If You Build It, They Will Come

While some marketing workshops focus on theory, Voilá takes a hands-on approach to brand definition and design. In a competitive industry, a lot of the growth has been coming from advisers who are adding more advisers to their practice, Sheri Fitts, founder and owner of ShoeFitts Marketing, told PLANADVISER, but their marketing and branding are not keeping up.

“Branding can help David battle Goliath,” Fitts said, “especially in the environment we’re in.” For one thing, she said, effective branding can help a practice appear bigger, which is half the battle when you are going after those big plans.

During the full-day workshop, retirement plan advisers will learn what makes a good brand better and how design can transform a corporate image.  Retirement plan advisers will work with experienced retirement plan branding and marketing experts Fitts and Ann Schleck of Ann Schleck & Company to create a tangible and easy-to-implement marketing plan along with a complete set of customized marketing materials.

A simple, effective brand, well thought out and executed, helps build credibility, Fitts said, and it helps convey confidence to an adviser’s prospects and clients. At the end of the workshop, advises will have their own brochure and other materials to use during prospecting. “We will walk them through a very tactical marketing plan,” Fitts said.

Hands-On Brand Building 

Instead of speaking theoretically, Fitts and Schleck discuss the idea of an editorial calendar, and then spend half an hour outlining the next 12 months of a calendar with blog and Twitter topics, and marketing. Retirement plan advisers will learn what makes a good brand better, and how design can transform a corporate image. Advisers will learn how an effective marketing plan and a related system of support materials— including a professionally written and designed full-color brochure, customized personal and team bios and introduction sheets, and a branded presentation deck—can transform their brands.

Leveraging that plan and the materials through social media (also discussed during the workshop) will amplify the power of the retirement plan adviser’s brand, resulting in increased awareness of each adviser’s distinctive value proposition, leading more powerful engagement with prospects and an opportunity to increase retirement plan sales.

“Marketing doesn’t have to kill you. It doesn’t have to be hard,” Fitts said. “It just has to be consistent. Having a marketing plan already mapped out for you helps with consistency. Advisers say they help simplify the complex nature of retirement planning. We’ll be helping simplify marketing for advisers.”

Registration for Voilá, open through June 10, is restricted to qualified retirement plan advisers in the defined contribution space. The first full-day workshop is slated to take place in Boston on July 23. Workshops are planned but not yet scheduled for Atlanta, Chicago and San Francisco. The cost is $1,500, and space is limited. To learn more about attending, contact Sue Kelley, sue@annschleck.com or 651.236.8280.