One of the most common requests we get from successful advisory teams is to review their practice brochure and comment on their unique value proposition.
As usual, there are more and less effective ways to craft a value proposition that generates positive responses from the marketplace. Here are some basic guidelines to help improve your message and practice brochure.
DEFINE THE PURPOSE AND AUDIENCE
Self-orientation is the most common mistake we see. In other words, the advisor or the team sees the brochure as a chance to say everything there is to say about what they do and how they do it whether or not it is useful for the people who will be reading it.
Consultant and author Jay Abraham says it best when he corrects this approach: Remember, its not about you; its all about them!
5 QUESTIONS TO ASK
There is often far too much information contained in the typical practice brochure for any single purpose it might be used for. Our advice is to complete a simple discovery exercise before you start building marketing materials, and then allow the material to flow out of these definitions:
- What will this particular material be used for? What is your desired outcome?
- When will it be used?
- Who, specifically, will read it?
- How, specifically, will they receive it?
- What is the specific response you want from them?
These questions force you to think about the people you are directing your message toward, which will help your material avoid looking like all the other brochures out there.
The typical brochure describes several different levels of information about the advisory practice: from the general idea of the teams mission to the specific lists of services offered. Most often your material will benefit from streamlining and focus, and needs to clearly drive the reader to one desired response.
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