Great marketing is built upon an obsessive, perhaps irrational passion for the mission of the business or brand
Last month, my family and I spent a week in the Thousand Islands in a house we rented on Round Island just down the Saint Lawrence River from Alexandria Bay. Across the shipping channel in Alexandria Bay sits Heart Island, the home of Boldt Castle. The grandiose structure was to be a display of George Boldt’s love for his wife, Louise.
They began construction in 1900 and stopped it just 4 years later in 1904 because Louise had died suddenly. George never returned to the island and the castle remained unfinished and became rundown until 1977 when the Thousand Island Bridge Authority acquired it and decided to preserve its legacy. (Source)
Boldt Castle’s legacy endures to this day because of a powerful and captivating story of love that transcends time
As I took the hour long audio walking tour I couldn’t help but to reflect on the power that a love story has to build something amazing. The power and impact of marketing is rooted in the story of why your firm exists and who you serve. The story behind your firm’s founding is the guiding light that shapes everything you do and say to both internal and external audiences. If your brand story is clear and genuine, you have already overcome your biggest marketing challenge.
Marketing demands clarity of purpose
Have you ever wondered how some firms just have a gift for marketing? From the outside it seems to come easy to them. For these firms, they have taken the time to crystallize their story and they have a passion to tell it to whoever will listen. The communications channels whether it be email, social media or their website are just mediums to share their thoughts and ideas with the world. The clarity of their story frees them from the paralysis by analysis that so many of us face when it comes to growing and expanding our marketing.
Relive the moment you started
Whether you are a founder, owner or an advisor working within a firm, why did you get into this business? Seriously, why does your firm exist and why are you in this business? The answer to this question holds the key to your marketing for 2018 and beyond.
Take the time to not only think about this but also write it down and share it with others. Then ask yourself how this can be applied to transform how you tell your firm’s story in a way that will become a guiding light for future generations.
Simon Sinek’s TedTalk “Start With Why” is a must watch for anybody looking to make investments in marketing. If you have not watched it before, click here to watch it. Even if you have watched it before, click here to watch it again because it is that important to the future of your firm’s marketing.
And if you’d like to brainstorm ideas on how to share your firm’s story to grow AUM, give me a call.
