Re-brand yourself to target core clients

Someone from the Midwest called me and asked, “how do you actually promote yourself or promote a specific image which you want to be associated with?” This is the $64,000 question.

I am very particular about my image and that of my company. That’s why I only work with two FMOs who are both very image conscious and a broker/dealer that has won “B.D. of the Year” four out of the past six years. I have also hired a P.R. firm to help me with my image, as the image you put out there will directly influence the type of clients you attract.

I have said for years, “I don’t want to create any brain damage by trying to acquire the wrong type of clients.” That’s why my office staff and I wrote a list of our 10 best clients. Between the five of us, we came up with seven of the same clients.

We profiled these clients and said we need 100 more just like them. We geared all of our marketing toward these types of clients. This is what we call our core client type (perfect client). Some of the common characteristics were “fun” and “friendly,” so all of our ads and literature talk about those attributes. I then went through an extensive re-branding with a well-known branding coach. Then I hired AdvisorPR, a firm who mostly deals with financial advisors.

We have all heard for years how important it is to get free press. I’ve tried like most of you have, but couldn’t get it done. That is not one of my core competencies. I realized that I need to do what I do best and delegate everything else to someone who is great at that job. That is why we hired Alana Schofield of AdvisorPR to accomplish that task.

We then started a campaign to reflect who we are, what we do, and what we do in the community. Alana handles press releases, T.V., radio and other media sources.