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If I was David Elms, chief executive of IFA Promotion, that champion of all things to do with independent financial advice, I would be currently banging the proverbial ‘drum’ louder than ever before. That is, the drum that plays the music of independent financial advice. For never has the nation needed to hear it more than it does now.

Indeed, having just helped out my youngest son on a little bit of history homework about the First World War, I – if I was wearing Elms’ size 11 shoes – would be getting printed PDQ a mountain of copies of that famous poster starring Horatio Herbert Kitchener.

I would then send it recorded delivery to all the offices of all those lovely IFAs whose details are currently to be found on that splendid Unbiased website – 17,000 registered advisers spread across 9000 firms. If Mr Elms so desired, I would not be averse to him superimposing his rugged face on the poster.

Along with a copy of the poster screaming ‘Your country needs you’, I would enclose a short and crisp note from Mr Elms stating: “Dear adviser, please put this poster in such a position within your office – inside of the toilet door if necessary – that it is the first thing you see in the morning before getting down to a hard day’s work. It is there to remind you that your services have never been needed so much. Comrades, get out and about and demonstrate that when it comes to fighting the impact of the credit crunch, rising energy bills and rampaging inflation, there is no better fixer than a financial planner.”

I am sure it would have a positive impact because there is no doubt there are tens of thousands of households up and down the country who would currently benefit from quality independent financial advice – if only they knew that premium quality financial advice was widely available and if only they did not associate financial advisers with the commission-grabbing salesmen of the late 1970s and 1980s. And if only more financial planners were a little more imaginative – and a little braver – when it came to marketing their professional services.

My call for Mr Elms to follow in Lord Kitchener’s footsteps comes in the wake of research done by Zurich, a company that incidentally – having just mentioned commission grabbing salesmen – has successfully digested the Allied Dunbar brand – Allied Crowbar to its pained customers – and survived to fight another day, no mean feat.

The main conclusion to be drawn from Zurich’s research is pretty damning about the financial adviser sector’s ability to market its wares to the public.

According to the gnomes of Zurich, 57 per cent of adults surveyed have never used a financial adviser in their life. Although the percentage of adults who are non-users of financial advisers is understandably highest among the young, it remains above the 50 per cent across all age groups. There are other damning figures. Seven out of 10 single adults have never sought financial advice while 65 per cent of Midlanders admit they have never been anywhere near an adviser.

I will leave it to Tony Solomon, a director of Zurich, to sum up what the research tells us because I can’t find better words. Mr Solomon said: “The sheer number of people walking blind into their financial decision-making presents a disturbing trend in society and an alarming picture for the future. It is troubling to know that more than half of the population has never sought financial advice at a time when they most need it.”

There is more from the gospel of Solomon and it is this bit which I find most pertinent: “Today’s volatile markets present both a challenge and an opportunity to financial advisers to add real value and to demonstrate their expertise. With the burdening debt crisis and current economic situation, people need financial advice now more than ever; yet an alarming 71 per cent of individuals are not even considering reviewing their finances. The decision to seek financial guidance is a step in the right direction towards setting up a long-term plan to survive the credit crunch and prepare financially for their old age.”

Mr Solomon ends his little adviser rant by saying: “We believe the challenge for the future lies in promoting the importance of financial advice, especially to the younger generation who might not realise the value it offers.”

Mr Solomon is right. The financial services industry, through the offices of Ifap, needs to be doing far more to promote the virtues of independent financial advice. Although I love the website – and it should be justifiably proud of the fact that over the past year 575,000 consumers and businesses have used it to find local independent financial advice – it should be doing more.

It should have a far bigger budget, far more sponsors than the measly 29 it currently has – why no Jupiter? no Fidelity? no Gartmore? – and it should be far bolder in getting the value of independent financial advice over to the nation. Maybe it should absorb the Association of IFAs because I am still not quite sure what value Aifa provides the nation.

Of course, Lord Elms, today’s adviser version of Lord Horatio Herbert Kitchener, cannot be expected to do it all. Advisers, themselves, also need to come out of the shadows and promote their virtues far better than they currently do. Most seem incredibly shy, as if they are not proud to wear the IFA badge.

If it is reassurance you are after, dig out the Zurich research yourselves because buried away in the detail is one revealing fact: seven out of 10 people would recommend their financial adviser to a friend, colleague or relative. Your country needs you. Do not forget it. Get out and show your mettle. Seize the moment. Show the public you are there, first and foremost, to make them money.

Jeff Prestridge is personal finance editor of Financial Mail On Sunday