Case Study: Investments Broker

National broker-dealer pursues ambitious growth initiative.

Brand Strategy • Web Content

“Our greatest return on marketing investment in the company’s 53 years.”
Lawrence J. Rybka, President & CEO

> THEIR STORY

Grounded in the Golden Rule

Valmark is a nationwide broker-dealer that provides investment and insurance products. Their independent Member Firm offices serve the financial needs of affluent individuals, families and business owners.

Privately owned for 5 decades, Valmark has grown to consist of five companies. Their stability and longevity is attributed to product innovation while always adhering to the Golden Rule.

> THEIR GOALS

Ensure Continued Growth

• Launch a new website.
• Communicate a powerful brand identity to target key channels.
• Appeal to their ideal prospects: highly competent advisors who act as entrepreneurs rather than captive agents.
• Uphold the founder’s commitment to integrity and values.

“We were amazed at how quickly you were able to understand Valmark and craft the powerful stories and statements that have become an integral part of our brand identity.

Particularly impressive is your Brand Roadmap which drills down a very concise, compelling layout of the core elements to focus on when promoting our brand.

Through your expert guidance, we now have a strong, articulate brand displayed on a new, beautiful website that our staff and affiliated Member Firms can point to and be proud of!”

Jamie Summerville
Director, Communications

> KEYS TO SUCCESS

Our Brand Roadmap for Valmark:

• Included interviews with management and 10 Member Firms.
• Revealed the perception that broker-dealers are a necessary evil in a highly-regulated industry, rather than a partner in finding creative solutions.
• Identified the attributes most important to prospective Members:
  • Stability
  • Community
  • Innovation
• Uncovered Valmark’s unique advantage – attracting exceptional advisors allows them to reduce risk and thereby extend more flexibility to their Member Firms – highly appealing when compared to Valmark’s huge competitors.

“By nature, I am a highly skeptical person with even higher expectations. When facing a challenge, I almost always choose to tackle it internally with our world-class team. However, when faced with crafting a new website and telling our story we quickly realized two things. Our business is complicated, and frankly, we were “too close” to talk about it in a clear way. So we hired Tom.

Simply put, Tom is a master communicator!  He exceeded our highest expectations. We were blown away. Tom quickly understood our complex business and then crafted a message that was powerful, yet brilliantly simple. Tom proved what Leonardo da Vinci said is true – ‘Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.’ If you are considering hiring Tom, do it!”

Caleb Calahan, CFP
Executive Vice President
Chief Operating Officer

> OUR SOLUTION

Convey Strengths Without Boasting

• We presented “Innovative Planning. Traditional Values.” as the central theme of the brand.
• Organized Valmark’s story around Stability, Community and Innovation.
• Advised using Member testimonials, instead of direct claims, to communicate Valmark’s greatest strengths.
• Crafted all testimonials from our one-on-one interviews and obtained approvals.
• We wrote all home page content and edited internal pages.
• Collaborated with Valmark’s marketing team and talented web designer, Monsters Unlimited.

> THE RESULTS

You helped us articulate our value proposition in a fresh way, that is genuine, distinctive and powerful. Through interviews with our existing firms you identified 3 clear differentiators that help us attract new member firms and pursue our growth initiative.

Your Brand Roadmap truly helped us cut though the clutter of our complex service offering and get to the essential key points that our member firms value most, and then translate that into a completely new website.

I can confidently say this represents our greatest return on marketing investment in the company’s 53 years.”

Lawrence J. Rybka, JD, CFP
President & CEO
Valmark Financial Group

Visit: Valmark Website