Publications

Geoffrey Dohrmann
- November 1, 2024: Vol. 18, Number 10

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How to build a brand: There’s more to differentiating than a logo and a name

by Geoffrey Dohrmann

In my October 2024 editorial, “Are you a leading firm?”, we focused on how to develop investment strategy and philosophy statements to help investors understand what differentiates your approach from those of your competitors. The answer lies in where you focus vis-à-vis your competitors, and equally important, where you don’t focus — and your competitors do.

The point: Simply describing where you focus without clearly distinguishing what’s unique about where you focus doesn’t help investors understand how you’re different. The same is true for your philosophy statements. It’s not what you believe that matters here; it’s what you believe that your competitors apparently don’t, based on how they’ve assembled their portfolios.

I also underscored the fact that claiming to be “a leading firm” when your competitors claim to be the exact same thing doesn’t help much either. In fact, making any unsubstantiated claim only raises doubts in

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