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Public Relations
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Write Your Own News Releases, Become Known Locally |
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Friday, April 13, 2012 16:16
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The news release is alive and well and often published verbatim by local media outlets, but few financial advisors take advantage of this. With staff cuts at press outlets and the constant need for content for various multimedia, there is an opportunity for advisors to write and distribute their own news releases and become known locally.
If you're a private wealth advisor, please join Advisors4Advisors (A4A) to get its full benefits. Register now, and we will donate $20 of our $60 membership fee to Bubbles The Clown’s financial literacy program, and you can post an icon on your website saying you support Bubbles' 501(c)3 charitable organization. Plus, get other membership benefits, including: - Analysis daily of issues affecting advisors
- Aggregation of news from dozens of sites targeting wealth managers
- Reviews by advisors of practice management applications
- 30 independent experts blogging on advisor business issues
- 24/7 access to webinars with 50 hours of CFP® CE and 100 hours of IMCA CE
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The first question advisors ask is, “How do I know what’s news?” Changes to your business are often news, such as new hires, company milestones and anniversaries, new offerings, changes in service. Local media want to cover local happenings in their local business community.
The next question an advisor often asks is, “How do I write a news release?” There is a standard format and one that can be found on thousands of company websites. One of the beauties of the Internet is the accessibility to information. Explore other advisor sites for ideas and examples of news releases.
The inverted pyramid is still the standard for a news release. A catchy headline that sums up the news in one or two lines. A dateline: where is the news coming from – what city? A lead for the first paragraph, again summing up the news, for example, announcing a new hire, and attribution to who is making the announcement.
The next paragraph should be a quote from the person making the announcement, followed by more details of the news, in the new hire example, what will be the responsibilities. Next, a quote from the person making the news; the new hire, followed by more details; what was their last position, education, experience, etc.
Lastly, a “boilerplate” paragraph about the company – the standard information about the company, as well as a website for more information.
Be sure to have a contact on the release so media have someone they can call for more information, as well as the date and for immediate release. Attach a head shot photo to the email to the editor.
Think PR and use events happening at your firm to generate news releases that get you noticed.
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Goldman Sachs Defector's "Toxic" Resignation Could Be A Rallying Cry For Client-Focused Advisors |
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Wednesday, March 14, 2012 16:04
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Tags: Goldman Sachs By now you've probably seen Greg Smith's resignation letter to Goldman Sachs, which he had the New York Times print to make sure the whole world knew what he sees wrong with the firm.
If you're a private wealth advisor, please join Advisors4Advisors (A4A) to get its full benefits. Register now, and we will donate $20 of our $60 membership fee to Bubbles The Clown’s financial literacy program, and you can post an icon on your website saying you support Bubbles' 501(c)3 charitable organization. Plus, get other membership benefits, including: - Analysis daily of issues affecting advisors
- Aggregation of news from dozens of sites targeting wealth managers
- Reviews by advisors of practice management applications
- 30 independent experts blogging on advisor business issues
- 24/7 access to webinars with 50 hours of CFP® CE and 100 hours of IMCA CE
Register Now | |
Smith ran Goldman's EMEA U.S. equity derivatives business, distributing product to clients with well over $1 trillion in total assets.
He says the firm has become "toxic and destructive," especially to its clients.
If you've watched Wall Street for any length of time, you recognize Smith's chief concern.
Goldman sells products to clients that they don't necessarily need or want, but they pad the firm's pockets.
Call that "hunting elephants" or "aggressive cross-selling" or "pushing proprietary strategies," it's the same.
Any time a firm looks to its own interests, it's the clients who suffer.
Reps can justify their actions after the fact to soothe their consciences and the regulators, but an unsuitable investment is an unsuitable investment.
They call their clients "muppets" at Goldman, apparently. We could give them the benefit of the doubt and call it a term of endearment, but the point here is that nobody calls a multi-billion-dollar institutional client "muppet" to his or her face.
It's a secret nickname that demonstrates the gap between insider Goldman culture and everyone else.
You don't call your clients names behind their backs. You tell them the unvarnished truth. You're on their side.
And it's worth reminding them of this fact. It's worth reminding them how different you are from Goldman and firms of that nature.
I kind of hope a lot of advisors are buying reprints of Smith's resignation letter from the New York Times to use in their prospecting materials and to send to Congress.
It's the best argument for fiduciary morality I've seen in ages.
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Financial Advisors Should Publish In Professional Trade Magazines |
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Wednesday, March 07, 2012 21:17
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Just about every profession and industry has a trade journal that serves its member of that profession or industry. This offers financial advisors another venue to show their expertise and gain name recognition and expert status in a very targeted way by publishing articles on financial matters catered to that specific audience.
If you're a private wealth advisor, please join Advisors4Advisors (A4A) to get its full benefits. Register now, and we will donate $20 of our $60 membership fee to Bubbles The Clown’s financial literacy program, and you can post an icon on your website saying you support Bubbles' 501(c)3 charitable organization. Plus, get other membership benefits, including: - Analysis daily of issues affecting advisors
- Aggregation of news from dozens of sites targeting wealth managers
- Reviews by advisors of practice management applications
- 30 independent experts blogging on advisor business issues
- 24/7 access to webinars with 50 hours of CFP® CE and 100 hours of IMCA CE
Register Now | |
By going through your client list, you should be able to figure out if there is a niche client you are serving. It is worthwhile to know your client make-up. Do you have more doctors than any other profession?
There are several trade publications that reach doctors and dentists that do take outside byline articles from financial experts on financial topics particularly relevant to those in the field, including Medical Economics; Dental Economics; Chiropractics Economics; and American Chiropractor Magazine.
Be sure to visit their websites and read through a few issues of the magazine as well as go to their advertising section and media kit, which will give the demographics of the readership and the all important editorial calendar so you can see what financial topics are planned for their readership over the next twelve months, and be able to target a pitch email to the editor offering yourself as a expert author willing to write a byline article pro bono to share your specific knowledge with other professionals in that industry.
Perhaps you have a very eclectic client list that stretches across many different industries and professions, which may be all the better. You then can take your byline article and rewrite it so that it speaks to different professions in each version. There may be issues that are relevant to doctors you serve, but not to others in different fields. Ask yourself, “What is it about this client in their field that is different and that I treat differently in the way I service them or invest for them.” Maybe they are part time workers in their field and need better cash flow management to get them through the off season.
Great reference material for finding all the different professional trade journals is Bacon’s Magazine Directory published by Cision, which can be found at some public libraries. This provides you with a complete listing by industry of all publications available, along with contact info, websites, etc.
So the next time you have some down time or are revamping your marketing and public relations strategies, don’t neglect to think about publishing in professional trade journals as a way to growth your practice.
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Separate Yourself From Other Advisors By "Productizing" |
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Tuesday, March 06, 2012 13:43
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Tags: client communications | differentiation | elevator speech | marketing | niche | productizing | referrals
Face it – what most of us do for clients is indistinguishable from what other advisors do for clients, at least from the clients’ perspective. If you're a private wealth advisor, please join Advisors4Advisors (A4A) to get its full benefits. Register now, and we will donate $20 of our $60 membership fee to Bubbles The Clown’s financial literacy program, and you can post an icon on your website saying you support Bubbles' 501(c)3 charitable organization. Plus, get other membership benefits, including: - Analysis daily of issues affecting advisors
- Aggregation of news from dozens of sites targeting wealth managers
- Reviews by advisors of practice management applications
- 30 independent experts blogging on advisor business issues
- 24/7 access to webinars with 50 hours of CFP® CE and 100 hours of IMCA CE
Register Now | |
Claiming that we provide great customer service, financial planning, or adherence to the fiduciary standard won’t work. So, how can you differentiate yourself? One effective way is to “productize” your offering. Document your process, define what problem it solves and for whom, and package it as a single deliverable.
Here are a few examples:
To productize your offering, first decide what issues it will address. Will it be oriented to risk management, college savings, retirement planning, a major life event like the loss of a loved one or a divorce, or some aspect of investment management? Identify what you will help clients work through and what the result will be at the end of the process.
Determine the outcomes and deliverables of your service. If it involves financial planning, decide what components of the plan will be fundamental. List what kinds of analysis you will perform. Decide what you will deliver and how it will look. Will it be a plan, ongoing reports, personalized page on a website, or a report? Will this be something that is delivered once during your relationship with the client, or is it an ongoing service? If it is ongoing, how frequently will you deliver it to the client?
Give everything a consistent look. The plan you deliver, any ongoing reports the client receives, the worksheets you use during the process, and the marketing material to promote the process should be named and design so that it is clear it all belongs to a cohesive system.
Once it is complete, give it a compelling name. If it is descriptive, a list can work well (our 10 point…, Our seven step…). If you can come up with something more like a brand name, consider trademarking. Whichever way you go, the point is to offer people something brief and memorable. If you have done it effectively, you can mention the name of your service to someone who is in your target market and they will ask you to tell them more about it. People will not remember everything about the description of your process or the steps involved in it, but they may remember the name. Once they have that in their memory, it gives them something quick and interesting to mention to other people.
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The Second Step In Your Communication Plan Is Training Your Staff |
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Thursday, March 01, 2012 18:06
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Tags: client education | differentiation | marketing | staff
Creating a compelling brand image that will attract referrals requires everyone in your firm deliver a consistent description of who you can help and how. If you're a private wealth advisor, please join Advisors4Advisors (A4A) to get its full benefits. Register now, and we will donate $20 of our $60 membership fee to Bubbles The Clown’s financial literacy program, and you can post an icon on your website saying you support Bubbles' 501(c)3 charitable organization. Plus, get other membership benefits, including: - Analysis daily of issues affecting advisors
- Aggregation of news from dozens of sites targeting wealth managers
- Reviews by advisors of practice management applications
- 30 independent experts blogging on advisor business issues
- 24/7 access to webinars with 50 hours of CFP® CE and 100 hours of IMCA CE
Register Now | |
Carrying out the marketing plans in many advisory firms is strictly the domain of the marketing people and principles. And that's a mistake.
Effectively attracting referrals involves consistently reinforcing the description of your target prospects and the solutions or experiences you can deliver to them. Every time someone in your firm talks to the public – whether it be clients, centers of influence, or just people they meet – is an opportunity to solidify that unique value proposition your firm represents. Your staff may interact with your clients more frequently than you do. Every one of those contacts contains the possibility of reinforcing your brand promise.
The first step, of course, is to describe your ideal client in detail in the solution or experience you can provide to them. Once you have that, first people you should teach it to are the people in your organization.
Sometimes, your staff can be even more effective at directly stimulating referrals then you. In an industry think tank I facilitated last year, one planner commented on how successful his paraplanners were at motivating clients to provide referrals. "There are times when I leave the room during a client meeting" he commented "and my paraplanner would say to the client ‘We just love working with clients like you. We wish we had 100 just like you.’" And frequently, the client would follow-up shortly after with a referral.
More generally however, there can be tremendous power in focusing the message across everyone in the firm. I remember working at a fee financial planning firm where the target client and value proposition was not that well defined. If you walk through the office and asked half a dozen people what the unique value and ideal client of the firm were, you'd probably get five different answers. They would be similar, but someone unfamiliar with the firm or the business might not be able to recognize that. The absence of a clear, unifying message meant that the firm would never reach a critical mass where the reputation could begin propagating itself through the community.
A consistent marketing communications strategy is critical for an effective referral marketing plan. And getting everyone on your team singing from the same page is the first priority once you know the message you want to broadcast.
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