Financial advisors need to brand themselves well to stand out from the pack. But branding goes beyond brochures, and reaches into every interaction with a client no matter how brief.

“When you’re talking about money, people aren’t comfortable just giving their money to a number, to a random financial advisor. They really want to know you,” said Wayne Townsend, chief operations officer at Platinum Advisor Strategies. “You can say what you want your brand to be, but the ultimate [judge] is your clients. Your prospects are going to determine what it really is.”

Platinum Advisor Strategies, based in Summerfield, Florida, provides premium marketing materials, specialists, and guidance to financial services professionals. The firm helps advisors grow their business and provide a customer experience ideal to their target market. The firm was founded by brothers Robert and Thomas Fross, successful advisors who “Grew tired of hearing at conferences about what they should do, and instead started doing it,” Townsend told “Advisors Magazine” during a recent interview, adding that the brothers wanted to share their branding and customer service experiences with fellow advisors.

Branding – especially when it includes relationship-building and face-to-face interaction – is more than impressing clients. Advisors who brand their practices well are not just selling, they are communicating to clients who they are, what they offer, and why they are trustworthy. After all, no one wants to part with their hard-earned money unless they know their advisor has their best-interests at heart.

“Money is very personal, and it’s a very sensitive topic. Clients are very emotionally connected to their money and the best thing you can do is prove to them that you will take care of them no matter what, and then they begin to trust you with their money,” Townsend said.

Platinum Advisor Strategies helps advisors care for their clients by offering 80 customizable types of communication, online branding support, film and video production, lead generation, and a host of other services. The firm even provides systemization support such as human resources procedures and customer relationship management system integration. Platinum takes a customized approach for each member that is unique to their practice and their target client, then they share best practices across their client base so that when one advisor implements a winning strategy, platinum can customize it for the rest.

“All of our members at Platinum have access to all of those ideas,” Townsend said. “Every success is systematized so we can share it out as a customizable best practice.”

For more information, visit: platinumstrategies.com

Platinum Overview - 2017 from Platinum Advisor Strategies on Vimeo.