“I’ve never developed my brand.”
This is something we hear quite often from advisors. And although they say it in earnest, it’s a fallacy.
If you have a business, you have a brand. It’s reflected in every interaction you and your team have with existing and potential clients, and in every tangible representation of your business, from stationery to pitch decks.
Your brand is there whether you acknowledge it or not; what’s up to you is the message it sends about your practice.
So, taking an honest look at your brand from the outside in…
Does it say you’re a well-established specialist, or an average generalist?
Does it say you’re one of many within a major institution, or head and shoulders above the rest?
Does it say you stand for something or follow the crowd?
Does it say you’re transparent and communicative, or guarded and inconsistent?
Does it say you have a great depth of capabilities or a typical service offering?
If you can take control of what your brand says about you, you can start to use it to your advantage. Because the message it sends can determine whether new business is directed to you, or diverted to someone else.
