"LinkedIn’s Little Secret: It’s a Great Lead-Gen Tool"

/in , , , , /by

You can use LinkedIn to help build your investment or wealth management business. Adapt the techniques suggested in “LinkedIn’s Little Secret: It’s a Great Lead-Gen Tool” on HubSpot’s Inbound Internet Marketing Blog.

But, first, pay attention to this warning from HubSpot: 

“Trying to directly message or reach out to your LinkedIn network or contacts could be considered spam. Please be sure that: 1) people you try to contact want to hear from you and 2) your message is relevant.”

Suggestion #1: “Create a LinkedIn Group” on a theme related to your industry. As I see it, as long as you offer something of value to group members, you can use a LinkedIn Group to position yourself as an expert in a niche and/or to expand your network. A LinkedIn Group can  keep you in front of clients, prospects, and people who can send you referrals.

Suggestion #2: “Use LinkedIn’s DirectAds” for targeted advertising. I’m not an ad expert, but it seems to me that you’d probably pursue other advertising options first. This might be a nice add-on.

Suggestion #3: “Answer Questions on LinkedIn.” This displays your expertise, plus you get an emotional boost from helping others. So far, I’ve gotten more benefit from asking questions on LinkedIn, another HubSpot suggestion. My questions have yielded valuable information and quotes for blog posts. 

Suggestion #4: “Integrate LinkedIn into Your Marketing.” For example, suggests HubSpot, whenever you speak, invite your audience to join your group. It’s an easy way to build on the connection that you form during your time with your audience. 

Have you tried any of these techniques? I’d like to learn about your experiences. 

Meanwhile, reading HubSpot’s blog post got me wondering if I should create a LinkedIn Group for readers of my Investment Writing e-newsletter or for participants in the writing workshops I teach.  If you’re a newsletter reader or graduate of one of my writing workshops, what would you want from a LinkedIn group?

Related posts: 
“How to publicize your white paper using LinkedIn” 
“How financial advisors use LinkedIn to boost their visibility” 

"The Ten Biggest Mistakes Case Study Writers Make" by Casey Hibbard

/in , , , /by

Before you write case studies for your wealth management or financial planning business, read “The Ten Biggest Mistakes Case Study Writers Make” by Casey Hibbard (registration required). You can learn from her tips, even though her article is geared to professionals writing for technology companies.

“Ignoring the Audience,” Hibbard’s number one “don’t,” is also the most common mistake that financial advisors–and all business people–make when they write. Gear your case study to the issues that most concern your potential clients.

“#5 Not Digging for Results Data” is another mistake. A case study typically includes a problem, a solution, and results. A case study saying the client “saved $1 million in taxes” will be more powerful than a similar case study that doesn’t quantify the results.

“#9 Not Catering to Readers or Skimmers” afflicts many of the marketing materials I read. People have short attention spans. So you’ve got to cater to skimmers in addition to the folks who’ll plow through every word you write. As Hibbard says, you can make your writing easier to scan using:

  • A headline that conveys “your number one idea”
  • Subheads that convey your main points
  • Pull quotes that highlight engaging customer quotes
  • Sidebar summaries

A case study is a great way to show that you’ve solved problems for people like your prospective client. However, step carefully around investment management issues. Remember the SEC’s prohibition on testimonials for registered investment advisors.

If you’re looking for an agent for your financial book…

/in , /by

You can find agents who handle books like yours by going to AgentQuery and checking the “finance” box. 

That’s the easy part.

It’ll take a lot longer to convince an agent that you’ve got a marketable book. Good luck!


_________________
Susan B. Weiner, CFA

Check out my website at www.InvestmentWriting.com or sign up for my free monthly e-newsletter.

Copyright 2008 by Susan B. Weiner All rights reserved

Fidelity writes good headlines for volatility

/in , , , /by

Dealing with market volatility is a full-time job.
For us. Not you.

—————————————————————————-

The headline copied above works. It got me to pick up a brochure about the Fidelity Portfolio Advisory Service.

Why does it work?

First, it raises the reader’s anxiety with “dealing with market volatility is a full-time job.” But that isn’t enough. The brochure quickly offers a solution: Fidelity will handle volatility for you.

Consider trying to apply this model to your written communications.

_________________
Susan B. Weiner, CFA

Check out my website at www.InvestmentWriting.com or sign up for my free monthly e-newsletter.

Copyright 2008 by Susan B. Weiner All rights reserved

New GIPS standards will change the rules for marketers of separate accounts

/in , , , /by

Marketers of investment strategies marketed using performance composites will have to learn new recommendations and rules once GIPS 2010 goes into effect. If you’re a reader of marketing materials for separate accounts, you will find new information to digest.

GIPS is short for Global Investment Performance Standards. The next draft of GIPS standards will be issued for public comment in early 2009, with new standards to be issued in early 2010 and to become effective on January 1, 2011, according to a presentation on “GIPS Update: What to Expect in 2010” by Sunette Mulder, chair of the GIPS Executive Committee and Investment Manager Subcommittee, and Karyn Vincent, chair of the GIPS Interpretations Subcommittee. They spoke at the CFA Institute’s GIPS Standards Annual Conference on Sept. 25.

I nodded my head when Vincent said that common practice in the U.S. is to show 10 years of investment composite performance and to drop off the eleventh year once an additional year of performance is completed. I remember salespeople gleefully anticipating when a bad year would drop off the bar graph.

However, the draft of GIPS 2010 will recommend that firms show more than 10 years of history. That was just one of many points made by Vincent and Mulder. 

Another change that will impact marketers: the composite description must be expanded to include “enough information to understand all of the key characteristics, including risks, of the composite strategy.” Apparently it was felt that firms don’t adequately discuss risks.

Speaking of risk, another innovation is to require disclosure of a risk measure such as standard deviation for the composite and the benchmark for the most recent three-year period. If standard deviation isn’t the best risk statistic, you may show additional statistics.

If you don’t like what you’re hearing–or if you think some of these ideas should definitely get implemented–remember you’ll have an opportunity to give feedback on the draft of GIPS 2010. You can keep up at the GIPS Standards website.
_________________
Susan B. Weiner, CFA

Check out my website at www.InvestmentWriting.com or sign up for my free monthly e-newsletter.

Copyright 2008 by Susan B. Weiner All rights reserved

What the heck is Twitter?

/in , , /by

It’s tough to keep up with all of the social networking tools and their business uses. 

One that I’ve struggled to see the value of –at least for me–is Twitter. Twitter is like a series of mini blog posts or updates, as described in the slide show on “Twitter in Plain English.” As the Twitter FAQ explains, a Twitter communication–known as a tweet–tells us what you’re doing in 140 characters or less.

What does Twitter have to do with business? Here are “50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business.“

Check out the left-hand column of the FP Pad blog for an example of a financial professional’s Twitter feed.

If you really want to delve into the details of using Twitter, I’ve heard that the Twitter Fan Wiki is the website for you.

You won’t see me Twittering any time soon. 
_________________
Susan B. Weiner, CFA

Check out my website at www.InvestmentWriting.com or sign up for my free monthly e-newsletter.

Copyright 2008 by Susan B. Weiner All rights reserved

"Personal Branding for the Business Professional"

/in , /by

Your personal branding can help you find a job, new clients or a promotion. But developing a personal brand has become much more complicated in the age of social networking. Check out the free e-book on personal branding offered by Chris Brogan for a nice combination of traditional and new techniques for personal branding.

I’m checking out some of the websites and other resources that Brogan mentions. Like Website Grader, which will generate a free report on your website’s marketing effectiveness.


_________________
Susan B. Weiner, CFA

Check out my website at www.InvestmentWriting.com or sign up for my free monthly e-newsletter.

Copyright 2008 by Susan B. Weiner All rights reserved

"Writing Effective E-Mail: Top 10 Tips"

/in , , , , /by

You can’t be an effective financial advisor, if you can’t communicate effectively via e-mail.

Your e-mail subject line is key. If you write a weak subject line, your client or colleague may ignore or even delete your message. Write a strong one, and you’re more likely to get the response you need.

“Writing Effective E-Mail: Top 10 Tips” by Dennis Jerz does a nice job of critiquing subject lines as he explains how to “write a meaningful subject line.”

_________________
Susan B. Weiner, CFA
Investment Writing
Writing that’s an investment in your success

Check out my website at www.InvestmentWriting.com or sign up for my free monthly e-newsletter.

Get to the point quickly, or lose your web readers

/in , , , /by

“Web content must be brief and get to the point quickly, because users are likely to be on a specific mission.”

I agree with this assertion by Jakob Nielsen, a guru of website usability, in “Writing Style for Print vs. Web.” 

Nielsen gives good pointers for web writing in “How Users Read on the Web.” 

If you don’t please your readers, your website will suffer from a high bounce rate. In other words, readers will quickly desert your website. In “Reduce Bounce Rates: Fight for the Second Click,” Nielsen suggests solutions. They boil down to providing links to relevant information on your website.
_________________
Susan B. Weiner, CFA
Investment Writing
Writing that’s an investment in your success

Check out my website at www.InvestmentWriting.com or sign up for my free monthly e-newsletter.

“Stop Sending ‘Dear Valued Client’ Emails”

/in , /by

When you address your correspondence to “Dear Valued Client,” you send the wrong message. It says you don’t care enough to personalize your message.

So, check out the email solutions described in “Stop Sending ‘Dear Valued Client’ Emails” by Bill Winterberg on his FP Pad blog. He suggests using a service like Constant Contact, which I use to send my newsletter, or mail merge, like the function available in Microsoft Outlook.

Allow plenty of time to get the hang of mail merge. It’s complicated. At least, that’s my experience.

And, be sure to test your mail merge on non-clients before your first email to clients. 

I discovered some unexpected problems the first time I used Outlook’s mail merge function. Luckily, I’d used my husband as my mail-merge guinea pig. So none of the prospective clients for my writing and editing business had to suffer through my mistakes.

March 13, 2017 update: The number of newsletter services has multiplied since Bill and I originally wrote about this topic in 2008. If I were starting my newsletter today, I’d look at MailChimp (free for up to 2,000 subscribers and 12,000 emails per month) and other competitors to Constant Contact.

If you liked this article, you may also enjoy “Personalized subject lines can backfire in emails.”