An effective marketing and management consultant helps organizations transform their business for optimal growth. The most astute consultants in their field not only bring industry expertise, knowledge, and strategic insights – they change the way you think about your business. These game changers bring a wealth of experience and proven perspectives that drive sustainable results and revenue.
Tiffany Markarian, Managing Director and Founder of Advantus Marketing, LLC, is among the elite marketing consultants in the financial services industry. She is renowned for helping financial advisors and professionals gain clarity in their business, develop deeper relationships with clients, and create a more powerful presence in their marketplace.
The Journey of Empowerment
Markarian has personally coached hundreds of registered investment advisers (RIAs), wealth managers, broker/dealers, insurance brokerage firms, and financial institutions in driving productivity, practice equity, and overall growth. She began her professional journey in 1995, serving as a Director of Marketing for Allmerica Financial, Senior Consultant at New England Financial/MetLife, and Director of Marketing for John Hancock/Signator Investors, Inc. She additionally served as the Director of Business Development for a Massachusetts wealth management firm for seven years prior to forming Advantus Marketing in 2014.
Markarian is a sought-after speaker at financial industry conferences, including the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA), the National Association of Independent Life Brokerage Agencies (NAILBA), the Financial Planning Association (FPA), the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA), the Association of Home Office Underwriters (AHOU), and the Society of Financial Services Professionals (FSP), to name a few.
She is an esteemed author for financial publications, most notably, NAPFA Magazine, Advisor Magazine, Life & Health Advisor, NAILBA Perspectives, Aspire Magazine, and the GAMA International Journal for her success in helping firms and advisors increase the equity value of their practice and strengthen client relationships. As a marketing strategist, she guides financial advisors and firms in navigating competition to capture business opportunities.
Transforming Advisory Practices
Markarian’s firm, Advantus Marketing, is a private marketing and management consulting firm devoted to helping financial professionals advance their business momentum. The firm empowers financial professionals to scale their practice and articulate their value to clients in this saturated marketplace.
Markarian’s clientele encompasses RIAs, independent broker-dealers (IBDs), career agencies, brokerage general agencies (BGAs), and wirehouses.
Advantus Marketing’s services include customized marketing guidance and coaching, brand development and positioning, client cultivation strategies, executive branding and team alignment, niche market development, and strategic planning. The firm focuses on each client’s internal systems, team dynamics, service models, and desired marketplaces. Equipped with these insights, Advantus guides clients in identifying untapped opportunities for business expansion. The firm gets in the trenches with each client to help them make informed decisions and achieve real progress.
Increasing Closing Ratios and Client Retention
Markarian’s training and keynote presentations help financial advisors increase their closing ratios and retain client relationships. She additionally provides training specifically for corporate entities and their staff on executive branding and advisor recruiting.
All services and offerings are based on the needs of advisors and changes in the financial advisory landscape. The firm is relentless in staying ahead of trends that affect financial professionals in their practice.
Distinction in the Financial Services Industry
With 30 years of experience in the financial services industry, Markarian’s reputation for results is unparalleled. She launched Advantus Marketing with a singular objective – to provide financial advisors and professionals with inside knowledge of marketing that goes beyond what is available through institutions, broker/dealers, and other corporate entities. The firm is bound by the values, objectives, and needs of the financial advisors it serves, not corporate budgets, shifting corporate leadership strategies, or agendas.
What clients say about Tiffany Markarian is “She brings out the necessary bits and pieces that many consultants overlook. She doesn’t think like anybody else. She is a true driver and gets the results you are looking for.”
Impacting Growth and Revenue
Markarian is one of the top marketing strategists for getting financial firms and advisors out of complacency. She employs a deep discovery process to uncover the hidden threats and stumbling blocks within each client’s organization. She has helped numerous firms achieve double-digit growth in assets under management, profitability, and average advisor production. In particular, she helps firms turn around stagnancy and scale their services more efficiently.
Markarian addresses the critical issues that plague a firm’s client discovery and sales process. She helps advisors ask the right questions during engagement meetings and teaches them how to pique the curiosity of others. She steers advisors away from excessive service and process-centric dialogue. Instead, she guides advisors towards more impactful approaches when marketing to prospective clients. She then helps them create workflows and align roles and responsibilities to elevate their client experience and create capacity for new initiatives.
Accolades and Achievements
Markarian’s clients will further tell you that, “Tiffany’s approach is miles beyond the generic cookie-cutter approaches all too common with professional marketing agencies. She helps you overcome historical sticking points so you can get the results you are looking for. She brings a much-needed level of accountability to your business.”
Both Markarian and Advantus Marketing have won numerous awards and accolades, including being named one of the “Top 10 Marketing Strategists in the Financial Industry” by Financial Services Review magazine in 2023. In 2020, she was awarded the “Chairman’s Award” from the National Association of Independent Life Brokerage Agencies. In 2019, her online course, “Client Segmentation: Identifying Opportunities in Your Book of Business” was the Top Advisor Course on the Hoopis Performance Network (HPN) University.
Distinct Company Culture
Markarian and Advantus Marketing focus their energies on helping others become leaders in their field and the best in their craft. The firm’s staff not only works on projects; they are invited to present and share their work with clients. Team members are allowed to see first-hand the impact of their efforts. Appreciation and tenacity are the foundation of its company culture. Advantus Marketing also has a unique corporate brand feature. Its company mascot is a 1965 Seeburg jukebox that spins a massive collection of over 1,200 vinyl 45 records in the office.
Entrepreneurial Beliefs and Advice
According to Markarian, an entrepreneur should:
- Lead and inspire their clients and team members.
- Study industry competitors to understand their strengths and weaknesses and distinctively position the firm’s services.
- Identify unserved lanes for marketing and business development opportunities.
- Focus on critical and strategic thinking to understand how to navigate changing industry landscapes.
- Master the art and science of sales and business management.
- Set the tone for an elevated client and customer experience by inspecting service levels across all levels of the organization.
- Adapt their value proposition to the needs of their markets and understand the metrics and KPIs (key performance indicators) required for sustainable revenue and results.
- And above all, never be satisfied in business. There will always be someone trying to do it better than you.
