- Susan Weiner Investment Writing

Marketing via U.S. mail still pays

April 27, 2010/in financial advisor, financial topics, marketing, writing/by website admin

“Don’t give up on mail,” wrote marketing consultant Libby Dubick in “Four marketing resolutions for 2010.” I agree that investment and wealth management firms should continue to use the U.S. mail.

Letters and brochures ranked high when Dubick conducted an informal survey of how senior marketing executives would like to be introduced to a wealth manager. They came in second only to personal referrals.

If you write a sales letter, remember these tips

Emphasize your prospect’s WIIFM–What’s In It For Me–rather than talking about your firm
Keep it short–People have short attention spans.
Don’t send it and forget it–Follow up with the individual.

No more fancy-pants prose, please

April 20, 2010/1 Comment/in client, communication, marketing, writing/by website admin

“The writer who indulges in fancy-pants prose sometimes has too large an ego, and sometimes one that’s too small,” says Francis Flaherty, author of The Elements of Story.

Fancy-pants prose—in other words, highfalutin, multisyllabic words—rarely serve writers well. Instead, as Flaherty suggests, they’re evidence that the author is trying to impress his or her audience.

In the investment and wealth management world, this shows up in the use of words such as “mitigate” when “reduce” or “cut” would serve the purpose.

Can you think of fancy-pants words you’d like to eliminate from our industry’s publications? Please leave a comment.

How to guest-blog on personal finance or investments, Part I: Your approach

April 16, 2010/1 Comment/in blog, client communication, marketing, writing/by website admin

Some financial advisors wonder if they can crank out a steady flow of compelling blog posts week after week. Before you make the commitment, consider testing your abilities by writing for other people’s personal finance or investment blogs.

Some blogs publish their submission guidelines, so you know exactly how to apply to be a guest blogger. Others don’t. But there’s a simple process you can follow to propose a guest role.

Step 1. Study the blog to figure out its audience and topical focus.

Step 2. Come up with a topic. Your description of your topic should identify the main point you’re trying to make and why readers will care about it. In “How to Write Blog Posts People Will Read: A 5-Week Teleclass for Financial Advisors,” you’ll get help developing a strong topic.

Step 3. Email the blogger to suggest a guest post. A strong proposal will include the following:

a. Your understanding of the host blogger’s audience and focus

b. Your topic and why it will appeal to the blog’s audience

c. A brief bio to establish your credibility

d. Your contact information

It isn’t necessary to send your completed blog post right away. In fact, I think it’s better not to send it unless requested by the blog’s owner submission guidelines.

A proposal lets the blog owner give you suggestions about how to adapt your idea to their needs. If you enroll in “How to Write Blog Posts People Will Read: A 5-Week Teleclass for Financial Advisors,” you’ll get my personalized feedback on your draft inquiry for guest blogging.

Financial advisors, you will get names of blogs that accept investment and personal finance guest posts in Part II of “How to guest-blog on personal finance or investments.”

This post was updated on June 11, 2011, and April 26, 2020.

Teleclass FAQ–Answers to common questions about "How to Write Blog Posts People Will Read"

April 13, 2010/1 Comment/in blog, communication, financial advisor, writing/by website admin

Are you a financial advisor with questions about whether my teleclass on “How to Write Blog Posts People Will Read: A 5-Week Teleclass for Financial Advisors” will work for you?

You’ll find answers to common questions below. Do you have questions I haven’t answered below? Leave them as a comment or call me at 617-969-4509.

Q. What if I can’t attend all of the scheduled class meetings? Is there a way to catch up on the content?

A. It’s no problem if you miss a class.

You can download an audio recording within 24 hours after the class. It’s easy to catch up with a mp3 file that you can listen to on your computer or your mp3 player.

You can save all the audio files to give yourself a refresher course months or even years after your formal training ends.

Q. What if I don’t see myself as a “financial advisor”? Can I still take your class?

A. I use the term “financial advisor” as shorthand for my target audience, which includes employees of investment, wealth management, and financial planning firms.

Q. Why is the class limited to 12 students?

A. You’ll learn more when you get the personal attention that comes with a small class. You’ll have plenty of opportunities to ask questions during our telephone call. Plus, you’ll get written feedback on your homework assignments.

Q. How are classes taught?

A. You dial a teleconference number to participate in your weekly teleclass. Prior to the class, you’ll download a handout so you can follow along and take notes during class. You’ll also receive weekly homework assignments, which you’ll post to a private website, so you can get feedback on them.

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The next session of “How to Write Blog Posts People Will Read: A Five-Week Teleclass for Financial Advisors“ starts on April 22. Sign up to receive my free monthly newsletter.
Copyright 2010 by Susan B. Weiner All rights reserved

What students say about “How to Write Blog Posts People Will Read”

April 9, 2010/3 Comments/in blog, communication, social media, writing/by website admin

The investment and wealth managers who’ve taken my writing class, “How to Write Blog Posts People Will Read,” have enjoyed it. Here’s a sampling of what my students have said on their evaluation forms and in phone calls with me.

* What was valuable for me was the structure. The handouts, the thesis statement, the rules.

* Your class delivered exactly what it promised.

* The best part for me was having my work edited and critiqued by a professional.

* Susan is onto something unique. There’s no one else doing exactly what she does.

* The class is great! I’m really getting a huge amount of value — there really is a process to writing.

* Any advisor who’s serious about blogging should take this class.

* Susan’s coaching is a classic case of “under-promise, over-deliver.” I highly recommend her as a writing coach or teacher. Her coaching has improved the quality of writing in my blog posts. My writing skills were very rusty when we started. Susan’s practical, insightful suggestions–along with her Blog Post Preparation Worksheet–have been an incredibly valuable resource.

* I have Susan’s checklist out on my desk to help me review my blog posts.

* You really helped me with how to organize my thoughts before writing.

* I liked how you gave us outside-the-box ideas.

* You really helped me by saying that not everyone can immediately write everything down right

* I would sign up for another class with you. Have you thought about offering a class about writing emails?

I’d like to thank the great students who made teaching this class such a pleasure!

This post was updated on April 25, 2010, and June 10, 2011.

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Copyright 2010 by Susan B. Weiner All rights reserved

Poll: Would you hire a ghost blogger for your company?

April 3, 2010/in blog, client communication, marketing, social media, social networking, web, writing/by website admin

Investment and wealth managers have great skills. But writing isn’t necessarily one of them. So what’s a financial professional to do now that blogging is an important part of marketing?

Some companies hire ghostwriters to write their blog posts for them. Ghostblogging can encompass everything from coming up with the ideas, doing the research, writing, formatting posts, and even responding to comments in the voice of the company. Or it can involve a much bigger contribution from the client whose name goes on the post.

Critics say that hiring a ghostblogger is bad. In “The Ghost Speaks,” writer Michael Janofsky quotes communications consultant Shel Holtz, “I’m a huge fan of transparency. My advice to executives is: If you don’t take the time to write yourself, find another channel of communication.”

What do YOU think? Please answer the poll that will run in the right-hand column of this blog until I replace it with next month’s poll. I’ll report on the results in my May e-newsletter.
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Sign up for the next session of “How to Write Blog Posts People Will Read: A Five-Week Teleclass for Financial Advisors” starting April 22 or join the mailing list for my free monthly newsletter.
Copyright 2010 by Susan B. Weiner All rights reserved

The power of analogy: U2 and alternative investments

April 2, 2010/in client communication, writing/by website admin

What could the band U2 and hedge fund-style investing have in common?

This unlikely combination came up in a March 15 presentation to the Boston Security Analysts Society by Robert Kaimowitz, CEO and portfolio manager, Bull Path Capital Management.

Kaimowitz asked the audience, “How many of you think U2 is an alternative band?” No hands went up. The band is mainstream now. Yet it was considered an alternative band when it first emerged.

So-called “alternative investments” will follow a similar path, suggested Kaimowitz. They’re new and poorly understood, so they’re considered “alternative.” That will change as they become accepted. He figures alternatives will become mainstream partly because a long-only fund can’t be conservative because it’s 100% exposed to the market.

Kaimowitz’ comments about U2 and alternative investments demonstrate the power of analogy. They stuck with me long after the details of his fund’s performance faded.

If you’re trying to convince your clients to adopt alternative investments, consider trying this U2 analogy on them. I’d like to hear if it works for you.

Tip for organizing information in your blog posts and articles

March 16, 2010/in blog, writing/by website admin

“Group similar points together. They gain power from consolidation and lose power from interruption.”

–Francis Flaherty, author of The Elements of Story, p. 89

Tip for bloggers from novelist Will Self

March 3, 2010/in blog, writing/by website admin

Bloggers should constantly be on the lookout for topics. Inspiration often hits at awkward times. That’s why I like the following advice from British novelist Will Self.

Always carry a notebook. And I mean always. The short-term memory only retains information for three minutes; unless it is committed to paper you can lose an idea for ever.

I recently wished I’d taken a notebook onto the elliptical machine. A women’s magazine sparked a new blog post idea. I was so worried about forgetting the idea that I didn’t enjoy the rest of my workout.

Self was quoted in “Ten rules for writing fiction (part two),” which appeared in The Guardian, a U.K. newspaper.

Financial writers clinic: Lessons from Floyd Norris of The New York Times

March 2, 2010/in blog, client communication, marketing, writing/by website admin

I’m a big fan of New York Times columnist Floyd Norris. His Feb. 27 column illustrates techniques you can use for your financial articles and blog posts.

Lesson 1: Make your title provocative–and consider giving away your conclusion. “Think Banks Are Out of the Woods? Maybe Not,” says Norris’ title.

The title achieves two positive results. First, it challenges a growing number of pundits who believe banks are in much better shape than one year ago. That’s provocative. Folks will want to know the reasons behind his statement.

Second, the title gives away the article’s main point. Making your conclusion clear up front will attract more people than a title that doesn’t express an opinion, such as “Percentage of bad bank loans” or even “Bad bank loans soar.” Busy people want to get a sense upfront of whether an article will justify their spending the time to read it.

Lesson 2: A startling fact will hook your readers in your opening sentence. Norris opens with “More than $1 in every $10 that American banks have outstanding in loans is lent to a troubled borrower, a ratio far higher than previously seen in the quarter-century that such numbers have been compiled.” I had to continue reading after that opening.

Lesson 3: Lead with your message, not your source, as I’ve written on this blog. Norris didn’t mention the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation report that’s the source of his data until his third paragraph. Naming your source boosts the credibility of your article or blog post. But it’s usually not a particularly interesting piece of information.

Lesson 4: Use graphs or some sort of graphic. A non-text element attracts the eyes of people who might otherwise skip an article. However, Norris’ graphs could have been stronger if they were integrated into the layout of the article and carried more descriptive text.

Lesson 5: Your ideas count. Norris always has something interesting to say. I might read his articles even if they weren’t well organized.

Image courtesy of pakora at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.