Fastest-Growing Advisors Contact Clients More Frequently

New research from The Financial Awareness Foundation’s (TFAF’s) Wealth Advisor Confidence Survey™ confirms that it pays to reach out and touch people. According to TFAF, higher performing advisors are more likely than other advisors to contact clients more than once per month. For example, nearly three in five firms (58%) expecting double-digit growth in 2019 contacted clients 2 or more times per month. By contrast just under half of firms (49%) expecting single digit growth in 2019, contacted clients more than once per month.

Is that too often? Not if what you’re sending is relevant, valuable and professionally produced.
As shown below, firms that contact clients with higher frequency have the ability to produce thoughtful content that requires a little more thought than a simple tweet, post or like:


            Communication Channels Rated “Very” or “Highly” Effective

	Contact Clients 1x or less per month	Contact Clients 2x or more per month	Variance
Public speaking	65%	83%	+18%
Writing articles for publication	57%	64%	+7%
Writing books/eBooks	50%	56%	+6%
Get quoted in the press	48%	52%	+4%
Blogging	32%	48%	+16%
Publishing articles via LinkedIn	22%	40%	+18%

Sources: The Financial Awareness Foundation; HB Publishing & Marketing Company, LLC, 2018

As shown below, firms that contact clients with higher frequency are also more likely to find value in social media—but not at the same level as more conventional thought leadership tactics cited above.

Social Media Channels Rated “Very” or “Highly” Effective

	Contact Clients 1x or less per month	Contact Clients 2x or more per month	Variance
Facebook	7%	21%	+14%
Twitter	7%	16%	+9%
Instagram, Snapchat	5%	12%	+7%

Sources: The Financial Awareness Foundation; HB Publishing & Marketing Company, LLC, 2018

The findings are even more striking when looking at the projected financial performance of responding advisors. Firms that expected to finish 2018 with double-digit growth were 1.5 times more likely than less optimistic firms to consider Public Speaking, Publishing Articles and Media Coverage “very” or “extremely” useful (see chart).

TFAF’s annual survey of financial advisor concerns and challenges, conducted in association with HB Publishing & Marketing Company, LLC. asked respondents to rate nearly two-dozen thought leadership tactics. Those in the table above were the ones most frequently cited by advisors as being “very” or “extremely” valuable.

Conclusion

We may live in an instant gratification society, but when it comes to resonating with clients, prospects and influencers, research shows you’ll have to hit the neural gym and do some mental heavy lifting. There are no shortcuts, but it doesn’t have to be drudgery. We’re happy to talk to you any time if you’d like some suggested workouts for maximizing your thought leadership gains when you have limited time. You might even find those exercises fun.

There’s much more to this survey.  Check out some of the other highlights here.

#Content marketing, #thought leadership, #wealth advisors, #The Financial Awareness Foundation, #Wealth Advisor Confidence Survey

Fastest Growing Advisors Bullish on Thought Leadership

As discussed in my last post, social media is fine for advisors. But, research from The Financial Awareness Foundation’s (TFAF’s) Wealth Advisor Confidence Survey™ confirms that financial advisors find significantly more value in thought leadership tactics that showcase their ability to speak, present, write and charm the press.

The findings are even more striking when looking at the projected financial performance of responding advisors. Firms that expected to finish 2018 with double-digit growth were 1.5 times more likely than less optimistic firms to consider Public Speaking, Publishing Articles and Media Coverage “very” or “extremely” useful (see chart above). 

Unlike firms expecting modest or flat growth in 2018, firms projecting double-digit growth this year were also more likely to find high value in blogging, authoring books and e-books, publishing on LinkedIn, holding client events and producing videos.

TFAF’s annual survey of financial advisor concerns and challenges, conducted in association with HB Publishing & Marketing Company, LLC. asked respondents to rate nearly two-dozen thought leadership tactics. Those in the table above were the ones most frequently cited by advisors as being “very” or “extremely” valuable. In my next post we’ll see how webinars, Facebook, Tweeting, Instagram and other social channels fared—particularly among advisors who were expecting double digit growth in 2018.

Conclusion

We may live in an instant gratification society, but when it comes to resonating with clients, prospects and influencers, research shows you’ll have to hit the neural gym and do some mental heavy lifting. There are no shortcuts, but it doesn’t have to be drudgery. We’re happy to talk to you any time if you’d like some suggested workouts for maximizing your thought leadership gains when you have limited time. You might even find those exercises fun.

There’s much more to this survey.  Check out some of the other highlights here.

The Power of Content Calendars

Not just for the wordsmiths and marketeers in your organization. It’s as easy as 1-7-30-4-2-1

It’s no secret that Thought Leadership Marketing (aka “content marketing”) is one of the most effective ways to position yourself as an expert in your niche and to stay top of mind with your clients, prospects, influencers and/or members throughout the year. Blogs, e-newsletters, white papers, webinars, published articles, social media posts and podcasts, are all proven forms of thought leadership marketing. We know you have the expertise in house, but how do you keep coming up with great topics when you don’t have a full-time writing staff?

Start with a plan.

You wouldn’t have clients invest their money without a plan. You wouldn’t hire an architect to build your dream house if he or she didn’t use blue prints. So, why would you start pushing out content to your universe of followers without a plan?

Getting started and sticking to it

Editorial content calendars (sometimes called content calendars) are what we typically recommend to clients to get your thoughts organized for the short-term, intermediate term and long-term. You can start with a simple spreadsheet showing the months, types of content, topics covered and who’s responsible for each piece of content. 

You don’t need to invest in expensive or sophisticated marketing automation software in the early going. The main objective is to have a simple snapshot of the year ahead and to try your best to stick to the plan. It’s OK to make adjustments as important new topics rise to the surface during the course of the year. But you want to maintain a consistent schedule—we call it a “cadence” just like being consistent about your diet, your new exercise routine or your new personal enrichment class.

In fact, both content calendars and resolutions tend to fail for many of the same reasons. Perhaps you committed to a goal that’s too big or your support group falls apart. Maybe you just don’t know where to begin. Instead of giving up on your content marketing plans, as four out of five people do with their resolutions, make a plan that works for your organization.

To help you stick to your content plan, here are 6 key steps adapted from a presentation by Frank Dale, CEO of content management software company, Compendium (now part of Oracle):

1. Map out all the content your organization produces. There’s probably more than you think. In addition to blogs, write down all forms of content, including videos, photos, presentations, webinars, social media posts, marketing materials, press releases, industry and business articles, white papers, FAQs and events.

2. Sort this content into categories or types. Creating content categories ensures that your organization covers a broad range of topics, not just marketing. Categories can include: “”How To” best practices, industry trends, company news, marketing, events and more.

3. Identify who is creating your content. Your organization has content authors who don’t know they’re authors. Anyone with hands-on experience within the company has a story to tell and can contribute to your content marketing effort. This includes employees from different areas of your company (marketing, IT, legal) as well as external authors (customers, partners, industry thought leaders).

4. Determine how much and how often your “experts” can contribute. Some authors can easily provide a steady stream of content (social media managers, public relations, customers), while others may be more sporadic (event planners, video producers).

5. Think rows and columns. Once you’ve completed these steps, develop a simple spreadsheet that includes all this information. From this spreadsheet, you can begin to create a content calendar. We like using a traditional monthly calendar because I can easily see what content is planned and when.

6. Be realistic about what your organization can accomplish. It might be helpful to think about frequency using a technique pioneered by content strategist Russell Sparkman/FusionSpark Media  called the “1-7-30-4-2-1” method. Here’s how it works:

·         1 represents the content your organization can commit to publishing daily. This might be something as easy as the sharing of industry news via Twitter or Facebook.

·         7 refers to weekly content, such as a blog post.

·         30 is what your organization can publish monthly. These might be more extensive content pieces, such as an e-newsletter or video.

·         4 refers to a quarterly content commitment, such as a white paper, e-book or contest.

·         2 is biannual content, such as an event, new brochure or webcast.

·         1 is annual content, such as an event, conference or app.

Don’t get painted into a corner

We advise our clients to think three to six assignments ahead at all times. Start setting up little folders for each upcoming post or article now (paper or digital is fine). You never know when you’ll come across a great nugget or factoid in July that will be perfect for the assignment that’s not due until November.

Conclusion

Approaching content marketing in these manageable bite-sized steps prevents you from feeling overwhelmed and allows you to build a content calendar that’s manageable and sustainable. Best of all, this exercise is easier and less painful than dieting or going to the gym and you’ll have a “ripped” and “buff” reputation to show off for all your effort and discipline.

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TAGS: content calendars, editorial calendars, content marketing, Russell Sparkman, Compendium, 

Sponsored Content Is Here to Stay

Do it the right way and you’ll be rewarded in spades. Disrespect the rules and your brand, or firm reputation will be punished.
Whether you call it branded content, brand journalism, advertorial, sponsored editorial or native advertising, sponsored content is gaining more and more adoption as an effective way for marketers to tell your story to an audience that’s increasingly immune to intrusive banner ads, broadcast commercials, sponsored links and social media.

In this form of marketing, an advertiser/sponsor will create, or hire outside writers to create, articles, videos, blog posts or white papers and more that talk about solving a problem that your industry peers face. You can hint at the benefits of your product or service category without specifically touting your brand or company name. In many cases the sponsored content can run alongside or commingled with the regular editorial content.

Sunday’s New York Times addressed this trend (“Sponsors Now Pay for Online Articles, Not Just Ads”). While geared toward a consumer audience and big media enterprises, the article contained some valuable lessons for those of you in B2B marketing, particularly technology, finance and professional services.

While traditional journalists find this approach a violation of “church and state,” sponsored content is proving to be very effective when executed well and as readers, viewers and followers become increasingly comfortable with this medium.

Here are some reasons why you should consider adding sponsored content to your overall marketing mix:

·         Fill a content hole. Many of the outlets in which you would consider advertising are in need of high value content. Staffs are being cut back at a time when their news cycle is increasing.

·         Expertise. It’s very simple. Follow the money. Many of the top experts in your field work for the best paying companies or firms in your business—they’re  not journalists, analysts or academics who simply follow the business. They’re in the trenches every day, just like their peers.

·         Sharpen your message. Creating sponsored content, or helping your outside contractors create it for you, forces you to really nail down your messaging points and key value proposition. It’s a great exercise.

·         Gain a following. Creating high-value sponsored content consistently for a respected publication or website will keep you on the radar as an industry thought leader.  Twitter followers, Facebook Likes and Pinterest pins are nice, but nothing’s going to bring you client leads like being a “published author” or “frequent commentator” for an industry-leading media outlet.

*** IMPORTANT: When utilizing sponsored content, always keep it above board—the way you would if presenting at an industry conference. If you do, you’ll be perceived as sharing knowledge with your profession, not shilling your product. Whatever you do, just don’t insult the reader’s intelligence or disrespect their time. Kindly spend the time to create an accurate headline, subhead and some key bullet points at the top, so your piece can be quickly scanned for future consideration. Don’t waste time with a lengthy abstract

Macro View

As earning season gets under way, the stock markets passed a good early test this week, recovering most of its losses from last week to close midweek at or near their all-time highs. Three other things caught our eye this week. First, wholesalers may have reduced their inventories too much in February the Commerce Department said, suggesting that businesses had underestimated consumer demand.
Second, many analysts are projecting that consumer spending rose at a 3-percent annual rate in Q1/2013, far ahead of the 0.4 percent pace in the first quarter of 2012.

Finally, collector car sales are booming in the luxury market. For the year ahead, as all the major auction houses have sales in Arizona. Statistics from the 2013 Scottsdale/Phoenix sales indicate that the year is shaping up to show strong results:

• Number of auctions: six over five days
• Number of lots sold: 2,234
• Total sales: $223.8 million, up 22% from 2012
• Average sale price: $100,176, up 18% from 2012
• Total sales neared the record 2007 levels
• Knight Frank, a UK based consultancy, published a luxury index in March 2013 which noted that vintage car prices rose 395 percent in ten years leading up to September 2012. That growth outpaced gold coins, fine art and collectible wine. The current ten year return on the S&P 500 is roughly 80 percent.

Conclusion

Writing is easy. Writing well is hard work. Who knew? Take the time to tell your story right, respect your audience’s time and intelligence and the benefits will come back to you in spades.


Tags: Sponsored content, content marketing, car collectors, 2013 Scottsdale/Phoenix sales, Knight Frank luxury car index

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Research: B2B Marketers Not Focusing on Customer Pain Points Too much “about us," not enough WIFM

A new survey from Corporate Visions finds that four out of five (80%) B2B marketing and sales professionals think their demand generation campaigns are ineffective. Among those, content is the biggest challenge. Researchers concluded that nearly 40 percent of the 440 surveyed B2B sales and marketing pros think the single most important factor hampering their demand generation campaigns is that they aren’t “engaging” or “provocative.” Another 31 percent cite a lack of sales and marketing alignment, and 12 percent cite budget constraints. 

Perhaps more distressing was the fact that 60 percent of B2B marketing and sales professionals think their organization's demand generation campaigns focus solely on their own company's products, features, and services, rather than focusing on their customers' pain points. Not surprisingly, two-thirds (65%) of sales teams say they’re using less than one-half of the demand generation content their marketing department produces. Click to access the complete PDF infographic.

Our take: In this age of instant messaging, Tweeting, Yelping and Facebook and Pinterest posting, it’s never been easier to create content. But it’s also never been harder to stay relevant. Great educational content that really resonates with your qualified prospects must be thought about strategically and published purposefully within a nurturing campaign. We’ve found it takes at least 8 to 10 meaningful touches with your prospect before your message sinks in....so you better have message point 8 at the ready before you fire off No.1. Otherwise, you’ll be chasing deadlines and an idea black-hole that results in sloppy, superficial or otherwise ineffective thought leadership marketing.

Creating great content is hard work (who knew?!?) Respect the process and your prospect will respect you.

Micro view

Business inventories are up and retail sales fell for the third straight month in June, the Commerce Department reported yesterday, but in my own neighborhood, two of the 12 houses on our street just sold—at or near asking price-- and two of my direct neighbors are undergoing MAJOR renovation projects. The noise and dust is annoying, but at least some folks are prospering and that should give all of us a lift. Chances are you're seeing the same thing in your neighborhood.

Macro view

Despite a recent run of disappointing economic data, a broad range of experts and forecasters expect the economy to improve slightly in coming months, thanks to lower oil prices and new signs of life from sectors like automobiles and housing. Tensions in the Middle East have faded and gas prices have fallen to $3.38 a gallon from above $3.90 a gallon in April, which has left more money in American consumers’ wallets and businesses’ ledgers. Experts say every penny that the price of gas falls leaves about a billion dollars in American pockets over the course of a year, economists estimate.

The lower gas prices “will take a few months to show up” in consumer spending and confidence numbers, a Macroeconomic Advisers report said recently. But, it should lead to higher sales for businesses and greater optimism among households.

Economists pointed to surging new car sales as a good economic indicator: a sign that households are confident enough to make a major purchase and that they are accessing the credit markets. It is also a boon for auto businesses — the auto industry reported a 22 percent jump in sales in June, with some carmakers reporting that revenue increased as much as 60 percent year-on-year. And the closely watched ADP monthly survey showed that private sector employers added a strong 176,000 jobs in June.

Conclusion
It’s going to be a bumpy ridge for a while. Stay smart and stay focused. We’ll get through the summer doldrums with plenty of momentum for the elections, Q4 earnings and some clarity political and tax-policy clarity in 2013

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TAGS: Corporate Visions, Commerce Department, thought leadership, content marketing, demand generation, sale versus marketing tension

Smart Marketers Find Opportunities in Slow-Growth/No-Growth Economy

Thought leadership, content marketing leads the way when already long sales cycle gets even longer. QR codes can help, but no one size fits all solution.

Today’s ho-hum Labor Department report for August show the U.S. economy neither added nor lost jobs during the month, the worst performance since last September. Cuts in the public sector entirely offset the private sector's gain of 17,000 jobs. Figures from earlier months were also cut, due largely to steeper cuts by government. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 9.1 percent. The economy does have some bright spots: Weekly filings for jobless claims remain relatively steady rather than signaling a pickup in layoffs. Sure, spending activity has slowed, but consumers boosted their spending ahead of the August maelstrom of events. And businesses, while nervous, haven't panicked in a way that would create a self-reinforcing downward spiral.

Government stats show the private sector actually added an average of 83,000 jobs over the past three months. That ain’t going to turn the economy around but, economists say the pace suggests continued slow growth ahead.

Home prices and consumer spending show signs of life

The S&P/Case Schiller Home Price Index http://www.standardandpoors.com/indices/sp-case-shiller-home-price-indices/en/us/?indexId=spusa-cashpidff--p-us----
increased 3.6 percent in the April-June quarter and consumer spending in July rose 0.8 percent-- its fastest rate in five months. Economists pointed to strong demand for motor vehicles which shows confidence to make significant, fairly long term purchases. OUR TAKE: If nothing else that should ease some concerns that we’re sliding into another recession. You don’t need to be a PhD economist to know we’re simply stuck in a slow-growth, frustrating, wait-and-see, spin your wheels, don’t-take-on-any-big risks economy. It doesn’t mean folks (and companies) aren’t spending. It DOES mean the sales cycle and purchase consideration cycle is longer. That’s where thought leadership and content marketing comes in as we’ve pointed out in earlier posts.

New data on content marketing/thought leadership

More than 90 percent of marketers believe content marketing is effective at helping them achieve their search engine optimization (SEO) goals according to a new benchmarking study from research firm Marketing Sherpa http://www.marketingsherpa.com/ and Internet Marketing Report maintains that “content marketing is quickly becoming the most effective way to ramp up business on the web,” especially with regard to SEO, Email and social media. The Marketing Sherpa report says content marketing is most effective when in Educates, Builds Trust and Speaks to Success. Help prospects solve problems

If nothing else, your prospects are looking for information that will solve their problems, boost their business and make their lives better. Sherpa researchers report that the 5 most effective forms of content marketing are the tried and true ones:
· White papers
· Newsletters
· Survey data
· Blogs
· FAQs

QR Codes Best in Magazines, Newspapers & Packaging
Young males affluent most likely to jump on QR bandwagon

A new comScore study on mobile QR (Quick Response) code scanning readable by smartphones, found that 14 million mobile users in the U.S., representing 6.2 percent of the total mobile audience, scanned a QR code on their mobile device. Who’s scanning the most on their mobile devices? Researchers, no surprise, said it’s the young, male, affluent audience: male (60.5% of code scanning audience), skew toward ages 18-34 (53.4%) and have a household income of $100k or above (36.1%).

More than half of all QR code scanners were between the ages of 18-34. Those between the age of 25-34 were twice as likely as the average mobile user to engage in this behavior, while 18-24 year olds were 36% more likely than average to scan. More than 1 of every 3 QR code scanners had a household income of at least $100,000, representing both the largest and most over-represented income segment among the scanning audience.Among mobile users who scanned a QR code on their mobile devices in June, 58 percent did so from their home, while 39.4 percent did so from a retail store and 24.5 percent did so from a grocery store.

The most popular source of a scanned QR code was a printed magazine or newspaper, with nearly half scanning QR codes from this source. Product packaging was the source of QR code scanning for 35.3 percent of the audience, while 27.4 percent scanned a code from a website on a PC and 23.5 percent scanned codes from a poster/flyer/kiosk.

So as we slog through this slow-growth economy, keep experimenting with new ways to drive your message home, but remember patience, and disciplined persistence will keep you top of mind with prospects—and content marketing that educates, builds trust and speaks to success will get you in the door.

Happy Labor Day.

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