A title can make a world of difference

“Titles and subtitles are turbocharged text. They are your work distilled,” says Francis Flaherty in The Elements of Story, p.247.

So, don’t just dash off your titles and subtitles. Put some thought into them. Make them convey the main points of your articles or blog posts. You’ll get more readers, if you follow this advice.

For example, which article would you read? One entitled “Cost Basis Records” or “Save Your Cost Basis Records Now, Or Pay More Taxes Later”?

If you’re thinking about starting to blog…

… you can learn about the case for blogging and how to integrate it into your schedule. Just watch this YouTube interview with Denise Wakeman of The BlogSquad. The interview was conducted by Michael Stelzner of Writing White Papers.

One of Wakeman’s points applies to all of your marketing communications. Think about the problems you solve for your clients. Write about those and you’ll command their attention. It doesn’t matter whether you’re writing a blog post, quarterly client letter, newsletter article, or website.


What’s a good elevator pitch for this blog?

Whether you’re marketing your company, job hunting, or just networking, everybody needs an elevator pitch that succinctly conveys how they add value.

Even a blog needs an elevator pitch, says Darren Rowse of ProBlogger in “Write an Elevator Pitch for Your Blog.

Here’s my elevator pitch for this blog:
The Investment Writing blog helps investment and wealth management professionals to communicate more effectively with their clients and prospects. The blog provides helpful communications tips and timely articles about industry topics.

How did I do with my elevator pitch? Do you have suggestions on how to improve it?

Also, if you’re a blogger, please share your blog’s elevator pitch along with a link to your blog..


 

"Starting Your First Blog? 29 Tips, Tutorials and Resources for New Bloggers"

Starting Your First Blog? 29 Tips, Tutorials and Resources for New Bloggers” by Problogger Darren Rowse is a great resource if you’ve just started blogging.


His resources are divided into categories including
* Starting a Blog
* Writing Blog Content
* Blog Promotion/Finding Readers
* Making Money from Blogs
* Further Resources and Reading


I’d also like to recommend Blogging Basics 101: Where there are no stupid questions.


MFS Investment Management is using LinkedIn to circulate commentary

MFS Investment Management has set up a LinkedIn group called MFS Investment Commentary. 

Its purpose? According to the group profile, it is “A group for financial advisors and investment industry professionals interested in getting updates on MFS’s outlook on financial markets around the world. James Swanson’s Chief Investment Strategist corner, the Week in Review, and the month Global Perspective are featured here. U.S. investment products offered through MFS Fund Distributors, Inc.”

At a quick glance, it looks as if many of the group members are MFS employees. But perhaps they haven’t publicized it yet among the professionals whom they’re targeting.

Have you noticed any other fund or investment management companies setting up LinkedIn groups? What about other uses of social networking?

Related post: Eaton Vance, Evergreen, and FRC on “Communication Strategies for Good Times and Bad”


How can I come up with ideas for a weekly newspaper column on personal finance?

That’s the question a newly independent advisor asked me.

Before I offer some ideas, I’m going to challenge the idea that a newspaper column must be weekly. As newspapers decline, this advisor would be lucky to get into print once a month. But let’s assume the paper DOES need a weekly column. How about offering to rotate authorship with three advisors who have different niches?  You’ll reduce your burden and increase the range of topics covered by the column. That sounds like a win-win situation to me. If you know of anyone who’s tried column-sharing, please leave a comment below. 

Once you’ve landed your column, here are some sources for ideas.
1. Questions your clients ask you
2. LinkedIn and other social networking sites–See what questions appear on relevant LinkedIn’s groups. Pose a question in a social networking forum. For example, “What’s your most pressing personal finance question?” or “What questions do you have about managing your 401(k)?”
3. Professional publications–Have you read an interesting article in Financial Planning, Advisor Perspectives. Financial Analysts Journal or some other trade publication? Talk about the topic in plain terms that regular folks can understand.
4. Newspapers, TV, and other media–It’s especially good to pick a controversial topic.
5. Personal finance blogs–There are lots of good blogs out there. For a list of financial and economic blogs read by financial advisors, check out the list on page 3 of my article, “Investment Strategy Blogs Slow to Influence Financial Advisors.” For a more recent list, see “RIA blogs recommended by my Twitter friends.”

Can you suggest more sources? Please leave a comment.

Note: This post was updated on May 18, 2015 to remove a broken link and to add more recent information.

What you’re missing if you don’t blog

Financial planners who don’t blog are missing out on a great opportunity to connect with prospective clients, according to “Social media in financial planning — the sweet spot and the sweet gap.” Why? Because many of your most desirable prospects read blogs.



On the other hand, if you do blog, you’re in a minority. Apparently fewer than 1% of financial planners blog, according to research from Kahuna Content.


Thanks to Bill Winterberg for bringing this information to my attention.


Eaton Vance, Evergreen, and FRC on "Communication Strategies for Good Times and Bad"

Mutual fund companies are ratcheting up their communications, as you might expect in challenging  times. I learned some of their strategies in a panel on  “Communication Strategies for Good Times and Bad” with speakers from Eaton Vance, Evergreen Investments, and Financial Research Corp. They spoke at NICSA’s East Coast Regional meeting on January 15.
Social media on the rise 
I was struck by how companies are using–or considering–communication tools such as webinars and social media that barely existed five years ago, back when I worked for Columbia Management Group. 

Social media is impacting every brand and how firms need to communicate, said Stephen J. Barrett, chief marketing officer and managing director, Eaton Vance Distributors. He suggested that you search for your company name on Facebook. (By the way, when I searched “Eaton Vance,” I found several people named “Vance Eaton,” but also a number of people who might be Eaton Vance employees.)

Barrett is thinking about how to leverage Facebook and other social media. “We need to enable people using social media networks to share our content and to use it build their own content.” 

None of the panelists’ firms are currently blogging, though Evergreen’s parent company, is involved in the Wells Fargo-Wachovia Blog, which allows readers to leave comments. 

Even if your companydoesn’t blog, you should be searching on its name in the blogosphere using tools such as Technorati or Google, said panel moderator Bill Blase of W.T. Blase & Associates. He has seen issues that companies could have “gotten in front of” if they’d learned about the issues through blogs.

More frequent internal communications 
At Evergreen Investments, Laura Fay, senior vice president, corporate communications, said the best time to connect with your employees is a time like now, when morale may be low, she said. Employees feel better if they hear frequently from senior management.

Evergreen is using the following tools for internal communications:

  • Monthly newsletter or business update
  • Quarterly summary of financial information
  • Quarterly video available on employee desktops
  • Town hall meetings, held in four primary locations and available via webinar; employees can submit questions anonymously

The challenges of faster communication
Companies need to communicate more quickly, which is pressuring them to get things approved quickly. “Out in two days and very, very good is much better than out in five days and perfect,” said Barrett. 

That’s not easy when you’ve got to win approval from both portfolio managers and your compliance department. “Getting out quarterly commentary can be torturous,” said Fay.

It’s also challenging to create communications that serve both financial intermediaries and their clients. Financial advisors tell the researchers at Financial Research Corporation (FRC), “don’t dumb it down,” but they want to share fund companies’ content with their clients, said Craig Kilgallen, director of FRC’s ADVISOR INSIGHT. That adds to the difficulty of getting compliance approval. Also, as Barrett said, “If you talk about negative convexity in a client brochure, you’re probably going down the wrong path.”


Tips for streamlining your writing from the Word Wise blog

Shorter is almost always better when you write.

Check out “One (Isn’t) the Loneliest Number,” a list of phrases that can be replaced with a single word, from Dan Santow’s Word Wise blog.

It’ll teach you to use words like “now” instead of “at the present time” or “at this point in time.”

Compliance makes social networking tougher for registered reps than RIAs

Here’s a guest post by Bill Winterberg, CFP®, an operations and efficiency guru to independent financial advisers, who blogs at FP Pad. He made me realize that RIAs have more leeway than registered reps when it comes to social networking.

Websites like Twitter, LinkedIn, and blogs present compliance issues for registered representatives subject to FINRA regulations. All reps must obtain approval from the broker/dealer compliance department before posting anything on the Internet, as postings a considered advertisements.

FINRA has published guidelines for use of the Internet by registered representatives of broker/dealers. It’s worth reading if you are affiliated with a broker/dealer.

The SEC has similar guidelines that govern advertisements, including postings to public Internet forums. However, investment advisers are generally responsible for self-supervision by Chief Compliance Officers. In my opinion, investment advisers not subject to FINRA regulations have quite a bit more flexibility when using Internet and social networking websites. See http://www.sec.gov/divisions/investment/advoverview.htm and http://www.sec.gov/info/iaicccoutreach.htm.

RIAs definitely have more flexibility over registered reps when it comes to the use of the Internet. However, common sense must always prevail when using the Internet to avoid publishing security recommendations or any testimonial, which are explicitly prohibited by the SEC and state regulatory authorities.