Don't be a sheep, carve your own path
One of the things I see when I look around on social media or other advisers websites, blogs, Facebook ads is that they all seem to be carbon copies of each other.
Everyone is saying the nice safe thing like they are scared to have a different opinion.
They will say the same thing about the OCR that everyone else is saying or they will talk about how you can free money from the bank or just mention the same insurance products that everyone mentions.
It's all very much the same stuff. It's almost like it's been written by a marketing company. In fact, when I look at many of these posts and ads, it really has been copied and pasted from some marketing company in a lot of cases, where they've just used the same template, they offer the consumer the same free report that's mostly garbage.
It reduces every adviser to a different logo but there's nothing that tells me anything about the person or any particular reason why I should talk to them.
It doesn't take a lot to stand out.
I believe one key to standing out in the crowded financial advice industry is embracing contrarianism - not following the pack but having the courage to express unique viewpoints that challenge conventional wisdom.
For example, I've previously written articles such as "Why I don't care about interest rate changes" which goes against the common focus on short-term rate fluctuations. While the media (and most advisers without a good value proposition) obsesses over whether rates will drop by 0.25%, I would emphasise that these short-term changes make virtually no difference to a 25-year mortgage journey.
Similarly, a contrarian approach on Risk Insurance is discussing "Having a plan to get rid of your insurance" rather than only talking about getting insurance. This demonstrates to clients that you're committed to their long-term financial wellbeing rather than just making a sale and disappearing like they have heard about advisers.
Lots of advisers proudly talk about how their service is “Free” but I would rather talk about the value add you get from my fees.
You can find this approach in all the aspects of Financial advice. If you look out and see what other people are doing, you kind of want to talk about the opposite. Now it's got to be genuine to you. If you don't actually believe what you are saying, this will come across. I’d rather you go with the pack authentically than be someone you are not.
But if you're looking to set yourself as a brand and a name in your adviser business, then don't be the rest of the pack. Have an opinion of your own. Be a contrarian. You'll get noticed.
