An advisor last week told me sending a weekly email to clients is a bad idea. “It sends a bad message by focusing on short-term news,” he said.
I understand why he said that, but then showed him why he was wrong.
My New Tact
I’ve spent much more than 10,000 hours working on advisor-client communications and know what I’m talking about. When an advisor says something to me about client communications that I know is wrong, I ask the advisor if he is confident he knows what he’s talking about. If an advisor is confident, there’s no point in trying to convince him hes wrong. Fortunately, about 80% of advisors interested in Advisor Products’ solutions admit freely they are not marketing experts and are open to learning how to improve client communications.
Advisor Miserperception: Weekly Email Newsletter
Advisors commonly believe communicating weekly puts too much focus on short-term volatility and news headlines that will be soon forgotten. Not communicating regularly, however, is not a smart solution.
Just because you communicate every week does not mean your focus needs to be short-term. In fact, every week is a new opporturnity to keep clients focused on long-term planning.
After the Dow declined 367 points last Friday, for example, the email above went out to clients and prospects of advisory firms using Financial Advisor Marketing Engine (FAME).
The article in the weekly update explains news headline from the perspective of a fiduciary, a professional who relies on economic fundamentals, MPT, and low-cost investments to provide a diversified core portfolio to clients, along with financial planning services.
The weekly email features the headline of a story we write on deadline, along with a 30-word one-sentence tease. And there is a summary of the closing values of the major stock and bond indexes.
On a day when the Dow Jones Industrials plunged 367 points, the headline is about the yield curve and Wednesday’s interest rate hike by the Fed. The Friday plunge is mentioned but it’s not treated as major news event, while meaning of the Fed’s action — a long-term planning issue — is addressed more thouroughly.
The “more” link in the email opens a browser where the full article can be read.
Email newsletters are just one piece in Advisor Products client communications solutions. In every aspect of client communications for financial professionals — whether you need an integrated client portal or a marketing website with FINRA reviewed content — Advisor Products crushes it.