A powerful message can help wealth management firms attract and retain clients. Your message and brand are not your service offerings, performance, or investment process. Instead, your message—and identity—should help you connect emotionally and personally with clients and communicate credibility, stability, and trustworthiness. 

As a wealth manager, you likely help clients achieve their broad wealth goals and manage a significant amount of investor capital, and you have done so for many years. However, to most high-net-worth investors, financial advisors look and sound alike and do the same things.

RIAs and advisors need to have a great and differentiating message. This is true whether you are a multi-advisor firm owner, part of a team, or a solo advisor. This article explains how effective messaging can make your wealth advisory firm stand apart and get more assets.

Basic Messaging: Table Stakes Don’t Set You Apart

The heart of your message lies in addressing client concerns, providing custom solutions, and letting clients sleep without worry.

Too many investors think wealth managers look alike, talk alike, and sound alike. They might as well be identical cousins. These factors are unlikely to set you apart:

“We build trust.” Pretty much every firm says you can trust them. A trusted message attracts new investors and creates loyalty among current clients. Lack of trust is one of the biggest reasons clients fire their advisors. Other factors that quash trust include poor communication and service quality and high fees. 

“We put client interests first.” Many wealth management firms ascribe to the legal fiduciary standard, which requires advisors to put clients’ interests first. The fiduciary principle is the highest ethical standard. This might have been a differentiator several years ago. But not necessarily today.

“We provide comprehensive financial management.”  Yes, so what? Perhaps ninety-nine percent of financial advisors, or more, state that they are comprehensive, or help clients become financially independent, or are the quarterback of their financial life, and by the way, care about them on a personal level.

Have the Right Message

Firms must clearly communicate who they are.

Are you a wealth manager or an asset manager? You may be both. If you are both, that’s great; just be clear about who you are. Understanding what you represent is a critical part of your value proposition.

Align your message with your actions. Misalignment about what you do and who you say you are creates client confusion.

Here’s an example: One of our clients, a financial advisory firm, built its successful $500 million RIA business on the message that it was an expert in small-cap value stocks—in finding value in businesses that others didn’t see.

But nobody cared about this message. Like many advisors, they also helped people with wealth management services, such as college, tax, estate, and legacy planning.

Our solution started with refining their identity and creating a new tagline. We developed messaging highlighting their unique approach to how wealth management and investment management services work together to achieve investor goals.

Focus on a Niche Others Don’t

Do you say you offer solutions for all? When you stand for everything, you may ultimately stand for nothing. Whatever you choose, go all in. A brand isn’t meant to connect with everyone—it’s designed to attract the type of people you want to work with. Many wealth managers create value by dominating a demographic, psychographic, asset class, or investment strategy.

Creating a niche might seem self-evident. However, not all wealth managers get this. Effective niches include:

By investable assets. Some of our clients focus on investing aggressively for ultra-high-net-worth high-tech entrepreneurs. They may invest client assets in small stocks, value stocks, and private equity. Other firms focus on ultra-high-net-worth individuals, high-net-worth couples, or young couples on the rise.

By service offerings. Do you brand yourself as experts in solutions for retirement, tax, legacy, estate, and business planning services? Many do. It’s great to have multiple service offerings, too. The issue is, how are you different?

By demographics. Others focus on recently retired couples, doctors, athletes, divorces, or professional women. Creating strategic value also means being a local expert and being different from your neighbors. Geographic focus helps managers get found online.

By psychographics. One of our clients stands for empowering investors for a better purpose; another seeks to give clients peace of mind. Some are experts at providing personalized service or custom wealth management.

Naming the strategic value you bring to investors is a building block of your message strategy.

Create a Consistent Look and Feel

A wealth manager’s message must also be consistent in design and tone in all marketing materials. Many know this but fail to make the effort to look like a successful wealth manager.

A chaotic look signals a sloppy firm. Building and maintaining a great impression of your firm includes a consistent look and feel with your:

Content. Your website should be the hub of marketing and content activity. It’s also among the first places investors go when they want to know more about you. Your website is the face of your firm.

Digital. As you digitally distribute thought leadership ideas through social media, your campaigns, messaging, and look should be congruent across all content.

Public relations. Public relations (PR) is also part of your personality. By creating relationships with the media, PR can amplify an executive’s knowledge and perspective on your targeted market and help build trust.

Building Your Wealth Management Message

Creating an excellent wealth management message requires that you differentiate yourself and present your firm consistently. Do you have what it takes to go beyond standard messaging, focus on a niche others don’t, maintain a consistent look and tone, and consistently communicate your distinct advantage?

Ready to grow? Schedule a complimentary strategy session to discover how to elevate your message, build trust, and attract more clients.

Frank Serebrin is the Content Marketing Director for Sondhelm Partners. He leads strategic and creative content and marketing services for our asset management and wealth management clients.