Many financial advisor firms saw their assets soar during the pandemic, when early extreme volatility and a financial reckoning sent investors flocking to their doors.
Flash-forward to 2022, and some RIAs are wondering how to keep the proverbial party going in the post-pandemic world.
According to Kevin Darlington, general manager of Broadridge Advisor Solutions, five new trends in particular will help advisory firms spur business growth this year and beyond.
“When I think about the RIA space and some of the bigger players and how they think about growth organically and inorganically, I think both types of firms do better when they have a clear brand that differentiates both them and their clients,” Darlington said.
“I won’t name firms, but we all could probably look at a list of some of the fastest-growing firms and see that they are developing and building a brand that means something to the marketplace,” he added.
Include Your Clients In Your Brand
Including clients in a brand is valuable because it creates a client-centric lens for the firm, which can clearly be communicated firm-wide to both staff and investors, Darlington said.
What does an all-inclusive brand look like? “I’m always in the market for a financial advisor. So I was impressed the other day when I talked to an advisor whose firm has a brand and message that is consistent with every single client they work with, whether in New Jersey or the Midwest,” he said.
The firm’s basic pitch underscores its basic philosophy, investment style and holistic planning. “The firm really values that ability to communicate clearly using messaging that is consistent with every client,” he said.
After a certain point, to get any scale you have to have a consistent brand and message, said Darlington. Broadridge surveys several hundred financial advisor firms annually to find their growth drivers.
Start Prospecting Beyond Your Boundaries
Those firms in growth mode have a new hack that will help them differentiate themselves: Nonlocal prospecting. In Broadridge’s survey, a growing number of firms are going well beyond their local geography.