Is your brand helping you grow your team?

Your website was likely designed with client acquisition in mind, but your target market may be bigger than just clients. Between bringing in a new generation of advisors and building out a professional COI network, team expansion is a crucial facet of growth for many teams and firms, and yet it’s often overlooked in the process of brand development.

That’s why we’ve outlined three essential features of brands that support growing teams.

Core Brand Professionalism

There is significant overlap between the brand features that will support new client acquisition and those that will support team expansion.

That’s because potential hires or partners, much like potential clients, want to see that you’re well-established, professional and dynamic. They’re thinking of the kinds of clients they want to work with, and your core brand should create the perception that those are the people you’re serving and targeting now.

Multigenerational and Multifaceted

More specifically, certain aspects of your market positioning could have appeal for up-and-coming advisors or strategic partners.

Many younger advisors are looking for multigenerational teams and family-oriented firms. They want to know that they’ll be involved in client family services, with opportunities to form client relationships and participate in your long-term succession strategy.

Similarly, a potential COI partner should get the impression that you operate in the style of a family office—that you collaborate with a number of professionals like them, you have a process for doing so and these relationships tend to create introductions to high-net-worth individuals.

In both cases, these audiences should see a brand that is distinct from your individual persona—in other words, the services, processes and culture you’ve established stem from but are not limited to your personal expertise. This is important in terms of the growth of the team, your eventual succession, and establishing a value proposition that can be championed by both colleagues and COIs.

Dedicated Content

If recruitment and networking are top priorities, your next step is to create dedicated brand tools for these audiences. This might include a careers section on your website, recruitment collateral, or COI and joint COI branding.

The result is that instead of reading between the lines of a client-oriented brand, IAs and COIs are presented with a clear message about the opportunity your practice represents for them.