Top three signs you should hire a freelance financial writer

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Investment and wealth managers can deepen their relationships with clients, prospects, and referral sources by writing articles and white papers. Some firms do their writing in-house, while others farm it out.

Here are the top three signs you should hire a freelance financial writer for your articles and white papers.
1. Articles and white papers don’t get written–or take too long to finish–because the experts are too busy.
2. Your publications don’t appeal to readers because they are
     a.  Too focused on features, not benefits
     b.  Poorly written in terms of style, grammar, and punctuation

3. You realize that writing is a poor use of your employees’ investment and wealth management skills.

A savvy freelance financial writer can showcase your executives’ knowledge without eating up their time and energy.


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

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“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.


Do your grammar and punctuation affect your credibility?

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I believe that bad grammar and punctuation sabotage the credibility of the writer.  The same goes for the company that the writer represents.

For me, bad grammar and punctuation suggest a lack of education and attention to detail. I wonder if the writer’s professional work displays similar weaknesses. Plus, I’m annoyed if poor writing makes me work harder to grasp the point the writer was trying to convey.

Marketing materials–especially long-lived forms such as websites and brochures–should hit high standards to put the firm’s best foot forward.

I’m more forgiving of typos in quickly created, ephemeral communications, such as tweets on Twitter. I’m guilty of typos there and on my blog.

What about you? Does bad grammar and punctuation detract from your opinion of writers and their companies? 
Please answer the poll in the right-hand column of my blog. Also, feel free to leave your comment below.

I’ll report on the poll results in a future issue of my newsletter. The poll will run until June 2009.

 

Jan. 20, 2013 note: I updated the title of this post after an anonymous commenter pointed out my grammatical mistake.

Ways to dream up topics for financial articles

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Sometimes you run out of ideas for your financial writing or blogging. Maybe it’s time to brainstorm using approaches offered by freelance writer Susan Johnston in “50 Ways for Writers to Find Article Ideas.”


I’ve selected several ideas from her list of 50
“3. Think about seasonal topics like holidays or national awareness months.” The April 15 tax deadline is a classic hook for financial articles. But you can branch out. For example, Veteran’s Day could inspire an article about benefits for those in the military service.
“7. Take a local story and figure out how to make it relevant to a national audience.” The Madoff scandal may have affected only high net worth investors, but it has implications for everybody.
“24. Follow a forum to see what people are buzzing about.” For example, AARP’s Online Community or the personal finance and wealth management “Answers” section of LinkedIn.
“34. Fill in the blank: ’10 Secrets of _______,’ ‘8 Places to ____’ or ‘5 Ways to __________.’ ” This reminds me of the MadLibs game, but some candidates include “10 Secrets of Saving for Retirement, “Eight Places to Find a Bargain on Insurance,” and “Five Ways to Save for College.”
“46. Take a myth and turn it on its head.” For example, U.S. Treasuries are a safe investment.

Do you have tricks that you use to come up with fresh ideas? Please share them.


Ignore this advice–at least some of it

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“10 Words to Use in Your Website Copywriting” gives you some great advice. But some of author Eric Brantner’s suggestions need to be adjusted for investment management websites.

Eric lists 10 words that tug powerfully on human emotions. 
     You
     Free
     Guaranteed
     Easy
     New
     Proven
     Results
     Save
     Maximize
     Benefit

     
Can you guess which word I’d ban from your vocabulary? 


Yes, it’s “guaranteed.” Bandying about “guaranteed” can get you in trouble with the SEC.


I have my doubts about “new” when it comes to something as sensitive as your prospective client’s money. I think they may prefer “proven.”


As for “free,” it may seem tacky to offer something free on an investment management website. Sure, you can offer a free report, but don’t hype it like one of those late night TV commercials for a super duper chopping gadget.


“You” is my favorite word on Eric’s list. But I know some firms consider it undignified. They prefer to talk about “clients” or “investors.” What’s your preference?


If you MUST use "secular" in your investment commentary…

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…please follow The Wall Street Journal‘s example. Define secular the first time you use it. 

Here’s how Mark Gangloff did it in “TALF and Ilk Won’t Cure Economic Ills” in The Wall Street Journal: “Instead, credit has dried up this time because of the more secular—meaning structural or long-lasting—phenomenon of a debt bubble.”

Secular is great shorthand for conversations between investment professionals. But it may confuse investors who think of secular as the opposite of religious.” After all, see what comes up when you Google “define: secular.”

 

 

Note: Gangloff’s article appeared on March 5, 2009, but his approach still works. I updated this on Nov. 21, 2022.

 

 

 


 

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

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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.

"Quantitative easing" is a weasel word

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Governments should speak more plainly, says David Champion in “Bankers Turn to Weasel Words as a Desperate Measure.” 

As an example of what not to do, he cites the Bank of England’s references to “quantitative easing.” Quantitative easing is fancy talk for increasing the money supply.

Campion says, “I cannot help but feel that a term like quantitative easing is designed to obscure a rational discussion around policy. If the Bank of England were to come out and simply say that all it could do to get us out of the crisis was print new money, then we might all feel that we had to sit down and think of something more sensible to do.”

Are you using terms like quantitative easing in your investment commentary? If so, you run the risk that your readers, like Champion, will think you’re trying to pull the wool over their eyes.

By the way, there’s a decent explanation of quantitative easing at “Quantitative easing explained” on FT.com. 

What Bernanke does well as a speech writer

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Ben Bernanke’s speech construction is perfect, says blogger Richard Miles.

What’s so good about it? Bernanke abides by the maxim, “Tell them what you’re going to tell them, tell them, then tell them again.”

According to Miles’ analysis of Bernanke’s March 10 speech to the Council on Foreign Relations, Bernanke spent 20% of his words setting up his speech, 75% on “tell them,” and 5% on re-telling.

Think carefully about that 25% the next time you write a speech–or any sort of complex communication.

Test your business spelling skills

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“The 25 Most Commonly Misspelled Words” is an interactive quiz. Test your spelling skill today!