Rebranding your advice practice to excel in today’s market

Updated on 9 September 2025 | 3 minute read | Brie Williams, Global Head of Advisory Solutions and Wealth Intelligence, State Street Investment Management

Your brand shapes the perception of your practice.
You may need to rebrand due to a merger, change in client demographics, or to improve messaging.
Conduct regular brand analysis to gauge your brand's perception in the marketplace.

Financial advisers who opt to establish their own advice practice often brand it using their own name. Essentially, the adviser is the brand. This founder-centric approach has proven to be a successful strategy for many, fostering a personal identity that can help build strong connections with potential and existing clients.

However, if it hasn’t evolved to keep pace with change, there may come a time when your existing brand or practice name may no longer fully reflect who you are and what distinguishes you in the market.

Deciding whether or when to rebrand isn’t always straightforward. Conducting regular brand analysis can be a valuable way to gauge brand effectiveness.

Renaming an advice practice is a form of rebranding. And, it represents a thoroughly considered decision often driven by the following needs:

Relevance: repositioning to a new market or demographic to compete more effectively, drive revenue, and grow market share
Continuity: flexibility to expand beyond an individual identity and establish a brand identity that better reflects your practice’s strengths and capabilities
Transition: transferability of a brand identity during changes in ownership or leadership, such as a retirement or the completion of a merger or acquisition event
Capabilities: a brand that extends the cachet of the practice’s identity across the entire team

Evolving your brand identity and positioning your practice for growth

The ever-changing landscape of wealth management presents a dynamic mix of challenges. These include the fall in the number of financial advisers in the market; evolving client demographics that reshape service and product expectations; and the rapid advancement of digitalisation. All these continually influence how your practice is perceived in the marketplace.

Your brand encompasses the entire ecosystem surrounding your advice practice. It shapes the impressions and perceptions of your prospects, clients, key stakeholders, and team members. It represents the cohesive workings of your practice, where various elements unite with a common purpose, deliberately designed and consistently executed.

Branding holds immense significance in the growth of a practice. And, as a practice evolves, rebranding becomes an inherent part of its lifecycle.

Here are common signals or events that may prompt the need for a rebrand:

Retirement of original advice practice’s owner(s) or lead adviser(s).
Completion of a practice merger or acquisition.
Significant change in the practice’s client demographics.
Significant change in specialisation, service mix, or engagement model.
Messaging (brand promise, market differentiators) is out of alignment with client preferences.

Rebrand to adapt and flourish: what to expect

With the right processes and mindset, your rebranding initiative can be the critical factor that propels your practice towards the next level of breakout growth. This is the case regardless of whether you opt for a partial rebrand (an optimised identity to better align with the service model and strategic approach) or a total rebrand (a reimagined identity to signify a change in strategic direction for the practice).

The perceived quality of a brand is important in any industry - just ask Coles and Woolworths - and it also matters in financial services. Perceived quality is the most positively correlated factor with propensity to buy for financial intermediaries when looking at investments^1.

Rebranding is a comprehensive process that involves multiple steps and stakeholders and requires a substantial investment of time and resources. While your specific approach to rebranding will depend on the unique requirements of your advice practice, understanding why you are doing it is an important first step.