Study from Top 10 Financial PR Firm Highlights Brand Differentiation Issues Plaguing RIA Firms

Gregory Study Finds 94% of CNBC FA 100 Firms Use Interchangeable Brand Language; Older Firms Are the Worst Offenders

PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The best financial advisors in America manage billions of dollars and serve clients for decades. But when it comes to telling the world what makes them different, most of them say exactly the same thing.

A new deep-site brand analysis conducted by Gregory, a strategic communications firm, examined all 100 firms on the CNBC Financial Advisor 100 and found that 94 of those firms score below 8 out of 10 for brand originality. Forty-two percent of the list scored in the "generic" range, with website copy that could be swapped firm-to-firm without a single reader noticing. Six firms scored below 4, deploying up to 25 clichéd phrases across their primary web pages.

"These are extraordinary businesses as defined by decades of performance, extraordinary client loyalty, billions under management," said Joe Anthony, president of Gregory. "But their websites all say the same thing with terms like comprehensive, personalized, fiduciary, holistic, goals-based, and peace of mind littering the pages. When every firm sounds identical, none of them sounds credibly differentiated. The cliché crisis isn't a branding problem. It's a business development problem. And the firms with the courage to sound like themselves are winning the next generation of clients before their competitors even get a meeting."

More About the Findings: A CRISIS OF SAMENESS

Gregory's analysis scored each firm on a 1-to-10 originality scale after pulling and reviewing homepage, About Us, Philosophy, and Services pages. The 20 most common wealth management clichés were tracked across all sites.

The results were stark:

• Average originality score across all 100 firms: 5.86 / 10
• Only 6 of 100 firms scored in the "truly distinctive" range (8.0 or above)
• 42% of firms scored in the "generic" range (4.0–5.9), producing copy interchangeable with any competitor
• 6 firms scored below 4.0 — walls of clichés with no identifiable differentiation

The 10 most frequently appearing clichés across all 100 sites:

1. goals / goal-based — found on virtually every site
2. fiduciary — used by approximately 85% of firms
3. personalized / tailored — approximately 80%
4. independent — approximately 70%
5. long-term — approximately 75%
6. comprehensive — approximately 65%
7. best interest / clients first — approximately 70%
8. trusted / trust — approximately 60%
9. holistic — approximately 45%
10. peace of mind — approximately 40%

THE TENURE TRAP: THE OLDER THE FIRM, THE WORSE THE COPY

One of the study's most striking findings: firms with the longest track records are the most likely to deploy the most clichéd language.

Firms founded before 1985 scored lower on average than younger firms, a pattern Gregory calls "The Tenure Trap." Success over decades can create a false confidence that reputation alone closes new business. However, it's more likely that with this new generation of high-net-worth clients will conduct due diligence online before making a single phone call. This could leave firms with a stale, undifferentiated web presence left out of some valuable opportunities.

"The firms that have been around the longest have shown a tendency to be complacent about how they communicate," Anthony said. "They built their client base on referrals and relationships and never had to earn attention in a competitive marketplace. That era is over."

THE WINNERS: FIRMS THAT SOUND LIKE THEMSELVES

The study identified six firms that scored 8.0 or above — companies whose brand language is specific, memorable, and impossible to confuse with a competitor.

Cadinha & Co. (Honolulu, HI) — Score: 8.5

Leads with "Worth. Worthy. Beyond Net Worth." — a tradeable concept rooted in Hawaiian cultural values that reframes the entire client relationship. Their claim of "unconventional financial planning" is backed by copy that actually earns it.

Birch Hill Investment Advisors (Boston, MA) — Score: 8.5

The lowest cliché count (1) of any firm with substantive website copy in the study. Leads with "At Birch Hill, investing is our first responsibility" and closes with "Your wealth is yours today. Whose should it be tomorrow?" The firm's description of its Tuesday morning investment committee meetings is the most vivid, specific piece of brand content in the entire study.

Chevy Chase Trust Company (Bethesda, MD) — Score: 8.5

Manages $44+ billion for 1,241 households, with a 97% client retention rate over 10 years, and builds its brand around a specific, named investment philosophy: Global Thematic Investing. The firm's positioning, "Thematic Investing is the antithesis of style box investing," is a bold, clear statement of differentiation that no competitor could steal.

Henry H. Armstrong Associates (Pittsburgh, PA) — Score: 8.0

Leads with what it won't do. A "What We Don't Do" section counter-positions the firm against Wall Street momentum investing. "We eat our own cooking" is stated as policy, not metaphor. Three total clichés across all primary pages.

Woodley Farra Manion (Indianapolis, IN) — Score: 8.0

Opens with a single sentence that captures the entire investment philosophy: "Noah did not start building the Ark when it was raining." No competitor can use that line. No algorithm can generate it. It is specific, visual, and unforgettable. You might speculate that the firm’s creativity has something to do with its sustained success, as it was ranked #1 on the CNBC FA 100 in 2022.

Constellation Wealth Advisors (Cincinnati, OH) — Score: 8.0

Leads with one of the most self-aware positioning statements in the study: "We've set out to actually do what others say they do." Every firm claims to be different. Constellation is the only one that makes the claim by calling out the claim itself.

ABOUT THE METHODOLOGY

Gregory conducted its analysis using its proprietary AI agent, purpose-built for financial services intelligence and capable of surfacing emerging trends and under-the-radar insights across the wealth management industry.

Firms studied: All 100 firms on the CNBC Financial Advisor 100 (2025) list.

Pages reviewed: For each firm, the analysis reviewed the homepage, About Us/Our Story, Investment Philosophy/Our Approach, and Services pages, where distinctive positioning language was most likely to appear.

Cliché tracking: 20 terms were tracked for frequency of appearance: comprehensive, personalized, tailored, customized, trusted/trust, holistic, fiduciary, independent, peace of mind, goals/goal-based, partnership, journey, financial wellness/wellbeing, achieve your/their goals, best interest/clients first, disciplined, long-term, wealth management (self-referential), dedicated, client-centric.

Scoring rubric (1.0–10.0):

- 9–10: Trademarked or proprietary concept. Memorable. No competitor could use this brand.

- 7–8: Distinctive voice and clear positioning. Specific client focus. Minor clichés only.

- 5–6: One genuine differentiator. Clichés present but not dominant.

- 3–4: Generic. Three to five top-20 clichés in primary pages. Interchangeable with competitors.

- 1–2: Wall of clichés. No differentiation. Could belong to any firm on the list.

Important note: Originality scores reflect the quality and distinctiveness of consumer-facing brand copy only — not investment performance, client service quality, AUM growth, or any other business metric. Several of the lowest-scoring firms are also among the highest-performing by traditional measures. The Cliché Crisis is a communications problem, not a performance problem — but in an era of heightened digital due diligence, communications and performance are increasingly inseparable.

About Gregory

Gregory is a strategic communications firm serving financial services, technology, and professional services clients. Gregory's AI-powered research practice is designed to find the stories that haven't been written yet — emerging trends, overlooked data, and brand gaps that create media and market opportunities for clients.