You vs me — or we: A rant on financial marketing

/5 Comments/in , , , /by

Investment and wealth management executives like to talk about themselves. Who doesn’t? But this hurts their firms when it’s reflected in their marketing.

Photo: World Series Boxing

What financial advisors say about you vs. me–or we

A group of financial professionals helped me test my belief that talking about “you,” the audience, is more powerful than discussing “me”–or, by extension, “we,” the company that’s marketing to you.

Here’s the question I asked participants in “The Power of You: The Secret of Great Blogs that Boost Your Readership”:

Which introduction do you prefer? Introduction #1 focused on you, the audience or Introduction #2 focused on me, Susan. Explain your choice.

Prior to asking the question, I’d introduced my webinar in two ways. In Introduction #1, I’d discussed the benefits my audience would receive from watching my webinar. In Introduction #2, I described my blogging success and other credentials related to the webinar’s topic.

You may wonder how my two introductions relate to you, if you’re a financial advisor, investment manager, or wealth manager. In my experience, many financial websites – and other marketing pieces – use Introduction #2. They are about “we, the firm,” not “you,” the prospective client.

The results? A knockout by “you”

Respondents unanimously preferred the introduction focused on “you.” Here are some of their comments about why they preferred a focus on “you” over a focus on the speaker.

  • When you spoke about yourself, I stopped listening
  • You connects with me, lets me know whether it’s useful
  • I don’t care about you, but I do care about what I can do to be successful
  • “I” sounds pompous
  • It’s not about the speaker, it’s about meeting the need of the target audience.

What this means for you

When writing marketing materials or client communications for your firm,

  1. Use “you” more than “we”
  2. Communicate in terms of benefits to your readers more than products, services, or characteristics of your firm
  3. After you write something, ask yourself, “Why will my reader care about this?” If it’s not obvious, then delete or re-write.

Which do you prefer for your company – marketing materials that use “you” or “we”? Why?

Please comment on your opinions.

“Cut Adjective and Adverb Clutter,” says Booher

/in /by

Minimize your use of adjectives and adverbs to communicate more effectively, suggests Dianna Booher in Communicate with Confidence! Instead, rely on nouns and verbs to convey your message.

Booher illustrates the power of her recommendation by comparing the following two sentences:

  1. Haste makes waste.
  2. Too much speed in carrying out tasks results in extra time being spent to redo things that were done inefficiently to being with.

I think you can see the difference. This comes from Tip 110 of 1,254 tips in Booher’s book.

Disclosure: I received a free copy of Booher’s book in return for agreeing to write about it.

POLL: How do you edit your writing for Compliance?

/2 Comments/in , , /by

Financial writers and compliance departments are often at odds. But the two sides must learn to get along. Nobody wins if flat writing turns off prospective clients. Or if marketers create unrealistic expectations in the minds of current or prospective clients.

Photo: winged photography

“Weasel words” help writers and compliance officers coexist. Writers can often defuse compliance officers’ anxieties about guarantees by using words and phrases such as “may,” “we believe,” and “seek to.”

Disclosures are another tool. However, long disclosures are daunting. Sometimes I’d rather delete a topic than introduce a scary disclosure. For example, I’d talk about an investment strategy without referring to the mutual fund using the strategy.

Capitulation is the path taken by some. I don’t recommend that writers always cave in to compliance officers. Caving in is easy, but it doesn’t serve your material well. Sometimes compliance officers’ suggestions are based on their editorial preferences rather than a perception of legal or regulatory risk. When you point this out, compliance professionals are often open to negotiation.

Sometimes you can call in back-up. It’s helpful if a senior person in your organization backs you up by saying, “Our business is willing to take the risk of not making changes.” I’ve also achieved good results by presenting examples of similar companies with sterling reputations using the language questioned by my compliance officer.

I’m curious to learn more about how other writers–and compliance professionals–cope. Please answer the poll asking, “What’s your favorite way to make your financial writing acceptable to compliance?” You’ll find the poll in the right-hand column of my blog.

Here are your potential answers:

  • Add disclosures
  • Cave in to every request by compliance
  • Insert “may” in sentences challenged by compliance
  • Insert “we believe” at the beginning of sentences challenged by compliance
  • Negotiate the most important points, cave in on the rest
  • Say your business is willing to accept the risks of publishing without changes
  • [Your own answer]

Writers, organize or else! A lesson from Barry Tarshis

/2 Comments/in , /by

Does your writing suffer from this problem?

“…if your thoughts aren’t well organized, it doesn’t matter how large or varied your vocabulary is, how vivid an imagination you have, or how lyrically you compose a sentence; your writing, more often than not, will puzzle your readers.” –Barry Tarshis, How to Write Like a Pro, p. 63

Tarshis offers many ideas about how to write well.

You can whip your thoughts into shape with a five-step process.

  1. Brainstorm ideas
  2. Organize your thoughts before writing
  3. Write a first draft
  4. Edit–Consider hiring an editor if you struggle with this phase.
  5. Rewrite

Most popular 2011 Investment Writing posts

/in , , , /by

Google Analytics revealed my most popular blog posts of 2011. Wordle.net created the image of the most popular words in this top 10 post. Enjoy!

  1. Writing resources for equity research analysts–There are some specialized resources for analysts.
  2. My fill-in-the-blanks approach for structuring articles–Bloggers can use this powerful technique to quickly produce a post.
  3. Career strategies for wealth managers without a book of business–My CFA charterholder colleagues contributed valuable advice to this article.
  4. White paper marketing: Walk a fine line–There are three key characteristics of white papers.
  5. Quick check for writers, with an economic commentary example–An easy-to-use technique for checking whether your writing is easy to read.

    Image created using Wordle.com

  6. The 10-postcard approach to financial advisor marketing
  7. Mark Tibergien’s one thing for financial advisors’ business improvement
  8. Best practices for institutional asset manager websites
  9. Financial advisor prescription by Statman evokes strong response
  10. Mind mapping technology for financial advisors

Guest post: “A Magazine Editor’s Top Tips for Improving Advisors’ Writing”

/7 Comments/in , /by

Morningstar is a company that values good writing as well as robust content. So I’m delighted to have Ryun Patterson, managing editor of Morningstar Advisor, as a guest blogger with some great tips to help advisors improve their writing.

A Magazine Editor’s Top Tips for Improving Advisors’ Writing

By Ryun Patterson

As our team assembles Morningstar Advisor magazine every other month, I read and edit lots of investment-related writing. This experience (as with most reading) has given me some strong opinions on what constitutes good finance writing and what is, shall we say, suboptimal. One of Morningstar’s core values is “Investors Come First,” so I’d love to share some tips that advisors can keep in mind when they’re writing for their clients or the general public.

Do: Simplify

Advisors read a lot of technical writing, from white papers to prospectuses. This familiarity can lead to imitation, but unless you’re writing a white paper or prospectus, you should avoid the temptations of jargon and alphabet soup. Yes, it sounds extremely classy (fancy and sophisticated, even) to say that something is “accumulating size,” but it’s really just growing. And the allure of ROAs, ROEs, and ROICs is great, but your writing will be better understood, especially in shorter pieces, if you just spell these abbreviations out. You readers may not thank you for it, but they’ll definitely read the whole article instead of quitting in frustration halfway through.

Don’t: Assume

The ranks of advisors and investors has grown so much in the past couple of decades that investing writers have got to stop making assumptions about their audience. The use of figures of speech that are normally reserved for sports broadcasters is a prime culprit here. Football fans might easily understand “keep your head on a swivel,” but the audience for investment writing has grown to the point that this kind of language can now be a barrier to comprehension rather than a connection formed through a shared interest. This extends to commentary that extends to political and religious references as well; being “politically correct” doesn’t have to be a priority, but readers will lose sight of genuine wisdom if it’s cloaked in a contentious point of view.

Do: Explain

There’s a class of investment words that pose as regular words but pull double-duty in the investment world to describe complex ideas. One example pulled from Morningstar’s writing guide is the word “duration.” Because this word has the temerity to be both noun that regular folks use in everyday conversation AND a noun that represents a measure of interest-rate sensitivity, Morningstar writers and editors always write “duration, a measure of interest-rate sensitivity” on first reference, just to make it clear that this duration is not your standard one. A little bit of thought in this arena goes a long way, as do hyperlinks or referrals to sites like Investopedia or Morningstar.com’s investing classroom.

Don’t: Dumb Down

Advisors writing for their clients or other investors should embrace the chance to be educators. Topics like basic asset allocation are no-brainers for investing professionals, but the key to explaining these isn’t using phrases like “everybody knows that…” or, more extremely, “Only an idiot would…” Instead, use concrete facts and figures to show, rather than tell, your readers why investing basics exist. This kind of communication is the best way to form a resonant, lasting relationship with your readers. Nobody likes to be patronized, and investors that feel like alienated idiots are less likely to ask important questions when it’s time to make important decisions.

Recommended Reading

If you’ve got a day for reading and want to improve your writing, there’s no better book I can recommend than Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style. It’s less than 100 pages long, but it’s as essential for writers as Graham and Dodd’s Security Analysis is for investing professionals. It has never steered me wrong, and it can do a lot for any aspiring writer.

Ryun Patterson is managing editor of Morningstar Advisor magazine, the magazine of investment insights for independent-minded advisors. Advisors can get a free subscription by going to Morningstaradvisor.com and clicking the “Subscribe” link on the upper right-hand side of the page.

How to manage a group blog: Financial advisor edition

/2 Comments/in , , , /by

I imagine a group blog run by financial advisors would face several challenges in producing interesting, high quality blog posts on a regular schedule.

Image: HikingArtist.com

These include the following:

  • Coming up with mutually agreeable topics for blog posts
  • Setting a schedule for publishing blog posts
  • Getting posts written, edited, and approved

I have ideas about how to tackle the challenges.

Brainstorm as a group

Need topics that will satisfy your group as a whole? Try brainstorming topics in a meeting with the other blog contributors.

By the way, I’m assuming you need to satisfy the group because you’re blogging with other employees of your firm. If not, agreement may not be necessary, but group discussion is still a spur to creativity.

Create an editorial calendar

It’s easier for your team’s writers to contribute regularly if they have a schedule.

Here’s a sample editorial calendar for a group blog:

MONTHLY EDITORIAL CALENDAR
WEEK NUMBER TOPIC
1 Children
2 Career
3 Retirement
4 Estate planning
5
  • Jan. −Guest blogger re: home decorating on a budget
  • [Feb. − NO 5th week]
  • March−Last-minute tax moves that will save you money on April 15

Notice how subject areas repeat on a regular schedule, making it easy for writers to know when their posts will run. Once they know that, they should be able to calculate dates by which their first drafts are due.

Create a process

You don’t want contributors to turn in their posts at the last minute. This is why you need a well-defined process with due dates. The process might include the following steps.

  1. Submission of first draft for content review and proofreading
  2. Rewriting, if necessary
  3. Compliance review
  4. Rewriting, if necessary
  5. Publication on blog
  6. Monitoring and responding to comments

Other tips for group blogs?

Please share your best tips for managing group blogs. I also welcome your questions.

 

2015 update: In a LinkedIn discussion, Stephanie Sammons of WiredAdvisor mentioned CoSchedule as a useful tool for group blogs.

Guest bloggers: 2011 in review

/in , , , /by

I’m thankful for the knowledgeable and talented professionals who have contributed guest posts to my blog this year.

Here’s a list of guest posts sorted by topic, including client communications, marketing, social media, and writing.

Client communications

Marketing

Writing

Other financial topics

I also hosted some wonderful guest bloggers last year. See “Guest bloggers: 2010 in review.”

This post was updated on Dec. 28, 2011.

If a “nobody” wrote Jeremy Grantham’s quarterly letter…

/9 Comments/in , , /by

Jeremy Grantham of GMO is a thinker whose words command attention. Financial professionals will read his quarterly investment letters regardless of how well they’re written. But if an unknown strategist delivered the same content, she or he would not benefit from the same indulgence. In fact, few people might have advanced beyond the initial paragraph about his busy schedule. This realization prompted me to think about how I’d rewrite “The Shortest Quarterly Letter Ever,” Grantham’s December 2011 missive.

Headings: An easy fix for bullet point overload

The first two pages of Grantham’s four-page letter consists almost solely of bullet points. It isn’t easy for the human brain to process more than three to six bullet points.

If Grantham didn’t have time to do more than write bullet points, he could have asked a colleague to group his bullet points by topic under a heading. For example, he has a number of bullet points addressing the position of the U.S., which could have been grouped under headings such as

  • Challenges faced by the U.S. and the rest of the developed world
  • America’s competitive weaknesses vs. other countries
  • American social weaknesses

My headings may not be perfect, but they offer more direction to the reader who skims the letter. Right now, the only headings seen by the reader are not informative: “Notes to Myself” and “Recommendations.” Based on these headings, I’d zoom right to “Recommendations,” missing the views that underlie Grantham’s recommendations.

Bold type: Another easy aid to reading

Bold type is another way to help readers distinguish what’s more important.

For example, the following is a sentence I might have bolded in Grantham’s letter:

When one of these old fashioned but typical declines occurs, professional investors, conditioned by our more recent ephemeral bear markets, will have a permanent built-in expectation of an imminent recovery that will not come.

However, this sentence is currently buried in a 15-line paragraph. However, I do like that the paragraph starts with a bolded phrase: “No Market for Young Men.” This phrase helps readers grasp the point that Grantham gradually builds toward in his paragraph. The graph that follows is also helpful.

Massive overhaul

If I had my druthers, I’d rewrite this piece into paragraphs. The piece would start with an introductory overview. It would use headings, and possibly subheadings.

Here’s my quick, bullet-pointed introduction to Grantham’s content, with an emphasis on his strongest point.

S&P Headed for a L-O-N-G Correction

The U.S. stock market could be headed for a 14-year correction, if historical averages for corrections following bubbles hold true. Other negatives for the U.S. include

  • Demographics that also plague the rest of the developed world
  • Inadequate savings
  • The weaknesses in our infrastructure, education, and government
  • Social issues, such as greater income inequality

In light of these and other factors, I recommend

  • Avoiding low quality U.S. stocks
  • Tilting toward safety
  • Avoiding duration risk
  • Moving slowly into resources in the ground

If you’re not a “Grantham”

If you write investment commentary–and you’re not a strategist of Grantham’s stature–please keep my suggestions in mind as you draft your quarterly market commentary.

You’ll find links to more investment commentary tips in “Resources for quarterly investment commentary writers.”

Feb. 8, 2018 update: I removed the broken link to Grantham’s commentary, which is no longer available online.

How can I brush up my grammar?

/in , , /by

Grammar, punctuation, and word usage questions puzzle many of my readers. If you’d like to brush up on the basics, I’ve got some tips for you.

1.  Buy and read Edit Yourself  by Bruce Ross-Larson.

This slim paperback offers tips in an easy-to-read style in its first 11 chapters. For example, “Long sentences−those of more than, say, twenty words−often are hard to read. Short sentences usually are not.” The second half of the book is an alphabetical, reader-friendly reference.

When you have questions beyond the book’s scope, check out the books listed in “My five favorite reference books for writers” and the online resources I discuss in “Poll: What’s your favorite online resource for grammar, punctuation, and word usage questions?”

2. Take GrammarBook.com quizzes.

GrammarBook.com offers interactive quizzes. What I liked about the one quiz I took was that the answers explained the rules clearly. Plus, it taught me some fine points of grammar, so it’s good for advanced students as well as writers who are brushing up.

Some of the GrammarBook quizzes are free. If you like the freebies enough, you can buy an annual subscription to access the rest.

Disclosure: If you click on an Amazon link in this post and then buy something, I will receive a small commission. I provide links to books only when I believe they have value for my readers.