Many entrepreneurs struggle to develop a brand that represents their business properly. There are three important steps that a person should keep in mind while developing a brand building strategy for his/her company.
Business corporate identity – In its most basic sense, a brand is the name and its physical representation – the logo. Studies show that these elements have an important bearing on the business. According to Gajendra Kothari of Etica Wealth Management, the name has to be different and should also convey what service you are delivering. “It had taken us two- three months to finalize my company’s name – Etica Wealth Management. We wanted the name to be different as well as convey what service we deliver,” said Kothari.
The logo is another important factor. The logo has to be attractive. You could consider having a tag line that can be a short articulation of what you have to offer. For instance, Maggi promoted itself with a tag line ‘2 minute noodles’. The tag line helped Maggi to gain brand recognition as well as the market share. Another example is the very famous punch line- ‘Kuch meetha ho jaye’ that people instantly link with Cadbury. Therefore, the quality of design and the tag-line both are important constituents while building your brand. The new identity should be consistently represented in brochures, website and business cards.
Promote your employees – A brand, of course, goes beyond a name, logo and tag line. In a service such as financial advisory, the brand experience is an important element. This brand experience is often delivered by people – air hostess in an airline and the steward in a restaurant are two examples we are all familiar with.
In the context of the advisory business, your team members are crucial in delivering the brand experience. Why? As an advisor, you cannot single handedly attended to all your customers. So, to make your brand popular among your clients, your employees have to win the confidence of your clients. For example, you can inform your old clients that they will be attended by your associates in the first part of the meeting, and join them only after 10 to 15 minutes. Slowly, clients will be habituated discussing their financial problems with your associate and this will help him to gain their confidence.
“Promoting your employees is a very important part of my brand building. Financial plans can be only made by humans and I can’t single handedly make or attend to every customer’s financial plan. They are the face of my company,” says Sumeet Vaid, Founder, Ffreedom Wealth Solutions.
Branded Financial Planning Process - Create a trade-marked and branded program that is all about your unique way of working with clients. It could be your client onboarding process, your investment management process or the unique way you work with clients. “This can only be achieved if you are clear about three things – Why are you doing it, how are you going to do it and what do you want to achieve out of it. Most of the young IFAs are unclear about these 3 things and are unable to market their company,” shares Vaid.
