When Brendan Sheehan, MSFP, CFP®, managing director of Waymark Wealth Management, first began running his financial advisory firm back in 2013, the landscape of digital marketing was completely different.
Having been in the industry since 2001, Brendan was intimately familiar with what it takes to build a successful business. But after buying out his partner in 2019, he found himself at a crossroads, trying to decide how to move the business forward.
As Brendan explains, “I was pretty much at the alpha omega of making decisions. I wanted to have a better online presence and one that allowed me to do pull marketing as opposed to going out and cold calling and doing all that kind of financial planner nonsense that you need to do when you first start the business.”
A Chance Encounter
Brendan’s first career after college was in marketing, so he was well aware of the time and attention needed to execute well on his own marketing plans.
“One of the things that my former business partner once said to me is to delegate everything except for your unique expertise. Since I couldn’t say that I was excellent at marketing, I used that mantra to say, okay, I need to delegate the marketing.”
With the idea that he needed to find some help with his marketing in the back of his mind, it was while he was listening to a podcast that he heard someone recommend Crystal Marketing Solutions.
“The host, Michael Kitces, was talking to the guest, Kristen Luke, about working with billion-dollar companies and marketing for very big companies. One of the questions he asked was for companies not dealing with a billion dollars in assets, who would you recommend? They said Crystal Marketing Solutions. I immediately contacted her and told her I’d just started my firm and was in need of some help with my online presence.”
Creating a Six-Month Plan
After their initial conversation, Brendan felt Crystal and her team would be an ideal fit.
“Michael Kitces’ referral held a lot of weight. He's an analytical guy and he wouldn't throw any old name out there. He interviews other qualified people, so when he gave Crystal’s name, I knew I could immediately give her the benefit of the doubt that she knows what she's doing. I was willing to give the team six months and see how it went.”
With a six-month plan to see how Crystal Marketing Solutions could support Brendan’s business goals, he and Crystal worked collaboratively to prioritize what they wanted to accomplish.
“I’d just purchased the business. So there's always trepidation there, that you’re the first and last line of defense. I needed to grow the business but the challenge was that not enough people knew about us. It really came down to wanting to create a bigger footprint and make sure that people were aware that we're out there, we were accepting clients, and that we offered a service that many people need.”
With a plan in place, Crystal Marketing Solutions was able to get to work — starting with increasing Waymark Wealth’s social media presence.
“We’d never really touched LinkedIn and once Crystal’s team started working on it I’d be constantly getting notifications that said things like “40 people have looked at your LinkedIn post.” Then I’d go look and see what was getting all the attention. I had to do zero work to make that happen! That in and of itself is huge because here’s this whole part of my business that’s being run without me having to even think about it. As a business owner that's exactly what you want — you delegate something and it gets done and you don't have to micromanage it.”
Avoiding gimmicky tactics, CMS focuses on building relationships with Waymark’s social media audience by developing authenticity and credibility, aimed at attracting more qualified leads.
Marketing that Makes an Impact Through Customization
Brendan attributes the influx of new clients Waymark has signed over the past year to the collaborative, customized, results-oriented marketing partnership with CMS.
When asked about results from working with the CMS team, Brendan shared this: “I know we're getting positive results from it because I have people who say, ‘hey I saw that thing you posted on LinkedIn’ or ‘I really liked what you posted on Facebook the other day.’ We want to position ourselves out there as a thought leader and I think the content Crystal and her team create for us definitely does exactly that.”
In addition to working on social media, Crystal Marketing solutions were also able to provide customized solutions designed to strengthen the relationships Waymark had with their clients. “CMS’s team brought so many things to the table to help simplify and increase efficiency. For example, the customizable newsletter templates. We can send them out as-is or we can customize them. It’s gotten the newsletter to a point where it’s the Waymark newsletter and not just a canned financial planner newsletter. We've been able to add our little touches, which are critical when your business relies on relationships.”
More than customization, Brendan was also looking for opportunities to personalize communications, and possibly explore some content mediums he hadn’t yet tapped into.
“We’ve been able to add a personal touch, which matters. Both my colleague and I both have young kids, so we always share things about the kids, the dogs, or something specific to us. CMS was flexible enough and collaborative enough that we were able to take something that was kind of templated and turn it into something that was ours. Now we've just started doing small, like five to ten minute videos on a bi-weekly basis, tackling industry topics like inflation, charitable donations, and more. It’s just one more way to give our clients a more personal experience — talking about the things that matter to them.”
Waymark Wealth was also able to leverage the Crystal Marketing Solutions team’s skills to redesign the website and work on a rebranding that included a new logo and a customized brand voice guide to ensure all marketing communications are consistent, coherent, and on-brand.
“Working with the CMS team is truly an efficient collaboration. Everything happens automatically, and I don't even have to think about it so that's huge.”
CMS Becomes an Integral Part of the Business
While their initial engagement was planned for six months, Brendan is now two years into his working relationship with Crystal Marketing Solutions — and things are better than ever. Waymark’s business has grown during this partnership as a direct result of consistent collaborative marketing efforts.
“I definitely lean on Crystal and her team a lot. They’ve become an integral part of my business. You can tell that Crystal's just put together amazing systems, but that are flexible enough to make it so that it doesn't feel to the end-user as something that's commoditized. She helps financial planners create something that’s unique to you and really broadcasts your message and your brand.”
Best of all, Brendan has someone acting as a trusted sounding board that he can collaborate with, while also counting on them to keep his marketing strategy on the right path.
“They're the experts and I really want their opinion. If they think that I'm totally off base, I want them to call me out on it. There have been a couple of times where I'd suggest something and they pushed back and said it wasn’t really the right way to go. I appreciate that because I didn't want a yes person who lets me put out low-quality content. I wanted someone to actually challenge me and I really appreciate that accountability.”
When asked what Brendan would share with anyone considering working with Crystal Marketing Solutions, he had said he’d refer the agency without hesitation.
“I would 110% recommend Crystal and her team. In fact, I’ve already referred them to a couple of folks and I even have a little elevator pitch I use. If you're spending time on stuff that's lower than what your hourly rate is, you need to delegate that. It's not a choice, it's a need. Why wouldn’t you use an excellent marketing firm like Crystal Marketing Solutions instead? I’ve been extremely happy with the quality of work consistently delivered by CMS.”
This case study was conducted and constructed by a third party on behalf of CMS. This reflects a summary of an actual client experience and is intended to serve as an example of what it is like to work with CMS. While CMS prides itself on consistency with our work and relationship, no results can be guaranteed.