Financial Advisor Marketing: Podesta Capital Apollon | Under the Lens

Podesta Capital Apollon (formerly known as Podesta Capital Advisors) needed branding that would help them stand out in their industry. But their business model is known for being hands off, which makes it difficult to define a brand personality. Today, we’ll explore how Impact used this to our advantage to craft an effective strategy for marketing Podesta’s financial advisor services. 

The Challenge 

Podesta’s greatest strength in investing was also their greatest weakness in marketing and branding: their data-driven, hands-off approach. As an investment strategy, it takes all emotion out of the decision-making process, so people know their money is being handled logically and mathematically. 

However, that can be a problem for marketing financial advisors, as investors often expect to have a personal relationship with their investment firm. No matter how logical their strategy is, handing your life’s savings over to an expert can be unnerving, particularly when you don’t know them. Podesta needed a brand strategy that reassured their investors without misrepresenting what they do. 

What Podesta Capital Apollon Asked For 

Brand Refresh 

A brand refresh includes everything from basic assets, like a logo, to creative direction for writers and designers to follow moving forward. It can involve taking the assets the company already has and simply reimagining them, or it can be a completely new set of materials across the board.  

No matter what the scope of work looks like, the point is always to make all assets tell the same story about the brand, ensuring that any consumer thoroughly understands who the client is and what they can do. 

Website  

It’s a good idea for any business to revisit their website every few years, and Podesta Capital Apollon is no exception. Impact’s work with them included building an entirely new website geared towards positioning and lead generation. 

Not only did this work include the advice of UX/UI designers who could ensure the website implements best practices for actually achieving those goals, but it’s also the cyberspace embodiment of Podesta’s complete financial advisor marketing strategy. 

Positioning 

Positioning means solidifying how consumers view Podesta Capital Apollon, both within their niche and against any of their competitors. 

With the takeaways gleaned from the work of Impact’s research and insights team, Podesta can clearly and confidently understand what their ideal audience is actually looking for, and show how they serve that exact need better than anyone else. 

Related Post: What Can Managed Marketing at Impact Do for You? 

Impact’s Process 

When any business begins a relationship with Impact, whether they’re looking for financial advisor marketing or anything else, we always begin with an assessment of the company’s current state, their goals, strengths and weaknesses, and how we can help them improve. 

Using the information gained from that assessment, we work with the client to craft a long-term marketing strategy. That strategy is designed to help them achieve the goals we uncovered during the assessment, and scale with them as the organization grows. 

Once the client approves our strategy, we begin a thorough research process of the business landscape, the client’s competitors, their audience, and anything else that might be relevant when building assets and campaigns. 

The insights from that research are what we use to then create any required materials. We never make guesses with our materials; they’re always informed by data — just like Podesta’s own strategy! 

“I loved the language of Podesta. When you’re writing for such an exclusive target, you get to dress it up a bit.” – Neil H., Copy Mentor” 

Our Insight 

Podesta relies on data, not hunches or emotion, to guide their investing decisions. Impact needed to find a way to help them stand out without relying on personality or individual expertise. 

Instead, the branding needed to embody their strong focus on directionality and their confidence in the data they use to make decisions. They needed something that is familiar and relatable, but not reliant on human characteristics. 

The Final Product 

“Directionality” ended up being the key to Podesta’s successful financial advisor marketing. We started by refreshing and simplifying their logo, which is an image of a compass — an item that is explicitly non-human, and not reliant on anyone’s personality, but still extremely familiar and widely understood. 

We then brought that same concept into every part of the user experience on their website. Desktop users look to all four sides of their screen to navigate the site, echoing the same compass idea. Plus, the design is filled with rich colors and a focus on type; a huge departure from the websites of their competitors which rely on stock photography and promises of stability. 

Just as Podesta modernized investing with advanced analytics, Impact was able to give them a completely modernized marketing strategy. 

In Conclusion 

While the go-to tactic for describing a brand is to rely on human-like adjectives or archetypes, by broadening your perspective, you can pick out the most accurate and precise direction for your business. 

Impact’s thorough understanding of Podesta Capital Apollon and extensive research drove the insight that led to the successful rebranding, positioning, and website development they needed. Today, their financial advisor marketing strategy is better for it. 

Learn more about what goes into refreshing your brand and maintaining a strong online user experience today with our free eBook: What Makes a Quality Website?