The Seven Biggest Branding Mistakes Made By Advisors Brecek & Young Advisors National Sales & Learning Conference May 31, 2008 Presented by

The Seven Biggest Branding Mistakes What We’ll Cover Today A bit about branding How marketing can be effectively used to build your personal brand Physics (yes, physics!) The Seven Biggest Branding Mistakes How to make branding happen for you Questions & Answers

The Seven Biggest Branding Mistakes Mistake #1: Failing To Understand That Branding Is Important What is a “brand”? A product, service, process - or person - that invokes familiarity and positive associations that allow for an easier selection process and enhances perceived value and satisfaction. Brands establish preference and emotional attachment Great brands dramatically lower purchase risk and uncertainty Brand importance is inversely related to the intangible nature of the product or service (Zyman Institute of Brand Science)

The Seven Biggest Branding Mistakes Mistake #1: Failing To Understand That Branding Is Important But one other word also sums up the power of a great brand TRUST

The Seven Biggest Branding Mistakes Mistake #1: Failing To Understand That Branding Is Important TRUST and LIKEABILITY are the two most important attributes for a successful financial advisor Build your brand and you build your TRUST “Create an oasis of authenticity for tired and thirsty travelers through the desert of mass-produced marketing dreck” Thousands of products, hundreds of thousands of advisors, thousands of places to buy

The Seven Biggest Branding Mistakes Mistake #1: Failing To Understand That Branding Is Important BUT ONLY ONE YOU! So branding yourself needs to be a priority! A brand in a sea of generic financial advisors!

The Seven Biggest Branding Mistakes Mistake #1: Failing To Understand That Branding Is Important Brand equity has some real value, even if it is impossible to value “Fill it to the rim, with the bold taste of ….

The Seven Biggest Branding Mistakes Mistake #1: Failing To Understand That Branding Is Important

The Seven Biggest Branding Mistakes Mistake #1: Failing To Understand That Branding Is Important BRIM? Why BRIM? It’s being reintroduced Great case study for the power of a brand 92% remember BRIM even though it’s been off the market for 12 years! Worth tens of millions of dollars!! Brand equity…once built…has tremendous enduring value

The Seven Biggest Branding Mistakes Mistake #2: Failing To Treat Yourself As A Brand If you agree that branding is important, most advisors are failing to treat themselves as a brand If done well, your practice will have more enduring value…to you and maybe someone else Is your practice an asset that can be sold some day? The more branded, the better the value to a buyer Very important for multi-generational planning and asset retention with beneficiaries

The Seven Biggest Branding Mistakes Mistake #2: Failing To Treat Yourself As A Brand How to treat yourself as a brand? The name you use The logo designed and its consistent use Positioning and the consistent delivery The way you dress, talk, communicate, and with whom you associate enhances or detracts from your brand

The Seven Biggest Branding Mistakes Mistake #2: Failing To Treat Yourself As A Brand Creating an enduring, high value, perception of you should be a top priority of your practice Differentiating yourself from the many other advisors in your community is essential. But how can you build your brand? The laws of physics tells us what we need to know about marketing and branding Einstein and others were marketing geniuses!!

The Seven Biggest Branding Mistakes Mistake #3: Failing To Understand The Branding Laws of Physics Several physical laws are applicable to marketing and human behavior Blueshift marketing delivers better results and will result in more prospects and clients Atomic stability principles tell us why affinity marketing, co-branding and collaboration works Let’s get started and have a little fun with physics…

The Seven Biggest Branding Mistakes Mistake #3: Failing To Understand The Branding Laws of Physics Blueshift marketing … what is it? Light is a form of energy and is composed of a bunch of waves Red light …longer, lower energy waves …cooler Blue light …shorter, higher energy waves … hotter Key physical law… movement and action affects wave perception - A lower energy wave can appear to be of higher energy through movement and action The same wave appears different based on its direction and movement

The Seven Biggest Branding Mistakes Mistake #3: Failing To Understand The Branding Laws of Physics Redshifting means moving away … cooling off …lower energy Blueshifting means moving toward … heating up … higher energy Create higher energy marketing by blueshifting …deliver your message frequently and multidimensionally (more movement and action) to your clients and prospects (Affinity Advantage Advisors can help) And under favorable circumstances (permission based and open for discussion) But why is higher energy even important?

The Seven Biggest Branding Mistakes Mistake #3: Failing To Understand The Branding Laws of Physics Why higher energy marketing is important Einstein gave us the answer E=MC² - Energy and Mass are linked and can be transformed As your energy increases, your mass can grow! Your presence, perception and brand equity can grow! Buy why is larger mass important?

The Seven Biggest Branding Mistakes Mistake #3: Failing To Understand The Branding Laws of Physics Why larger mass is important Another physical law tells us that mass and force are connected F=MA Higher mass means greater force Laws of gravity tell us that bodies of higher mass have higher levels of attraction to other bodies of large mass As your mass grows, you will attract other bodies of equal mass and force

The Seven Biggest Branding Mistakes Mistake #3: Failing To Understand The Branding Laws of Physics Mass = success … as you expand your success and presence (mass) in your market, you will be more attractive to others A quick summary of what we’ve learned Higher energy is desirable Blueshift marketing delivers higher energy Higher energy delivers higher mass (success) Higher mass creates more force (your market presence) Larger mass and force attracts other large bodies (more business) More success breeds even more success…self-propagation A new law: force and attraction are inversely proportional to distance… the importance of staying close to clients, prospects, partners and their source of stability and trust Which leads us to atomic stability principles and co-branded marketing

The Seven Biggest Branding Mistakes Mistake #4: Failing To Implement Co-Branding Atoms always seek the greatest stability Hydrogen really prefers to be helium or part of water! Human beings – and large clients and co-brand partners – also prefer stability - Marriage and family - Attraction to strong brands If you can attach your brand to another trusted brand, your brand grows even more Strong brands have a very powerful gravitational pull

The Seven Biggest Branding Mistakes Mistake #4: Failing To Implement Co-Branding Co-branding means to market jointly with other respected brands - Associations, affinity groups, alliances, other advisors The better your brand, the better co-brands you’ll attract Real World Results Affinity Advantage Advisors / RSG has the endorsement of the LA Bar Association and the California Society of CPAs RetirementDNA – platform focusing on the biotech industry that partners with San Diego biotech trade group PensionMart – an alliance platform with employee benefits brokers

The Seven Biggest Branding Mistakes Mistake #4: Failing To Implement Co-Branding Co-branding delivers some outstanding benefits Market using the name of the association or your co-branded partner…mail and gets opened at a much higher rate LA Bar Retirement Program is much more appealing than Retirement Strategies Group Getting invited to the party instead of just showing Seal of approval from a trusted source in an increasingly skeptical world

The Seven Biggest Branding Mistakes Mistake #4: Failing To Implement Co-Branding And it really works! How can you implement an enduring co-branding strategy? Affinity Advantage Advisors You can immediately leverage RSG’s work, marketing and endorsements

The Seven Biggest Branding Mistakes Mistake #5: Failing To Understand That Never Ending Marketing & Communication Is Essential To Your Brand We discussed Blueshift marketing…energy, frequency, dimensions Need to appeal to as many senses as possible High quality communication with an appropriate frequency Don’t buy into the theory of no more than four times per year! Clients never object to quality information…they do tire of sales pitches

The Seven Biggest Branding Mistakes Mistake #5: Failing To Understand That Never Ending Marketing & Communication Is Essential To Your Brand Tailor your marketing plan according to the market you are serving Marketing to clients/prospects and marketing to co-brand partners are different but both must take place; a website is your best brochure Example: Corporate clients (401k) get 16 “touches’ per year from RSG Leverage marketing as much as possible; direct mail is getting more expensive, less effective and harder to measure

The Seven Biggest Branding Mistakes Mistake #5: Failing To Understand That Never Ending Marketing & Communication Is Essential To Your Brand E-marketing is proving to be a powerful platform for energizing, expanding and augmenting results The Law of IG … Instant Gratification - People increasingly want instant gratification in all walks of life - E-marketing uniquely delivers mutual instant gratification Affinity e-marketing delivers results 20x – 50x better than mass market e-marketing - 30% - 50% open rates - 2% - 5% click through rates If you can’t deliver the IG or track results at the individual level, RSG can help

The Seven Biggest Branding Mistakes Mistake #5: Failing To Understand That Never Ending Marketing & Communication Is Essential To Your Brand E-marketing allows for easy, efficient testing of your message and multiple versions of your message Allows you to appeal to multiple senses to create more energy - Text, audio, video Not single dimensional like direct mail Some samples for your review…

Timely offers to address concerns

Easily pinpoint your target offer and offer a specific solution

Using To Support and Augment A Magazine Article

Online Surveys Represent Reciprocal Marketing At Its Best

Be Sure To Offer The Survey Results!

Deadline Specific Marketing

Seminar Invitation … Pulled Better Than Direct Mail

The Seven Biggest Branding Mistakes Mistake #6: Not Becoming A Thought Leader Consumer advocacy approach to becoming well known White papers, educational guides, quality information for investors Great PR strategy and outreach approach to local media Write and publish on the web (please obtain approval first for all of your writings!) Online videos on various topics…video is booming on the web

The Seven Biggest Branding Mistakes Mistake #6: Not Becoming A Thought Leader If you don’t have the time, RSG’s AAA platform can provide it for you Many, many reports, white papers available online (approved!) Even have RSG TV, an online video channel!

The Seven Biggest Branding Mistakes Mistake #7: Taking The Brand For Granted A key aspect of a great brand is that it must work! Hard to build, easy to fall For advisors, this means not making promises that you can’t deliver or control Process vs. product driven Only products that make sense and that you would buy yourself Continue to invest in the brand called YOU!

The Seven Biggest Branding Mistakes Summary Branding is essential in a brand conscious world You are a brand so start thinking like Apple and Nike Understand how to grow your presence and perception The better your brand, the better the partners and clients you’ll attract Market, market, and market some more… Become a thought leader…the media is always looking for sources! Don’t ever take your brand for granted

The Seven Biggest Branding Mistakes Thank you for spending some time with us today. We really appreciate your participation and we hope you learned at least one idea that you can implement to grow your personal brand. A copy of this presentation can be sent you by completing the form and returning it to Retirement Strategies Group. Have a great day!