With 2,051 votes tallied, readers voting on AdvisorOne have selected the 10 Best Wealth Manager Logos out of 25 finalists. The finalists were selected by the editorial staff of the Investment Advisor Group—the editors and art directors of AdvisorOne and Research and Investment Advisor magazines. The winners comprised firms with staff sizes from 227 down to just one, but all came up big regarding their logos' appeal to readers — and, therefore, potential clients.
The 10 winners were also featured in the July issues of Research and Investment Advisor. This expanded Web-only version includes photos of the winning advisors and their answers to questions about how they chose their logo and how they market their firm.
The intent of our original slideshow on AdvisorOne, Our 20 Favorite Top Wealth Manager Logos, and the subsequent readers' poll, was to help educate advisors on one way to stand out to both current clients and prospects, immediately and directly, in collateral marketing material—and we hope this has helped out a bit.
You can also check out detailed information on some of these firms, and other helpful information, at AdvisorOne's 2012 Top Wealth Managers landing page.
No. 10: Percension Wealth Advisors
Principal: Brian E. Betz, Founder
AUM: $5 million
Staff size: 1
Location: Seattle
How did you decide on your logo and tagline?
The credit for our logo goes to the graphic design genius of artist and friend, Jordan Ballard. He is a gifted designer! As for our tagline, "Building Wealth. Financial Health," I wanted it to be short and sweet, while encompassing what long-term investors desire most: Growing and maintaining their wealth so they may fulfill a healthy financial future!
How big a role has marketing played in your firm's success?
Marketing has helped us gain trust among new clients and establish the Percension footprint as a premier, up-and-coming advisory practice. Specifically, as wealth shifts from baby boomers to younger generations digital media becomes more instrumental, which we leverage to inform and educate. Investors today want real-time, compelling information that is easy to consume. We will always explore new technologies and marketing channels to grow our brand as a knowledge resource. Social media combined with our unique content enables us to connect with investors. This has been a major catalyst for Percension's steady growth.
No. 9: RMB Capital Management
Principal: Richard Burridge, Founder and CEO
AUM: $3.1 billion
Staff size: 78
Location: Chicago
How did you decide on your logo and tagline?
We introduced our current logo and tagline in 2010, replacing the original logo and tagline we had when RMB was founded in 2005. It was an evolution rather than a revolution; we felt it was important for our brand to stay fresh and to reflect new realities. The logo uses a sturdy, photo-realistic oak tree as the central image, which we believe reinforces our brand vision (to be the custodian of our clients' trust) and values (authenticity, excellence, rigor, solutions, and results). Our tagline ("Invested in your growth") is also rooted in the firm's vision and values and further supports our brand promise (to take care of each client's big picture as if it were our own).
How big a role has marketing played in your firm's success?
Our success is attributable to much more than traditional marketing; we've been fortunate to have grown primarily based on referrals from existing clients. However, we believe that organic growth has been supported by our branding, which has many different components that we've been very focused on since even before our firm officially launched. This includes tangible identity elements that we can control (like a logo and tagline) as well as abstract elements that are much more difficult to control (like the way clients perceive our brand). So, we strive to create alignment among employees around the foundational elements of our brand—primarily our vision and values—and to reinforce those elements in the business and operational decisions we make. We believe this focus has helped to enrich our clients' experience with us and thus has contributed to our success.
No. 8: OakPath
Principal: Sean Dranfield
AUM: less than $100 million
Staff size: 5
Location: Northbrook, Ill.
How did you decide on your logo and tagline?
The words in our company name and logo, OakPath, represent the strength, stability and trust of an oak tree and our promise to take our clients down the path toward financial freedom. For example, think of a new client's retirement plan as an acorn. We take that acorn and care for it, nourish it, until it grows into a strong oak tree. We are engineered to grow only when we help our customers succeed first.
How big a role has marketing played in your firm's success?
Marketing has played a large role in our success. We utilize electronic media such as our website, a promotional video and e-newsletter, as well as social media tools like LinkedIn and Twitter. We also use good old fashioned direct mail to target prospective clients. We are currently exploring new ways to expand our digital marketing strategy.
No. 7: Retirement Security Centers
Principal: Jeff R. Maas and Briggs Matsko, Founders
AUM: $1 billion
Staff size: 23
Location: Sacramento, Calif.
How did you decide on your logo and tagline?
With a focused business model set squarely on the unique needs of those approaching and entering retirement we chose a logo that incorporated an integral component of our proprietary EASE-Process in a visual way. The pyramid stems from a graphic that we use to categorize expenses into Core, Joy and Legacy and then link them to the income sources and assets of our clients.
When it came to the tagline we wanted to focus on the facts. In our world of retirement advisement we guide our clients, but they qualify the parameters of their particular circumstance. We reviewed three rounds of tagline options that we felt conveyed that fact prior to choosing "Define your future." We felt that it best incorporated the idea that we work with clients in an interactive fashion where they participate in the planning process through our extensive use of "what-if scenarios." We spent many months deliberating with our team before making our final choice on both logo and tagline. As surprising as it sounds making the final decision on our logo and tagline was one of the most challenging and fulfilling marketing choices we have made to date, and we wouldn't change a thing.
How big a role has marketing played in your firm's success?
Marketing has played an evolving, but critical role in Retirement Security Center's success. Our vision for the future is to capitalize on the amazing momentum we have gained with our new logo, website and an inspirational piece called the RSC Doctrine. We have designed a number of unique marketing strategies that will benefit our clients and prospects. We plan to implement these strategies over the next year as we "Define the future" of our enterprise, just as we do for our clients.
No. 6: Women's Wealth & Wisdom
Principal: Victoria Wilk, Founder and President
AUM: N/A
Staff size: N/A
Location: El Segundo, Calif.
How did you decide on your logo and tagline?
For this startup, the Women's Wealth & Wisdom logo was designed distinctively feminine with the intent to differentiate our firm from images associated with more gender-neutral firms.
How big a role has marketing played in your firm's success?
Once we attract the attention from our target market to the logo, the hope is that she will recognize that the company's name is directed at her and become inspired to know about the rest of the branding and marketing message, which is where the real substance is. In marketing to this niche, more precisely, senior-level executive women and women business owners, we must take a sophisticated and educational approach to engage them to the next level, keeping it fresh and relevant to her needs.
Principal: Jeffrey Concepcion, Founder and CEO
Principals: Brian Puckett and Dennis Packard
Principal: Christina V. Winch, CEO
Principal: David E. Smyth, Senior Partner
Principal: Casey Mahan, Firm Principal
