The Financial Planning Association (FPA) has declared its intention to increase the awareness of its Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designation among consumers, with the aim of giving the professional mark more credibility.
“The CFP mark is an internationally recognised symbol of excellence in financial planning, which essentially means it is a mark of quality assurance, and that’s how we want the public to perceive it,” FPA general manager, public relations and communications, Susan Grice said.
To achieve this goal, the second tier of the association’s value of advice campaign will involve the CFP mark being actively promoted alongside the FPA brand.
“Our advice for the strategic marketing end was that in order to establish a campaign and begin to build the broad awareness of the need for professional advice, we needed first of all to go out branding this just as the FPA.
“The second step would be to build awareness of the CFP designation as the most highly qualified and most experienced financial planners,” Grice said.
“That’s not to say the first phase didn’t address CFP at all, it did … but the actual advertisements themselves did not include the CFP branding. That’s a step we are now looking to take in year two, so we can begin to introduce the CFP brand alongside the FPA brand and build that public awareness,” she explained.
The push to improve community awareness of the CFP mark follows other moves already introduced to strengthen the professional designation.
In August 2005, the FPA initiated the requirement of CFPs to be degree qualified by July 1, 2007.
And just last month, the proposal to scrap the requirement for CFPs to be employed by an Australian Financial Services licensee that is a principal member of the FPA was forwarded for implementation on July 1, 2007, as well.
The FPA is also continuing to offer guidance as to the proper use of the professional certification by its members.
