Seven Tips For A Firm Name Prospects Won’t Forget

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Having named the three children I brought into this world, I know how hard it is. No financial advisor wants to make the mistake of choosing the wrong moniker and then living with that stigma for the rest of your company’s life. But on the flip side, most firm names are so bland and nondescript that it’s like having no name at all. There’s zero brand identity.

Here are seven tips to give your advisory firm a name that means something.

1. Don't use a nature reference

Example: Blackrock

These are the worst offenders of a deplorable #financialcliche that afflicts every advisor website and marketing brochure.

Somewhere along the line, somebody decided that the easiest way to avoid alienation is to name your firm after an inanimate object like trees, rocks or hills. It’s like how every financial advisor website has a picture of a retired couple at the beach or on a boat.

I never knew that financial advisors were such nature lovers! I love hiking, too.

Not a bad strategy in theory, but it’s so overdone that there’s no way to separate yourself from the next tree or rock. Blackrock did it, but ever since then everybody has overused this trend and it’s become very bland.

2. Forget acronyms

The world is so sick of financial acronyms, from 401k to IRA to GRAT, GST and more. Spare us all from the creation of one more #financialcliche.

3. Avoid naming it after yourself

This works well if you have an interesting name that can provoke conversation. When I was in the advisory business, I called my firm Grillo Investments, which was tremendously satisfying for my ego! However it wasn’t a great choice. Nobody knew “Grillo.” I’m not a famous person like Fisher Investments. It didn’t do anything for me because it didn’t mean anything.

By Sara Grillo, read the full article here.

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