Brand identity, in its essence, is a set of tools or elements used by companies or individuals to create their brand image. It includes visual elements such as colors, logos, design and more. Successful brand identities include Coca-Cola, McDonald’s and Tiffany, where their brand color alone can cause a brand recall in consumers’ brains. In fact, according to a University of Loyola study, “Colour increases brand recognition by up to 80 percent.” Companies also use color to stand out and reinforce their attributes. 

Since brand identity creates such a great impact on consumers and clients, how can financial advisors benefit from focusing part of their marketing strategy on it?  

Creates a strong impression 

As a financial advisor, you might already be working on your personal branding strategy through offline and online means such as social media platforms by posting consistently or sharing your achievements. A well thought out brand identity will make an even stronger impression on your clients.  

Creating a brand identity on social media can be as easy as making your posts consistent with the same fonts and colour scheme. For instance, you can add a simple border to let your posts stand out on the Instagram grid. This can be done easily with online applications such as Canva, where there is a myriad of templates and color schemes available. With consistent style and regular posting, clients or followers will associate certain colours with your brand in the long run, which makes you more memorable than other financial advisors who are also on their timeline. 

Builds trust 

One of the biggest challenges for financial advisors is getting prospects to trust you and your financial recommendations. What if we told you trust can also be fostered with a strong brand identity?  

Trust comes with consistency. For example, if you want to portray yourself as a friendly and approachable financial advisor to your target audience, you might opt for fonts that are rounder in shape, with clear letterings such as Montreaux Sans Pro and Enriq, instead of ones that have sharp edges or narrow letters like Helvetica and Baskerville, so you do not come off as too formal. Once you have decided on your brand identity, use it across different applications and platforms. This repetition will help to build familiarity with your prospects and eventually build a reputation that they can believe in.  

Brings you quality leads  

The beauty of creating a brand identity is that you are able to tailor your strategies to your preferred target audience. This also means that prospects who show interest will be the ones who are most aligned with your core values and interests as well. Furthermore, having a quality lead would allow for a smoother close and a higher chance of developing long-term customer relationships.  

Shermaine Tan, a one-year MDRT member from Singapore, shared that as she is an accredited professional fitness trainer and coach, she often talks about how “the fitness journey is similar to the finance journey”, in order to prime for the sharing of financial concepts on her social media. With this branding strategy, she is able to build her brand identity around the topics of fitness and finance, and thus, attracting prospects who are also interested in these topics. 

Creating an effective branding strategy requires a strong brand identity. You can take the first steps to gradually build your brand identity today to market yourself more effectively as a financial advisor for the long haul.  

Contact: MDRTeditorial@teamlewis.com