- Susan Weiner Investment Writing

Why I’m lucky clients didn’t flock to me

January 15, 2013/15 Comments/in marketing/by Susan Weiner, CFA

I reluctantly launched my career as a freelancer after getting laid off from a wonderful investment communications job at an investment management firm. After I decided to freelance, my phone didn’t ring with eager prospects. On the other hand, as an introvert, I didn’t do much to market myself. Cold calls? Heaven forbid.

Blessing in disguise

So, how was this a blessing in disguise? Because I developed a style of communicating that fits social media.

I wish I could say I foresaw social media. It might be nice to be a guru. But, I simply acted like myself.

I started an email list to stay in touch with the nice people at my old company. Rather than make my emails all about myself, I started writing up the presentations I attended at the Boston Security Analysts Society, where I networked regularly. I wrote about the bits that interested me, similar to the way I wrote up “How Merrill Lynch and US Trust stay relevant to clients, according to Justine Metz.”

When former colleague Tom Manning emailed me that he looked forward to my emails, I’d realized I’d stumbled onto something good. I turned my emails into a monthly e-newsletter, and I invited my networking contacts to subscribe. Those newsletter articles evolved into blog posts.

Back then, I looked jealously at writers who immediately landed steady work with earlier employers or their vast pool of contacts. But, if I’d done that, I wouldn’t have developed my newsletter, which has become the foundation of my success.

Lessons

I learned a style of marketing that works for an introvert like me, especially in the age of social media. Its components include the following:

Give away useful content.
Send mass emails only to people who agree to receive them.
Keep your name in front of prospects on a regular basis. You can’t sell them until they’re ready to buy.

A veteran of the cold calling, hard sell school of marketing once told me, “You’re lucky you know how to write without always asking for the sale.”

I think I’m lucky the world has swung my way. I’m also grateful for the wonderful readers who have supported my e-newsletter and blog.

Marketing tips from referral expert Steve Wershing

January 4, 2013/in marketing/by Susan Weiner, CFA

These lines in Stephen Wershing’s Stop Asking for Referrals caught my eye.

I have looked at hundreds of advisor websites, and many of them don’t just say the same thing — they use the same words. Make sure that your marketing communicates what’s different about your clients and what’s unique about what you do for them.

I agree with Wershing about these weaknesses, and I was happy that his book offered advice about how you can differentiate your marketing materials.

Some of Wershing’s tips resonated strongly with me. I discuss them below.

1. Define your target audience narrowly

Focus on a problem that you solve for a narrowly defined group of people, so it’s easy for people to recognize your ideal clients. This focus will differentiate from other advisors and make you easy to refer.

2. Focus on benefits

Failure to focus on benefits is a common flaw in the articles and white papers I edit for investment and wealth management firms, so I’m glad Wershing discusses this. I like his before-and-after examples of elevator speeches. Here’s an example.

Before: We do financial planning for the suddenly single.

After: When people come into money, it is easy for them to lose their values and make bad decisions. I show them how to avoid those pitfalls.

3. Ask for introductions or advice

Ask clients for introductions or advice instead of referrals, says Wershing. This puts less stress on clients than referrals so it’s more likely to be productive. To boost your introduction request’s effectiveness, do research to identify people who fall within your target audience. LinkedIn makes this easier than in the days prior to social media.

On the advice front, consider trying the following question posed by Wershing: “If you were in my position, trying to do what I am trying to accomplish, what would you do?”

Wershing’s suggestions about introductions and advice remind me about the power of informational interviewing, which has been essential to my career development.

In an email exchange with me, Wershing said, “The most exciting thing I have discovered in working with advisors on these strategies is the techniques that will attract more referrals also end up providing the client better, more expert advice. Advisors can improve the industry while growing more successful. I cannot imagine a better outcome.” I agree.

Your suggestions?

If you’ve tried the techniques discussed above, I’d enjoy hearing from you. Please add your voice to the conversation.

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book from McGraw-Hill in return for agreeing to write about it.

Poll: How should advisors use ready-to-use content?

December 26, 2012/4 Comments/in marketing/by Susan Weiner, CFA

Limited time and budgets mean that some financial advisors buy ready-to-use content for their websites or blogs. Sure, it’s not ideal, but obtaining articles and other content from the providers I’ve listed in “Ready-to-use content for financial advisors” may be right for you.

If the provider allows it, you can get more mileage out of that content by customizing it. You could do something as simple as writing one sentence saying why you think the content’s topic is important. Or you can do something more elaborate.

Two quick questions for you

Please answer the two-question survey to help me understand what you think about “How should advisors use ready-to-use content?”

Also, feel free to share your suggestions as comments below.

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Help! My emails are too salesy

December 18, 2012/in marketing/by Susan Weiner, CFA

Nobody likes a pushy salesperson. Overly aggressive techniques can divert your email into spam folders. However, I believe it’s possible to market yourself without being too salesy.

I’m writing this post in response to an FPA Experience attendee who asked this question anonymously.

Focus on the prospect

If you understand your prospects’ hopes, dreams, and fears, you’re off to a great start. Focus your email on your prospects’ desires rather than your products, services, or needs. Potential clients or customers are most receptive when they feel you understand them.

Email structure

You can structure an email as follows:

You have this need
The solution to your need is…
The solution I offer will work for you because…
To learn more, take the following step.

Recipients must “opt in”

Your mass emails count as spam under the CAN-SPAM Ac t. It’s not a question of being too salesy. Your communications are illegal if you don’t get permission to email the people on your list.

Offer something of value for free

You’re probably familiar with the offering of free reports to get people to agree to receive emails from you. It’s popular because it works, as long as the report provides useful content.

Don’t plug your product or service at length at the beginning of your first contact. Instead, leave it to the end or weave it unobtrusively into the body of your report.

On the other hand, don’t forget to promote your product or service in your freebie. That comes with the territory.

Expect that not everyone will buy

I wonder if my anonymous questioner felt too “salesy” because she or he didn’t get much of a response to emails or even lost some subscribers after an email blast. Low response rates and subscriber attrition aren’t unusual, but they may have nothing to do with you. Your offering simply may not meet the prospects’ needs or your timing isn’t right.

You can’t make everybody happy

At least one person will find you too salesy. I guarantee it.

When that happens, I remember what marketing expert Sandra Ahten told me, “Don’t worry if someone unsubscribes after you send a promotional email. That means they weren’t ever going to buy from you.” Sandra also said that interested prospects appreciate email reminders about your offerings. Despite my skepticism, I discovered she was right.

Test your email

You may not be the best judge of your email’s sales quotient. Running it by a friendly member of your target audience can give you a better sense of whether you hit the right tone.

You can also experiment with splitting your email list into two groups and sending them different versions of your email. If one segment of a homogeneous group responds better to Email Version 2, you know that’s the winner. Learn from what works in Email Version 2.

NOTE: CAN-SPAM Act link updated on Sept. 14, 2023

Image courtesy of imagerymajestic/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Guest post: “Using Internal Links for Search Engine Success”

December 13, 2012/in blog, marketing/by Correna Wood

Steve Tannuzzo’s guest post on “Easy SEO: How to Really Get Found on the Internet” was so popular that I asked him to write another post about SEO. By the way, the two “links” in his guest post are for the purpose of illustration only.

Using Internal Links for Search Engine Success

By Steve Tannuzzo

When it comes to no-brainer search engine optimization (SEO), there’s nothing better than strengthening your website with internal links. By “internal,” I mean links from your own blog to other pages of your own website. This practice, while easier to do than researching and linking to content from other sites, is often overlooked and may cost you in those all-important search engine rankings.

One quick note before we proceed: Internal links should never be confused with inbound links. Inbound links are links to your website from other websites. They can propel your site in the rankings, depending on which site is linking to you, as I describe in “How Inbound Links Build Your Site’s Search Engine Reputation.”

3 Tips for Powerful Internal Linking

1. Always Use Anchor Text. Your anchor text (the text that readers click on) must be specific to the content you’re linking to. This helps the search engine bots pair up anchor text and related web pages. Let’s say you’ve written an informative, insightful blog post on the potential dangers of variable annuities, and let’s say it’s a topic that comes up frequently in your discussions with your clients.

“To learn more about the dangers of variable annuities, click here.” This link will toss your beautiful content in the gaping maw of search engine oblivion, where, quite literally, millions of pages are tagged with “Click here,” and never see the light of day on the first page of Google, Yahoo! or Bing.

However, rewriting the sentence as, “Learn the hidden dangers of variable annuities,” has a much greater chance of finding its way to an impressive ranking. Be specific and accurate with your anchor text!

2. Identify Your Greatest Hits. Review your site map and previous blog posts. Which are the most popular pages? Which blog posts have the most comments? Which articles represent the most important aspects of your business model? What are your services that need the most attention or expanded information? These are the pages you should continue to link to on a regular basis. They contain content that your readers crave and they’re usually the pages that convert prospects into clients.

3. Link to Landing Pages. If you find there’s one particular topic you write about far more than any other, you should consider an internal link to a landing page you’ve built on your own website. A landing page discusses your topic in detail and always includes a very strong “call to action” which allows people to sign up for newsletters, buy certain products (books, courses, etc.), or simply pick up the phone and call you. Using internal links throughout your website will bring your readers to this landing page, but they will also bolster the page’s position in search engine rankings.

Internal linking is like casting a vote for your own site as a legitimate source for compelling content. A blog or website without internal links will appear to tell search engines that you have little or no faith in your own content. Use the tips above to put the search engines on notice that your content is strong, relevant and provides value to your clients and readers.

_________

Steve Tannuzzo is the owner of Tannuzzo Copywriting. He helps people grow their businesses by providing clear, goal-specific copy that gets them noticed and increases their profits. His specialties include advertising copy and social media marketing content. Visit his website at www.tannuzzo.com and follow him on Twitter @BostonProWriter.

Reader challenge: How do you save your marketing project from last-minute derailment?

December 7, 2012/3 Comments/in marketing/by Susan Weiner, CFA

If you’ve ever had a project go bad at the last minute, you’ll care about the answer to this reader challenge. You may even have solutions. So please join the conversation.

I’ve participated in at least one marketing project that was cancelled due to a change of direction at the top. Some projects’ derailments are out of your control, for example if your firm is sold or a new boss arrives.

Stakeholder buy-in is key

Other projects die from preventable problems. This is why I said “Aha!” when reading Margot Bloomstein’s Content Strategy at Work.

Bloomstein says, “It’s important that you involve all the stakeholders in the room–don’t let anyone hang back like a shadowy presence, ready to swoop in and derail activities.” In her book chapter on “Designing cohesive experiences: Introducing content strategy to design,” she walks the reader through a process using a facilitator to get stakeholders to agree on a company’s messaging priorities. While the specifics of Bloomstein’s plan are most appropriate for a firm tackling its marketing “big picture,” you could adapt elements for smaller projects.

My approach to getting buy-in

Learning from experience, I’ve tweaked my writing process to help my clients get buy-in from their colleagues and superiors.

You can adapt the following process to your situation, if appropriate.

Step 1: Interview the client to understand what they’d like to accomplish and why. Define the project’s scope as narrowly as possible.

Step 2: Prepare a proposal that incorporates information from Step 1. This lets us see if we share a common understanding of the project. If not, we discover our disagreements early. This saves time.

Step 3: Collect information for the writing project and prepare a robust outline. Rather than go directly to a first draft, I prepare a robust outline for the client’s review. The outline’s purpose is to let clients focus on ensuring that all of the necessary content is included, without getting distracted by stylistic issues. I’d like to think that it’s easy for them to circulate the outline for internal approval. Once a client finishes commenting on this outline, there shouldn’t be any surprises in the form of new content introduced later.

Step 4: Circulate a complete draft for comments. My clients typically have only minor edits in response to this draft.

How do you keep your marketing projects from getting derailed?

The techniques described above help in some, but not all, situations. I’ve discussed solutions specific to working with portfolio managers in “Reader question: How can communicators manage difficult portfolio managers?”

I’m sure you have techniques that I haven’t discussed. Please share your ideas.

How Merrill Lynch and US Trust stay relevant to clients, according to Justine Metz

September 20, 2012/in marketing/by Susan Weiner, CFA

Justine Metz presenting On Merrill Lynch and US Trust to Financial Communications Society

Justine Metz presenting to FCS in Boston

Bank of America’s business units, Merrill Lynch and US Trust, needed to rebuild their reputations following the financial crisis. Justine Metz, marketing and sales support executive for global wealth management & investment at Bank of America, outlined the business units’ approach in her September 18 presentation to the Financial Communications Society (FCS) in Boston. Metz titled her presentation “Marketing’s Imperative at Merrill Lynch and U.S. Trust: Staying relevant to clients during times of financial crisis.”

Reverse psychology as key

“I wanted us to fight more.” This was Metz’s initial reaction to the need to boost her business units’ reputations following the financial crisis. After all, banks’ reputations had hit all-time lows, and no one was giving Merrill Lynch and US Trust credit for doing anything good.

However, Metz went with “reverse psychology” in her unit’s response. While they continued to push back on inaccuracies, the focus was on advisors and their clients, she said. “We had to shut up because no one wanted to hear us.”

Key role for uber-brains of the advisory business

“Advisors shielded the brand throughout the crisis,” said Metz. Merrill Lynch advisors continued to receive high ratings from clients even as the industry suffered declining ratings. Merrill Lynch also got credit for having great information produced by smart people. Metz calls them “uber-brains.”

The rise of social media gave the firm non-traditional ways to highlight its smarts, so it could spur clients and influencers to talk about it. It introduced a Twitter account (@MerrillLynch, which has almost 25,000 followers), a YouTube channel, and iTunes apps, including MyMerrill and BofAML Research Library.

Why social media? “Our main strategy is to empower our clients to talk to one another,” said Metz. That fits in with today’s emphasis on communications by people rather than institutions.

Return to TV

TV ads were on hold for three years while the firm focused on social media. When it rolled out a new commercial, it didn’t throw out its strategy of getting its clients talking. Instead, the new Merrill Lynch and US Trust ads about “The Power of the Right Advisor” and “What is Worth,” respectively, are designed to complement that strategy.

FCS chapter forming in Boston

The presentation by Metz was the second Boston event put on by the New York-based FCS. A steering committee is developing a Boston chapter. To learn more—and to volunteer—contact FCS President Kevin Windorf at 212-413-6044. I’m a volunteer. I enjoyed meeting new people at this event.

Guest post: Why you want to announce your book with a press release

September 11, 2012/in marketing/by Correna Wood

Writing and publishing a book takes a lot of work, so you should maximize your gains from it. This is why I invited my friend, book PR expert Sandy Beckwith, to guest-blog about press releases. By the way, I recently completed Sandy’s online class about book PR, which boosted my readiness to launch my blogging book for advisors.

Why you want to announce your book with a press release

By Sandra Beckwith

Sandra Beckwith

Many financial consultants who write books to use as marketing tools with prospects and clients don’t promote their books to others who might pay for the information in them. Most often, that’s because financial planners and investment managers are focused on the potential for generating long-term clients, not on making money through individual book sales.

It’s a smart strategy because it focuses efforts on activities that will generate the greatest return on investment. Advisors will make far more money giving books to people who could become clients or referral sources than they will from talking the local bookstore into stocking and selling the books on a consignment basis.

Still, it pays to announce your book’s publication to the media, even when it’s only for sale on your website. Here are four reasons why you want to write and distribute a press release that announces your book to the press:

Your book announcement press release is “content” that generates links to your site from press release distribution services. Smart consultants use both the free and paid press release services. The free services don’t send your release to media outlets, but they do house them on their websites. They will include a link to your website, which helps boost its search engine ranking (it will show up higher on the page in a Google search). The paid options actually e-mail your press release to journalists; when one of them publishes your information, the news item can generate even more site links, purchases, and the kind of exposure that could help expand your client base. For more information on how they work, read “How to use PRWeb for press release distribution.”
Posting the press release that announces your book on your firm site helps prospects and others find you. The information in your press release helps search engine users find your site. Some of those searchers could become clients.
When media outlets that influence your audience publish your press release, you are viewed as an expert. Clients and prospects like working with consultants who are seen as experts by others, especially the press. Meeting organizers are impressed by experts and authors, too, and often invite consultants to speak to their groups after reading about them in the press.
Your press release can generate radio and TV talk show interviews. This exposure can introduce you to prospects you wouldn’t reach on your own.

It’s not hard to write a book announcement press release, but it’s important that you include the information that journalists need and expect in the format they prefer. Get Your Book in the News: How to Write a Press Release That Announces Your Book, a short e-book I’ve written specifically for authors who don’t work with the media a lot, provides step-by-step guidance. Here are a few tips from the book:

Write it like a news article, not an advertisement.
Focus on the benefits the book offers readers.
Include information on where people can buy it.

I’m happy to answer questions about this – please share them here.

Sandra Beckwith is a former national award-winning publicist who now teaches authors how to be their own book publicists. Subscribe to her free newsletter, Build Book Buzz, for more tips and ideas. Connect with Sandra on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+.

Guest post: What’s your Content Strategy? (You have one, right?)

August 21, 2012/1 Comment/in marketing/by Correna Wood

David Lufkin is a financial writer and Internet marketing manager whom I’ve gotten to know through some interesting exchanges in LinkedIn Groups. He has been generous with input when I’ve posted questions, which encouraged me to ask him to guest-blog for me. David explains below how answering five key questions can help you create a content strategy that will help your website support and build your business.

What’s your Content Strategy? (You have one, right?)

By David Lufkin

Content strategy is a hot topic for people who run large websites, and includes complex tactical concerns such as search engine optimization and user metrics. If you’re an advisor with any size site, having at least a basic content strategy is essential and should include delivery of email and paper marketing as well.

If you like and use a website regularly, it’s probably because of a solid content strategy driven only by what you (the targeted user) want. Remember that online, content is more than words – it includes site navigation and design elements, with colors, images, and page layout all working together. This may seem obvious, but as users, we click right past websites that don’t immediately give us exactly what we want in an attractive format. We need to sense immediately that there is content of interest to us before we will dig further.

For your own site, having a content strategy means having a valid business purpose for everything on the site and an efficient user experience with no loose or dead ends.

When I was in advisor sales training years ago, I learned about the four “boxes” of activity and how they related to a practice. The idea of course is to focus on the activities in the first box, because the other three don’t build the practice, and those activities should have less priority or even be hired out.

Content strategy is similar. You only want content on your site or in electronic or paper communications that focuses on building and sustaining your business. Everything else must go. I mean travel tips and meatloaf recipes – any information that is readily available from other sources. No one, especially your clients, will miss irrelevant content. They want to know about YOU and how you can help THEM.

Web professionals can read books and attend seminars about the fascinating process that is content strategy. If you own your website, you can keep it simple. Make a short list of the content that you can’t live without and make sure that you don’t bother with anything else. If I was a successful financial advisor, this is what would be on my list, and it would serve as a filter for everything I post on my site. (I like the 5 W approach I was taught as a high school journalist.)

Who I am and how I can be contacted
What I offer my clients including timely updates
Why I do what I do and how it benefits my clients
Where I deliver my practice (in person, phone, online)
When we need to work together (regularly)

It’s become easier over the years to build a functioning website. But developing a manageable content strategy, especially with search optimization, usually requires getting some input from someone who does it for a living. Done right, your content strategy will help keep you and your clients focused on the right things.

Reader challenge: What makes advisor websites outstanding?

July 28, 2012/18 Comments/in marketing/by Susan Weiner, CFA

What do YOU think makes for an outstanding advisor website? Please share your thoughts below.

Advisor-recommended websites to spark discussion

I recently asked my readers for examples of outstanding money manager websites. Below you’ll find screen shots with links to the home pages for their recommendations. Plus, I’ve linked to the sites of the two people who made recommendations.

Tell me what you like about these sites. Do they do things you’d like more advisors to do?

To facilitate discussion I’ve numbered the websites, which are listed in alphabetical order. I’ve also shared at least one of my impressions of the site. But my comments are not comprehensive.

1. Capri Capital Partners

Nice clean look. Good tag line.

2. Index Strategy Advisors

I love the goldfish photo.

3. Oak Park Financial Planner

This website speaks to “you,” the potential client. Too few advisor websites do this. It also has a newsletter subscription box displayed prominently “above the fold,” which means the reader doesn’t have to scroll down to see it.