As an asset manager, fund manager, or wealth manager, you understand your unique value. But how do you ensure your clients and prospective clients see it too?

In the crowded investment industry, many financial services firms sound strikingly similar, often claiming to:And they often do this in the ubiquitous shades of blue.

Forward-thinking financial services firms differentiate themselves through a compelling brand. A well-crafted brand increases sales, boosts client loyalty, and enhances firm value. Your brand’s visuals, voice, and message are invaluable assets that define your firm's identity, set you apart from competitors, build trust with your audience, and convey your unique value proposition.

Given the power of branding, it's crucial that all your content aligns with your brand's visuals, voice, and messaging. This discipline is essential for maintaining consistency and credibility. In this blog, we’ll explore how to achieve this alignment through a structured and collaborative process.

The process to ensure your content aligns with your brand's look, voice, and message involves five fundamental steps:

These five steps apply across your internal and external teams and become particularly important when collaborating with outside communication experts.

1. Initial Brand Audit

Reviewing Existing Materials

The first step is a comprehensive review of current marketing materials to understand how the brand is currently being presented. This includes:

• Brochures and Flyers: Examining both physical and digital brochures helps understand product descriptions, tone, and style.
• Website Content: Analyzing the text, visuals, and overall user experience on the website reveals how the brand is presented online.
• Social Media Posts: Reviewing social media activity allows for evaluating engagement style and identifying the type of content that resonates with the audience.
• Previous Content: Blogs, articles, white papers, videos, and infographics are reviewed to identify recurring themes and stylistic elements.

By thoroughly understanding existing materials, content creation efforts can be aligned with the established brand voice.

Understanding Brand Guidelines

Brand guidelines are the cornerstone of brand identity. These guidelines typically include:

• Visual Elements: Colors, fonts, logos, and imagery that define the brand’s visual identity.
• Tone of Voice: Whether the brand voice is professional, casual, authoritative, or friendly, understanding this is crucial for consistency.
• Language Preferences: Specific phrases, terminologies, and style preferences that should be consistently used.
• Brand Message: The brand message makes a “brand promise” that differentiates you from competitors and inspires clients with the unique benefits delivered.

By adhering to brand guidelines, your content will embody the look and tone of what makes your brand unique.

2. Collaborative Discovery Phase

Interviews with Key Personnel

Capturing the essence of your brand involves conducting in-depth interviews with key personnel:

• Executive Team: Grasping the overarching vision, mission, and values of the company.
• Marketing Team: Understanding marketing objectives, strategies, and past campaigns.
• Sales Team: Gaining insights into the customer journey, common client questions, and successful sales tactics.

These interviews provide a nuanced understanding of the brand and help align content with strategic goals.

Understanding Brand Values

Brand values are the principles guiding a company’s actions and decisions. During the discovery phase:

• Discuss Core Values: Understand the foundational beliefs driving the business.
• Identify Key Messages: Determine the primary messages to convey to the audience.
• Align Content with Values: Ensure that all content reflects and reinforces these values.

This alignment ensures that every piece of content communicates the brand’s value proposition and resonates with the audience on a deeper and emotional level. After all, clients decide with both their hearts and minds.

3. Content Strategy Development

Creating Buyer Personas

You must understand your key audience or audiences. Developing buyer personas is an effective exercise to achieve that understanding. Buyer personas are semi-fictional representations of ideal customers. To create effective content:

• Identify Target Audience: Determine the demographics, behaviors, and preferences of the target audience.
• Understand Pain Points: Recognize the challenges and needs of the audience.
• Tailor Content: When you develop content, you must address these needs and position your brand as the solution provider.

By creating detailed buyer personas, content remains relevant, engaging, and targeted.

Identifying Content Themes and Topics

Based on an understanding of the brand and audience:

• Select Key Themes: Identify overarching themes that align with the brand and resonate with the audience.
• Develop a Content Calendar: Plan content topics and formats to be produced over a specific period, and disseminated across specified channels.

This strategic approach ensures that all content aligns with the brand’s objectives and effectively engages the audience.

4. Content Creation and Review

Drafting Process

The content creation process is meticulous and iterative:

• Initial Drafts: Writers create initial drafts that adhere to brand guidelines and reflect the brand voice.
• Visual Elements: Designers incorporate visual elements that align with the brand’s visual identity.
• Team Feedback: Drafts are submitted for review by your teams, and feedback is incorporated to refine the content.

This collaborative process ensures that the final content meets standards and effectively communicates the message.

Ensuring Compliance

Compliance is a critical aspect of content creation, especially in the financial services industry. All content must:

• Adhere to Regulations: Meet industry regulations and internal compliance standards.
• Include Disclaimers: Properly include any necessary disclaimers or disclosures.

By ensuring compliance, the brand’s integrity is protected, and the trust of the audience is maintained.

5. Continuous Alignment and Optimization

Regular Updates and Reviews

To maintain alignment with the brand voice and messaging:

• Schedule Regular Meetings: Hold bi-weekly or monthly meetings with your key team members and providers to review progress, discuss new content, and make adjustments as needed.
• Provide Quarterly Updates: Share updates on the performance of content and develop data-driven recommendations for improvement.

These regular touchpoints ensure that content remains aligned with evolving brand and marketing goals.

Feedback Loops

Ongoing feedback loops with your teams and providers are essential for continuous improvement:

• Gathering Feedback: Collect feedback on the effectiveness of the content.
• Incorporating Insights: Use this feedback to refine and optimize future content.

By fostering a culture of continuous improvement, content remains relevant, impactful, and aligned with the brand voice.

Bringing It All Together

Ensuring your content aligns with your brand’s look, voice, and message is crucial in differentiating your firm in a competitive landscape. By following a structured and collaborative process—starting with an initial brand audit, moving through collaborative discovery, developing a targeted content strategy, meticulously creating and reviewing content, and continuously aligning and optimizing—you can create a cohesive and compelling brand presence and content that propels engagement and growth.

Take the Next Step with a Complimentary Brand and Content Review

Ready to elevate your brand and ensure your content truly reflects your unique identity? Schedule A Consultation to discuss and review your content with our experts.

Let’s collaborate to refine your brand strategy and create content that resonates with your audience, drives your business forward, and helps you achieve your goals.