Our business is moving from a phase of blue sky growth, a time when many advisors claimed they never really felt much competition, to a much tougher environment. Financial advisors are about to enter a marketing war, and small and midsize firms will both face challenges over the next several years.

Baby boomers have fueled the advice industry in the past, but our next targets, Gen X and Gen Y, are very different consumers. They are more inclined to comparison shop for value propositions, prices, products and the types of client experience they want.
Tomorrow’s clients will be highly influenced by the massive advertising from new players and the direct-to-consumer businesses of custodians and asset management firms, all of whom are in their own fight for survival.

As a cottage industry, independent advisors have no marketing voice. They are extremely weak on differentiation, tend to be higher priced and lack the capital to invest in innovative products and services.

For these reasons, advisors need to become fiercely competitive. Our job is to focus on that segment of people willing to pay a premium for a high level of personalization (it won’t be as many as we’d like). Then we must deliver. Advisors and firms who want to grow in this new landscape need to invest time and probably some real money in marketing in order to position, price, package and promote their firms against the big guys (and against one another). These five steps are a good place to start:

1. Create a razor-sharp message. Take some time to scan the websites of other advisors. It’s depressing how much redundancy there is. Your opportunity is to be crystal clear and different, which is very hard work. I was recently told by an advisor that his message was, “We help people live richer lives,” which is actually quite meaningless to a skeptical prospect. A tagline is not a strategy or even a message.

2. Have the courage to choose a target client. It’s counterintuitive, because you may think a wide net creates more opportunities, but it doesn’t. Your message should include the target client and reflect what you are really best at. For instance, instead of saying, “We work with entrepreneurs and their families to protect a legacy,” improve your focus and instead say something like this: “We’re experts at helping business owners who want to sell maximize what they keep after taxes and decide how to balance their own needs versus passing on a legacy.”

3. Make your offering more tangible. It’s very difficult for professionals to promote intangibles such as service or quality or expertise, yet that’s what many advisors communicate. Today’s consumer is interested in tangible features and benefits, so the more clear you are about what they get, the better. The “why”—your firm’s purpose—is still important, but people also want to know “what,” “when” and “how.” For example, you might describe your “three-step process,” “what to expect in the first 90 days” or your “proprietary client road map.”

4. Package “products” you can show and tell. Typically, we give clients an investment proposal, a financial plan, interim reports, meeting agendas and perhaps our newsletter, with most of it available in hard copy or digital. These are your “products”—the proof points of your services. If a prospect came to your office and you laid them all on the table and said, “Here’s what you get,” would it feel valuable? I am a fan of creating systems so the pieces fit together, and developing branded tools that professionalize your unique approach. Some investment is required here, but it’s time to get past canned financial plans and disjointed materials.

5. Confront pricing head on. I recently helped an advisor compare her offering with that of the behemoth players. We broke her offering into time, money protected, money earned, money saved and money well spent. For example, every year she found a way to save her clients’ money on taxes or insurance or by budgeting, all things that can be overlooked by advisors focused on investing results. She also helped clients feel great about decisions such as purchasing a second home—and her own fees were clearly in the “money well spent” category.

I hope that in the next five years more independent firms will take these recommendations seriously, hire credible marketers, build marketing platforms and invest in growth. Otherwise, I’m concerned we are destined to lose the market share we’ve built.
Let’s fight!


Gail Graham is CEO of Graham Strategy, dedicated to helping wealth managers build brands people love. As the former CMO of United Capital, she led marketing and brand development from 2012 through 2016, creating an industry-leading marketing platform. Previously, she spent a decade at Fidelity Investments in both retail and institutional leadership roles, serving as EVP Marketing for the RIA channel.