors let their company dictate the brand and then try to build a separate relationship with the client based on this brand. The problem with this approach is that an advisor-client relationship is a very personal one. If it is to persist, you have to create a separate identity that tells or reminds the client why he deals with you.
Communicating your brand
Many advisors use a business card and a list of products or services in an attempt to create an identity in the mind of the client or prospect. Business cards are not effective as a marketing tool because they force the advisor to put “left-brain” or non-emotional descriptions of products or services on the card. Outside the tag line, how much can you really communicate on a business card?
Some advisors have opted to use a simple brochure as their business card and then to write text aimed at client emotion and “right-brain” or emotional thinking. The advantage of a brochure is that you can personalize it and really get to the essence of what you stand for, what your clients can expect of you and how you can help them. These brochures don’t have to be fancy and it is fairly easy to make them compliant with your firm’s regulations.
Finding your own battlefield
The key to marketing yourself and your practice is to find ways to look different from everyone else. This may mean focusing on how you deliver your services rather than on what you deliver. Remember that today’s client and prospect needs a way to identify or label you. Deciding on what that label should be is the key to creating a successful marketing strategy.
• • •
Be sure to check back to the Practice Zone for the fourth part of this series where Barry looks at some individual marketing programs and how you can create an image for yourself.
• • •
Barry LaValley is president of LaValley Communications and a partner in The Centre For Retirement Success. His company provides advisors in Canada and the U.S. with information on how to create a life planning focus in their practice and use it to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. He also conducts client workshops on life planning and the 10 key factors of a successful retirement. Barry helped author a new book entitled Your Clients for Life along with American authors Mitch Anthony and Carol Anderson that is available in book stores or through Barry’s Web site. Barry can be reached at barry@lavalleycommunications.com or through his Web site at www.lavalleycommunications.com.
(12/17/02)
Coaches them and helps them understand and work towards their goals
Helps them understand the financial consequences of their life transitions
Finds solutions that match their needs
These are the four elements that should be marketed because they are the foundation of the service you offer. Consider for a moment the relationship that you have with your best clients, those that consider you a partner and value their relationship with you. Do they value you because you have access to many different products or perhaps because you can analyze today’s investment markets better than anyone else?
It is not what you do that is valuable — it’s how you do it that makes an impression. Therefore, it is the “how” that sets you apart from your competition and should be at the base of your marketing program. Here is a short exercise to help you conceptualize this approach:
The services that I provide my clients
How I provide those services
What is different about my approach?
Remember that the key is to focus on how you are different or, as marketing guru turned Cartier Partners CEO Dan Richards once said, how you “separate yourself from the clutter.” If the services that you provide look like everyone else’s, how can you differentiate yourself when you market your business?
Developing your own brand
Once you have differentiated yourself and your services from your competitors, the next step is to find a way to brand yourself. Branding is important because you need a way to easily remind your clients and prospects what it is you do for them. Branding not only helps clients put a long-term memory tag on you, but it also creates a description that helps them refer you to others.
Normally, your brand can be summarized in your tag line. Consider these tag lines from advisors:
John Jones, financial advisor, “Helping your relate your money to your life”
Margaret Wong, investment advisor, “Understanding the financial consequences of the life decisions that you make”
Bill Singh, financial planner, “Helping you look forward to the next phase of your life”
Jane Adams, financial representative, “Helping you educate yourself financially”
Robert Langlois, financial representative, “Helping you set goals for your future”
Maureen Bewes, insurance specialist, “Partnering with you to protect your family”
Take a close look at the tag line that you currently use. Does it describe what you do in your terms or in client terms? Can clients immediately understand the benefit to them of working with you?
Your brand should clearly communicate the following:
Your approach to your client relationship
The services you provide, written from a client perspective
An easy way for clients to remember what you do for them
Put the "life" in your practice in 2003 — previous stories
It’s important to note that your brand is not your company’s brand. Too many advisors let their company dictate the brand and then try to build a separate relationship with the client based on this brand. The problem with this approach is that an advisor-client relationship is a very personal one. If it is to persist, you have to create a separate identity that tells or reminds the client why he deals with you.
Communicating your brand
Many advisors use a business card and a list of products or services in an attempt to create an identity in the mind of the client or prospect. Business cards are not effective as a marketing tool because they force the advisor to put “left-brain” or non-emotional descriptions of products or services on the card. Outside the tag line, how much can you really communicate on a business card?
Some advisors have opted to use a simple brochure as their business card and then to write text aimed at client emotion and “right-brain” or emotional thinking. The advantage of a brochure is that you can personalize it and really get to the essence of what you stand for, what your clients can expect of you and how you can help them. These brochures don’t have to be fancy and it is fairly easy to make them compliant with your firm’s regulations.
Finding your own battlefield
The key to marketing yourself and your practice is to find ways to look different from everyone else. This may mean focusing on how you deliver your services rather than on what you deliver. Remember that today’s client and prospect needs a way to identify or label you. Deciding on what that label should be is the key to creating a successful marketing strategy.
• • •
Be sure to check back to the Practice Zone for the fourth part of this series where Barry looks at some individual marketing programs and how you can create an image for yourself.
• • •
Barry LaValley is president of LaValley Communications and a partner in The Centre For Retirement Success. His company provides advisors in Canada and the U.S. with information on how to create a life planning focus in their practice and use it to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. He also conducts client workshops on life planning and the 10 key factors of a successful retirement. Barry helped author a new book entitled Your Clients for Life along with American authors Mitch Anthony and Carol Anderson that is available in book stores or through Barry’s Web site. Barry can be reached at barry@lavalleycommunications.com or through his Web site at www.lavalleycommunications.com.
(12/17/02)
Educates them
Coaches them and helps them understand and work towards their goals
Helps them understand the financial consequences of their life transitions
Finds solutions that match their needs
These are the four elements that should be marketed because they are the foundation of the service you offer. Consider for a moment the relationship that you have with your best clients, those that consider you a partner and value their relationship with you. Do they value you because you have access to many different products or perhaps because you can analyze today’s investment markets better than anyone else?
It is not what you do that is valuable — it’s how you do it that makes an impression. Therefore, it is the “how” that sets you apart from your competition and should be at the base of your marketing program. Here is a short exercise to help you conceptualize this approach:
The services that I provide my clients
How I provide those services
What is different about my approach?
Remember that the key is to focus on how you are different or, as marketing guru turned Cartier Partners CEO Dan Richards once said, how you “separate yourself from the clutter.” If the services that you provide look like everyone else’s, how can you differentiate yourself when you market your business?
Developing your own brand
Once you have differentiated yourself and your services from your competitors, the next step is to find a way to brand yourself. Branding is important because you need a way to easily remind your clients and prospects what it is you do for them. Branding not only helps clients put a long-term memory tag on you, but it also creates a description that helps them refer you to others.
Normally, your brand can be summarized in your tag line. Consider these tag lines from advisors:
John Jones, financial advisor, “Helping your relate your money to your life”
Margaret Wong, investment advisor, “Understanding the financial consequences of the life decisions that you make”
Bill Singh, financial planner, “Helping you look forward to the next phase of your life”
Jane Adams, financial representative, “Helping you educate yourself financially”
Robert Langlois, financial representative, “Helping you set goals for your future”
Maureen Bewes, insurance specialist, “Partnering with you to protect your family”
Take a close look at the tag line that you currently use. Does it describe what you do in your terms or in client terms? Can clients immediately understand the benefit to them of working with you?
Your brand should clearly communicate the following:
Your approach to your client relationship
The services you provide, written from a client perspective
An easy way for clients to remember what you do for them
Put the "life" in your practice in 2003 — previous stories
It’s important to note that your brand is not your company’s brand. Too many advisors let their company dictate the brand and then try to build a separate relationship with the client based on this brand. The problem with this approach is that an advisor-client relationship is a very personal one. If it is to persist, you have to create a separate identity that tells or reminds the client why he deals with you.
Communicating your brand
Many advisors use a business card and a list of products or services in an attempt to create an identity in the mind of the client or prospect. Business cards are not effective as a marketing tool because they force the advisor to put “left-brain” or non-emotional descriptions of products or services on the card. Outside the tag line, how much can you really communicate on a business card?
Some advisors have opted to use a simple brochure as their business card and then to write text aimed at client emotion and “right-brain” or emotional thinking. The advantage of a brochure is that you can personalize it and really get to the essence of what you stand for, what your clients can expect of you and how you can help them. These brochures don’t have to be fancy and it is fairly easy to make them compliant with your firm’s regulations.
Finding your own battlefield
The key to marketing yourself and your practice is to find ways to look different from everyone else. This may mean focusing on how you deliver your services rather than on what you deliver. Remember that today’s client and prospect needs a way to identify or label you. Deciding on what that label should be is the key to creating a successful marketing strategy.
• • •
Be sure to check back to the Practice Zone for the fourth part of this series where Barry looks at some individual marketing programs and how you can create an image for yourself.
• • •
Barry LaValley is president of LaValley Communications and a partner in The Centre For Retirement Success. His company provides advisors in Canada and the U.S. with information on how to create a life planning focus in their practice and use it to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. He also conducts client workshops on life planning and the 10 key factors of a successful retirement. Barry helped author a new book entitled Your Clients for Life along with American authors Mitch Anthony and Carol Anderson that is available in book stores or through Barry’s Web site. Barry can be reached at barry@lavalleycommunications.com or through his Web site at www.lavalleycommunications.com.
(12/17/02)
Educates them
Coaches them and helps them understand and work towards their goals
Helps them understand the financial consequences of their life transitions
Finds solutions that match their needs
These are the four elements that should be marketed because they are the foundation of the service you offer. Consider for a moment the relationship that you have with your best clients, those that consider you a partner and value their relationship with you. Do they value you because you have access to many different products or perhaps because you can analyze today’s investment markets better than anyone else?
It is not what you do that is valuable — it’s how you do it that makes an impression. Therefore, it is the “how” that sets you apart from your competition and should be at the base of your marketing program. Here is a short exercise to help you conceptualize this approach:
The services that I provide my clients
How I provide those services
What is different about my approach?
Remember that the key is to focus on how you are different or, as marketing guru turned Cartier Partners CEO Dan Richards once said, how you “separate yourself from the clutter.” If the services that you provide look like everyone else’s, how can you differentiate yourself when you market your business?
Developing your own brand
Once you have differentiated yourself and your services from your competitors, the next step is to find a way to brand yourself. Branding is important because you need a way to easily remind your clients and prospects what it is you do for them. Branding not only helps clients put a long-term memory tag on you, but it also creates a description that helps them refer you to others.
Normally, your brand can be summarized in your tag line. Consider these tag lines from advisors:
John Jones, financial advisor, “Helping your relate your money to your life”
Margaret Wong, investment advisor, “Understanding the financial consequences of the life decisions that you make”
Bill Singh, financial planner, “Helping you look forward to the next phase of your life”
Jane Adams, financial representative, “Helping you educate yourself financially”
Robert Langlois, financial representative, “Helping you set goals for your future”
Maureen Bewes, insurance specialist, “Partnering with you to protect your family”
Take a close look at the tag line that you currently use. Does it describe what you do in your terms or in client terms? Can clients immediately understand the benefit to them of working with you?
Your brand should clearly communicate the following:
Your approach to your client relationship
The services you provide, written from a client perspective
An easy way for clients to remember what you do for them
Put the "life" in your practice in 2003 — previous stories
It’s important to note that your brand is not your company’s brand. Too many advisors let their company dictate the brand and then try to build a separate relationship with the client based on this brand. The problem with this approach is that an advisor-client relationship is a very personal one. If it is to persist, you have to create a separate identity that tells or reminds the client why he deals with you.
Communicating your brand
Many advisors use a business card and a list of products or services in an attempt to create an identity in the mind of the client or prospect. Business cards are not effective as a marketing tool because they force the advisor to put “left-brain” or non-emotional descriptions of products or services on the card. Outside the tag line, how much can you really communicate on a business card?
Some advisors have opted to use a simple brochure as their business card and then to write text aimed at client emotion and “right-brain” or emotional thinking. The advantage of a brochure is that you can personalize it and really get to the essence of what you stand for, what your clients can expect of you and how you can help them. These brochures don’t have to be fancy and it is fairly easy to make them compliant with your firm’s regulations.
Finding your own battlefield
The key to marketing yourself and your practice is to find ways to look different from everyone else. This may mean focusing on how you deliver your services rather than on what you deliver. Remember that today’s client and prospect needs a way to identify or label you. Deciding on what that label should be is the key to creating a successful marketing strategy.
• • •
Be sure to check back to the Practice Zone for the fourth part of this series where Barry looks at some individual marketing programs and how you can create an image for yourself.
• • •
Barry LaValley is president of LaValley Communications and a partner in The Centre For Retirement Success. His company provides advisors in Canada and the U.S. with information on how to create a life planning focus in their practice and use it to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. He also conducts client workshops on life planning and the 10 key factors of a successful retirement. Barry helped author a new book entitled Your Clients for Life along with American authors Mitch Anthony and Carol Anderson that is available in book stores or through Barry’s Web site. Barry can be reached at barry@lavalleycommunications.com or through his Web site at www.lavalleycommunications.com.
(12/17/02)
Educates them
Coaches them and helps them understand and work towards their goals
Helps them understand the financial consequences of their life transitions
Finds solutions that match their needs
These are the four elements that should be marketed because they are the foundation of the service you offer. Consider for a moment the relationship that you have with your best clients, those that consider you a partner and value their relationship with you. Do they value you because you have access to many different products or perhaps because you can analyze today’s investment markets better than anyone else?
It is not what you do that is valuable — it’s how you do it that makes an impression. Therefore, it is the “how” that sets you apart from your competition and should be at the base of your marketing program. Here is a short exercise to help you conceptualize this approach:
The services that I provide my clients
How I provide those services
What is different about my approach?
Remember that the key is to focus on how you are different or, as marketing guru turned Cartier Partners CEO Dan Richards once said, how you “separate yourself from the clutter.” If the services that you provide look like everyone else’s, how can you differentiate yourself when you market your business?
Developing your own brand
Once you have differentiated yourself and your services from your competitors, the next step is to find a way to brand yourself. Branding is important because you need a way to easily remind your clients and prospects what it is you do for them. Branding not only helps clients put a long-term memory tag on you, but it also creates a description that helps them refer you to others.
Normally, your brand can be summarized in your tag line. Consider these tag lines from advisors:
John Jones, financial advisor, “Helping your relate your money to your life”
Margaret Wong, investment advisor, “Understanding the financial consequences of the life decisions that you make”
Bill Singh, financial planner, “Helping you look forward to the next phase of your life”
Jane Adams, financial representative, “Helping you educate yourself financially”
Robert Langlois, financial representative, “Helping you set goals for your future”
Maureen Bewes, insurance specialist, “Partnering with you to protect your family”
Take a close look at the tag line that you currently use. Does it describe what you do in your terms or in client terms? Can clients immediately understand the benefit to them of working with you?
Your brand should clearly communicate the following:
Your approach to your client relationship
The services you provide, written from a client perspective
An easy way for clients to remember what you do for them
Put the "life" in your practice in 2003 — previous stories
It’s important to note that your brand is not your company’s brand. Too many advisors let their company dictate the brand and then try to build a separate relationship with the client based on this brand. The problem with this approach is that an advisor-client relationship is a very personal one. If it is to persist, you have to create a separate identity that tells or reminds the client why he deals with you.
Communicating your brand
Many advisors use a business card and a list of products or services in an attempt to create an identity in the mind of the client or prospect. Business cards are not effective as a marketing tool because they force the advisor to put “left-brain” or non-emotional descriptions of products or services on the card. Outside the tag line, how much can you really communicate on a business card?
Some advisors have opted to use a simple brochure as their business card and then to write text aimed at client emotion and “right-brain” or emotional thinking. The advantage of a brochure is that you can personalize it and really get to the essence of what you stand for, what your clients can expect of you and how you can help them. These brochures don’t have to be fancy and it is fairly easy to make them compliant with your firm’s regulations.
Finding your own battlefield
The key to marketing yourself and your practice is to find ways to look different from everyone else. This may mean focusing on how you deliver your services rather than on what you deliver. Remember that today’s client and prospect needs a way to identify or label you. Deciding on what that label should be is the key to creating a successful marketing strategy.
• • •
Be sure to check back to the Practice Zone for the fourth part of this series where Barry looks at some individual marketing programs and how you can create an image for yourself.
• • •
Barry LaValley is president of LaValley Communications and a partner in The Centre For Retirement Success. His company provides advisors in Canada and the U.S. with information on how to create a life planning focus in their practice and use it to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. He also conducts client workshops on life planning and the 10 key factors of a successful retirement. Barry helped author a new book entitled Your Clients for Life along with American authors Mitch Anthony and Carol Anderson that is available in book stores or through Barry’s Web site. Barry can be reached at barry@lavalleycommunications.com or through his Web site at www.lavalleycommunications.com.
(12/17/02)
insurance agent
retirement specialist
retirement planner
Creating a marketing message that resonates
To form your new marketing message, let’s start by looking at what you really do for people. Today’s professional financial advisor does four basic things for clients:
Educates them
Coaches them and helps them understand and work towards their goals
Helps them understand the financial consequences of their life transitions
Finds solutions that match their needs
These are the four elements that should be marketed because they are the foundation of the service you offer. Consider for a moment the relationship that you have with your best clients, those that consider you a partner and value their relationship with you. Do they value you because you have access to many different products or perhaps because you can analyze today’s investment markets better than anyone else?
It is not what you do that is valuable — it’s how you do it that makes an impression. Therefore, it is the “how” that sets you apart from your competition and should be at the base of your marketing program. Here is a short exercise to help you conceptualize this approach:
The services that I provide my clients
How I provide those services
What is different about my approach?
Remember that the key is to focus on how you are different or, as marketing guru turned Cartier Partners CEO Dan Richards once said, how you “separate yourself from the clutter.” If the services that you provide look like everyone else’s, how can you differentiate yourself when you market your business?
Developing your own brand
Once you have differentiated yourself and your services from your competitors, the next step is to find a way to brand yourself. Branding is important because you need a way to easily remind your clients and prospects what it is you do for them. Branding not only helps clients put a long-term memory tag on you, but it also creates a description that helps them refer you to others.
Normally, your brand can be summarized in your tag line. Consider these tag lines from advisors:
John Jones, financial advisor, “Helping your relate your money to your life”
Margaret Wong, investment advisor, “Understanding the financial consequences of the life decisions that you make”
Bill Singh, financial planner, “Helping you look forward to the next phase of your life”
Jane Adams, financial representative, “Helping you educate yourself financially”
Robert Langlois, financial representative, “Helping you set goals for your future”
Maureen Bewes, insurance specialist, “Partnering with you to protect your family”
Take a close look at the tag line that you currently use. Does it describe what you do in your terms or in client terms? Can clients immediately understand the benefit to them of working with you?
Your brand should clearly communicate the following:
Your approach to your client relationship
The services you provide, written from a client perspective
An easy way for clients to remember what you do for them
Put the "life" in your practice in 2003 — previous stories
It’s important to note that your brand is not your company’s brand. Too many advisors let their company dictate the brand and then try to build a separate relationship with the client based on this brand. The problem with this approach is that an advisor-client relationship is a very personal one. If it is to persist, you have to create a separate identity that tells or reminds the client why he deals with you.
Communicating your brand
Many advisors use a business card and a list of products or services in an attempt to create an identity in the mind of the client or prospect. Business cards are not effective as a marketing tool because they force the advisor to put “left-brain” or non-emotional descriptions of products or services on the card. Outside the tag line, how much can you really communicate on a business card?
Some advisors have opted to use a simple brochure as their business card and then to write text aimed at client emotion and “right-brain” or emotional thinking. The advantage of a brochure is that you can personalize it and really get to the essence of what you stand for, what your clients can expect of you and how you can help them. These brochures don’t have to be fancy and it is fairly easy to make them compliant with your firm’s regulations.
Finding your own battlefield
The key to marketing yourself and your practice is to find ways to look different from everyone else. This may mean focusing on how you deliver your services rather than on what you deliver. Remember that today’s client and prospect needs a way to identify or label you. Deciding on what that label should be is the key to creating a successful marketing strategy.
• • •
Be sure to check back to the Practice Zone for the fourth part of this series where Barry looks at some individual marketing programs and how you can create an image for yourself.
• • •
Barry LaValley is president of LaValley Communications and a partner in The Centre For Retirement Success. His company provides advisors in Canada and the U.S. with information on how to create a life planning focus in their practice and use it to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. He also conducts client workshops on life planning and the 10 key factors of a successful retirement. Barry helped author a new book entitled Your Clients for Life along with American authors Mitch Anthony and Carol Anderson that is available in book stores or through Barry’s Web site. Barry can be reached at barry@lavalleycommunications.com or through his Web site at www.lavalleycommunications.com.
(12/17/02)
wealth manager
insurance agent
retirement specialist
retirement planner
Creating a marketing message that resonates
To form your new marketing message, let’s start by looking at what you really do for people. Today’s professional financial advisor does four basic things for clients:
Educates them
Coaches them and helps them understand and work towards their goals
Helps them understand the financial consequences of their life transitions
Finds solutions that match their needs
These are the four elements that should be marketed because they are the foundation of the service you offer. Consider for a moment the relationship that you have with your best clients, those that consider you a partner and value their relationship with you. Do they value you because you have access to many different products or perhaps because you can analyze today’s investment markets better than anyone else?
It is not what you do that is valuable — it’s how you do it that makes an impression. Therefore, it is the “how” that sets you apart from your competition and should be at the base of your marketing program. Here is a short exercise to help you conceptualize this approach:
The services that I provide my clients
How I provide those services
What is different about my approach?
Remember that the key is to focus on how you are different or, as marketing guru turned Cartier Partners CEO Dan Richards once said, how you “separate yourself from the clutter.” If the services that you provide look like everyone else’s, how can you differentiate yourself when you market your business?
Developing your own brand
Once you have differentiated yourself and your services from your competitors, the next step is to find a way to brand yourself. Branding is important because you need a way to easily remind your clients and prospects what it is you do for them. Branding not only helps clients put a long-term memory tag on you, but it also creates a description that helps them refer you to others.
Normally, your brand can be summarized in your tag line. Consider these tag lines from advisors:
John Jones, financial advisor, “Helping your relate your money to your life”
Margaret Wong, investment advisor, “Understanding the financial consequences of the life decisions that you make”
Bill Singh, financial planner, “Helping you look forward to the next phase of your life”
Jane Adams, financial representative, “Helping you educate yourself financially”
Robert Langlois, financial representative, “Helping you set goals for your future”
Maureen Bewes, insurance specialist, “Partnering with you to protect your family”
Take a close look at the tag line that you currently use. Does it describe what you do in your terms or in client terms? Can clients immediately understand the benefit to them of working with you?
Your brand should clearly communicate the following:
Your approach to your client relationship
The services you provide, written from a client perspective
An easy way for clients to remember what you do for them
Put the "life" in your practice in 2003 — previous stories
It’s important to note that your brand is not your company’s brand. Too many advisors let their company dictate the brand and then try to build a separate relationship with the client based on this brand. The problem with this approach is that an advisor-client relationship is a very personal one. If it is to persist, you have to create a separate identity that tells or reminds the client why he deals with you.
Communicating your brand
Many advisors use a business card and a list of products or services in an attempt to create an identity in the mind of the client or prospect. Business cards are not effective as a marketing tool because they force the advisor to put “left-brain” or non-emotional descriptions of products or services on the card. Outside the tag line, how much can you really communicate on a business card?
Some advisors have opted to use a simple brochure as their business card and then to write text aimed at client emotion and “right-brain” or emotional thinking. The advantage of a brochure is that you can personalize it and really get to the essence of what you stand for, what your clients can expect of you and how you can help them. These brochures don’t have to be fancy and it is fairly easy to make them compliant with your firm’s regulations.
Finding your own battlefield
The key to marketing yourself and your practice is to find ways to look different from everyone else. This may mean focusing on how you deliver your services rather than on what you deliver. Remember that today’s client and prospect needs a way to identify or label you. Deciding on what that label should be is the key to creating a successful marketing strategy.
• • •
Be sure to check back to the Practice Zone for the fourth part of this series where Barry looks at some individual marketing programs and how you can create an image for yourself.
• • •
Barry LaValley is president of LaValley Communications and a partner in The Centre For Retirement Success. His company provides advisors in Canada and the U.S. with information on how to create a life planning focus in their practice and use it to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. He also conducts client workshops on life planning and the 10 key factors of a successful retirement. Barry helped author a new book entitled Your Clients for Life along with American authors Mitch Anthony and Carol Anderson that is available in book stores or through Barry’s Web site. Barry can be reached at barry@lavalleycommunications.com or through his Web site at www.lavalleycommunications.com.
(12/17/02)
wealth management
wealth manager
insurance agent
retirement specialist
retirement planner
Creating a marketing message that resonates
To form your new marketing message, let’s start by looking at what you really do for people. Today’s professional financial advisor does four basic things for clients:
Educates them
Coaches them and helps them understand and work towards their goals
Helps them understand the financial consequences of their life transitions
Finds solutions that match their needs
These are the four elements that should be marketed because they are the foundation of the service you offer. Consider for a moment the relationship that you have with your best clients, those that consider you a partner and value their relationship with you. Do they value you because you have access to many different products or perhaps because you can analyze today’s investment markets better than anyone else?
It is not what you do that is valuable — it’s how you do it that makes an impression. Therefore, it is the “how” that sets you apart from your competition and should be at the base of your marketing program. Here is a short exercise to help you conceptualize this approach:
The services that I provide my clients
How I provide those services
What is different about my approach?
Remember that the key is to focus on how you are different or, as marketing guru turned Cartier Partners CEO Dan Richards once said, how you “separate yourself from the clutter.” If the services that you provide look like everyone else’s, how can you differentiate yourself when you market your business?
Developing your own brand
Once you have differentiated yourself and your services from your competitors, the next step is to find a way to brand yourself. Branding is important because you need a way to easily remind your clients and prospects what it is you do for them. Branding not only helps clients put a long-term memory tag on you, but it also creates a description that helps them refer you to others.
Normally, your brand can be summarized in your tag line. Consider these tag lines from advisors:
John Jones, financial advisor, “Helping your relate your money to your life”
Margaret Wong, investment advisor, “Understanding the financial consequences of the life decisions that you make”
Bill Singh, financial planner, “Helping you look forward to the next phase of your life”
Jane Adams, financial representative, “Helping you educate yourself financially”
Robert Langlois, financial representative, “Helping you set goals for your future”
Maureen Bewes, insurance specialist, “Partnering with you to protect your family”
Take a close look at the tag line that you currently use. Does it describe what you do in your terms or in client terms? Can clients immediately understand the benefit to them of working with you?
Your brand should clearly communicate the following:
Your approach to your client relationship
The services you provide, written from a client perspective
An easy way for clients to remember what you do for them
Put the "life" in your practice in 2003 — previous stories
It’s important to note that your brand is not your company’s brand. Too many advisors let their company dictate the brand and then try to build a separate relationship with the client based on this brand. The problem with this approach is that an advisor-client relationship is a very personal one. If it is to persist, you have to create a separate identity that tells or reminds the client why he deals with you.
Communicating your brand
Many advisors use a business card and a list of products or services in an attempt to create an identity in the mind of the client or prospect. Business cards are not effective as a marketing tool because they force the advisor to put “left-brain” or non-emotional descriptions of products or services on the card. Outside the tag line, how much can you really communicate on a business card?
Some advisors have opted to use a simple brochure as their business card and then to write text aimed at client emotion and “right-brain” or emotional thinking. The advantage of a brochure is that you can personalize it and really get to the essence of what you stand for, what your clients can expect of you and how you can help them. These brochures don’t have to be fancy and it is fairly easy to make them compliant with your firm’s regulations.
Finding your own battlefield
The key to marketing yourself and your practice is to find ways to look different from everyone else. This may mean focusing on how you deliver your services rather than on what you deliver. Remember that today’s client and prospect needs a way to identify or label you. Deciding on what that label should be is the key to creating a successful marketing strategy.
• • •
Be sure to check back to the Practice Zone for the fourth part of this series where Barry looks at some individual marketing programs and how you can create an image for yourself.
• • •
Barry LaValley is president of LaValley Communications and a partner in The Centre For Retirement Success. His company provides advisors in Canada and the U.S. with information on how to create a life planning focus in their practice and use it to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. He also conducts client workshops on life planning and the 10 key factors of a successful retirement. Barry helped author a new book entitled Your Clients for Life along with American authors Mitch Anthony and Carol Anderson that is available in book stores or through Barry’s Web site. Barry can be reached at barry@lavalleycommunications.com or through his Web site at www.lavalleycommunications.com.
(12/17/02)
money manager
wealth management
wealth manager
insurance agent
retirement specialist
retirement planner
Creating a marketing message that resonates
To form your new marketing message, let’s start by looking at what you really do for people. Today’s professional financial advisor does four basic things for clients:
Educates them
Coaches them and helps them understand and work towards their goals
Helps them understand the financial consequences of their life transitions
Finds solutions that match their needs
These are the four elements that should be marketed because they are the foundation of the service you offer. Consider for a moment the relationship that you have with your best clients, those that consider you a partner and value their relationship with you. Do they value you because you have access to many different products or perhaps because you can analyze today’s investment markets better than anyone else?
It is not what you do that is valuable — it’s how you do it that makes an impression. Therefore, it is the “how” that sets you apart from your competition and should be at the base of your marketing program. Here is a short exercise to help you conceptualize this approach:
The services that I provide my clients
How I provide those services
What is different about my approach?
Remember that the key is to focus on how you are different or, as marketing guru turned Cartier Partners CEO Dan Richards once said, how you “separate yourself from the clutter.” If the services that you provide look like everyone else’s, how can you differentiate yourself when you market your business?
Developing your own brand
Once you have differentiated yourself and your services from your competitors, the next step is to find a way to brand yourself. Branding is important because you need a way to easily remind your clients and prospects what it is you do for them. Branding not only helps clients put a long-term memory tag on you, but it also creates a description that helps them refer you to others.
Normally, your brand can be summarized in your tag line. Consider these tag lines from advisors:
John Jones, financial advisor, “Helping your relate your money to your life”
Margaret Wong, investment advisor, “Understanding the financial consequences of the life decisions that you make”
Bill Singh, financial planner, “Helping you look forward to the next phase of your life”
Jane Adams, financial representative, “Helping you educate yourself financially”
Robert Langlois, financial representative, “Helping you set goals for your future”
Maureen Bewes, insurance specialist, “Partnering with you to protect your family”
Take a close look at the tag line that you currently use. Does it describe what you do in your terms or in client terms? Can clients immediately understand the benefit to them of working with you?
Your brand should clearly communicate the following:
Your approach to your client relationship
The services you provide, written from a client perspective
An easy way for clients to remember what you do for them
Put the "life" in your practice in 2003 — previous stories
It’s important to note that your brand is not your company’s brand. Too many advisors let their company dictate the brand and then try to build a separate relationship with the client based on this brand. The problem with this approach is that an advisor-client relationship is a very personal one. If it is to persist, you have to create a separate identity that tells or reminds the client why he deals with you.
Communicating your brand
Many advisors use a business card and a list of products or services in an attempt to create an identity in the mind of the client or prospect. Business cards are not effective as a marketing tool because they force the advisor to put “left-brain” or non-emotional descriptions of products or services on the card. Outside the tag line, how much can you really communicate on a business card?
Some advisors have opted to use a simple brochure as their business card and then to write text aimed at client emotion and “right-brain” or emotional thinking. The advantage of a brochure is that you can personalize it and really get to the essence of what you stand for, what your clients can expect of you and how you can help them. These brochures don’t have to be fancy and it is fairly easy to make them compliant with your firm’s regulations.
Finding your own battlefield
The key to marketing yourself and your practice is to find ways to look different from everyone else. This may mean focusing on how you deliver your services rather than on what you deliver. Remember that today’s client and prospect needs a way to identify or label you. Deciding on what that label should be is the key to creating a successful marketing strategy.
• • •
Be sure to check back to the Practice Zone for the fourth part of this series where Barry looks at some individual marketing programs and how you can create an image for yourself.
• • •
Barry LaValley is president of LaValley Communications and a partner in The Centre For Retirement Success. His company provides advisors in Canada and the U.S. with information on how to create a life planning focus in their practice and use it to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. He also conducts client workshops on life planning and the 10 key factors of a successful retirement. Barry helped author a new book entitled Your Clients for Life along with American authors Mitch Anthony and Carol Anderson that is available in book stores or through Barry’s Web site. Barry can be reached at barry@lavalleycommunications.com or through his Web site at www.lavalleycommunications.com.
(12/17/02)
investment advice
money manager
wealth management
wealth manager
insurance agent
retirement specialist
retirement planner
Creating a marketing message that resonates
To form your new marketing message, let’s start by looking at what you really do for people. Today’s professional financial advisor does four basic things for clients:
Educates them
Coaches them and helps them understand and work towards their goals
Helps them understand the financial consequences of their life transitions
Finds solutions that match their needs
These are the four elements that should be marketed because they are the foundation of the service you offer. Consider for a moment the relationship that you have with your best clients, those that consider you a partner and value their relationship with you. Do they value you because you have access to many different products or perhaps because you can analyze today’s investment markets better than anyone else?
It is not what you do that is valuable — it’s how you do it that makes an impression. Therefore, it is the “how” that sets you apart from your competition and should be at the base of your marketing program. Here is a short exercise to help you conceptualize this approach:
The services that I provide my clients
How I provide those services
What is different about my approach?
Remember that the key is to focus on how you are different or, as marketing guru turned Cartier Partners CEO Dan Richards once said, how you “separate yourself from the clutter.” If the services that you provide look like everyone else’s, how can you differentiate yourself when you market your business?
Developing your own brand
Once you have differentiated yourself and your services from your competitors, the next step is to find a way to brand yourself. Branding is important because you need a way to easily remind your clients and prospects what it is you do for them. Branding not only helps clients put a long-term memory tag on you, but it also creates a description that helps them refer you to others.
Normally, your brand can be summarized in your tag line. Consider these tag lines from advisors:
John Jones, financial advisor, “Helping your relate your money to your life”
Margaret Wong, investment advisor, “Understanding the financial consequences of the life decisions that you make”
Bill Singh, financial planner, “Helping you look forward to the next phase of your life”
Jane Adams, financial representative, “Helping you educate yourself financially”
Robert Langlois, financial representative, “Helping you set goals for your future”
Maureen Bewes, insurance specialist, “Partnering with you to protect your family”
Take a close look at the tag line that you currently use. Does it describe what you do in your terms or in client terms? Can clients immediately understand the benefit to them of working with you?
Your brand should clearly communicate the following:
Your approach to your client relationship
The services you provide, written from a client perspective
An easy way for clients to remember what you do for them
Put the "life" in your practice in 2003 — previous stories
It’s important to note that your brand is not your company’s brand. Too many advisors let their company dictate the brand and then try to build a separate relationship with the client based on this brand. The problem with this approach is that an advisor-client relationship is a very personal one. If it is to persist, you have to create a separate identity that tells or reminds the client why he deals with you.
Communicating your brand
Many advisors use a business card and a list of products or services in an attempt to create an identity in the mind of the client or prospect. Business cards are not effective as a marketing tool because they force the advisor to put “left-brain” or non-emotional descriptions of products or services on the card. Outside the tag line, how much can you really communicate on a business card?
Some advisors have opted to use a simple brochure as their business card and then to write text aimed at client emotion and “right-brain” or emotional thinking. The advantage of a brochure is that you can personalize it and really get to the essence of what you stand for, what your clients can expect of you and how you can help them. These brochures don’t have to be fancy and it is fairly easy to make them compliant with your firm’s regulations.
Finding your own battlefield
The key to marketing yourself and your practice is to find ways to look different from everyone else. This may mean focusing on how you deliver your services rather than on what you deliver. Remember that today’s client and prospect needs a way to identify or label you. Deciding on what that label should be is the key to creating a successful marketing strategy.
• • •
Be sure to check back to the Practice Zone for the fourth part of this series where Barry looks at some individual marketing programs and how you can create an image for yourself.
• • •
Barry LaValley is president of LaValley Communications and a partner in The Centre For Retirement Success. His company provides advisors in Canada and the U.S. with information on how to create a life planning focus in their practice and use it to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. He also conducts client workshops on life planning and the 10 key factors of a successful retirement. Barry helped author a new book entitled Your Clients for Life along with American authors Mitch Anthony and Carol Anderson that is available in book stores or through Barry’s Web site. Barry can be reached at barry@lavalleycommunications.com or through his Web site at www.lavalleycommunications.com.
(12/17/02)
investment advisor
investment advice
money manager
wealth management
wealth manager
insurance agent
retirement specialist
retirement planner
Creating a marketing message that resonates
To form your new marketing message, let’s start by looking at what you really do for people. Today’s professional financial advisor does four basic things for clients:
Educates them
Coaches them and helps them understand and work towards their goals
Helps them understand the financial consequences of their life transitions
Finds solutions that match their needs
These are the four elements that should be marketed because they are the foundation of the service you offer. Consider for a moment the relationship that you have with your best clients, those that consider you a partner and value their relationship with you. Do they value you because you have access to many different products or perhaps because you can analyze today’s investment markets better than anyone else?
It is not what you do that is valuable — it’s how you do it that makes an impression. Therefore, it is the “how” that sets you apart from your competition and should be at the base of your marketing program. Here is a short exercise to help you conceptualize this approach:
The services that I provide my clients
How I provide those services
What is different about my approach?
Remember that the key is to focus on how you are different or, as marketing guru turned Cartier Partners CEO Dan Richards once said, how you “separate yourself from the clutter.” If the services that you provide look like everyone else’s, how can you differentiate yourself when you market your business?
Developing your own brand
Once you have differentiated yourself and your services from your competitors, the next step is to find a way to brand yourself. Branding is important because you need a way to easily remind your clients and prospects what it is you do for them. Branding not only helps clients put a long-term memory tag on you, but it also creates a description that helps them refer you to others.
Normally, your brand can be summarized in your tag line. Consider these tag lines from advisors:
John Jones, financial advisor, “Helping your relate your money to your life”
Margaret Wong, investment advisor, “Understanding the financial consequences of the life decisions that you make”
Bill Singh, financial planner, “Helping you look forward to the next phase of your life”
Jane Adams, financial representative, “Helping you educate yourself financially”
Robert Langlois, financial representative, “Helping you set goals for your future”
Maureen Bewes, insurance specialist, “Partnering with you to protect your family”
Take a close look at the tag line that you currently use. Does it describe what you do in your terms or in client terms? Can clients immediately understand the benefit to them of working with you?
Your brand should clearly communicate the following:
Your approach to your client relationship
The services you provide, written from a client perspective
An easy way for clients to remember what you do for them
Put the "life" in your practice in 2003 — previous stories
It’s important to note that your brand is not your company’s brand. Too many advisors let their company dictate the brand and then try to build a separate relationship with the client based on this brand. The problem with this approach is that an advisor-client relationship is a very personal one. If it is to persist, you have to create a separate identity that tells or reminds the client why he deals with you.
Communicating your brand
Many advisors use a business card and a list of products or services in an attempt to create an identity in the mind of the client or prospect. Business cards are not effective as a marketing tool because they force the advisor to put “left-brain” or non-emotional descriptions of products or services on the card. Outside the tag line, how much can you really communicate on a business card?
Some advisors have opted to use a simple brochure as their business card and then to write text aimed at client emotion and “right-brain” or emotional thinking. The advantage of a brochure is that you can personalize it and really get to the essence of what you stand for, what your clients can expect of you and how you can help them. These brochures don’t have to be fancy and it is fairly easy to make them compliant with your firm’s regulations.
Finding your own battlefield
The key to marketing yourself and your practice is to find ways to look different from everyone else. This may mean focusing on how you deliver your services rather than on what you deliver. Remember that today’s client and prospect needs a way to identify or label you. Deciding on what that label should be is the key to creating a successful marketing strategy.
• • •
Be sure to check back to the Practice Zone for the fourth part of this series where Barry looks at some individual marketing programs and how you can create an image for yourself.
• • •
Barry LaValley is president of LaValley Communications and a partner in The Centre For Retirement Success. His company provides advisors in Canada and the U.S. with information on how to create a life planning focus in their practice and use it to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. He also conducts client workshops on life planning and the 10 key factors of a successful retirement. Barry helped author a new book entitled Your Clients for Life along with American authors Mitch Anthony and Carol Anderson that is available in book stores or through Barry’s Web site. Barry can be reached at barry@lavalleycommunications.com or through his Web site at www.lavalleycommunications.com.
(12/17/02)
financial planner
investment advisor
investment advice
money manager
wealth management
wealth manager
insurance agent
retirement specialist
retirement planner
Creating a marketing message that resonates
To form your new marketing message, let’s start by looking at what you really do for people. Today’s professional financial advisor does four basic things for clients:
Educates them
Coaches them and helps them understand and work towards their goals
Helps them understand the financial consequences of their life transitions
Finds solutions that match their needs
These are the four elements that should be marketed because they are the foundation of the service you offer. Consider for a moment the relationship that you have with your best clients, those that consider you a partner and value their relationship with you. Do they value you because you have access to many different products or perhaps because you can analyze today’s investment markets better than anyone else?
It is not what you do that is valuable — it’s how you do it that makes an impression. Therefore, it is the “how” that sets you apart from your competition and should be at the base of your marketing program. Here is a short exercise to help you conceptualize this approach:
The services that I provide my clients
How I provide those services
What is different about my approach?
Remember that the key is to focus on how you are different or, as marketing guru turned Cartier Partners CEO Dan Richards once said, how you “separate yourself from the clutter.” If the services that you provide look like everyone else’s, how can you differentiate yourself when you market your business?
Developing your own brand
Once you have differentiated yourself and your services from your competitors, the next step is to find a way to brand yourself. Branding is important because you need a way to easily remind your clients and prospects what it is you do for them. Branding not only helps clients put a long-term memory tag on you, but it also creates a description that helps them refer you to others.
Normally, your brand can be summarized in your tag line. Consider these tag lines from advisors:
John Jones, financial advisor, “Helping your relate your money to your life”
Margaret Wong, investment advisor, “Understanding the financial consequences of the life decisions that you make”
Bill Singh, financial planner, “Helping you look forward to the next phase of your life”
Jane Adams, financial representative, “Helping you educate yourself financially”
Robert Langlois, financial representative, “Helping you set goals for your future”
Maureen Bewes, insurance specialist, “Partnering with you to protect your family”
Take a close look at the tag line that you currently use. Does it describe what you do in your terms or in client terms? Can clients immediately understand the benefit to them of working with you?
Your brand should clearly communicate the following:
Your approach to your client relationship
The services you provide, written from a client perspective
An easy way for clients to remember what you do for them
Put the "life" in your practice in 2003 — previous stories
It’s important to note that your brand is not your company’s brand. Too many advisors let their company dictate the brand and then try to build a separate relationship with the client based on this brand. The problem with this approach is that an advisor-client relationship is a very personal one. If it is to persist, you have to create a separate identity that tells or reminds the client why he deals with you.
Communicating your brand
Many advisors use a business card and a list of products or services in an attempt to create an identity in the mind of the client or prospect. Business cards are not effective as a marketing tool because they force the advisor to put “left-brain” or non-emotional descriptions of products or services on the card. Outside the tag line, how much can you really communicate on a business card?
Some advisors have opted to use a simple brochure as their business card and then to write text aimed at client emotion and “right-brain” or emotional thinking. The advantage of a brochure is that you can personalize it and really get to the essence of what you stand for, what your clients can expect of you and how you can help them. These brochures don’t have to be fancy and it is fairly easy to make them compliant with your firm’s regulations.
Finding your own battlefield
The key to marketing yourself and your practice is to find ways to look different from everyone else. This may mean focusing on how you deliver your services rather than on what you deliver. Remember that today’s client and prospect needs a way to identify or label you. Deciding on what that label should be is the key to creating a successful marketing strategy.
• • •
Be sure to check back to the Practice Zone for the fourth part of this series where Barry looks at some individual marketing programs and how you can create an image for yourself.
• • •
Barry LaValley is president of LaValley Communications and a partner in The Centre For Retirement Success. His company provides advisors in Canada and the U.S. with information on how to create a life planning focus in their practice and use it to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. He also conducts client workshops on life planning and the 10 key factors of a successful retirement. Barry helped author a new book entitled Your Clients for Life along with American authors Mitch Anthony and Carol Anderson that is available in book stores or through Barry’s Web site. Barry can be reached at barry@lavalleycommunications.com or through his Web site at www.lavalleycommunications.com.
(12/17/02)
financial planning
financial planner
investment advisor
investment advice
money manager
wealth management
wealth manager
insurance agent
retirement specialist
retirement planner
Creating a marketing message that resonates
To form your new marketing message, let’s start by looking at what you really do for people. Today’s professional financial advisor does four basic things for clients:
Educates them
Coaches them and helps them understand and work towards their goals
Helps them understand the financial consequences of their life transitions
Finds solutions that match their needs
These are the four elements that should be marketed because they are the foundation of the service you offer. Consider for a moment the relationship that you have with your best clients, those that consider you a partner and value their relationship with you. Do they value you because you have access to many different products or perhaps because you can analyze today’s investment markets better than anyone else?
It is not what you do that is valuable — it’s how you do it that makes an impression. Therefore, it is the “how” that sets you apart from your competition and should be at the base of your marketing program. Here is a short exercise to help you conceptualize this approach:
The services that I provide my clients
How I provide those services
What is different about my approach?
Remember that the key is to focus on how you are different or, as marketing guru turned Cartier Partners CEO Dan Richards once said, how you “separate yourself from the clutter.” If the services that you provide look like everyone else’s, how can you differentiate yourself when you market your business?
Developing your own brand
Once you have differentiated yourself and your services from your competitors, the next step is to find a way to brand yourself. Branding is important because you need a way to easily remind your clients and prospects what it is you do for them. Branding not only helps clients put a long-term memory tag on you, but it also creates a description that helps them refer you to others.
Normally, your brand can be summarized in your tag line. Consider these tag lines from advisors:
John Jones, financial advisor, “Helping your relate your money to your life”
Margaret Wong, investment advisor, “Understanding the financial consequences of the life decisions that you make”
Bill Singh, financial planner, “Helping you look forward to the next phase of your life”
Jane Adams, financial representative, “Helping you educate yourself financially”
Robert Langlois, financial representative, “Helping you set goals for your future”
Maureen Bewes, insurance specialist, “Partnering with you to protect your family”
Take a close look at the tag line that you currently use. Does it describe what you do in your terms or in client terms? Can clients immediately understand the benefit to them of working with you?
Your brand should clearly communicate the following:
Your approach to your client relationship
The services you provide, written from a client perspective
An easy way for clients to remember what you do for them
Put the "life" in your practice in 2003 — previous stories
It’s important to note that your brand is not your company’s brand. Too many advisors let their company dictate the brand and then try to build a separate relationship with the client based on this brand. The problem with this approach is that an advisor-client relationship is a very personal one. If it is to persist, you have to create a separate identity that tells or reminds the client why he deals with you.
Communicating your brand
Many advisors use a business card and a list of products or services in an attempt to create an identity in the mind of the client or prospect. Business cards are not effective as a marketing tool because they force the advisor to put “left-brain” or non-emotional descriptions of products or services on the card. Outside the tag line, how much can you really communicate on a business card?
Some advisors have opted to use a simple brochure as their business card and then to write text aimed at client emotion and “right-brain” or emotional thinking. The advantage of a brochure is that you can personalize it and really get to the essence of what you stand for, what your clients can expect of you and how you can help them. These brochures don’t have to be fancy and it is fairly easy to make them compliant with your firm’s regulations.
Finding your own battlefield
The key to marketing yourself and your practice is to find ways to look different from everyone else. This may mean focusing on how you deliver your services rather than on what you deliver. Remember that today’s client and prospect needs a way to identify or label you. Deciding on what that label should be is the key to creating a successful marketing strategy.
• • •
Be sure to check back to the Practice Zone for the fourth part of this series where Barry looks at some individual marketing programs and how you can create an image for yourself.
• • •
Barry LaValley is president of LaValley Communications and a partner in The Centre For Retirement Success. His company provides advisors in Canada and the U.S. with information on how to create a life planning focus in their practice and use it to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. He also conducts client workshops on life planning and the 10 key factors of a successful retirement. Barry helped author a new book entitled Your Clients for Life along with American authors Mitch Anthony and Carol Anderson that is available in book stores or through Barry’s Web site. Barry can be reached at barry@lavalleycommunications.com or through his Web site at www.lavalleycommunications.com.
(12/17/02)
financial planning
financial planner
investment advisor
investment advice
money manager
wealth management
wealth manager
insurance agent
retirement specialist
retirement planner
Creating a marketing message that resonates
To form your new marketing message, let’s start by looking at what you really do for people. Today’s professional financial advisor does four basic things for clients:
Educates them
Coaches them and helps them understand and work towards their goals
Helps them understand the financial consequences of their life transitions
Finds solutions that match their needs
These are the four elements that should be marketed because they are the foundation of the service you offer. Consider for a moment the relationship that you have with your best clients, those that consider you a partner and value their relationship with you. Do they value you because you have access to many different products or perhaps because you can analyze today’s investment markets better than anyone else?
It is not what you do that is valuable — it’s how you do it that makes an impression. Therefore, it is the “how” that sets you apart from your competition and should be at the base of your marketing program. Here is a short exercise to help you conceptualize this approach:
The services that I provide my clients
How I provide those services
What is different about my approach?
Remember that the key is to focus on how you are different or, as marketing guru turned Cartier Partners CEO Dan Richards once said, how you “separate yourself from the clutter.” If the services that you provide look like everyone else’s, how can you differentiate yourself when you market your business?
Developing your own brand
Once you have differentiated yourself and your services from your competitors, the next step is to find a way to brand yourself. Branding is important because you need a way to easily remind your clients and prospects what it is you do for them. Branding not only helps clients put a long-term memory tag on you, but it also creates a description that helps them refer you to others.
Normally, your brand can be summarized in your tag line. Consider these tag lines from advisors:
John Jones, financial advisor, “Helping your relate your money to your life”
Margaret Wong, investment advisor, “Understanding the financial consequences of the life decisions that you make”
Bill Singh, financial planner, “Helping you look forward to the next phase of your life”
Jane Adams, financial representative, “Helping you educate yourself financially”
Robert Langlois, financial representative, “Helping you set goals for your future”
Maureen Bewes, insurance specialist, “Partnering with you to protect your family”
Take a close look at the tag line that you currently use. Does it describe what you do in your terms or in client terms? Can clients immediately understand the benefit to them of working with you?
Your brand should clearly communicate the following:
Your approach to your client relationship
The services you provide, written from a client perspective
An easy way for clients to remember what you do for them
Put the "life" in your practice in 2003 — previous stories
It’s important to note that your brand is not your company’s brand. Too many advisors let their company dictate the brand and then try to build a separate relationship with the client based on this brand. The problem with this approach is that an advisor-client relationship is a very personal one. If it is to persist, you have to create a separate identity that tells or reminds the client why he deals with you.
Communicating your brand
Many advisors use a business card and a list of products or services in an attempt to create an identity in the mind of the client or prospect. Business cards are not effective as a marketing tool because they force the advisor to put “left-brain” or non-emotional descriptions of products or services on the card. Outside the tag line, how much can you really communicate on a business card?
Some advisors have opted to use a simple brochure as their business card and then to write text aimed at client emotion and “right-brain” or emotional thinking. The advantage of a brochure is that you can personalize it and really get to the essence of what you stand for, what your clients can expect of you and how you can help them. These brochures don’t have to be fancy and it is fairly easy to make them compliant with your firm’s regulations.
Finding your own battlefield
The key to marketing yourself and your practice is to find ways to look different from everyone else. This may mean focusing on how you deliver your services rather than on what you deliver. Remember that today’s client and prospect needs a way to identify or label you. Deciding on what that label should be is the key to creating a successful marketing strategy.
• • •
Be sure to check back to the Practice Zone for the fourth part of this series where Barry looks at some individual marketing programs and how you can create an image for yourself.
• • •
Barry LaValley is president of LaValley Communications and a partner in The Centre For Retirement Success. His company provides advisors in Canada and the U.S. with information on how to create a life planning focus in their practice and use it to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. He also conducts client workshops on life planning and the 10 key factors of a successful retirement. Barry helped author a new book entitled Your Clients for Life along with American authors Mitch Anthony and Carol Anderson that is available in book stores or through Barry’s Web site. Barry can be reached at barry@lavalleycommunications.com or through his Web site at www.lavalleycommunications.com.
(12/17/02)
financial planning
financial planner
investment advisor
investment advice
money manager
wealth management
wealth manager
insurance agent
retirement specialist
retirement planner
Creating a marketing message that resonates
To form your new marketing message, let’s start by looking at what you really do for people. Today’s professional financial advisor does four basic things for clients:
Educates them
Coaches them and helps them understand and work towards their goals
Helps them understand the financial consequences of their life transitions
Finds solutions that match their needs
These are the four elements that should be marketed because they are the foundation of the service you offer. Consider for a moment the relationship that you have with your best clients, those that consider you a partner and value their relationship with you. Do they value you because you have access to many different products or perhaps because you can analyze today’s investment markets better than anyone else?
It is not what you do that is valuable — it’s how you do it that makes an impression. Therefore, it is the “how” that sets you apart from your competition and should be at the base of your marketing program. Here is a short exercise to help you conceptualize this approach:
The services that I provide my clients
How I provide those services
What is different about my approach?
Remember that the key is to focus on how you are different or, as marketing guru turned Cartier Partners CEO Dan Richards once said, how you “separate yourself from the clutter.” If the services that you provide look like everyone else’s, how can you differentiate yourself when you market your business?
Developing your own brand
Once you have differentiated yourself and your services from your competitors, the next step is to find a way to brand yourself. Branding is important because you need a way to easily remind your clients and prospects what it is you do for them. Branding not only helps clients put a long-term memory tag on you, but it also creates a description that helps them refer you to others.
Normally, your brand can be summarized in your tag line. Consider these tag lines from advisors:
John Jones, financial advisor, “Helping your relate your money to your life”
Margaret Wong, investment advisor, “Understanding the financial consequences of the life decisions that you make”
Bill Singh, financial planner, “Helping you look forward to the next phase of your life”
Jane Adams, financial representative, “Helping you educate yourself financially”
Robert Langlois, financial representative, “Helping you set goals for your future”
Maureen Bewes, insurance specialist, “Partnering with you to protect your family”
Take a close look at the tag line that you currently use. Does it describe what you do in your terms or in client terms? Can clients immediately understand the benefit to them of working with you?
Your brand should clearly communicate the following:
Your approach to your client relationship
The services you provide, written from a client perspective
An easy way for clients to remember what you do for them
Put the "life" in your practice in 2003 — previous stories
It’s important to note that your brand is not your company’s brand. Too many advisors let their company dictate the brand and then try to build a separate relationship with the client based on this brand. The problem with this approach is that an advisor-client relationship is a very personal one. If it is to persist, you have to create a separate identity that tells or reminds the client why he deals with you.
Communicating your brand
Many advisors use a business card and a list of products or services in an attempt to create an identity in the mind of the client or prospect. Business cards are not effective as a marketing tool because they force the advisor to put “left-brain” or non-emotional descriptions of products or services on the card. Outside the tag line, how much can you really communicate on a business card?
Some advisors have opted to use a simple brochure as their business card and then to write text aimed at client emotion and “right-brain” or emotional thinking. The advantage of a brochure is that you can personalize it and really get to the essence of what you stand for, what your clients can expect of you and how you can help them. These brochures don’t have to be fancy and it is fairly easy to make them compliant with your firm’s regulations.
Finding your own battlefield
The key to marketing yourself and your practice is to find ways to look different from everyone else. This may mean focusing on how you deliver your services rather than on what you deliver. Remember that today’s client and prospect needs a way to identify or label you. Deciding on what that label should be is the key to creating a successful marketing strategy.
• • •
Be sure to check back to the Practice Zone for the fourth part of this series where Barry looks at some individual marketing programs and how you can create an image for yourself.
• • •
Barry LaValley is president of LaValley Communications and a partner in The Centre For Retirement Success. His company provides advisors in Canada and the U.S. with information on how to create a life planning focus in their practice and use it to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. He also conducts client workshops on life planning and the 10 key factors of a successful retirement. Barry helped author a new book entitled Your Clients for Life along with American authors Mitch Anthony and Carol Anderson that is available in book stores or through Barry’s Web site. Barry can be reached at barry@lavalleycommunications.com or through his Web site at www.lavalleycommunications.com.
(12/17/02)
Today’s new breed of advisor recognizes that the nature of the advisor-client relationship has changed, with discussions shifting from investment markets, products and performance toward life goal-setting, protecting the client’s future and life enjoyment. In light of this shift, we are taking a six-part, step-by-step look at ideas you can use to build your 2003 business plan and reposition yourself against your competition. In our first article in this series, we helped you develop a template for the foundation of your practice — your mission statement and values proposition. The second article covered your communications strategy to both clients and prospects and addressed the importance of relating to your clients’ emotions through the message that you send. Here is the third installment :
(December 2002) When advisors market their services, the most common problem they face is the apprehensive consumer who has “heard it all before.” The explosion in the number of firms, financial advisors and the marketing messages that they send to the marketplace have rendered many honourable descriptions of your services ineffective from a marketing standpoint.
Your marketing strategy has to explain in clear terms what it is that you do, and do so in a way that makes you look different than your competitors. You will have to replace any word or phrase that you use to describe your value proposition with words not commonly used by other advisors or firms.
Out with the old
The phrases below can still be used as a title or description of your services as dictated by the regulations of your firm, but are not valuable as a marketing tag line because they have become commonplace:
financial planning
financial planner
investment advisor
investment advice
money manager
wealth management
wealth manager
insurance agent
retirement specialist
retirement planner
Creating a marketing message that resonates
To form your new marketing message, let’s start by looking at what you really do for people. Today’s professional financial advisor does four basic things for clients:
Educates them
Coaches them and helps them understand and work towards their goals
Helps them understand the financial consequences of their life transitions
Finds solutions that match their needs
These are the four elements that should be marketed because they are the foundation of the service you offer. Consider for a moment the relationship that you have with your best clients, those that consider you a partner and value their relationship with you. Do they value you because you have access to many different products or perhaps because you can analyze today’s investment markets better than anyone else?
It is not what you do that is valuable — it’s how you do it that makes an impression. Therefore, it is the “how” that sets you apart from your competition and should be at the base of your marketing program. Here is a short exercise to help you conceptualize this approach:
The services that I provide my clients
How I provide those services
What is different about my approach?
Remember that the key is to focus on how you are different or, as marketing guru turned Cartier Partners CEO Dan Richards once said, how you “separate yourself from the clutter.” If the services that you provide look like everyone else’s, how can you differentiate yourself when you market your business?
Developing your own brand
Once you have differentiated yourself and your services from your competitors, the next step is to find a way to brand yourself. Branding is important because you need a way to easily remind your clients and prospects what it is you do for them. Branding not only helps clients put a long-term memory tag on you, but it also creates a description that helps them refer you to others.
Normally, your brand can be summarized in your tag line. Consider these tag lines from advisors:
John Jones, financial advisor, “Helping your relate your money to your life”
Margaret Wong, investment advisor, “Understanding the financial consequences of the life decisions that you make”
Bill Singh, financial planner, “Helping you look forward to the next phase of your life”
Jane Adams, financial representative, “Helping you educate yourself financially”
Robert Langlois, financial representative, “Helping you set goals for your future”
Maureen Bewes, insurance specialist, “Partnering with you to protect your family”
Take a close look at the tag line that you currently use. Does it describe what you do in your terms or in client terms? Can clients immediately understand the benefit to them of working with you?
Your brand should clearly communicate the following:
Your approach to your client relationship
The services you provide, written from a client perspective
An easy way for clients to remember what you do for them
Put the "life" in your practice in 2003 — previous stories
It’s important to note that your brand is not your company’s brand. Too many advisors let their company dictate the brand and then try to build a separate relationship with the client based on this brand. The problem with this approach is that an advisor-client relationship is a very personal one. If it is to persist, you have to create a separate identity that tells or reminds the client why he deals with you.
Communicating your brand
Many advisors use a business card and a list of products or services in an attempt to create an identity in the mind of the client or prospect. Business cards are not effective as a marketing tool because they force the advisor to put “left-brain” or non-emotional descriptions of products or services on the card. Outside the tag line, how much can you really communicate on a business card?
Some advisors have opted to use a simple brochure as their business card and then to write text aimed at client emotion and “right-brain” or emotional thinking. The advantage of a brochure is that you can personalize it and really get to the essence of what you stand for, what your clients can expect of you and how you can help them. These brochures don’t have to be fancy and it is fairly easy to make them compliant with your firm’s regulations.
Finding your own battlefield
The key to marketing yourself and your practice is to find ways to look different from everyone else. This may mean focusing on how you deliver your services rather than on what you deliver. Remember that today’s client and prospect needs a way to identify or label you. Deciding on what that label should be is the key to creating a successful marketing strategy.
• • •
Be sure to check back to the Practice Zone for the fourth part of this series where Barry looks at some individual marketing programs and how you can create an image for yourself.
• • •
Barry LaValley is president of LaValley Communications and a partner in The Centre For Retirement Success. His company provides advisors in Canada and the U.S. with information on how to create a life planning focus in their practice and use it to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. He also conducts client workshops on life planning and the 10 key factors of a successful retirement. Barry helped author a new book entitled Your Clients for Life along with American authors Mitch Anthony and Carol Anderson that is available in book stores or through Barry’s Web site. Barry can be reached at barry@lavalleycommunications.com or through his Web site at www.lavalleycommunications.com.
(12/17/02)
Today’s new breed of advisor recognizes that the nature of the advisor-client relationship has changed, with discussions shifting from investment markets, products and performance toward life goal-setting, protecting the client’s future and life enjoyment. In light of this shift, we are taking a six-part, step-by-step look at ideas you can use to build your 2003 business plan and reposition yourself against your competition. In our first article in this series, we helped you develop a template for the foundation of your practice — your mission statement and values proposition. The second article covered your communications strategy to both clients and prospects and addressed the importance of relating to your clients’ emotions through the message that you send. Here is the third installment :
(December 2002) When advisors market their services, the most common problem they face is the apprehensive consumer who has “heard it all before.” The explosion in the number of firms, financial advisors and the marketing messages that they send to the marketplace have rendered many honourable descriptions of your services ineffective from a marketing standpoint.
Your marketing strategy has to explain in clear terms what it is that you do, and do so in a way that makes you look different than your competitors. You will have to replace any word or phrase that you use to describe your value proposition with words not commonly used by other advisors or firms.
Out with the old
The phrases below can still be used as a title or description of your services as dictated by the regulations of your firm, but are not valuable as a marketing tag line because they have become commonplace:
financial planning
financial planner
investment advisor
investment advice
money manager
wealth management
wealth manager
insurance agent
retirement specialist
retirement planner
Creating a marketing message that resonates
To form your new marketing message, let’s start by looking at what you really do for people. Today’s professional financial advisor does four basic things for clients:
Educates them
Coaches them and helps them understand and work towards their goals
Helps them understand the financial consequences of their life transitions
Finds solutions that match their needs
These are the four elements that should be marketed because they are the foundation of the service you offer. Consider for a moment the relationship that you have with your best clients, those that consider you a partner and value their relationship with you. Do they value you because you have access to many different products or perhaps because you can analyze today’s investment markets better than anyone else?
It is not what you do that is valuable — it’s how you do it that makes an impression. Therefore, it is the “how” that sets you apart from your competition and should be at the base of your marketing program. Here is a short exercise to help you conceptualize this approach:
The services that I provide my clients
How I provide those services
What is different about my approach?
Remember that the key is to focus on how you are different or, as marketing guru turned Cartier Partners CEO Dan Richards once said, how you “separate yourself from the clutter.” If the services that you provide look like everyone else’s, how can you differentiate yourself when you market your business?
Developing your own brand
Once you have differentiated yourself and your services from your competitors, the next step is to find a way to brand yourself. Branding is important because you need a way to easily remind your clients and prospects what it is you do for them. Branding not only helps clients put a long-term memory tag on you, but it also creates a description that helps them refer you to others.
Normally, your brand can be summarized in your tag line. Consider these tag lines from advisors:
John Jones, financial advisor, “Helping your relate your money to your life”
Margaret Wong, investment advisor, “Understanding the financial consequences of the life decisions that you make”
Bill Singh, financial planner, “Helping you look forward to the next phase of your life”
Jane Adams, financial representative, “Helping you educate yourself financially”
Robert Langlois, financial representative, “Helping you set goals for your future”
Maureen Bewes, insurance specialist, “Partnering with you to protect your family”
Take a close look at the tag line that you currently use. Does it describe what you do in your terms or in client terms? Can clients immediately understand the benefit to them of working with you?
Your brand should clearly communicate the following:
Your approach to your client relationship
The services you provide, written from a client perspective
An easy way for clients to remember what you do for them
Put the "life" in your practice in 2003 — previous stories
It’s important to note that your brand is not your company’s brand. Too many advisors let their company dictate the brand and then try to build a separate relationship with the client based on this brand. The problem with this approach is that an advisor-client relationship is a very personal one. If it is to persist, you have to create a separate identity that tells or reminds the client why he deals with you.
Communicating your brand
Many advisors use a business card and a list of products or services in an attempt to create an identity in the mind of the client or prospect. Business cards are not effective as a marketing tool because they force the advisor to put “left-brain” or non-emotional descriptions of products or services on the card. Outside the tag line, how much can you really communicate on a business card?
Some advisors have opted to use a simple brochure as their business card and then to write text aimed at client emotion and “right-brain” or emotional thinking. The advantage of a brochure is that you can personalize it and really get to the essence of what you stand for, what your clients can expect of you and how you can help them. These brochures don’t have to be fancy and it is fairly easy to make them compliant with your firm’s regulations.
Finding your own battlefield
The key to marketing yourself and your practice is to find ways to look different from everyone else. This may mean focusing on how you deliver your services rather than on what you deliver. Remember that today’s client and prospect needs a way to identify or label you. Deciding on what that label should be is the key to creating a successful marketing strategy.
• • •
Be sure to check back to the Practice Zone for the fourth part of this series where Barry looks at some individual marketing programs and how you can create an image for yourself.
• • •
Barry LaValley is president of LaValley Communications and a partner in The Centre For Retirement Success. His company provides advisors in Canada and the U.S. with information on how to create a life planning focus in their practice and use it to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. He also conducts client workshops on life planning and the 10 key factors of a successful retirement. Barry helped author a new book entitled Your Clients for Life along with American authors Mitch Anthony and Carol Anderson that is available in book stores or through Barry’s Web site. Barry can be reached at barry@lavalleycommunications.com or through his Web site at www.lavalleycommunications.com.
We use cookies to make your website experience better. By accepting this notice and continuing to browse our website you confirm you accept our Terms of Use & Privacy Policy.
