As an advocate of the viability of social networking as part of the financial services marketing mix it is certainly exciting to see the industry’s begin to adopt this communications tool.  Recent announcements regarding social networking initiatives from stalwart firms including; Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, LPL Financial, Commonwealth and Cambridge Investment Research demonstrates that the industry is beginning to see the value in fielding compliant social media programs for their advisor base. 

With the addition of another touchpoint in the advisor marketing mix the focus now shifts to integration.  Integration of traditional media and digital media, of event marketing and one-to-one marketing, of branding systems and design elements.  The reason is simple, from the time when a client goes on-line to search for a financial advisor to that moment when they’re sitting in the lobby prior to the initial meeting they have formed a perspective about the firm.  So what is the impression that they have about your brand?  The answer is less about what their impressions about the firm are, but rather how they formed those impressions.  It is the cumulative impact of the firm’s brand messaging efforts, both direct and indirect, that shapes the clients perceptions and influences their consideration process.  The area to be explored is an understanding of the cumulative impact of the firms marketing efforts.  The goal is to clearly advance a compelling, differentiated position supported by value propositions and messaging delivered across a range of communications platforms.  Interestingly, according to a recent study on media consumption conducted by Google, 41% of U.S. media consumption occurs on line.  That means that 59% of brand messaging is being seen elsewhere.  So while it is important to adapt new media into one’s marketing platform, it is more critical to integrate the firm’s effort across all facets of its marketing and communications platform to project a consistent message in an effective and efficient manner.    Easier said than done.  With an ever expanding set of consumer touchpoints, managing brand messaging across those touchpoints and evaluating the impact of each, both individually and in total becomes the challenge.   If you’re interested in reading more on this topic check out the June, 2011 article on the “Brand Experience” from Knowledge @ Wharton.   If you’re interested in learning how your firm can leverage its investment to optimize the “cumulative impact” of your marketing efforts contact us at CliffC@evolutionizemypractice.com.