What to do in the conference vacuum: How to refocus your conference budget on other brand-building activities

COVID 19 has forced the cancellation, at least for the near term, of most in-person conferences and events.  Both Schwab and Morningstar’s massive advisor conferences will now be online. This isn’t all bad.  Early feedback on other well-attended events that have been held virtually is promising.  Apple’s virtual conference is likely to attract many more people than would otherwise [...]

By |2023-04-20T04:00:26-05:0007/01/2020|

Crisis communication tips from Teddy Roosevelt

Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin’s new book, Leadership in Turbulent Times, draws leadership lessons from her presidential subjects. Best known for the bestseller Team of Rivals focused on Abraham Lincoln’s cabinet and her Pulitzer-prize winning No Ordinary Time about Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt during the war years, Kearns Goodwin has spent her life studying these and other leaders. Buried in [...]

By |2023-04-20T04:03:37-05:0004/17/2019|

Turn and face the change – how financial communicators embrace change and help shape their organizations

Change is often the crux of any communications campaign—new executive leadership, a new product or branding, or an acquisition or divestiture—all entail sharing a vision of a new status quo. At a recent panel discussion hosted by the Financial Communications Society (FCS), a group of veteran communicators shared their perspectives on “Change Management: Best Practices for Communicating Significant Changes [...]

By |2023-04-20T04:03:42-05:0011/02/2018|

Active managers should communicate their advantages relative to passive investments…and why investors shouldn’t abandon them

Many active fund managers are feeling beleaguered.  Media consensus nearly unanimously guides investor toward passively managed ETFs and funds and decry the shortcomings of active management. It is no wonder.  Passive funds have largely outperformed passive funds for 10 years running[i].  Mutual fund cash flows have favored passive funds as well.  What’s an active fund manager to do? One [...]

By |2023-04-20T04:03:50-05:0008/29/2017|

Keeping it confidential

Thoughts on Handling Sensitive News and Information Many in our industry are following recent news that several business wire services including Business Wire, PR Newswire and Marketwired were hacked by an insider trading ring seeking to profit from non-public information. Federal investigators allege the hacking ring pocketed more than $100 million from illicit trades over a five-year period by [...]

By |2023-04-20T04:04:04-05:0008/18/2015|

Social Media for Financial Advisors: Connect with Millennials and Female Clients

According to a December 2014 Putnam Investments study, 75% of financial advisors use social media for client development, and 66% credit their social media use for gaining new clients. That’s up from 49% in 2013 and represents an average $5.5 million in additional assets. Not unlike the financial planning business, social media is about building and maintaining relationships. Up-to-date [...]

By |2023-04-20T04:04:06-05:0003/15/2015|

Consistently Emphasizing Process Helps Active Managers Maintain Media Credibility during Down Periods

As hard as people try to predict performance, it is very difficult to do. For that matter, even looking backward can be tricky. For example, industry experts sometimes disagree on how best to interpret past performance and risk data for the purpose of evaluating future possibilities. In an article late last year, Advisor Perspectives editor Robert Huebscher concluded that [...]

By |2023-04-20T04:04:07-05:0002/20/2015|

What’s In Your Content?

Content marketing, brand journalism, native advertising, branded content, content curation, owned media, these are terms that we hear quite a bit lately. What do these terms refer to? And why should financial services companies care? First, the crux of content marketing is creating and distributing relevant content for the purpose of connecting with an audience.  You can do that [...]

By |2023-04-20T04:04:16-05:0009/27/2013|

Writing Headlines & Subject Lines For Financial Adviser Audiences

We often assist in preparing articles and commentaries from fund portfolio managers for financial adviser audiences. From our experience, here are some thoughts on writing headlines (and email subject lines) that can speak to a group that’s constantly flooded with financial communications. When writing headlines for content by portfolio managers, it helps to establish a slightly different tone than [...]

By |2023-04-20T04:04:20-05:0005/01/2013|
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