In the midst of a tumultuous market recovery, financial advisors are placing a higher degree of importance on their firms’ marketing strategies – specifically, how it builds its brand in the public eye.
That’s evident in the dramatically higher overall importance rating bestowed by advisors in both the “firm’s consumer advertising” category – 6.9 in this year’s Dealers’ Report Card vs 6.0 in 2011 – and the “firm’s marketing support for advisor’s practice” category (7.6 this year vs 6.9).
In contrast, the overall performance ratings dropped slightly, to 6.5 from 6.6 in advertising and to 6.9 from 7.0 in marketing.
As a result, there is a growing satisfaction gap in these categories, which indicates a shift in the expectations that advisors have about their firm’s promotional tactics in this post-financial crisis environment. For instance, in the past, advisors wanted to see their firms place promotional dollars behind helping advisors themselves brand their individual businesses; now, advisors recognize that the firm’s brand is just as important.
As an advisor in Atlantic Canada with Toronto-based Assante Wealth Management (Canada) Ltd. puts it: “The firm doesn’t advertise as much as it should. It’s very important for people to recognize the name [on my office door].”
Some executives are on the same wavelength. Says Vince Valenti, president and CEO of Ottawa, Ont.-based Independent Planning Group Inc. (IPG): “Over the past few years, advisors have started to recognize that the dealership’s brand is important to their clients. After the financial crisis of 2008, clients started asking about who IPG is and, as a result, we are now looking to improve our brand awareness.”
Since IPG’s inception in 1990, marketing dollars always have been placed behind the advisor. But this year, advertising and marketing for the IPG brand will be formally written into the firm’s five-year strategic plan for the first time, to begin in 2013.
If IPG needs any ideas on how to execute that plan, its executives should look at the strategies of the firms that have received the top performance ratings in the advertising category: Lévis, Que.-based Desjardins Financial Security Independent Network, Winnipeg-based Investors Group Inc. and Burlington, Ont.-based Manulife Securities.
Desjardins advisors were the most satisfied; their firm has made an effort to develop brand awareness outside of its home base of Quebec by placing large print ads in consumer newspapers and magazines, as well as sponsoring major regional events.
Says a Desjardins advisor in Ontario: “Thanks to the firm’s more aggressive marketing strategy in recent years, Desjardins has become a brand that’s easily recognizable in Ontario.”
Manulife’s advisors were most impressed with their firm’s consistency in having advertisements on television as well as in print. Despite the negative press surrounding the parent firm’s financial results and stock price, Manulife advisors felt that the firm’s advertising campaign has helped build the brand and give it a positive image. That translated into a dramatic improvement in the “firm’s image with the public” rating, which improved to 8.7 from 7.9 last year.
For most of the firms that don’t advertise, executives and advisors are still of the mindset that clients primarily join a firm because of the personal connection they have with their advisor, not because of the firm’s brand name. Thus, both management and advisors at these firms believe that any promotional dollars should go toward supporting advisors in marketing their businesses.
It’s no surprise, then, that the firms that received the highest performance ratings in the marketing category have a dedicated marketing program for advisors.
For example, Desjardins advisors were very pleased with the variety of templates their firm provides for promotional materials online and in print. Advisors can choose between a free, generic template for a website or brochure, or they can upgrade to a customized version for a fee. Customized materials can be sponsored through a “co-op” program, in which the firm contributes funding toward helping an advisor market his or her practice based on the advisor’s production.
Although Desjardins advisors praised this co-op program, they were critical of how the marketing dollars were allocated.
Says a Desjardins advisor in Ontario: “You have to be bringing in a ridiculous amount of business to earn enough dollars to advertise in the smallest of publications.”
Meanwhile, the hiring of a dedicated communications team by Montreal-based Peak Financial Group to help service its advisors’ marketing needs and develop consistency in marketing materials has resulted in Peak advisors giving their firm a rating of 7.4 in marketing – a whopping increase from 4.7 in 2011.
That dramatic turnaround suggests that even though Peak advisors like the independence they have in most areas of their business, they still appreciate their firm’s guidance and support when it comes to branding and marketing.
© 2012 Investment Executive. All rights reserved.