How to better connect with clients through nostalgia marketing

Many advisory firms are feeling the pressure of competing with robo-advisers.
They’re trying to figure out how to incorporate an automated investment platform into their practice in order to keep up with this technology trend. But does it even make sense for advisers to try to compete using the premise of being on the cutting edge of technology? Most advisory firms don’t possess the truly innovative technology that would clearly set them apart from the competition, so it isn’t likely to benefit them to try to compete at this level. And yet they are trying.
When the trend among advisory firms is to become more tech savvy, an opportunity emerges to stand out from the crowd by going in the opposite direction and embracing the old. This can be done through nostalgia marketing.
Nostalgia is a sentimental longing or affection for the past, usually associated with one’s childhood or adolescence. Professional marketers and advertisers have found that nostalgia is one of the most powerful emotional tools we have. For advisers who are looking to create an emotional connection with prospects from the outset, nostalgia is that tool. Reminiscing about a seemingly simpler time creates feelings of comfort, happiness and connectedness — feelings most advisory firms would love both current and prospective clients to associate with them.
The first step in embracing nostalgia marketing is to identify the era that will resonate with your prospects and clients. Analyze your client base and pinpoint the decades when your clients were children or young adults. For example, if your clients are baby boomers, those decades could be anywhere between the 1950s and ’70s. For Gen Xers, they will be the ’70s through the ’90s. And millennials will be attracted to the ’90s and early 2000s.
Once you have identified the era, think about what was important to your ideal client during their childhood that you could connect to your brand. Answer the questions below to start brainstorming ideas that will resonate with your clients and prospects. If you aren’t in the same age group as your ideal client, consider bringing together a focus group so that your answers are authentic and not stereotypes.
• What are some of the traditions your clients would have had (e.g., holiday or seasonal traditions)?
• What were the key cultural moments for that generation?
• What would be some of the cherished memories your clients share?
• What images would they associate with adolescence?
• What products and services would have been integral to their life (e.g. PanAm, Polaroid, the Walkman)?
• What cars would they have driven?
• What music would they have listened to?
• What movies and TV shows would they have watched?
• Which toys or games would they have played with?
Once you have identified the elements that would resonate with your ideal client, it’s time to think about how to integrate these concepts into your marketing. Here are just a few ways:
•Build nostalgia into your brand. If nostalgia fits your company culture, consider integrating it into your brand. One advisory firm I work with built an entire brand around Americana, evoking a sense of nostalgia for simpler times. You can see how they integrated this concept in their company video.
• Host an event. Events can be a great way to transport clients and prospects to the past. For example, over the holidays you could rent out a classic movie theater and show the sing-along version of “The Sound of Music.” Or, during the fall, you could host an apple picking excursion.
• Work with images. Use retro images in your email marketing, social media and even advertising campaigns. You can see how financial planner and commentator Michael Kitces has incorporated this strategy with his new pixelated avatar — an image that deeply resonates with children of the ’80s.
• Get creative with gifts and promotional products. Even if you don’t incorporate nostalgia into any other part of your marketing, you can still do it through gifts and promotional products. Instead of giving away a standard coffee mug with your logo, for example, consider presenting a mason jar with your logo etched on it.
As with any good marketing campaign, the key to a winning nostalgia marketing strategy is to be authentic and consistent. You don’t want to overdo it or make it feel contrived, thus turning off clients and turning away prospects. Always, the goal is to emotionally connect, and truly recalling the pleasures of simpler times can be a great way to do that.
Kristen Luke is co-founder and marketing consultant at Kaleido Inc. You can follow her on Twitter at @kristenluke.