Archive for June, 2010

The power of thought leadership

Monday, June 28th, 2010

By Gerri Leder

Thought leadership was promised by a conference invitation that landed in my inbox today. Are thought leaders as ubiquitous as they seem?

A thought leader can be a futurist or agent of change – a person or entity that leads the way with innovation; promotes new ideas; and guides others through vision, expertise and strategy. Thought leaders demonstrate a dynamic understanding of their business, their clients and a field of vision that takes in the future and is unconstrained by the status quo.

It is clear that thought leadership is evolving as a new means of building brand and communicating value. Does your organization aspire to thought leadership? The greatest thoughts do not inspire change if no one hears them. Communication advances your cause: speaking at conferences, writing white papers, blogging. The blogosphere has leveled the playing field; now anyone can put their best ideas forward – blog or tweet, speak or podcast, teach or sponsor a webinar.

Reputations and brands are being built on thought leadership. Thought leadership marketing helps consumers take seriously the companies and professionals presenting their knowledge and expertise – more than advertising can and more than selling ever will. Their followers are longing for guidance, ideas, suggestions… And so are yours.

LederMark Communications specializes in strategic marketing and communications for the financial services industry. Wealth management, brokerage and financial advisory firms look to LederMark to advance their strategic marketing plans, provide creative solutions and develop effective communication materials.

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Barron’s names 2010 top 100 women financial advisors

Monday, June 21st, 2010

By Gerri Leder

Congratulations to the Class of 2010 of Barron’s Top 100 Women Financial Advisors. As I looked over their names, I was swept with pride at having worked with a half dozen of the industry’s finest. When some of these women advisors of a certain age joined the industry, they represented a growing but tiny minority of professional “brokers”. Although the industry ranks were peppered with women in salaried roles, few women were brave enough to choose a commission-based sales career.

Barron’s recognizes that these advisors have amassed client assets of as much as $10 billion (and various asset levels from a few hundred million up). Each advisor withstood rejection and persevered through bull markets and bear, through personal triumphs and private slights to build and maintain a successful client base. Many have achieved success beyond their original expectations by working harder, staying the course and adapting to shifting expectations to serve their clients well. Over many years, and now through this distinction, they have brought honor to themselves, their families and firms, and the industry.

We salute each and every woman who has achieved this milestone! Here’s to the class of 2010.

LederMark Communications specializes in strategic marketing initiatives and tactical communications for the financial services industry. Financial advisors, RIAs and wealth management firms look to LederMark for strategic marketing plans, creative solutions and effective communication materials. We are also available to speak and consult on a wide range of marketing strategy and planning issues within the financial services and investment industries.

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Sharpen your marketing by positioning your practice

Monday, June 14th, 2010

By Mike Gabriele

Just as real estate brokers can only reminisce about the glory days when houses sold within days of being on the market, financial advisors similarly must conjure up memories of the past to relive a time when clients referred freely and marketing came easily.

Welcome to this new normal, where referrals are harder to come by and advisors are working harder for less. Advisors are realizing that simply offering sound investment advice and building through referrals does not an effective marketing plan make.

More and more firms are coming back to the basics, looking for effective ways to position their practice, build strategy and brand their identity, rather than simply asking for a brochure with updated credentials. The question to ask is, “What is that edge that sets my practice apart from the others and what do I offer that is of value to an investor, business owner, retiree, etc.?” If you’re looking for ways to polish your marketing efforts, this is the place to begin. Chances are the qualities, experience and focus of your practice differentiates you from others and draws clients whose needs and values are compatible with your focus. Get to the heart of this description — then you can talk marketing strategy and communication tactics.

The edge of your marketing sword is your practice; it’s what your firm does well, the strength of your team, your unique investment process, experience in certain areas, your location, etc. Sharpen these before you hit the marketing arena and you’ll have a better, more focused, more cost effective campaign.

So before you get out there and write a brochure, rework a web site or get out in the community, work on your team’s positioning statement. You should find that in doing just that, many questions about your marketing strategy are more easily answered and your direction a bit more clear and concise.

LederMark Communications specializes in strategic marketing initiatives and tactical communications for the financial services industry. Financial advisors, RIAs and wealth management firms look to LederMark for strategic marketing plans, creative solutions and effective communication materials. We are also available to speak and consult on a wide range of marketing strategy and planning issues within the financial services and investment industries.

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Marketing tactics depend on practice strengths and objectives

Tuesday, June 1st, 2010

By Gerri Leder

Does fear and loathing set in when someone suggests to position your advisory practice? It must be harder than it looks….otherwise financial advisors wouldn’t skip positioning themselves by jumping right into the middle. What do I mean by starting in the middle? Here are a few examples of marketing questions we’ve been asked that suggest a client is starting in the middle:

o An advertising rep from (publication) was in here today. Do you think I should advertise there?
o How much should I spend on seminars?
o We get very little traffic to our web site – what can we do?

In each case, there is a good chance these marketing tactics were started in search of an objective, rather than vice-versa. So what’s wrong starting with advertising or a web site? For the same reason you wouldn’t pack for vacation before knowing if you were heading to the beach or to the mountains.

A strategic approach is harder to come up with, but almost always lends clarity to an advisor’s marketing plan. If you begin with a SWOT analysis, the answers will become clearer. The SWOT is a delineation of the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) that define your practice or firm. What are the strengths or things you do better than most others? What types of clients do your skills best resonate with? Why? Ask yourselves why clients trust you to work with them, what it “feels like” to be a client of yours. And try to avoid the tried and true: “we provide excellent service” – sorry, all clients expect that and the difference is too hard to quantify. With SWOT in hand, you are ready for the next step.

Develop a crisp statement that defines your practice or firm and includes a description of your target audience. For example, “we work with business owners on their companies’ retirement plans and with their employees on their personal investment needs.” By describing that particular niche, your statement can continue to describe how, by targeting retirement plan business for instance, you offer plan expertise that is not often offered by financial advisors in (region).

Now that you can define what you are after, the selection of methods and tactics are more readily evaluated. Try taking this quiz: suppose you are the firm described in the paragraph above who is targeting business owners’ retirement plans – which of the following tactics would be a good fit?

a. billboard sign on Main Street
b. network through the Chamber of Commerce
c. print ad in local newspaper

If you guessed “b”, then you are on your way. Why wouldn’t you sponsor a billboard on Main Street? It is not targeted enough to business owners and therefore would be an inefficient use of your marketing dollars. The same can be said for local market newspaper print ads. Think through your own SWOT analysis and sharp analysis of your target client first. You should find it helps crystallize your focus on the marketing tactics that would be most effectively deployed to grow your business.

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