White papers: Great training for your ghost blogger

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Busy financial advisors may seek ghost bloggers to write blog posts for them.

Photo: tomasrotger.com

As a ghost blogger for a registered investment advisor, I’ve stumbled on a great way for you to train your ghost blogger: Hire the writer to craft a white paper before she or he starts ghost-blogging.

Advantage: White paper immerses writer in your topic

White papers are usually rich in information. So one white paper provides the foundation for multiple blog posts.

I’m a big believer in recycling information, as I’ve said in “A top technique of financial advisors who blog successfully.” Your white paper readers may not even notice that you’re recycling, if your writer doesn’t simply cut-and-paste into your blog.

Another advantage: When I write a white paper, I learn about the client’s expertise, business, and how the client likes to interact with me. This means I can get up to speed quickly on the blog.

What to look for in your ghost blogger

Here are some factors to consider before you ask your white paper writer to become your ghost blogger.

1. Ability to generate blog post ideas

2. Compatibility with the way you like to work

3. Dependability

4. Mastery of a “voice” – a writing style and formality level that works for you and your audience

5. Understanding of your field

I put these five factors in alphabetical order. Your priorities may differ.

Warning for registered reps

If you’re a registered rep using a ghostwriter, you may need to disclose that. I discussed this in “Registered reps, it’s time to ‘fess up.”

Guest post: “Subject Lines: Are you reading this?”

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Kristin Harad writes irresistible, conversational email subject lines. I feel as if her emails are addressed to me, so I open them even when they’re part of a mass mailing.

I’m delighted that Kristin shares her subject line secrets in her guest post.

Subject Lines: Are you reading this?

by Kristin Harad, CFP®

When you send email communications to your list, is your subject line an afterthought or a strategic decision? When I started my marketing career, I worked for an agency managing direct mail for a large bank. Unbelievable amounts of time, testing and creativity went into figuring out which 5-10 words on the outer envelope would entice the recipient to OPEN the mailing. To call the practice strategic is an understatement. Open rates were the first measure of success for these expensive campaigns.

In the new world of overflowing Inboxes, email subject lines serve the same purpose as those teasers from the old world of mass direct mail. The primary objective of your subject line is to persuade the recipient to open up your email. You may feel jaded just thinking about trying to be strategic for every subject line you send as you communicate with your database. Relax. To be deliberate with this critical ‘lure’ you just have to select the right style for your specific message and keep the words conversational.

Match your email content with one of the FOUR TYPES of subject lines:

  1. Matter of fact: “Here is the information you requested.” This kind is tried and true. You are delivering information that the reader asked for from you. Without a doubt, this type of subject line has a high open rate. As it should. These can also include compelling How To’s such as “5 ways to lower your heating bill”
  2. Time Sensitive: “Last chance! Registration closes at 5:00pm EST” “Urgent last minute teleseminar” Very effective when you actually have a deadline for an event or an offer. Beware of crying wolf! If everything is always on a deadline, you lose your credibility. Used periodically, these are quite powerful.
  3. Personal: “Kristin, have you seen this?” or the less personal “Did you see this?” A cool feature of some email service providers is the ability to pull in first name into the subject line. Tip: Questions work better than statements. People will actually think you are only asking them. Exclusivity entices.
  4. Evocative: “OMG!!!!!!!!!!!” “A harrowing tale…” Esoteric in nature, these subject lines leave the reader asking “WHAT?! I MUST know.” Try using only one word or make up a crazy word. No one can resist solving a good mystery. Curiosity drives action.

As you can see, what makes a subject line effective depends on the situation. Test out different ones to see what works best for you and your brand. Keep your eyes peeled for the subject lines that make you click and the ones that you delete. Remember, your subject line objective is to engage the reader’s interest just enough to open the email. Then it’s all up to your email copy to drive your reader’s next action.

About the Author:  Kristin Harad, CFP® is the President of VitaVie Financial Planning, a fee-only financial planning firm in San Francisco.  She offers a free video series on marketing strategies for financial advisors at http://www.next10clients.com.

Resources for quarterly investment commentary writers

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If you’re about to start writing your quarterly investment performance commentary, you may find the following resources useful.

How do you make Degas possessive?

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I learned in high school English to form the possessive of a word ending in the letter s by adding only an apostrophe. According to this rule, the workers of Degas should become Degas’ workers.

But times have changed. Today many people and organizations don’t observe the apostrophe-only rule. Not even The New York Times, where I spotted “Degas’s.”

Leave off the s for the possessive

Grammar Girl says opinions are divided, but she prefers to leave off the s.

Here’s what my old AP style guide says about the possessive and singular common nouns ending in s:

Add ‘s unless the next work begins with s: the hostess’s invitation,the hostess’ seat; the witness’s answer, the witness’ story.

In another complication, the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) says:

add ‘s to the singular form of the word (even if it ends in -s)

OWL’s rule means that you’d write about “General Mills’s divisions.”

I think the AP and OWL recommendations are too complicated. Let’s keep things simple! However, if you prefer different rules, it’s okay as long as you apply them consistently. Consistency will make it easier for your readers to process what you write.

 

Note: I updated this post on Dec.  27, 2015 by adding links.

Make your writing easier with my fill-in-the-blanks approach for structuring articles

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Smart financial professionals often struggle to convert their ideas into compelling prose, losing readers in the first paragraph.

Photo: Joe Mud

If this sounds like you, you can benefit from my fill-in-the-blanks approach to write your introductory paragraph and structure your article, blog post, or other writing.

Step 1: Identify three keys to your article

This approach depends on your identifying three pieces of information:

1. Your target audience

2. Their problem

3. The solution

Step 2: Write your fill-in-the-blanks intro

To craft a compelling introduction, take the key information from from Step 1 and drop it into the blanks highlighted in yellow in the illustration below.

In other words: Name of target audience struggle with brief description of problem. You can solve this problem with brief description of solution.

Does this structure seem familiar?

It should. I used it in the first paragraph of this blog post. Name of target audience: smart financial professionals. Brief description of problem: struggle to convert their ideas into compelling prose. Brief description of solution: my fill-in-the-blanks approach.

Introducing your topic this way quickly shows your audience that you’re speaking to them and their needs. Plus, they’ve got an incentive to continue reading because you have a solution for their problem.

Step 3: Flesh out the formula in the remainder of your article

You’ve set expectations in your introduction, so follow through in your article. If it’s a brief piece, such as a blog post, dive in to explaining the solution. If it’s a longer piece, such as a white paper, you can first describe your audience and its problem in more detail to show you grasp their challenges. This enhances your credibility.

Have you tried this approach?

I’d like to hear about your experience with this audience-problem-solution approach.

Whiteboard video: If you want to add some visual interest

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A video that only shows you speaking about a financial topic can get boring. This is why I suggest you add some visual elements.

One way to boost your visual appeal to use a whiteboard, as Paddy Hirsch does. I discovered his video through a tweet by Cathy Curtis of Curtis Financial. Hirsch is senior editor for the Marketplace radio show.

Here’s the link: Fiscal and Monetary Policy.

If you try a whiteboard video, remember to

  1. Use a microphone that will record you even when you’re facing away from the camera
  2. Face the camera as often as possible
  3. Add diagrams or drawings to enliven your whiteboard notes–Love that drawing of Ben Bernanke!

If you’ve ever tried a whiteboard video, I’d like to learn about your experience.

May 1, 2014: I updated this post to change information that was no longer accurate.

Northern Trust’s plain English ad

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I like this plain English ad from Northern Trust, which I found in The Wall Street Journal on August 23, 2011, on p. B1.

What about you? What about this ad appeals to you?

Reader challenge: Risk management rewrite

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It’s time for a reader challenge. How would YOU rewrite the sentence below to make it more compelling and yet stay within compliance guidelines?

Portfolio are managed using the latest risk management techniques.

I’m looking forward to reading your suggestions!

YOU pick the winner: Most reassuring title for investors

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Different folks find different titles reassuring amid the stock market’s ups and downs. This is what I’ve gathered from my call for “Article titles that reassure investors.”

My readers, including connections on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook, and I have submitted the titles you’ll find below. They are listed in alphabetical order.

Please vote for your favorite in the poll that appears in the right-hand column of this blog. If you have a better title, you can add it to the poll.

  • 5 triggers that will ignite the next bull market
  • A lost decade, really?
  • Bernanke Replaced by Harry Potter
  • The blessing of balance: A view from Down Under
  • Comfort is rarely rewarded: Maverick Risk and False Benchmarks
  • Downgrade should mean little to long-term investors
  • Has the Downgrade Created a Buying Opportunity?
  • How can I retire after 12 years of range-bound markets?
  • How to invest in a market with a ceiling
  • How to make money whether the market goes up or down
  • I love the smell of napalm in the morning.
  • Intelligent Trading: A Competitive Advantage During Market Plunges
  • It’s Only Money
  • Pray the Course
  • Run, Ride or Buy? What Should Investors Do?
  • Stocks Survive Slumps Time To Buy Soon
  • Stronger Backdrop for Stocks This Time Around
  • These are the times!
  • Volatility does not imply direction – it’s the price we pay for a higher return in the long run.
  • We’re not Greece!
  • _You can also add your own candidate for most reassuring title.

It’ll be interesting to see which title wins. I wonder what it will say about what we find reassuring.

I will announce the winning title in my October e-newsletter.

Article titles that reassure investors–Submit YOUR candidate

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Investors crave reassurance during volatile times. But it’s not easy to choose words that steady their nerves. With that in mind, I’m putting out a call for article titles that reassure investors.

Please comment with your candidate for the most reassuring title

If I get enough good candidates in the comments on this blog post, I’ll run a poll, so you can vote for a winner, as discussed in the following Facebook post:

Tom Brakke of the research puzzle blog, one of the early supporters of this contest,
clearly enjoys playing with titles. You can see this in his tweet suggesting “Pray the Course” as a reassuring title.

What makes a title reassuring?

The suggestions by John and Tom show a sense of humor, so I’m going to throw out some serious candidates for reassuring titles. I hope the following titles spark some conversation.

What makes a title reassuring? Based on the titles above, I seem to find comfort in titles suggesting I can benefit from–or ignore–market volatility. Right or wrong, this is what works for me.

How about you? What wording do YOU find reassuring?

Aug. 30, 2011 update: I am no longer accepting comments on this post as new candidates for this competition.