Interesting example of fund company using YouTube

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I  normally think of a fund company using YouTube–if it uses YouTube at all–to show off its talking heads. But times are changing.

U.S. Global Investors’ “Shanghai City Lights” video, which you can view below, doesn’t mention the fund firm’s name or investments. It doesn’t even show any people. I think this video has the potential to reach more viewers than the firm’s more traditional videos. Heck, I already forwarded the video to my husband to remind him of our visit to Shanghai.  However, I wonder how many of this video’s viewers will be potential fund buyers.


US Global Investors seems to have moved away from talking heads and toward more visually appealing pieces. Its initial YouTube video was “Frank Holmes Explains the Key Drivers for Gold and Mining Stock,” followed by “What the Global Infrastructure Story Looks Like” and “A Firsthand Look at Mining Operations in Brazil.” To view these videos, go to the USFunds YouTube channel. So far the Frank Holmes video has gained the most viewers on YouTube, with 218 views as of Nov. 16.

However, US Global Investors hasn’t given up on more traditional communications. For example, “Five Reasons China is Not a Bubble” appears on its blog and the firm’s Fall 2009 Shareholder Report leads with a letter titled “Just Back from Shanghai.”

Do you think US Global Investors’ YouTube video about Shanghai represents the start of a trend? While their videos haven’t attracted many viewers yet. the firm’s YouTube presence is pretty new.

If you’re marketing to RIAs…

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…email should be your top method for communicating with them. That’s the message I took away from “Marketing to Today’s RIA: What Every Asset Manager Should Know,” a webinar and report from Morningstar Advisor and Swandog Strategic Marketing. Their webinar and report are based on an online survey of 500 financial advisors that was supplemented by interviews.

Their research suggested some lessons that may apply to everyone marketing to registered investment advisors (RIAs), even though the Morningstar-Swandog report focused on RIAs’ interactions with asset managers. 

Lesson 1: Stay in touch via email rather than heavy-handed personal contact or expecting RIAs to visit your website. The graph on p. 13 shows a strong preference for email communications over web access, wholesaler visits, and phone calls.

Lesson 2: Tailor your marketing materials to RIAs rather than using materials for registered reps. RIAs fall between registered reps and institutional investors in their sophistication. The Morningstar-Swandog webinar quoted one RIA saying, “Give me substance!” RIAs want meatier content than registered reps. Another telling quote: “Most info from investment managers is propaganda. Real objective analysis is rare and valuable” (p. 7).

Lesson 3: Get your company’s thought leaders exposure in  arenas that confer apparent third-party endorsements. Print publications used to be the best method for this. But now, as moderator Leslie Banks pointed out, you can use Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter to push out your content AND get it endorsed by people whom RIAs respect.

Take the time to read the report and watch the webinar on “Marketing to Today’s RIA: What Every Asset Manager Should Know.” I’ve barely touched on their content and each covers slightly different content.

Twitter to the rescue of my colleague with a RFP dilemma

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Twitter can be mighty handy in a pinch. Especially when used in combination with other social media. That’s what I learned from the response to my colleague’s RFP dilemma.

My colleague asked me to post his dilemma on my blog, so I wrote it up as “RFP dilemma: What should my colleague do?“ I figured that a blog post alone wouldn’t draw helpful responses, so I tweeted–and emailed some colleagues on LinkedIn–for help. 

Within an hour, I received five constructive comments on my blog post plus some tweets.The exchange raised some issues that I’d never thought of before. For example, the fact that an RFP may be considered part of a contract.

This illustrates social media at its best. 

Thanks again to everyone who contributed to the conversation!


Nov. 13 update: A reader recently asked “What’s an RFP?” 

RFP is short for request for proposal. It’s a questionnaire that businesses fill out to compete for a prospect’s business. 

In the investment industry, institutional investors often use RFPs in their investment manager selection process. You can read more about this topic in “How to Create an Investment Management Request for Proposal.”

Poll: Which brings you the most new business–email or U.S. mail marketing?

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Contact via email and U.S. mail can spur referrals and turn prospects into clients. Accordingly, this month’s poll asks which brings you the most new business–email or U.S. mail marketing? Please answer the poll in the right-hand column of this blog. Thank you! 

Also, if you have time, leave your comments about why you prefer one form of communication to the other. In addition, I’d enjoy hearing about what kind of communications you send. Newsletters? Sales letters? White papers? Invitations to in-person or virtual gatherings? It would be great to get a conversation going.

My monthly e-newsletter has brought me new clients. Sometimes new clients have called me within 24 hours of publication. Other times, they’ve sent an email inquiry as a reply to my newsletter. Perhaps U.S. mail marketing would work for me, but I haven’t done much with it because of the costs and additional steps required when compared to email.

"Exploring the Social Media Networking and Media Landscape"

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Financial advisors should learn about social media, whether or not they participate. 

“Exploring the Social Media Networking and Media Landscape,” a presentation by John Stone of Revenue Architects, got advisors talking at the Schwab Impact conference. Stone looks at social media with an eye to how they can help grow revenues. You can view Stone’s slide show below.

Social  Media for Schwab Advisors

View more presentations from John Stone.

Thanks to Kristen Luke for suggesting John as a speaker and Bill Winterberg for sending me to the Impact 2009 slides, where I initially discovered John.

How to make one quarterly letter fit clients at different levels of sophistication

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You have clients with different levels of financial sophistication. But you probably don’t have the time to write separate letters tailored to each client’s understanding of investment jargon. To help you manage your time–and keep your clients happy–here are my top five tips for a one-size-fits-all client letter.

I’d like to thank the Maine CFA Society for suggesting this blog post topic when I presented to them on “How to Write Investment Commentary People Will Read.”

How to make one quarterly letter fit clients at different levels of sophistication infographic

1. Keep it simple
If you use plain language, all of your readers will understand you.

Follow the example of Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett, who says, “When writing Berkshire Hathaway’s annual report, I pretend that I’m talking to my sisters…. They will understand plain English, but jargon may puzzle them.” Despite Buffett’s easy-to-understand style, plenty of financial sophisticates read his firm’s annual report.

2. Explain briefly
The Wall Street Journal has mastered the art of explaining technical terms with phrases set off by commas. For example, a reporter might write about “the carry trade, where investors borrow in currencies with low interest rates to invest in those with high interest rates.”

Savvy investors skim over the explanations, while the less knowledgeable gain a quick understanding.

3. Use a sidebar
A sidebar, which is a text box that’s set off from the main body of your article, can help you to accommodate different levels of knowledge among your readers.

Let’s consider my example in Tip #2. You could use a sidebar to explain the carry trade in more depth. Your goal could be to educate less sophisticated investors. Or, you may convey details to more educated investors that wouldn’t interest the rest of your readers.

4. Provide a glossary
A glossary at the end of your printed communication can help when you can’t squeeze all of the necessary explanations into the body of your text.

If you send electronic communications, you can provide click-through links to definitions on your website or elsewhere.

If you’re willing to link to third-party glossaries, you’ve got a variety of choices. I’ve found some good definitions on the following sites:

5. Provide a newsletter with articles for different audiences
If you have the luxury of writing a multi-article newsletter for your clients, consider including articles aimed at different levels of sophistication.

However, don’t vary your level willy-nilly. I’d suggest aiming your newsletter at a general audience and then consistently including one article targeting better educated readers.

How do YOU handle this challenge?
I’m interested in hearing from you. Please leave comments below.

 

Image courtesy of stupakidmod at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

Grab readers with an anecdotal lead

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Starting your article or blog post with with a real-life story can draw in readers who’d otherwise ignore you. 

“The anecdotal approach, by framing [your topic] in personal terms, becomes instantly accessible and—more important—readable,” as Mark Ragan says in “How to write an anecdotal lead.”

To write good anecdotal leads, Ragan suggests that you 
1. Find some good stories.
2. Write your explanation of what the story is about before you write out the story. This will help you to pick the right story and focus it.
3. Start your article with a short anecdote, followed by a colorful quote, and then your explanation of the story’s main points. After that, you can dive into the body of your story.


Have you seen any examples of financial advisors making good use of anecdotal leads? I’d like to see them.

Tune up your writing skills on Nov. 10 or Nov. 19–or hire me to help you

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Could your writing skills use a tune-up? If you work with investments, you’ll get useful tips from my November 10 lunchtime presentation to Boston Women in Finance (BWF) on “How to Write What People Will Read About Investments.” Lunch is included in the program cost.

This program sold out the first time I presented it to BWF, so register early. 

It would be great to meet you at this program. Please introduce yourself as one of my readers.

If you’re a NAPFA member who lives in the Boston area, you can see me present on “How to Write Effective Emails and Letters to Your Financial Planning Clients” at your November 19 study group. 

If you can’t attend either presentation, consider hiring me to train people at your company. I’ve presented across the U.S. and Canada on “How to Write Investment Commentary People Will Read.” I can develop presentations tailored to you. 

Note: I updated this blog post on Oct. 21 with the BWF registration link and NAPFA information.

3Q09 vs. Q3 09 –which is better?

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You probably know that Q is the abbreviation for quarter. But what’s the proper way to abbreviate “third quarter of 2009”?

I prefer 3Q09 to Q3 09. It seems cleaner to separate the 3 of third quarter from the 09 of 2009. I worry that readers will get confused if the numbers in Q3 09 run together, as in Q309.

Looking for evidence to back up my opinion, I did a Google search. I found about 121,000 instances of 3Q09 vs. 10.9 million for Q3 09.

Wow–that’s quite a disparity! Q3 09 is the format that @BillWinterberg sees in regulatory filings. Perhaps that explains it. I wonder if the SEC requires the Q3 09 format. 

Please answer the poll in the right-hand column of my blog. I’ll track your answers with interest and will report on them in my November e-newsletter. Thank you!

Advisors, now’s the time to build clients’ NON-financial emergency funds

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Financial advisors, encourage your clients to set up a non-financial emergency fund, says Kol Birke, financial behavior specialist at Commonwealth Financial Network. The fund will help them to make better financial decisions. Plus, it’ll strengthen their bond with you.

A non-financial emergency fund consists of family, friends, and activities such as volunteering and exercise. These relationships and activities are resources your clients can draw on in difficult times that will help focus their minds on positives, so they aren’t as easily rattled by market downturns or other stresses. 

In fact, psychologist Barbara Frederickson has shown that positive emotions widen individuals’ receptiveness to a broader range of options, so they can choose the best one. If you can help your clients feel more positive emotions, they’re less likely to react to a market downturn by saying “Sell, sell, sell.” That kind of single-minded “Sell” response served humans well when they were fleeing wild animal attacks. It’s less appropriate in today’s complex world.

Advisors can help clients build their funds by asking what activities are soothing, nourishing or enriching.  In other words, what they do to blow off steam, and what do they do that provides most meaning in life.

Now is a great time to raise this topic with clients. They’re past the shock of the market decline. Yet the decline is fresh enough in their minds that they’re receptive to new techniques to make them more resilient emotionally.

A nice side effect of creating positive emotions through your clients’ non-financial emergency funds is that it makes them feel more connected to you. That will serve you both well.

To learn more about this topic, contact Kol Birke at kbirke@commonwealth.com or 781.663.9663.