One of the frustrations
advisors face with marketing is trying, and not seeing voluminous, tangible
results after 6-12 months. I need to convince these clients to "stay
the course" just as you need to reassure your clients to do the
same. Marketing is strategic. There may be some tactical benefits,
but the issues and solutions and measures are certainly strategic. There
is no quick fix turning a predominantly selling entity into a marketing>selling
entity. The best way to make a strategic impact is to develop and
continuously nurture an effective brand.
Brands attract,
bias and convince people that what they don't see yet is what they will
actually receive…quality reasonably assured. They don't think
about it as much as they feel it, and the brand thinking they
do forms a convincing logic to accept the name or reputation. That's
a positive in marketing. In fact, scientists have just discovered (Journal
of Neural Plasticity, April 2002) that branding decisions (which
take about 2 seconds to make) occur in the right parietal cortex
of the brain. The right parietal cortex is also where conscious decisions
are made. Brand selection is becoming more predictable than we thought.
The negative:
bad branding can turn people off and away from services or products,
whether they deserve it or not. In between the extremes lies the
ether of ambivalence, where a prospect is not swayed either way. In
competition, consumer ambivalence defeats you.
The key element
of branding is truth. An example? State Farm says it all in a jingle,
"And like a good neighbor, State Farm is there." Recall the
ads? Nowhere. State Farm ads are simple, unslick, real. To the consumer
(and there is much evidence available), the ads match State Farm's performance.
Truth is in the brand. The brand works.
Why not an advisor
example? First, you wouldn't recognize the advisor, even if I told you
the trademarked Personal CFO™ and Wealth Navigator™
work for clients of mine. Second–and this is your advantage–so
few advisors in retail financial services understand brands and brands
in service businesses that they have not popularized the idea. Too bad,
because everyone has a brand, like it or not. You have one. It may not
be the one you want and you may not be nurturing it, but it's yours
nevertheless.
Not to shape your
brand rigorously and nurture it is to leave it to your public to decide.
That is the much less effective alternative.
