the seven biggest branding mistakes made by advisors brecek & young advisors

The Seven Biggest Branding Mistakes Made By Advisors

Brecek & Young AdvisorsNational Sales & Learning Conference

May 31, 2008

Presented by

http://www.quinspire.com/index.html

The Seven Biggest Branding Mistakes

What We’ll Cover Today

• A bit about branding• How marketing can be effectively used to build your personal brand• Physics (yes, physics!)• The Seven Biggest Branding Mistakes• How to make branding happen for you • Questions & Answers


Mistake #1: Failing To Understand That Branding Is Important

What is a “brand”?

A product, service, process - or person - that invokes familiarity and positive associations that allow for an easier selection process and enhances perceived value and satisfaction.

Brands establish preference and emotional attachment

Great brands dramatically lower purchase risk and uncertainty

Brand importance is inversely related to the intangible nature of the product or service (Zyman Institute of Brand Science)



But one other word also sums up the power of a great brand

TRUST



TRUST and LIKEABILITY are the two most important attributes for a successful financial advisor

Build your brand and you build your TRUST

“Create an oasis of authenticity for tired and thirsty travelers through the desert of mass-produced marketing dreck”

Thousands of products, hundreds of thousands of advisors, thousands of places to buy



BUT ONLY ONE YOU!

So branding yourself needs to be a priority!

A brand in a sea of generic financial advisors!



Brand equity has some real value, even if it is impossible to value

“Fill it to the rim, with the bold taste of ….



http://www.ritasretros.com/more_things.html



BRIM? Why BRIM?

It’s being reintroduced

Great case study for the power of a brand

92% remember BRIM even though it’s been off the market for 12 years! Worth tens of millions of dollars!!

Brand equity…once built…has tremendous enduring value


Mistake #2: Failing To Treat Yourself As A Brand

If you agree that branding is important, most advisors are failing to treat themselves as a brand

If done well, your practice will have more enduring value…to you and maybe someone else

Is your practice an asset that can be sold some day? The more branded, the better the value to a buyer

Very important for multi-generational planning and asset retention with beneficiaries



How to treat yourself as a brand?

The name you use

The logo designed and its consistent use

Positioning and the consistent delivery

The way you dress, talk, communicate, and with whom you associate enhances or detracts from your brand



Creating an enduring, high value, perception of you should be a top priority of your practice

Differentiating yourself from the many other advisors in your community is essential. But how can you build your brand?

The laws of physics tells us what we need to know about marketing and branding

Einstein and others were marketing geniuses!!


Mistake #3: Failing To Understand The Branding Laws of Physics

Several physical laws are applicable to marketing and human behavior

Blueshift marketing delivers better results and will result in more prospects and clients

Atomic stability principles tell us why affinity marketing, co-branding and collaboration works

Let’s get started and have a little fun with physics…



Blueshift marketing … what is it?

Light is a form of energy and is composed of a bunch of waves

Red light …longer, lower energy waves …cooler

Blue light …shorter, higher energy waves … hotter

Key physical law… movement and action affects wave perception

- A lower energy wave can appear to be of higher energy through movement and action

The same wave appears different based on its direction and movement



• Redshifting means moving away … cooling off …lower energy

• Blueshifting means moving toward … heating up … higher energy

• Create higher energy marketing by blueshifting …deliver your message frequently and multidimensionally (more movement and action) to your clients and prospects (Affinity Advantage Advisors can help)

• And under favorable circumstances (permission based and open for discussion)

• But why is higher energy even important?



Why higher energy marketing is important

Einstein gave us the answer

E=MC²

- Energy and Mass are linked and can be transformed

As your energy increases, your mass can grow! Your presence, perception and brand equity can grow!

Buy why is larger mass important?



• Why larger mass is important

• Another physical law tells us that mass and force are connected

• F=MA

• Higher mass means greater force

• Laws of gravity tell us that bodies of higher mass have higher levels of attraction to other bodies of large mass

• As your mass grows, you will attract other bodies of equal mass and force

The Seven Biggest Branding Mistakes Mistake #3: Failing To Understand The Branding Laws of Physics

• Mass = success … as you expand your success and presence (mass) in your market, you will be more attractive to others

• A quick summary of what we’ve learned Higher energy is desirableBlueshift marketing delivers higher energyHigher energy delivers higher mass (success)Higher mass creates more force (your market presence)Larger mass and force attracts other large bodies (more business)More success breeds even more success…self-propagation

• A new law: force and attraction are inversely proportional to distance… the importance of staying close to clients, prospects, partners and their source of stability and trust

• Which leads us to atomic stability principles and co-branded marketing


Mistake #4: Failing To Implement Co-Branding

• Atoms always seek the greatest stability

• Hydrogen really prefers to be helium or part of water!

• Human beings – and large clients and co-brand partners – also prefer stability- Marriage and family - Attraction to strong brands

• If you can attach your brand to another trusted brand, your brand grows even more

• Strong brands have a very powerful gravitational pull



Co-branding means to market jointly with other respected brands - Associations, affinity groups, alliances, other advisors

The better your brand, the better co-brands you’ll attract

Real World ResultsAffinity Advantage Advisors / RSG has the endorsement of the LA Bar

Association and the California Society of CPAs RetirementDNA – platform focusing on the biotech industry that

partners with San Diego biotech trade groupPensionMart – an alliance platform with employee benefits brokers



Co-branding delivers some outstanding benefits

Market using the name of the association or your co-branded partner…mail and e-mail gets opened at a much higher rate

LA Bar Retirement Program is much more appealing than Retirement Strategies Group

Getting invited to the party instead of just showing

Seal of approval from a trusted source in an increasingly skeptical world



And it really works!

How can you implement an enduring co-branding strategy?

Affinity Advantage Advisors

You can immediately leverage RSG’s work, marketing and endorsements


Mistake #5: Failing To Understand That Never Ending Marketing & Communication Is Essential To Your Brand

We discussed Blueshift marketing…energy, frequency, dimensions

Need to appeal to as many senses as possible

High quality communication with an appropriate frequency

Don’t buy into the theory of no more than four times per year!

Clients never object to quality information…they do tire of sales pitches



Tailor your marketing plan according to the market you are serving

Marketing to clients/prospects and marketing to co-brand partners are different but both must take place; a website is your best brochure

Example: Corporate clients (401k) get 16 “touches’ per year from RSG

Leverage e-mail marketing as much as possible; direct mail is getting more expensive, less effective and harder to measure



E-marketing is proving to be a powerful platform for energizing, expanding and augmenting results

The Law of IG … Instant Gratification- People increasingly want instant gratification in all walks of life- E-marketing uniquely delivers mutual instant gratification

Affinity e-marketing delivers results 20x – 50x better than mass market e-marketing- 30% - 50% open rates- 2% - 5% click through rates

If you can’t deliver the IG or track results at the individual level, RSG can help



• E-marketing allows for easy, efficient testing of your message and multiple versions of your message

• Allows you to appeal to multiple senses to create more energy- Text, audio, video

• Not single dimensional like direct mail

• Some samples for your review…

Timely offers to address concerns

Easily pinpoint your target offer and offer a specific solution

Using E-Mail To Support and Augment A Magazine Article

Online Surveys Represent Reciprocal Marketing At Its Best

Be Sure To Offer The Survey Results!

Deadline Specific Marketing

E-Mail Seminar Invitation … Pulled Better Than Direct Mail


Mistake #6: Not Becoming A Thought Leader

Consumer advocacy approach to becoming well known

White papers, educational guides, quality information for investors

Great PR strategy and outreach approach to local media

Write and publish on the web (please obtain approval first for all of your writings!)

Online videos on various topics…video is booming on the web


Mistake #6: Not Becoming A Thought Leader

If you don’t have the time, RSG’s AAA platform can provide it for you

Many, many reports, white papers available online (approved!)

Even have RSG TV, an online video channel!


Mistake #7: Taking The Brand For Granted

A key aspect of a great brand is that it must work! Hard to build, easy to fall

For advisors, this means not making promises that you can’t deliver or control

Process vs. product driven

Only products that make sense and that you would buy yourself

Continue to invest in the brand called YOU!


Summary

Branding is essential in a brand conscious world

You are a brand so start thinking like Apple and Nike

Understand how to grow your presence and perception

The better your brand, the better the partners and clients you’ll attract

Market, market, and market some more…

Become a thought leader…the media is always looking for sources!

Don’t ever take your brand for granted


Thank you for spending some time with us today. We really appreciate your participation and we hope you learned at least one idea that you can implement to grow your personal brand.

A copy of this presentation can be sent you by completing the form and returning it to Retirement Strategies Group. Have a great day!

the seven biggest branding mistakes made by advisors brecek & young advisors

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