But for Blu Giant Advisor Studios the ability to stand out in what has become a very crowded market requires telling stories and “giving people a sense of not just what you do, but how you do it,” says Christopher Norton, a creative director at the Omaha, NE-based firm.

Blu Giant, which is around two years' old and owned by NorthStar Financial Services, describes itself as a creative agency focused on helping advisors engage with clients and prospective clients through branding, social media, video, print and web. Clients include individual advisors, RIAs and mutual funds as well as larger institutional players such as Betterment and iShares. “We exist to tell our clients’ story and help set them apart from their competition,” Norton said.

As an example of the sort of thing that Blu Giant is working on at the moment, earlier this year the firm launched Nova to address what it identified as a common problem in the industry – that many advisor websites look the same, with all very similar language too. Nova was created to infuse design with the messaging, identity and overall individuality of advisor firms. As Norton put it: the bottom line is that, like people, no two RIAs are the same – and investors are becoming increasingly aware of this.

Blu Giant believes that one of the most unique, value-add features of Nova is its high-level video capability. With the very genesis of Blu Giant based on video, Norton said video is, or should be, a “huge resource” for the advisory industry. It can be used in a variety of ways including, as previously noted, to “tell your story” as well as to present complicated information to clients in a clear and meaningful way, and communicate on a regular basis .

In one example last year, CLS Investments, also a NorthStar subsidiary, used Blu Giant’s expertise to roll out a new client-facing tool for financial advisors: video portfolio statements. Using a technology called Engage, which was developed by Orion Advisor Studios, the video statements give an overview of the most notable market activity from the previous quarter, how CLS reacted and the subsequent effect on portfolios. Metrics are also a crucial part of this, with video analytics and “heat maps” showing who is viewing the video – from where – and how they landed on the web page.

Trend

One of the key pillars of marketing and business development requires developing a clear, easy-to-repeat and differentiated story that is used consistently in all communications and by all employees, Fidelity said last year. The firm argued that the very fact that most RIAs are in agreement about what the top differentiators of their firm are is a challenge because it makes it harder for them to stand out from the rest.

That is why Blu Giant spends a lot of time “in discovery” with clients to find out who they are and what they're trying to do, Norton said. He noted that products or businesses are usually created after someone has seen a problem and then identified a solution to that problem. “So asking clients what was the problem that they saw and how are they trying to solve it is a great place for us to start; as we learn about who they are and what they are trying to do, that then leads into what kind of style we are going to help them create.”

Encouragingly, Norton said he has observed a dramatic shift in the past few years in terms of how important advisors regard their brand and online presence. Clients too are gravitating away from the financial services industry’s traditional approach to branding, with safe “money-feeling colors” of blue and green, and a picture of a retired couple in the park, for example.

“People don’t want just a cold, institutional feel and the idea of retirement. The trend today is around a deeper presentation of a brand/identity, a lot more engaging content and imagery, and a wider array in use of color – warm, rich colors,” he said. And of course, central to this is the fact that the Internet has fundamentally transformed how the industry connects with clients. “Now you have the ability to appeal to a very specific group of people across the country – and advisors increasingly recognize it. A lot of investor searches for advisors today begin on the Internet, be it from a referral or through Google. Even among the biggest institutions, they are realizing that their brand needs to connect with people.”

Indeed, online forms of engagement between wealth management firms and clients are no longer regarded as “nice-to-haves” but must-haves in such a sector where clients expect to be able to access information and discuss affairs 24/7. Likewise, for many prospective clients, the instant “feel” of an advisor's website and value proposition may prompt them to either continue looking elsewhere or proceed to learn more.