Independent broker-dealer Commonwealth Financial Network has launched a newly revamped website at www.commonwealth.com, which the company says presents a more comprehensive company brand image and is designed to draw a variety of web visitors.
"We wanted to refresh our web presence," says Todd Estabrook, chief marketing officer at Commonwealth. "The old site didn't enable us to take advantage of advances in what websites can be, such as linking in our social media presence. It [the new site] also allows us to take advantage of video more than our previous site."
Estabrook said the new website is designed to insure that web visitors fully experience its brand online. "We want to offer more things on our website," he says. "We said let's make sure that we design it in a way that reflects some of the brand differentiators that are important to us. Transparent and approachable are two of the brand attributes that are important to us, so we wanted the site to reflect that."
Commonwealth's new website, Estabrook adds, speaks to three different audiences: The first entails recruiting potential advisors to affiliate with the company; the second is to recruit job seekers to work in the home office; and the third is to grow the number clients for its advisors.
The site's interface and design provide an information platform for financial advisors to learn about Commonwealth's key offerings, including its Client360 technology platform, wealth management resources, practice management expertise, and compliance partnership.
Commonwealth at first commissioned a private design firm to produce some initial design pages. Estabrook says. The site itself was built in-house by the marketing department's web design team who completed it in little over a year. He wouldn't specifiy how much the effort cost.
The website's success, says Estabrook, will be measured "more qualitatively than quantitatively. We're trying to give people the ability to start conversations with us, and engage with the firm and the brand. It's really more about depth of engagement than website visitor number counting."
Other features of the newly designed website include:
A video overview of Commonwealth's client-forward technology
Highlights of Commonwealth's Giving Back efforts through its nonprofit organization, Commonwealth Cares
A monthly Market Thoughts video led by Chief Investment Officer Brad McMillan, as well as direct access to Brad's blog, The Independent Market Observer
Commonwealth advisors sharing their experiences with the firm in their own words
--Jim McConville