Tara Ryan, Partner and Chief Marketing Officer at Cerity Partners, and Rob Stella, CFP®, Head of Marketing at Compound Planning both stepped into their roles in 2023 at very different moments in their firms’ growth.
But they agree that engaging in public relations was one of the fastest ways to earn credibility at scale.
In the latest episode of Marketing Matchup, Tara revealed that working with a PR partner was one of the first decisions she made after joining Cerity. Her reasoning was straightforward. PR creates awareness and credibility in a way few other channels can match, especially for firms that are not household names.
“I feel that PR is the absolute best bang for your buck from a brand awareness perspective,” Tara said. “It gets your thought leaders out into the world. It’s a longer-term game, but it compounds over time.”
Here’s why it works. Advisors gain confidence when their firm is quoted by respected media outlets. In turn, prospects encounter third-party validation from independent sources, sometimes well before their first call with an advisor. In this way, PR builds both internal and external trust.
Rob reinforced the point from Compound’s perspective, describing how he initially handled PR himself to prove its value.
“I bootstrapped it for the first 12 to 18 months internally,” he said. “We launched a press release, saw where it got picked up, and then looked at the traffic and leads it drove. Once we could show the data, it was clear this was worth investing in.”
Modern RIA marketing depends on systems that scale
Tara and Rob found that the ability to sustain that growth and credibility depended on structured, systematic processes instead of one-off, individual work.
“It took me a good six months to really get into the rhythm of what it means to welcome new partners to the firm and get everyone aligned under one message and one brand,” Tara said. “A lot of my focus was on the team and building a world-class marketing team,” Tara said. “Not just what we need today, but what we’re going to need three to five years from now.”
Rob started with messaging, and then created repeatable systems that Compound Planning advisors could use every day.
“It was about having one story, many voices,” Rob said. “Giving advisors something they could actually use without feeling like they were doing marketing.”
Watch the full conversation below, or download the latest episode of Marketing Matchup on your favorite podcast platform!
