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In the early 1980s, Al Ries and Jack Trout published the seminal marketing book Positioning: The Battle For Your Mind. They argued that marketing wasn’t simply about products or services; it was about capturing a specific space in the consumer’s mind. Think of Volvo and you immediately think of “safety.” Think of Walmart and you think, “Low prices.” If you want “fast food” you’ll probably start looking for the nearest McDonald’s.
These principles of brand positioning still endure. For most people, Google is “search,” Amazon is “shopping,” and Apple is “cool tech.” And these “spaces” can be powerful enough to cut across fragmented marketing channels.
So, “what” are you as a financial advisor?
What “space” does your firm occupy in your ideal client’s mind?
And how can you differentiate that space and highlight your unique value proposition?
On today’s show, I discuss the latest marketing trends with John Scianna, the Founder of Objective Brand. Whether you are a solo advisor struggling to stand out in a crowded marketplace or a billion-dollar firm trying to unify your corporate messaging, this conversation is a masterclass in building a modern brand.
3 Insights from John Scianna
1. Stop Hiding Your Personality.
Too many advisors believe that to appear professional and trustworthy, they must adopt a conservative, inoffensive corporate aesthetics. That’s why if you Google “financial advisor” you’ll land in a sea of sameness: blue color palettes, stock photos of compasses and lighthouses, and the exact same jargon.
John argues that this lack of distinct personality is the single biggest marketing mistake advisors make today. We’re living and working in an attention economy. Soothing your audience isn’t going to hold anyone’s attention — it’s just going to put them to sleep.
“Oftentimes when firms come to us, it’s because they see our work and they see the level of personality and craft that we put into our work. It looks and feels so different than anything else. A financial advisor, or really anybody who’s trying to get their name out there, one of the biggest pieces of advice I can give is don’t be afraid to show your personality. I think ‘authenticity’ is one of these buzzwords that a lot of people don’t like, but it’s a buzzword for a reason, because that authenticity is what helps you stand out and show your personality. Nine out of ten financial advisor websites or brands that I come across look and feel more or less the same because they’re afraid to put themselves out there in a real way.”
A great brand acts as both a magnet (for your ideal clients) and a repeller (for folks you really don’t want to work with anyway). You don’t have to be “edgy” or “controversial” to stand out. You just need to be yourself. And your company just needs to be clear on how your mission and values connect to the services you provide. When you inject genuine personality into your messaging, you build trust and effectively presell prospects before they ever walk into your office.
2. Thoughtfully Integrate the Founder into the Enterprise Brand.
Many successful advisory firms begin with a charismatic founder who serves as the primary rainmaker and the face of the brand. A well-known example in our space is John’s client Root Financial. Founder James Conole built a massive audience on YouTube and the firm experienced explosive growth.
But for a firm to keep growing, eventually it needs to scale beyond its founder. That means the brand also has to evolve so that prospects don’t just want to work with the founder, they want to work with the company that the founder created.
John believes that while founder-led marketing can be powerful, it must be thoughtfully integrated into a broader corporate narrative:
“ I don’t view founder-led marketing or communication as a bad thing — as long as we’re building a brand around that founder in a thoughtful way that can live beyond them if they ever do decide to step down. When I think of Tesla or Walmart, there are key names, key people that we know behind those companies. But that brand still stands for something. So as long as Jason Wenk and James Conole continue to take their ‘star power’ online and their founder-led thinking and apply it to the Altruist and Root brands, it’ll continue to strengthen that brand and get it to a wider audience. I know for a fact there are people who work with Altruist and work with Root who don’t know James or Jason at all. They may have heard their names, but their interest is in the product or the service that they provide. So, over time, that’ll continue to multiply as their brands get bigger and bigger in the markets that they serve.”
For advisors, this evolution starts by codifying your point of view. Just as Apple maintained its distinct design and core philosophy long after Steve Jobs passed away — and is preparing to do so again post-Tim Cook — an RIA must establish an in-house style that encompasses your way of thinking about money and how you serve clients.
“A good brand thoughtfully communicates something greater than yourself. It communicates your vision and what you stand for, and shows the team at large. And even if you have a small team, it’s still important to show that behind this team is that system, that process, that proprietary thinking that we’ve put in place because we’re experts at what we do. And no matter who delivers the system, you’re going to get that same level of care and quality because it connects back to that initial brand.”
3. Use Psychographics to Target Demographics.
You’ve heard it for years now: “narrow your niche.”
“Small business owners?” Too broad. You need to target “pediatric dentists in Omaha.”
While getting specific about your ideal client is important, John believes getting too narrow too soon can restrict a maturing brand. To find your ideal clients without capping your potential for scale, John recommends pivoting from demographics to “psychographics”:
“I think a narrow audience works earlier in your journey, but as you move further into larger audiences, you’re going to start limiting yourself. I think more about psychographics than I do demographics. So what are the commonalities behind the people that we work well with, that we like working with today? Where do they spend their time? What do they care about? What are they worried about? These kind of big picture things that do differ depending on the age of people you like to work with, where they’re at in their life, where they are in the country. Even if the core of your brand has a broader target audience and you want to serve a wider range of people, when you get into digital marketing and outbound advertising, that’s where it is really helpful to get very specific with who you’re targeting.”
By building your core brand around shared values, worldviews, and emotional pain points, you create an umbrella large enough to accommodate those core pediatric dentists as well as their friends who work in engineering and hospitality. Then, you can deploy highly targeted, demographic-specific ad campaigns underneath that broader brand umbrella to drive direct lead generation while still maintaining consistency across channels.
Ultimately, that’s the “space” where you plant your flag and keep growing.
John Scianna’s Warning for Advisors
Don’t Spin Your Wheels with the Wrong Clients.
In the early days of building a business, or when you’re ramping up to take the next big step, there’s a temptation to accept revenue from anyone willing to pay for your services. That scarcity mindset leads many business owners to justify working with clients who don’t fit just so they can keep the lights on.
John believes this was his critical mistake after launching Objective Brand:
“I wish we would’ve known quicker who an ideal client is for us. We certainly spun our wheels in the first year or two with a couple of clients that, had we turned them down or fired them quicker, we would’ve been much further in our journey. I think firms like ours and even financial advisors undervalue the importance of the right fit client. It can be so detrimental to your progress if you’re spending your time and effort with the wrong types of people. Now our lead form on our website has a series of 10-plus questions that are so fine-tuned to exactly who we want to work with. It’s very unlikely that we’ll work with anybody who isn’t a perfect fit for us.”
Again, a brand that truly resonates has the power to repel the wrong people just as strongly as it attract the right ones.
Advisors just need to have the courage and the vision to broadcast who they are, who they want to work with, and what kind of value they can deliver.
