Financial writers, lead with your message, not your source

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Sometimes you go to a conference or talk with an expert and return to your office with a message you’ve just got to share. That’s great. But in their enthusiasm, financial advisors often make the mistake of starting their article or blog post with the name and credentials of the expert or conference, instead of their message. 

Here’s a made-up example of this common mistake. It’s the kind of problem I often see in advisor-written articles.

Last month, Jane Miller, an estate planning attorney with 30 years experience, gave a great talk at the Anytown Library about estate planning for families including children with special needs. Jane practices in Nexttown with the firm of Miller, Brown, and Lopez. I’m going to share some of her main points with you.

Let’s assume this paragraph went out in a client newsletter. Do any clients care about Jane, where she spoke, and the identity of the partners in her law firm?  Maybe some do. But I’ll bet the families with children who have special needs care a lot more about the details of Jane’s advice.

I suggest rewriting the beginning of the article to focus on the message, rather than the source.

Sometimes your clients’ best-intentioned efforts to help their children with special needs may backfire, as I learned in a presentation by attorney Jane Miller of Miller, Brown, and Lopez. There are three steps you can take to help your child financially, while maintaining their access to means-tested programs.

Do you grasp the difference between the two approaches?

Unless you’re reporting on your one-to-one meeting at the White House with President Obama or your Hollywood meeting with the hottest movie star, start your article with your strongest message.

 

Interesting example of fund company using YouTube

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I  normally think of a fund company using YouTube–if it uses YouTube at all–to show off its talking heads. But times are changing.

U.S. Global Investors’ “Shanghai City Lights” video, which you can view below, doesn’t mention the fund firm’s name or investments. It doesn’t even show any people. I think this video has the potential to reach more viewers than the firm’s more traditional videos. Heck, I already forwarded the video to my husband to remind him of our visit to Shanghai.  However, I wonder how many of this video’s viewers will be potential fund buyers.


US Global Investors seems to have moved away from talking heads and toward more visually appealing pieces. Its initial YouTube video was “Frank Holmes Explains the Key Drivers for Gold and Mining Stock,” followed by “What the Global Infrastructure Story Looks Like” and “A Firsthand Look at Mining Operations in Brazil.” To view these videos, go to the USFunds YouTube channel. So far the Frank Holmes video has gained the most viewers on YouTube, with 218 views as of Nov. 16.

However, US Global Investors hasn’t given up on more traditional communications. For example, “Five Reasons China is Not a Bubble” appears on its blog and the firm’s Fall 2009 Shareholder Report leads with a letter titled “Just Back from Shanghai.”

Do you think US Global Investors’ YouTube video about Shanghai represents the start of a trend? While their videos haven’t attracted many viewers yet. the firm’s YouTube presence is pretty new.

Bloggers’ top two punctuation mistakes

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“Financial blogging has it’s challenges”, said the copywriter. 

If you identified the errors in the sentence above, you probably aren’t making bloggers’ two most common punctuation mistakes. These mistakes aren’t confined to blogs. I see them in every kind of financial and personal communication. 

It’s vs. its

“It’s” is a whopping exception to the rule that you form the possessive by adding an apostrophe and the letter s.

“The performance of the mutual fund” becomes “the mutual fund’s performance,” but “the performance of it” becomes “its performance,” with no apostrophe.

“Apostrophes should not be used with possessive pronouns because possessive pronouns already show possession,” as explained by the Online Writing Center at Purdue University. So don’t add an apostrophe to “yours,” “ours,” “his,” “hers,” or “theirs.”

Remember: “it’s” always means “it is.”
 
Quotation marks and misplaced punctuation
Punctuation generally belongs inside the closing quotation mark. So my opening sentence should be punctuated like this: “Financial blogging has its challenges,” said the copywriter. 

The Associated Press Stylebook puts the rules like this:
1. “The period and the comma always go within the quotation marks.”
2. “The dash, the semicolon, the question mark and the exclamation point go within the quotation marks when they apply to the quoted matter only. They go outside when they apply to the whole sentence.”
The Stylebook is talking about punctuation at the end, not the beginning, of a quotation.

However, if you’re writing for a British or Canadian audience rather than a U.S. audience, punctuation goes outside the quotation marks. Grammar Girl says, “Printers found that the periods and commas were more stable when they were placed inside closing quotation marks, so that’s the way they started doing it,” according to “Why are British English and American English different?” Grammar Girl seems to agree with my friend who thinks the British practice is more logical. Still, punctuation-conscious Americans wince when you flout the American way. 

The bottom line
Earlier this year I asked my newsletter readers “Do grammar or punctuation errors affect the writer’s credibility in your eyes?”

Results:
0%   No, I don’t notice errors
2%   No, I don’t care
22%  Yes, but I forgive small errors, especially in social networking posts
75%  Yes, it generally hurts my opinion

Only 2% of respondents answered “No.” That sends a strong message about the impact that errors have on your readers.

So, please

  • Distinguish between “it’s” and “its.”
  • Always put your commas and periods inside your closing quotation marks.

 

Do you have a question about these punctuation practices? Ask it in the comments below.
 

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

A title can make a world of difference

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“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…

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… 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?

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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"

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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.


MFS Investment Management is using LinkedIn to circulate commentary

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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?

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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.

What you’re missing if you don’t blog

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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.