Let’s say you’re an accounting or wealth management firm looking to grow beyond referrals. And you’ve determined that you’re going to advertise.
What do you say?
Where do you advertise?
How do you build a campaign?
The unfortunate truth is that most digital marketing companies will focus heavily on the “buy” – where the ads are placed – while neglecting the actual creative element of the ads themselves. They’ll tune up your campaign to focus on targeted segments between awareness and conversion, and then use the same basic creative for everything.
If you’re going to spend money on advertising, make sure it sets you apart.
In this series of blog posts we’ll dive into the steps to creating a campaign that stands out from the everyday, run-of-the-mill advertising we typically see in professional services, like wealth management.
The first step is analyzing the competition.
Step 1: Analyze the Competition
Many agencies will start with a full brand review, including colours and fonts and core values. This is all well and good, but not at the start.
The first thing you want to do is see what your competitors are saying. Because this is what your ideal customers are seeing. And what you’re going to be advertising against.
Where do you start? Anywhere your competition advertises. But if they are advertising, it’s likely they’re advertising online.
Here are two good places to start: LinkedIn Ad Library and Facebook Ad Library
LinkedIn Ad Library
Facebook Ad Library
Simply enter in the name of your competitor and a geographic location, and if they’re advertising (which is in itself something to note) you’ll see their ads.
Depending on the volume, save the images to a folder. Because the next step is figuring out their advertising strategy behind them.
To do that, we’ll deconstruct the ads.
Set-up a simple spreadsheet or table, listing your competitors down the page, and along the top put in the following headers:
- Overall impression
- Core Message
- Imagery/Design
- Target Audience
- Goal: Awareness or Conversion
First, look at the ad without judgment. Just look at it. Read it. How does it make you feel? Is there anything about it that stands out? If you weren’t a wealth manager, how might it make you feel?
Core Message. Is there one? Or is the ad trying to say a few different things? You can get a sense of the core message by asking yourself, “what is the headline, body copy and image trying to tell me?”
Imagery/Design. Is there any imagery? If so, what is it? Describe it. Why do you think they’ve used this imagery? There are no wrong answers.
Target Audience. Based on the copy and imagery, who do you think is the target audience is? How specific can you get with the audience based on the ad?
Goal of the ad. Ads are typically designed for Awareness (to be remembered) or to Convert (get clicks). It’s not that you can’t cram
The outcome of this exercise is to understand what you are competing against.
Here’s the thing – if you say the same thing as your competitors, you better be ready to outspend them.
Why? Because your message will be a raindrop in the sea of sameness.
I asked ChatGPT to analyze some wealth management websites for brand messaging. Here’s the summary:
“The wealth management firms show a high degree of homogeneity in branding elements, particularly in their focus on trust, experience, and personalized service. The consistent use of professional, reassuring language, along with a formal tone, suggests an industry-wide effort to position themselves as reliable and stable partners in financial planning. While a few firms differentiate by emphasizing technology or a warmer tone, most follow a traditional approach centered on security and long-term wealth preservation.”
To make your ad dollars count, distinctiveness is the key.
Next week, the second step: Your Goal.