The term “Lehman Agg” used to roll off my tongue. I felt like an insider knowing that was short for “Lehman Brothers U.S. Aggregate Index” of bonds.
It feels strange to be typing “Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Index (formerly the Lehman Brothers U.S. Aggregate Index)” as I create my fourth quarter performance reports.
Does this make anyone else pause?
You don’t want your emails to get tagged as spam. So stay away from the words listed in “The Seven Dirty Words You Can’t Say in Email Subject Lines (Plus 100 Others You Shouldn’t Use, Either).”
This list is old, so keep your eyes open for updates. If you ever look at your spam folder, you can probably identify questionable words that haven’t made it onto the list yet.
Personalizing your email subject lines with the recipient’s name—for example, “Susan, can you attend meeting on Feb. 12?”–will always increase your readership.
Or so you’d think. But that’s not true according to an article about email subject lines by Mark Brownlow on Email Marketing Reports.
If your email recipient doesn’t know you well, they may assume your email is spam. Using first names in the subject line is a classic spammers’ technique.
“If you haven’t got a real ‘relationship’ with your subscriber as such then maybe personalizing isn’t the way to go as they may see it as being artificial or spammy,” said Kath Pay, as quoted in Brownlow’s article.
I think that using your recipient’s name is most useful in the subject lines of emails you send to colleagues and clients. They know you’re no spammer. Instead, your use of their name signals that your content is directed specifically at them. They realize they’re not one of gazillion people who are cc’d on the email. That’s why I recommend this technique in my workshop on “Writing Effective Emails.”
What’s your experience with personalized email subject lines?
More people will open your email newsletters if your subject line shows value in the first two words. That’s according to “4 Takeaways from MarketingSherpa’s Newsletter Subject-Line Analysis” (accessible only to MarketingSherpa members).
How do you show value? Start your e-newsletter subject lines with phrases such as:
Your subject line should focus on the benefit that your content provides to readers. It’s especially powerful to indicate that you’re giving readers information they can act on.
Morningstar has a knack for good email subject lines. Like “Has the Market Wreaked Havoc on Your 401(k)?” That’s a line that many people can relate to.
Morningstar also achieves a nice conversational tone in its email, which starts out:
Yes, it feels awful right now. And it’s possible things could get worse before they get any better. But as unnerving as recent events have been, history has shown us that the economy will come back–and that means the market will, too.
This email was an advertisement for Morningstar Fund Family Reports. I’ll bet some folks signed up for trial subscriptions in response.
Here’s a guest post by Bill Winterberg, CFP®, an operations and efficiency guru to independent financial advisers, who blogs at FP Pad. He made me realize that RIAs have more leeway than registered reps when it comes to social networking.
Websites like Twitter, LinkedIn, and blogs present compliance issues for registered representatives subject to FINRA regulations. All reps must obtain approval from the broker/dealer compliance department before posting anything on the Internet, as postings a considered advertisements.
FINRA has published guidelines for use of the Internet by registered representatives of broker/dealers. It’s worth reading if you are affiliated with a broker/dealer.
The SEC has similar guidelines that govern advertisements, including postings to public Internet forums. However, investment advisers are generally responsible for self-supervision by Chief Compliance Officers. In my opinion, investment advisers not subject to FINRA regulations have quite a bit more flexibility when using Internet and social networking websites. See http://www.sec.gov/divisions/investment/advoverview.htm and http://www.sec.gov/info/iaicccoutreach.htm.
RIAs definitely have more flexibility over registered reps when it comes to the use of the Internet. However, common sense must always prevail when using the Internet to avoid publishing security recommendations or any testimonial, which are explicitly prohibited by the SEC and state regulatory authorities.
You should use a strong call to action to convert website visitors into leads for your business, according to “Strong Call to Action – Convert Website Visitors into Leads” on the Hubspot website. If visitors give you their contact information, they’re one step closer to becoming clients.
Hubspot advises you to:
For example, I observe these rules on my InvestmentWriting.com website by:
How could you apply these tips to your website? If you’re an investment manager, consider offering an email subscription to your investment commentary.
Winton Churchill offered three “Reasons Why Your White Papers Might Fail to Bring in New Business” in a White Paper Source post that’s no longer online. But his reasons are still relevant.
I list his reasons below and give my take on how they apply to the investment business.
Do white papers that make these three mistakes turn you off?
April 23, 2018: This post was updated because Churchill’s article is no longer available online.
“A 30-Year Treasury Bond: Probably One of the Most Dangerous Investments You Could Make” is a great headline. It’s also a great topic.
Why? Because it challenges the average person’s idea of what’s a safe investment. Turning a common idea on its head will attract readers. In this case, it will also do them a service by explaining the downside of investing in 30-year Treasuries.
Kudos to RegentAtlantic Capital for an excellent headline and story idea for their recent press release.
An article that covers a topic exhaustively can exhaust the reader. Writing about a narrow slice of that topic can be much more engaging.
This quote by New York Times health columnist Tara Parker-Pope, in Maura Casey’s “Tips, Tricks & Rewards of Writing Short,” makes a similar point:
“Kitchen sink stories do too much…. If you take on a big, unwieldy topic, you can wind up with a big, unwieldy story. Our writing improves when we try to do a little less, but do it better.”
So, the next time you write about, for example, the bond market, don’t try to cover everything. Pick one slice that reflects an important development in that asset class.