Meridian Wealth Advisors · Print · sample engagement
Plain-spoken stewardship
First-meeting conversion 31% → 52% · 2.3× referral pass-along
The brief
Meridian Wealth is a six-advisor, fee-only firm in Indianapolis whose referral growth had stalled. Their only leave-behind was a Word one-pager — and high-net-worth referrals expect institutional polish.
The brief: a capabilities brochure that survives SEC marketing-rule review on every page, makes no performance promises, prints offset, and reads as a PDF.
Success meant more first meetings becoming engagements, more referral pass-along, and brand recall two weeks after the meeting.
Constraints: SEC marketing-rule review every page · no performance promises · prints offset AND reads as PDF · partner headshots pending (slots).
How it was made
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Discovery
What a referrer actually hands a prospect is a stapled printout — and the room goes quiet after the meeting. Three centers-of-influence said the same thing: nothing tangible carries the trust forward. The gap, not the logo, was the real problem.
Leave-behind audit + COI quote board. -
Strategy
Position: “Plain-spoken stewardship.” Twelve pages, each spread doing one persuasion job — who we are, how we’re paid, process, proof, next step. The fee-only model becomes the hero, not the fine print. SEC-safe language agreed; gate ① signed.
Spread-by-spread architecture map. -
Concept
Three covers: Meridian Line, Brass Seal, Data Quiet. The seal read old-money stuffy; the data cover read too cold for a referral business that runs on warmth. The meridian line — a longitude crossing, precision and navigation — won without a single growth arrow.
Three covers — rejections preserved. -
Design
A twelve-column grid with generous offset margins, a transitional serif for presence, and brass restricted to one-point rules and the meridian node. The mark holds from a business card to a cover. Authority you can photocopy.
Design system sheet. -
Production
Offset spec: four-color process plus brass as a PMS match, 100-pound dull text, saddle-stitched. A PDF/X export profile makes the same file read on screen. Every spread clears an SEC marketing-rule checklist before it goes to plate.
Production spec + per-spread compliance sign-off. -
Results — how we measured
Measurement was designed in: first-meeting-to-engagement conversion over a twelve-meeting window, pass-along counted as extra-copy requests, recall tested unaided at two weeks. The numbers land in the cards below; the method travels to every engagement.
Conversion instrument (demonstrative).
The deliverable, live
This is the working deliverable itself — not a mockup of it.
Open full screen ↗Results demonstrative data
- 52%first meetings → engagements (from 31%)
- 2.3×referral pass-along requests
- 78%unaided recall at 2 weeks
- 0performance promises — SEC-safe
“We used to leave a printout and hope. Now we hand over something that looks like the advice feels — and clients pass it to their CPA without being asked.”
Managing partner persona, Meridian Wealth Advisors — demonstration quote
In the world
Where the system lives once it ships — shelf, hands, and street. photography in production
