The Five Tackiest Advisor Website Photos

What I like about this idea, however, is that instead of the cheesy shots of the retired couple holding hands walking on the beach (I’ll get to that one later – it ranked highly on my list), this photo shows people doing the number-one activity that retirement will 100% certainly bring.

And what is that?

Babysitting.

You may not be on the W2 parade anymore, but don’t think for a minute that retirement is going to be free of work!

4. Advisor meeting with clients

This invariably is the same picture on every advisor web site. An advisor and client or couple are seated around a table with the advisor pointing to a graph or pie chart. The clients look utterly fascinated. They look so intrigued that you would think the advisor had just invented the equivalent of the efficient markets hypothesis.

Let’s be real – nobody is that interested in a pie chart.

Aren’t advisors all saying that you’re the best listeners on Earth? That’s what I read on all your websites! You’re the ones who care, kiss, hug, and care again to the extent that you narrowly missed being the prototype for the latest Care Bear. These photos imply the opposite; you’re portraying yourself as more interested in the facts and figures from your world than what clients really care about, which is understanding theirs.

If these pictures are stock photos (images you purchase rather than produce yourself), any time the advisor is meeting with the couple, the couple is always hetereosexual and monoracial. I’m not saying this is true 100% of the time; but most of the time there is much more diversity in retirement imagery than on advisor websites. How about a picture of a homosexual couple? How about an advisor working with two people in a multi-racial marriage?

Now, before half the CFP board takes to Twitter to rant at me, let me make my position clear. I support diversity. In fact, I just did a podcast on how advisors can raise the level of diversity in their practices (shout out to my guest Jocelyn Wright, diversity advocate)..

People of all races, ethnicities, backgrounds and sexual preferences are seeking financial advice. Give the people you want to reach something they can relate to better, an image that reflects how life really is. Take pictures of your own clients if need be.

It’ll set you apart.

3. Smiling young couple

The couple looks to be in their 20s or 30s, dressed like J. Crew models, fresh-faced and glowing as they gaze into a laptop computer.

We all know the deplorable state of finances for most of Generation Y and even some of Gen X. Calling it wealth management is a misnomer because more often than not it has more to do with debt than with money. Who smiles that hard when they’re talking about their six-figure school loans?

I’m not saying that there aren’t some wealthy millennials, or that the work advisors do with these groups isn’t impactful and helpful. But for the average 20- or 30-year old (those who could be pried away from their roboadvisors), the mood isn’t as light as these pictures suggest – if you even meet in person, that is.

2. Advisor and team at a meeting

I love these advisor team meeting photos.

The advisor is standing up in a suit, gesturing or explaining something on a whiteboard and the team is completely fascinated as if they are hearing the most brilliant idea since Eugene Fama.

Let’s be honest about what really happens at these advisor team meetings. Call me opinionated (which I am) but it’s been my experience that there’s a good amount of disagreement at these meetings. I’ve seen things get ugly, trust me. And most of the time there’s at least one person distracted by their iPhone.

What would be more realistic, instead of this picture of everyone playing follow the leader? Show some healthy debate – politely, of course. It would align more with how people really do behave.

1. Retired couple walking on the beach

I saved this one for last because it’s the tackiest of them all.

Most of images depicting retirement are of a retired couple (same gripes as #2 apply here) doing one of a few things: walking along a beach hand-in-hand or with arms around each other’s waists, sipping champagne at an elegant restaurant, biking jubilantly next to each other down a rustic mountain path, sitting on a dock or enjoying the view from their sailboat. So in love, you can see the butterflies in their stomachs.

I’ve said before in other articles that the mountain, beach and lake scenery is an advisor cliché. But it’s not just that. Here’s what irks me most about this saccharine-sweet image.

It’s essentially a picture of how teenagers look on their first date, which is ridiculous given that these people are supposed to be on the verge of retirement. Do you know any couple who’s been together that long and is that infatuated and googly-eyed anymore? The more time you spend with someone, the more pain becomes inevitable. This is supposed to be retirement planning, not wedding planning for newlyweds. The honeymoon has been over for a while if they’ve gotten far enough to hold a joint account with Fidelity.

And let me ask you this: Do retired people really go on vacation that much? I mean, it’s still expensive, even if you have an advisor capable of such miracles as all you say you are. Why don’t you depict what people really spend the most of their time doing?

• Watching TV
• Sleeping
• Eating
• Food shopping
• Going to doctor’s appointments

Not quite as glamorous.

How to de-tackify your website

The best option is to have a company photoshoot and invite some clients or centers of influence to pose. Make sure they’re behaving more like how people really act rather than what you think you should be showing.

I’m ranting with vitriol. But sometimes I have no choice but to recommend that my clients use stock photos. In many cases, clients refuse to hold a professional shoot engendering real shots of them and their clients, or just don’t have time to get around to it. Stock photos are not ideal, but they are necessary if you don’t have better options.

Admittedly pictures of people are more welcoming and humanizing than cold images of inanimate objects. However, if the first two options aren’t possible, you could hire a freelance graphic designer to create some custom-made artwork.

Whatever you decide, make sure that the photos you go with are true to your brand and give the people you want to connect with something they will relate to, not just what you think will matter to them. Ask for feedback if you’re not sure.

Sara’s Upshot

For a profession that lives and dies by your ability to relate to other people, most canned stock images fall far from that. If this is something you’re thinking about and you want to run ideas by me, feel free to reach out on APViewpoint.

For more creative marketing ideas that will give prospects something to bark about, follow my podcast here.

Sara Grillo, CFA, is a top financial writer with a focus on marketing and branding for investment management, financial planning, and RIA firms. Prior to launching her own firm, she was a financial advisor and worked at Lehman Brothers. Sara graduated from Harvard with a degree in English literature and has an MBA from NYU Stern in quantitative finance.

Read more articles by Sara Grillo