PURSUE YOUR GOALS WITH CONFIDENCE

Strategy & Planning Services

You hear all the time about what other advisors are doing —social media, client gifting, events, blogging, etc.—but you’re too busy to do it all, and you’re left wondering what actually works and what would be a waste of your time. The reality is, you need a plan that accounts for where you are now, where you want to be, and what you enjoy doing. Growth in this industry comes in many forms, including branding, marketing, referrals, adding advisors to your team, connecting with new COIs, and more, and you need tailored strategies to help you get to the next level.

Think about the situation most successful people are in when they don’t have a financial advisor. They’re doing well in their careers, they’re investing and saving for retirement, and they have a rough idea of where they hope they’re headed, but they don’t really know if they’re on the right path because they don’t have a plan in place or a partner helping them accomplish their goals. The difference you can make for someone like that is the same difference we can make for you if you’re running your business without a strategic growth plan. Taking into account your goals, opportunities, and target markets—as well as your budget and time constraints—we can help you create a detailed roadmap to maximize your growth potential and give you greater confidence and peace of mind.

Our growth planning service begins with a discovery meeting where we talk about your goals, what you’re currently doing from a marketing and branding perspective, what you’ve done in the past, and anything you’ve been thinking about doing. We’ll share ideas on what’s been working in the industry lately and what advisors who have similar target markets have been doing successfully. After the meeting, we’ll take everything we’ve learned and create a growth plan document that outlines our recommendations and puts them in priority order based on greatest potential impact.

From time to time, you may have a specific topic or idea you’d like to brainstorm or get our opinion on, and we are happy to help. For those types of conversations, we offer in-depth strategy sessions with our CEO and Chief Brand Strategist, Kelly Edwards. She has helped hundreds of top advisors get to the next level through strategic branding and marketing, and she will provide feedback and ideas on whatever topic you’re interested in. When the session is complete, you will receive a recording of the meeting, an AI transcript, and detailed notes.

 

Branded Templates

In business, there’s always going to be a need to create one-off documents—meeting agendas, client letters, one-pagers, etc.—and it helps to have well-designed templates so you can keep everything looking polished, professional, and on-brand. We design custom templates in portrait and landscape style so it’s easy for anyone on your team to create what they need when working with clients. This ensures a cohesive, polished look, no matter who creates what.

 

We’ll work with you to determine which design programs are easiest for you to use, and we’ll create your templates in those programs. Then we’ll design eight different layouts—one cover page and three interior pages for both portrait and landscape styles—to match your current brand assets. Once the templates are created, we’ll collaborate with you on revisions until you’re happy with them.

Branded templates typically take around two weeks to create, plus any time needed for revisions and compliance feedback.

Newsletters

Company newsletters can be very effective marketing touches to help you stay in front of your existing clients, prospects, and centers of influence. You can create physical or digital versions, and they can be sent annually, quarterly, monthly, or weekly according to your preferences and goals. Generally speaking, the longer the newsletter, the less frequently you want to send it because people are busy and don’t want to receive long content all the time. However, if you’re only going to send it a few times a year, you can definitely make it more robust.

The best performing newsletters typically have a blend of financial information and personal, behind-the-scenes content. The idea is to give people a peek into your world and showcase what’s going on at your firm (new hires, awards or designations earned, success stories, etc.) and with your team members (marriages, babies born, goals set and accomplished, etc.).

We’ll meet with you to discuss the strategy for the newsletter, the content you want to include, the cadence for sending it, and the format you plan to distribute it in. Then we’ll work with you to create the first edition, which will become the template for future editions.

Newsletters can take anywhere from one to three weeks depending on the number of pages we are creating, plus any additional time needed for revisions and compliance.

Business Stationery & Folders

Even though we live in a digital world, most elite advisors still use various stationery pieces like business cards, digital or physical letterhead, notecards, and folders. We can design whatever pieces you need, and either provide the print-ready files to you, or we can coordinate printing and shipping with our preferred printer.

Our most common package includes the design of a business card, letterhead, notecard, envelope, and folder, but we can also develop pieces a la carte. Either way, the fee covers the design using the information from one advisor, and we can clone the full stationery set for additional people for $100 each.

Your stationery project will start with you providing the information you need on the various pieces, like names, titles, contact information, and disclosures. Then we will design all of the pieces and show you them as a set so you can get an idea of how it will all look together. We’ll make any revisions you have and work with compliance to do the same, and then when everything is approved, we will clone everything and customize it for the other people on your team.

On a go-forward basis, when you hire new people, we can customize the existing stationery pieces with their contact information for $100.

Stationery design takes two weeks plus any additional time needed for revisions and compliance.

Custom Fact Finders

As an advisor, you want every interaction prospects and clients have with you to be polished and professional and to communicate your status as an independent company. The materials you use are a big part of this, and if some of them are professionally designed and branded with your DBA, but your onboarding fact finder has your broker-dealer’s branding instead of yours, there is a disconnect there. Creating a custom fact finder enhances your brand continuity, sends the right message of true independence, and allows you to fully customize the data you’re gathering during the onboarding phase.

To begin this project, we’ll have you provide us with the current fact finder you are using, and we’ll have a quick meeting to discuss anything you want to add, remove, or change. Next, we’ll design the new custom fact finder, do any revisions you have, and then it will go through compliance. After we’ve made all of the changes from you and compliance and we have final approval, we will make the entire piece into a fillable PDF.

Custom fact finders typically take three weeks, plus any additional time needed for revisions and compliance.

  • Fact finders are 16 pages for $4,800.
  • If you need one that is shorter or longer than that, we will provide you with a custom quote.

One Pagers, Brochures, & Booklets

When you have professionally-designed materials you can share with people that provide detail about you, your firm, services you provide, or even specific financial topics, it’s an impressive touch for your brand. Depending on your needs, we can help you design anything from a simple one-pager or trifold brochure to a multi-page comprehensive booklet, and it can be created in a physical format, a digital format, or both.

 

Our first step will be a kickoff meeting so we can discuss the project and determine what content and information you want to convey and what size and format will work best. For the design, we will create it to coordinate with your other brand assets, and we’ll develop custom graphics and integrate images from our stock library as needed.

Once we have it created, we’ll turn it over to you and then go back and forth doing any revisions you have. Then, when you are happy with it, it will go to compliance, and we’ll make any changes they have as well.

One-pagers, brochures, and booklets typically take anywhere from 1 to 3 weeks, depending on the number of pages being created, plus any additional time required for revisions and compliance.

Welcome Booklets

As a financial advisor, you should formally welcome clients to your family when they decide to work with you. They are making a life-changing decision, and it’s a moment that should be honored and celebrated. Also, if a client’s experience with you early on is impressive, it will impact the way they see you moving forward, and a welcome booklet (along with a gift for top clients) is great, next-level touch.

It is typically designed as a multi-page booklet that reflects your brand’s identity and contains some of the same information you probably already send to clients, such as a welcome message, key contacts at the firm, next steps, account access instructions, and more. But instead of sending everything through long emails and disjointed attachments, it’s all consolidated into one polished reference document that’s designed with your unique brand identity.

We’ll start with a kickoff meeting with you to discuss what information you want to convey as you welcome new clients to your practice, and we can show you examples and talk through what other advisors commonly include.

For the design, you want it to have a similar look and feel to your website and other materials so that your brand identity is both polished and cohesive. Our creative team will start there for the design inspiration. We’ll create a modern layout, develop custom graphics as needed, and integrate images from our stock library to balance things out.

Once we have the booklet created, we’ll turn it over to you and then go back and forth doing any revisions you have. Then when you are happy with it, it will go to compliance, and we’ll make any changes they have as well.

Welcome booklets typically take three weeks plus any additional time needed for revisions and compliance.

Capabilities Decks

A well-thought-out capabilities deck, also called a firm profile or pitch deck, is an important asset to highlight your firm’s strengths and points of differentiation. Some advisors walk people through it during their first in-person or Zoom meeting, and others prefer to send it before or after the first meeting as an introductory or reinforcement piece. No matter how you plan to use it, it is a great tool to showcase who you are and what you’re all about.

We’ll start your capabilities deck project by meeting with you to discuss how you plan to use the deck as well as any ideas you have for what information you want to convey. The content typically comes from a combination of your website messaging in a scaled-down format, along with any corporate content or content from our library that makes sense for your practice.

For the design, the best practice is for it to have a similar look and feel to your website so that your brand identity is both polished and cohesive. Our creative team will start there for the design inspiration. We’ll create a modern layout, develop custom graphics as needed, and integrate images from our stock library to balance things out.

Once we have the deck built out, we’ll turn it over to you and then go back and forth doing any revisions you have. Once you’re happy with it, it will go to compliance, and we’ll make any changes they have as well. Once it is approved, we will provide it to you in PowerPoint and as a PDF document.

Capabilities decks typically take three weeks plus any additional time needed for revisions and compliance.

Social Media Profiles

Some advisors love social media and others loathe it, but regardless of how you feel about it personally, having a business social media presence is expected in this day and age. When you have great profiles and share relevant content, you can maximize your referrals, reinforce your brand messaging, stay top of mind with prospects and clients, and position yourself as a thought leader in your market.

Before you start actively posting in social media, though, it’s important that your profiles are optimized to reflect a consistent brand identity. Every profile should be maxed out with all available fields, and the information should align with the information on your company website.

Through our social media profile service, we will create or optimize any of your social media profiles including creating custom cover photos and profile images and copywriting for headlines, bios, and company descriptions.

The way we approach social media profile optimization depends on the rules of your broker or custodian. Generally, we’ll create the profiles in Word documents and work back and forth with you on any revisions you have. Once you’re happy with the profiles, either you will copy the content into the platforms or we will, and then compliance usually reviews them there.

A set of social media profiles usually takes three weeks, plus any additional time needed for revisions and compliance.

Executive Biographies

When it comes to content about who you are and what you do, the general rule of thumb is “less is more” because people are busy and don’t want to read a novel. There’s one big exception, though, and that’s your bio. Almost every person who vets you is going to read your bio, and if you want it to be as effective and compelling as possible, it needs to be comprehensive, segmented, and personal.

 

Our executive bio service starts with an in-depth interview with one of our writers, and then we create a comprehensive segmented bio to use on your website, LinkedIn profile, bio sheet, and more. You’ll receive it as a Word document, and we’ll work with you on any revisions you may have. Once you’re happy with it, it will either go to compliance as a standalone piece, or some companies prefer to review bios as part of a website submission.

Executive bios typically take two weeks plus any additional time needed for revisions and compliance.

Strategic Messaging

Most advisors have a hard time with their messaging because they know what problems they solve for people, what makes them good at what they do, and why people should choose them, but articulating it in a compelling and concise way can be difficult. Through our strategic messaging project, we’ll work with you to create powerful content that says the right things to attract and impress your target market segments and inspire them to reach out to you. Building on any existing content you have, the language we create will become the foundation of your marketing and branding moving forward.

Every firm is different and so is the content we create to tell their story, but some of the common subjects we cover include:

We start with a discovery meeting where we ask a lot of questions and uncover your strengths and the value you deliver to clients. We’ll talk about things like why you became an advisor, what you love about your job, the difference you make in your clients’ lives, and what it’s like working with you. We’ll also talk about the kind of clients you work with and want to attract moving forward so that we can get into the mindset of the people we are aiming the content at.

Our discovery meeting takes around an hour, and it gives us the information we need to share your story and effectively position your firm in the market. After the meeting, our writer and brand strategists will collaborate to create the content, and then we’ll show it to you and make any changes you have. When you’re happy with it, it will go to compliance, and we’ll make their changes as well.

Once the messaging is finalized, different portions of it will be used throughout your various brand assets, including your website, social media profiles, booklets and brochures, capabilities decks, and more.

Messaging usually takes four weeks and is often done in tandem with a website or capabilities deck project.

Brand Announcement

If you’re making a major change in your practice, the way you announce it to your clients is critically important. Big changes need to be explained in a way that prevents confusion and helps your clients understand that this is an exciting, positive change that will benefit them. Over the years, we’ve helped countless clients announce major changes in their practices such as going independent, launching a new DBA, taking on a new partner, and more, and we have gained a lot of insight into what works well and what doesn’t.

We begin our process by discussing your specific situation and whether or not there are any legal limitations in place. We’ll also discuss the relationships you have with your clients and how you want them to feel about the announcement, and then we craft strategic language to convey the right information in the best way possible. You’ll review it, provide any necessary revisions, and when you’re happy with it, it will go to compliance and then ultimately to your clients when the time is right.

Brand announcement letters typically take two weeks plus any additional time needed for revisions and compliance.

Logo Design

Your logo is a foundational element of your brand, and it’s something that, when done well, will never need to be redone. It should be unique, simple, and look great in any format, whether it’s on your website, your business card, a sign on your office wall, or engraved on a YETI mug.

Our logo process starts with us talking through ideas with you during your kickoff meeting, and then collaborating internally with our designers to develop three logos to present to you. Each option will adhere to all best practices and will be a unique representation of your brand, and you’ll review them and provide us with your feedback.

We will make any revisions you request to your favorite concept(s), show you the revised options, and go back and forth like that until you have a logo you love and are ready to finalize. At that point, we will create it for you in a variety of formats (horizontal, stacked, icon-only, black and white, etc.) and we will produce it in all standard graphics formats (JPG, PNG, EPS, etc.). Once it’s submitted to compliance, if they have any changes, we will address them as well.

Logo projects typically take two weeks for the initial set of three logos for your consideration. From there, the time varies depending on the speed of your feedback and the number of rounds of revisions you request, but most logo projects are done in about a month, plus whatever time is needed for compliance.

Brand Naming

The name you choose for your firm is a big deal because it’s a core piece of your identity and how you’ll be known moving forward. The name you choose should be unique, memorable, and appealing to the kind of clients you want to attract, and it must be available from the standpoint of competitors, trademarks, and domain names.

If you’ve tried to figure out the right name on your own, you’ll know that it can be a bit overwhelming, but rest assured that you don’t have to go it alone. We’ve developed a five-phase process that helps you navigate the waters and find the perfect name for your practice.

Phase I: discovery meeting

We start by taking you through our discovery process so we can learn about your business, your background, your strengths and skills, and the kind of people you want to attract. We’ll also discuss any name ideas you have and/or any words or themes you’ve been thinking about.

Phase II: brainstorming & research

Next, our branding team does an internal brainstorming session to come up with a list of possible names, and then we fully vet each one. We determine if there are any nearby competitors with similar names, if there are any trademarks, and whether or not there are good domain names available.

Phase III: presentation of finalists

Once our research is complete, we’ll present you with five finalists that we believe would be a strong representation of you and your brand. Each finalist will be available from a competitor, trademark, and domain name standpoint, and we will turn them over and encourage you to marinate on them for a few days.

Phase IV: consideration & collaboration

When you marinate on the names, one might stand out as the clear favorite, or you might be torn between several options. A new name idea might even spark in your mind, but rest assured that all of those possibilities are normal. Naming is a collaborative process, especially at this stage, and we can talk through things and even vet new names you come up with to help you settle on the one.

Phase V: finalization of name

Once you’ve decided on your name, we’ll help you acquire your domain names, and if you want to trademark it and don’t have an intellectual property attorney, we can introduce you to ours.

Naming projects typically take 3 weeks, plus any additional time you need to collaborate and make your final decision.

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Fast Track Blueprint

This option is for firms that want to use one of the new templates, and know how they want the site organized, and what content they want to use throughout. If you don’t need our support and guidance to determine the details of the site, this is the right option for you.

Through our online intake process, you’ll choose one of the three templates and provide us with everything we need to build your website. You’ll give us your logo and brand guidelines, answer a few questions and provide us with your content, and we’ll take it from there! The website will be built accordingly, and you’ll have a chance to review it and provide revisions before it goes live.

It should take you about an hour to go through the online intake process, and once it’s complete, it will take us two weeks to build it and deliver it to you on a preview link.

  • If you need more than 20 pages, we can add them in sets of 10 pages for $1,800.
  • If you need help with your website content/verbiage, we offer several services ranging from minor editing to comprehensive strategic messaging. Schedule a Clarity & Connection meeting to figure out what’s right for you.
  • The project includes one round of revisions; additional revisions are billed at $265/hour.
  • Basic onsite SEO and AI optimization is included in the cost of the website. More extensive optimization can be added for $3,000 for up to 20 pages. Larger sites may incur additional fees.

White Glove Blueprint

This option is for firms that want to use one of the new Member Firm templates, but want guidance and expertise from our agency throughout the project. If you would benefit from collaborating with our team instead of figuring out the details of the site on your own, this is the right option for you.

You’ll start with a discovery meeting with a senior member of our branding team who will guide you through all the strategic decisions for the website. We’ll learn about your firm and clientele, and then work with you to determine the right style and flow of content. After the discovery meeting, we’ll build it according to the plan, and you’ll have a chance to review it on our preview server and provide revisions. When you’re happy with it, we’ll work with compliance and get it live.

Our discovery meeting will take an hour, and then we will send you a list of everything we need from you for the site. Once we have everything, it will take us two weeks to build it and deliver it to you on a preview link. 

  • If you need more than 20 pages, we can add them in sets of 10 pages for $1,800.
  • If you need help with your website content/verbiage, we offer several services ranging from minor editing to comprehensive strategic messaging. Schedule a Clarity & Connection meeting to figure out what’s right for you.
  • The project includes one round of revisions; additional revisions are billed at $265/hour.
  • Basic onsite SEO and AI optimization is included in the cost of the website. More extensive optimization can be added for $3,000 for up to 20 pages. Larger sites may incur additional fees.

Bespoke Website

If you want a custom website design instead of using one of the templates, our Bespoke website is what you’re looking for. Bespoke websites are built from scratch with a no-limits approach to the design, allowing for full customization of the layout, structure, and functionality. Everything is tailored to your brand style and preferences, and built according to current best practices and trends.

We’ll start with a discovery meeting so we can learn about your firm, your style, your design preferences, and your target market segments. When we’re done, our team will put the plan together for the website, build it in its entirety, and deliver it to you on a preview link so you can review it and provide any revisions you want us to make. When you’re happy with it, we’ll work with compliance and get it live. 

Our discovery meeting will take an hour and a half, and then it will take 4-6 weeks to build the website depending on the design complexity and size of the site.
  • If you need more than 20 pages, we can add them in sets of 10 pages for $1,800.
  • If you need help with your website content/verbiage, we offer several services ranging from minor editing to comprehensive strategic messaging. Schedule a Clarity & Connection meeting to figure out what’s right for you.
  • The project includes one round of revisions; additional revisions are billed at $265/hour.
  • Basic onsite SEO and AI optimization is included in the cost of the website. More extensive optimization can be added for $3,000 for up to 20 pages. Larger sites may incur additional fees.