Although a financial services firm’s image with the public is of utmost importance to the firm’s advisors, only a few firms have managed to meet their advisors’ expectations in this area.
The ones that do, however, have put significant efforts into blending effective corporate branding at both the national and local levels, as well as into marketing support for advisors’ practices, say the advisors surveyed for this year’s Report Card series.
In fact, the results of this year’s Report Cards reveal that advi-sors’ satisfaction in the “firm’s consumer advertising” and “firm’s marketing support for advisor’s practice” categories has a direct impact on how they rate their “firm’s image with the public.”
For example, advisors who gave their firms high ratings for their public image also handed their firms above-average marks for consumer advertising and marketing support. In contrast, firms that received a below-average rating in consumer advertising, marketing support or both were given a poor public image rating.
Royal Bank of Canada and Bank of Nova Scotia, both based in Toronto, Waterloo, Ont.-based Sun Life Financial (Canada) Inc. and Winnipeg-based Investors Group Inc. all received exceptionally strong ratings in the public image category. All four firms conduct mass-market consumer advertising and sponsor various events and charities. In terms of marketing support for advisors, these firms provide tools that can be customized to help their advisors market themselves in their communities.
In turn, their advisors say that frequent and effective commercials raise public awareness of their firms and that local initiatives — such as charity involvement and volunteering — create a positive image of their firms.
RBC, for one, has strengthened its brand as Canada’s largest bank through consistent national advertising and the sponsorship of major events such as the Winter Olympics. RBC advisors say they have seen the positive impact of their firm’s branding efforts on their businesses. “I am seeing our ads a lot,” says an RBC advisor in Ontario. “People come back to us because of that.”
Adds a colleague in the same province: “It’s easy to attract clients because of the brand.”
Similarly, advisors with Scotia-bank are happy with their firm’s attention-grabbing TV commercials that focus on advisor’s services. Scotiabank advisors say the bank’s advertising campaigns are working in their favour. “It is consistent and relevant,” says a Scotiabank advisor in Ontario. “It appeals to a wide audience.”
Adds a colleague in the same province: “[Our advertising] has had a positive impact on my business.”
Scotiabank also emphasizes the firm’s community involvement through sponsorships, charitable donations and promoting volunteerism among its employees. “We spend millions on advertising in any given year within Canada,” says Mike Henry, senior vice president of customer experience and distribution strategy with Scotiabank. “But we are equally, if not more focused on really being involved in the communities in which our customers and our employees live and work.”
In response, advisors say the bank’s community involvement has raised its reputation. Says a Scotiabank advisor in Ontario: “Our image is very good. We are socially responsible and we do charity work.”
In contrast, advisors with DundeeWealth Inc. and Ray-mond James Ltd. , both based in Toronto, and Mississauga, Ont.-based Investment Planning Counsel are dissatisfied with their firm’s lack of consumer advertising and gave below-average ratings for their firms’ public image. Although the advisors are pleased with their firms’ marketing support, they would like to see more corporate branding efforts from their firms.
Says a DundeeWealth advi-sor in Ontario. “If clients haven’t heard of you, they won’t switch large accounts to you.”
A Raymond James advisor in Ontario echoes that sentiment: “They need to work on building the brand in Canada. It would help bring over clients.”
Although Raymond James doesn’t initiate its own national advertising, the firm’s U.S. parent advertises on U.S. television, which can be seen by some viewers in Canada. And while DundeeWealth has had some national campaigns in the past, IPC doesn’t advertise directly to clients. In fact, executives at all three firms say that their focus is on helping advisors brand themselves rather than launching national advertising campaigns.
“We’ll help create an entire advisor image,” says IPC president Chris Reynolds. “Our whole marketing and branding is done at the advisor level. In other words, we wouldn’t brand IPC.”
To help advisors market their practices, all three firms have stepped up their creative support for their advisors’ websites. For instance, DundeeWealth has revamped its advisors’ marketing tools and introduced new functions to help advisors add video to their websites.
Similarly, IPC and Raymond James offer creative input for their advisors’ websites. IE