Branding and promoting a financial advising firm to its unique audience in a memorable way.
Project Includes:
Problem:
Developing a financial advising brand that appealed to a manual trade worker audience.
Project Limitations:
• Remote work
• Six week timeline
• 1 person team
Solution:
A fully branded experience that portrays and exemplifies the audience’s values and morals.
After defining the goals of the project, I turned to primary research. I interviewed a:
I learned about their process of searching for a financial advisor, what they look for, and what makes a brand trustworthy. I also delved more deeply into the job of financial advisors and how they catered to clients based on their goals and status in life.
Three insights I found lead to the structure of the brand and experience:
Establishing Values and Morals
In order for the financial advising agency to appear trustworthy and friendly to these manual trade workers, reinforcing the users' values in a palpable way through branded assets and copy was crucial.
The values are emulated throughout assets that put manual trade workers right where they're comfortable and reaching out where they're at.
Hard work
Family
Trust
Tradition
Respect
Brand Identity
The “square” is a common tool used in manual trade work, as well as the term “square deal," meaning “an honest and fair transaction or trade." It plays on the important values of the clientele and integrates pieces of their life.
Brand Strategy
I developed a full brand strategy; this included correct and incorrect usage of the brand, details on the image style and copy tone, and how to use the various touchpoints of the brand. For further information on the stands, visit the link below.
All communications of Square Deal Financial have a similar same tone and manner. The goal is to come across as understandable and friendly, yet straight-forward. This copy is exemplified in emails, client meetings, and marketing materials.
Promotional Marketing Materials
These marketing pieces have the same copy tone and strategy as emails and client meetings. Their straight-forward, friendly, and lack of marketing tone aims to be more trustworthy to the target audience.
Stationery
The stationery is simple, functional, and dual purpose; they're typically used in face-to-face meetings with clients where relationships are built.
Environment
The office space is more casual and laid back, allowing for a comfortable and natural environment for clients.