The Key to Attracting Clients Is Simpler Than You Might Think: Branding Whiz

Differentiating your practice in a “stupidly distinctive” way — for example, GEICO’s gecko character — can work wonders to make you stand out, argues Andy Nairn, known as the U.K.’s top brand strategist, in an interview with ThinkAdvisor.

“A lot of companies really beat themselves up to find some hidden killer difference,” says Nairn, founding partner of the agency Lucky Generals. But it’s not just being different. You need “to do things with an extra level of flair and creativity” that make you memorable.

In his book, “Go Luck Yourself: 40 ways to stack the odds in your brand’s favour” (Harriman House – 2021), Nairn, named one of the five leading creative people in advertising by Business Insider, reveals how to improve your luck because, he says, “effort and talent are not enough.”

Financial advisors can increase the odds of being lucky if they pay attention to what’s around them outside of the financial services world.

But the first step is wedging a foot in the door. In the interview, he explores ways to do that, including realizing that “fortune is in the details” of how you present yourself, your firm and your brand.

He also discusses how to turn misfortune into fortune and his six-step method to deal with a crisis.

Nairn, 52, earned a law degree, but when he “stumbled” into advertising, he dropped the idea of becoming a practicing attorney, he recalls.

His agency has offices in London and New York City. ThinkAdvisor recently held an interview with the Scotsman, who was speaking by phone from London.

Here are excerpts from our conversation:

THINKADVISOR: “It’s better to be stupidly distinctive than deeply different,” you write. Please explain.

ANDY NAIRN: GEICO’s gecko [advertising campaign] is a good example. It doesn’t really mean anything, but the ads are very memorable and distinctive, as opposed to another insurance company that [talks about] having many different ways of doing things or a special product that no one really cares about.

But isn’t it important to tell and show exactly how a firm is distinctive?

A lot of companies really beat themselves up to find some hidden killer difference. But a lot of the best companies aren’t necessarily all that different. It’s that they do things with an extra level of flair and creativity to make them memorable through advertising or their services.

Don’t spend your time trying to find a product idea that’s revolutionary or a positioning that’s so different from everyone else because [chances are] it won’t be interesting. You can’t bore someone into buying something.

You have to do something that’s different but distinctive because of the way you do it. Then people will remember you.

When an investor is choosing a financial advisor, how can an advisor become top-of-mind for them?

The research says to just make it easier for them. Don’t require them to read a huge load of stuff or go to a complicated website to find out more about you.

Instead, have a simple name, a branded thought or a brand asset — like an icon or logo — that’s immediately memorable. Or have a really quick and easily understood reason why you might be better than all the other advisors out there.

You can nail a long story in a sound bite that says why your advice is better than everyone else’s.

What does that accomplish when it comes to acquiring new clients?

For starters, you’ve got to get in the room [a foot in the door]. Then, when you’ve done that, you can have a longer, more professional conversation about why you’re the right guy.

A lot of companies don’t realize that they’re not even in the room in the first place. They’ll have a long-winded story argument [with a prospect] that presumes they’re in the room, but they’re really just waiting to do that.

How, essentially, do people make choices?

[When] choosing a brand, they tend to be a little bit on autopilot. That’s true with a lot of professional decisions, including choosing a financial advisor.

Their decision can be [based on] something as simple as a recommendation from a friend. That goes for whatever market you’re in — financial services or something more trivial. People make very quick decisions based on their instincts and emotions.

For instance?

The Scottish [have a reputation] for being good with money and all those kinds of clichés. So a lot of big pretentious companies in Britain feature a Scottish accent in their advertising just because people trust it. (I’m from Scotland.)

It’s said that the devil is in the details. You write that fortune is in the details, too. Please explain.

Virgin Atlantic [a Lucky Generals client] flies the same planes as everybody else. Its distinctiveness is in the tiniest details.

For example, when they [serve] salt-and-pepper shakers [with meals], the bottom of the salt shaker says, “Pinched [stolen] from Virgin Atlantic.” So they almost encourage you to steal it and take it home with you. It becomes a talking point.

Many years ago they started serving ice cream when showing movies in economy class, whereas most other airlines treated everyone in economy as cattle class. And in the upper-class cabins, they started to give passengers massages.

So what you’ll remember about flying with them is the ice cream or the salt-and-pepper shakers or the massage because they’re distinctive and stand out.

Conventional thinking might be to just [expand] leg room. If everyone else has 36-inch leg room, we’ll go to 37, and the next company might go to 39. But to take a complete jump to the side and say, “We’re going to give you ice cream or a massage, that’s more like, whoa! Where did that come from?