Guest post: “Peter Lynch Went Grocery Shopping With Me At Whole Foods The Other Day”

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I chuckled, and then I thought, I must ask this author to guest-blog for me, after I heard some of the blog post titles−for example, “How A Threesome Can Improve Your Retirement“− created by Ted Jenkin, co-CEO and founder of oXYGen Financial. I’m glad his co-CEO Kile Lewis introduced us at an FPA Experience cocktail party so Ted can share with you his ideas about how to come up with catchy titles.

Peter Lynch Went Grocery Shopping With Me

At Whole Foods The Other Day

By Ted Jenkin

For the past three years, I have been an avid personal finance blogger discussing everything from managing your wealth to mitigating your tax liability. No matter how substantive the topics I wrote about in the personal finance sector, the big question was whether someone would actually read my content. As bloggers, we often believe that our most recent post will change the lives of millions, but in reality only a handful of people may click through your e-mailed link to read your weekly blog post. The art of creating effective titles is incredibly important because if your title and opening paragraph are catchy and interesting, your readers are more inclined to check out the rest of the article.

Take the title I opened up with in this article. Did it make you at least a little bit curious about what happened when Peter Lynch went grocery shopping with me at Whole Foods the other day? Or did you think that it couldn’t possibly be true that he actually went grocery shopping with me? Perhaps I won some sort of investment contest to get the great Peter Lynch to go grocery shopping with me. In all seriousness, what I would have written about in an article like this where I threw a catchy title like that at you is how picking stocks in companies you know is better than choosing ones that you don’t know. The article would have gone on to discuss the importance of believing in the brands you buy, and said that perhaps some of your next best stock buys are the very items that you put in your grocery cart when you go to the market. It worked 30 years ago for Peter Lynch in his prime and that philosophy probably wouldn’t be a bad one to apply in today’s rocky stock market environment.

So here are three tips from one blogger to another about my thoughts on how to write catchy titles:

  1. THINK THE ENQUIRER– As the saying goes, “Enquiring minds want to know.” But it’s more like people want the dirty laundry gossip about what is going on in the lives of others. What the National Enquirer does in a most brilliant fashion is to deliver hard-hitting titles that make you want to pick up a copy at the store while checking out your groceries. Top stories during the week that I wrote this post included LATIFAH WILL DROP LESBIAN CONFESSION ON LIVE-TV, MILEY CRUSHING FOR PORN STAR!, and IS IT TRUE WHAT THEY’RE SAYING ABOUT DIANE SAWYER, BOOZY or BEAT? If you saw Diane Sawyer after the election, you surely might read the Boozy or Beat article. I know I would pay a $1.00 just to check that one out. The first point of writing good lead-ins to your blog posts is to make sure you hit your audience hard with something that may get them engaged in the first paragraph.
  2. LATE NIGHT GOOGLING– The second idea behind writing smart headlines for your blogs is to think about how people may go about searching for your content. One of the interesting things about human beings when they begin to Google is often they aren’t 100% certain what they are really looking for when they begin searching on Google. So, using intros in your headlines with phrases like “How To,” “Top 10,” and “Big Mistakes” are all beginnings to how a person may search for content. Remember that Google likes to index popular searches so try typing in a few different phrases around the content of the article you are writing to grab some ideas. This may also allow your article to rise to page one more quickly within a Google search.
  3. SEX SELLS- Whether or not you like to admit it, everyone quickly perks up when they see something hot and steamy. This is why public sex scandals and extracurricular activities become so viral in the news we read every day. How many of you quickly homed in on the recent story of David Petraeus, director of the Central Intelligence Agency, getting busted for having an extramarital affair? Would you open an article with the headline that read, “CIA Director Wants More Than Just A Google Hangout?” I recently incorporated a great “sex sells” headline in an article I wrote about pensions: “How A Threesome Can Improve Your Retirement.“ The title raised some eyebrows but got my emails more than a 50% open rate.

If you are a frequent blogger, writing ongoing content can be a challenging process especially when you’ve written more than 500 to 1,000 posts. Sometimes, if you can create yourself a juicy headline it can actually spur on the creative writing process to produce a really high quality piece of content your readers will enjoy. You don’t have to draw people in by telling them you were abducted by space aliens, but it doesn’t hurt to drop a little Kim Kardashian or Britney Spears . . . As long as you aren’t exposing any body parts 🙂

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oXYGen Financial, Inc. co-CEO Ted Jenkin is one of the foremost knowledgeable professionals in giving financial advice to the X and Y Generation.

TED JENKIN IS SECURITIES LICENSED THROUGH INVESTACORP, INC. A REGISTERED BROKER/DEALER MEMBER FINRA, SIPC. ADVISORY SERVICES OFFERED THROUGH INVESTACORP ADVISORY SERVICES, INC. A SEC REGISTERED INVESTMENT ADVISORY FIRM. Linked sites are strictly provided as a courtesy. Investacorp, Inc., and its affiliates, do not guarantee, approve nor endorse the information or products available at these sites nor do links indicate any association with or endorsement of the linked sites by Investacorp, Inc. and its affiliates.

Which format do you prefer for how-to books?

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Please help me figure out the right format for my forthcoming how-to book. Just answer the two-question survey below. Thank you!


Why hire a writer? Three powerful reasons

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You can write. You know your company, products, and services better than anyone else. You may even be a great writer. So why should you hire a freelance writer instead of writing your own article, white paper, or other piece?

1. Your project will be completed on time

You’ve got lots of work to do. Writing keeps getting pushed to the back of the line. A writer who understands the importance of deadlines will give you a realistic schedule and complete your project on time.

2. Your topic will be explained clearly

Experts like you often suffer from the curse of knowledge, a term I first encountered in Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath. It’s hard for you to explain things to outsiders because you know too much. You may get bogged down in details before you tell readers why they should care about your topic.

A writer can tackle your topic from the perspective of an outsider. Journalistic skills help the writer draw out the right information when they interview you.

3. Your piece will be easy to read

Writing isn’t your focus. Despite your talent, you lack the time to edit and proofread carefully. When you reserve your energy for editing and proofreading your professional writer, you’re bound to get better results.

 

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How I work with financial advisors

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Q.  How do you work with financial advisors?

A. I work with financial advisors as well as larger companies in investment management, wealth management, financial planning, and vendors to those industries. My work with all of these companies shares a common theme: helping people to write more efficiently and effectively for their target audiences.

The work I do with advisors tends to differ from that I do for larger companies. For advisors, I focus on teaching them how to write better. I’ve been doing this for years on my blog. In 2006, I started teaching CFA charterholders to write better investment commentary. A few years ago I added a virtual class, “How to Write Blog Posts People Will Read: A 5-Lesson Class for Financial Advisors.” The class includes a private forum and homework. Students receive personalized feedback from me.

Advisors will soon be able to learn blogging with a new e-book, Simply Irresistible: Writing Financial Blog Posts People Will Read. The book will help them boost their blogging results with a step-by-step process and worksheets.

I created the class and developed the book for price-sensitive advisors who want the benefit of my expertise but are on a tight budget or have one-time needs. As a writer-editor, I work mainly with companies with larger budgets and ongoing needs.  Those companies are also welcome to take advantage of my training and book.

Keep it simple–or else!

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If you want your readers to understand you, keep it simple.

You may be surprised by the American public’s low level of reading comprehension. More than 40 percent of adult, English-speaking hospital patients didn’t understand the following sentence:

Do not take this medication on an empty stomach.

This is according to Roger Lehrman’s “The Political Speechwriter’s Life,” which appeared in The New York Times (Nov 4, 2012). Yikes, this is scary.

Americans read, on average, at a seventh-grade level, according to Lehrman. If you want to reach them, you must write at their level. Here’s what Lehrman says about this:

You can’t hand your boss a speech saying, “It’s got all of your ideas. But 40 percent of your audience won’t know what you’re talking about.”

If you’re writing for a general audience, use plain English and keep it short. Short sentences also tend to be easier to understand.

What about writing for college-educated audiences?

You may think, “But my clients and prospects are all college-educated. Why should I keep it simple?”

Here’s my reply: your writing’s grade level is a measure of how hard you’re making your readers work to understand you. If you make their lives easier, they’re more likely to stick with you.

If your readership includes some more sophisticated readers, you can still appeal to them. I discuss some of these techniques in “How to make one quarterly letter fit clients at different levels of sophistication.”

Tools to help you assess your writing

To get a sense of your writing’s grade level, use the readability statistics in your word processing program or Hemingway App. If the numbers say you’re writing at a high grade level, you may benefit from rewriting your text.

Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

April 2018 note: I replaced a no-longer-available tool with Hemingway App.

What number of examples is ideal for persuasion?

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Persuasive writing often demands examples. You can’t expect your reader to take your word for everything.

The right number of examples depends on the nature and complexity of your point.

One example may be enough to prove a simple point. More examples may boost your argument’s power. However, too many examples will overwhelm your readers, possibly causing them to stop reading.

When I originally posted this article, I ran a poll asking “What number of examples is ideal?” You can read the poll results below.

Poll results and more 

The most popular answer to my poll was “three.” I’m not surprised because I had the “Rule of Three” in my head when I wrote this question. A writing teacher told me long ago that when you’re writing, groups of three often produce the best results.

For more on the “Rule of Three,” read Brian Clark’s “How to Use the ‘Rule of Three’ to Create Engaging Content.” In his post on the Copyblogger website, Clark said, “I truly do believe that a set of three bullet points is the most effective use of the format.”

More recently, New York Times writer Susannah Jacob cited research suggesting that “When trying to persuade, four claims are one too many.” You can read more in “The Power of Three.”

Note: This post was updated on Jan. 19, 2014, to reflect answers to my 2012 poll on this topic and more recent research.

Wise words for writers from “Alpha Better Juice”

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Rereading your drafts results in better writing. That’s the bottom line of the following quote from Roy Blount Jr.’s Alpha Better Juice or, the Joy of Text:

The web is a wondrous thing…, but so many people who publish things on it seem not be aware of that heretofore traditional stage of composition that involves reading over what you have written before you present it to the world. That’s one of the key advantages of writing as opposed to chatting: you can look at what you wrote and see whether it makes sense to, for starters, yourself, in which case it might make sense to somebody else.

 

I know it’s tempting to hit “publish” or” send” as soon as you finish a blog post draft or email. I’ve done that many times myself. But next time you finish a draft, please pause to reread it. There’s often one little thing you can tweak to improve the odds that your communication will achieve its goal.

Writing lesson from a museum exhibit

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A strong title can boost the appeal of a dull topic, as an exhibit at the Springfield Museum of Fine Arts reminded me.

I was leaning toward skipping the museum’s exhibit of Currier & Ives nineteenth century lithographs. The name summons fusty images.

But I changed my mind after I read the exhibit’s title: “The Real Housewives of Currier & Ives.”

The title promised a lively, contemporary spin on old images. Even better, it delivered on its promise, giving me a sense of women’s changing roles.

You can boost the appeal of your articles and blog posts by adapting titles of popular books and shows. If you do this well, you may attract readers who wouldn’t have looked at a more conventionally titled piece.

Have you successfully used a title from popular culture for your writing? Please share it below.

Currier & Ives travel note

If you’d like to see one of the country’s largest Currier & Ives collections, visit the Springfield Museum of Fine Arts’ Lenore B. and Sydney A. Alpert Currier & Ives Gallery.

 

For another exhibit-inspired blog post, go to Communications lessons from “Torn in Two” at the Boston Public Library

Guest post: “Good Writing is Good for Business”

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Gil Weinreich and I had a great conversation about the importance to advisors of good writing when he interviewed me for an article about email that appeared on AdvisorOne. I’m delighted that I convinced him to share his thoughts in this guest post.

Good Writing is Good for Business

By Gil Weinreich

More than 15 years of financial journalism experience have convinced me that a high proportion of financial services industry professionals – be they corporate executives or retail financial advisors – are poor communicators.

I recall one broker, who expensively branded around the motto “I value every sale.” Of course you do. Each sale makes you richer. But what does it do for me?

That is typical of an inability to imaginatively penetrate the deep-seated concerns of clients, who are looking for someone they can trust to help manage their personal finances, not a parasite to feed off their hard-earned assets.

Another common communications flaw is self-important verbosity, which gives the appearance that the writer was hoping a quantity of words would somehow give the impression of quality: “We help clients achieve their investment goals and objectives in light of their various needs and circumstances through ongoing consultation and periodic reviews.”

Just one of each pair (i.e., goals or objectives, needs or circumstances, consultation or periodic review) would do, and a competent writer could embellish each of these subjects rather than numb readers’ interest through repetition.

Poorly thought out word choices is another common malady: “From today’s needs to tomorrow’s goals, we will guide you on your financial path.” But most clients want to discuss today’s goals and tomorrow’s needs.

An asset manager executive once shared with me some shareholder newsletters that were uniformly ponderous, numeric and insipid. What the firm needed, I advised, was to find a capable person with investment knowledge but also literary skill to be put in charge of these communications. What they needed, in short, was a Chief Literary Officer.

The firm’s principals, all MBAs, nodded their approval, but it was clear they didn’t really get it since it violated all their business-school biases. They eventually hired a marketer – though, the firm already had marketers on staff – to oversee their investment communications. Years later, the firm has not grown much in assets under management and their communications do not appear to have much improved.

And that’s the thing of it. It’s hard to stand out in a crowded marketplace when you look, act, think, speak and write like all your competitors. Part of what B-school is about is making money, and financial professionals often, unwittingly, convey the impression that they make money from you rather than for you. Missing is insight into how to connect with customers, clients or prospects on a deeper level. And that is a task that requires broadmindedness and communications expertise.

Kyle Wiens, founder of two high-tech start-ups iFixit and Dozuki, requires all his employees, even salespeople and operations staff, to pass a grammar test as a condition of employment.

Writing in the July issue of the Harvard Business Review, Wiens says:

“If it takes someone more than 20 years to notice how to properly use “it’s,” then that’s not a learning curve I’m comfortable with. So, even in this hyper-competitive market, I will pass on a great programmer who cannot write.”

Poor grammar in financial communications leaves a bad impression, to be sure. But more than that, literarily accomplished financial communications can impress prospects and clients in ways that your average salesperson may not be able to achieve (but which he or she will find to be an indispensable aid). Simply put, good writing –especially because it is increasingly rare — is good for business.

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Gil Weinreich is the editor of Research magazine and a daily contributor to AdvisorOne, financial advisor-targeted publications owned by Summit Business Media. He can be reached at gweinreich@sbmedia.com.

Finding easy-to-follow formulas for your blog posts

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WSJ formual“Are there writing formulas I can follow?” This question from one of my blogging class students popped into my head as I read a Wall Street Journal article.

Find formulas in newspapers

If you’re an analytical, formula-loving blogger, then turn your eyes to The Wall Street Journal or another newspaper. You’ll find great models there. I especially like newspapers as models because their articles are short and typically get to the point right away. This is perfect for financial blog posts.

Formula: Summary + examples + explanation

“U.S. Profit Streak Hit by Global Weakness” on the Wall Street Journal‘s front page on July 30, 2012, suggested a formula to me. Start your article with a short summary statement. Follow it with short examples. Then dive into explanation.

Here’s how it looks in the article.

Intro: Bid adieu to growing profits.

Short examples: Slowing economies from the U.S. to China, increasingly wary shoppers, recession in much of Europe and a stronger dollar…

Explanation: Until Friday, the outlook had been for further growth in earnings. But forecasts are now turning negative…

Does this formula work for you?

If you use this formula, I’d like to see examples of your work. Please post them below.

By the way, if you like this post, you might also like “Make your writing easier with my fill-in-the-blanks approach for structuring articles.”