Page 27 - Investment Advisor April 2021

When it does go into effect, advisor to make them fun. [For example] hold sors to serve all those folks — plus many
reviews will be permitted to appear on live Q&As about the changes concern- even in their 50s — by working with
Yelp, Google, Trustpilot and other sites? ing IRA minimum distributions and the them on a monthly basis.
Yes. Advisors aren’t in control of the Paycheck Protection Program. There
reviews on those third-party collection were so many questions about what Why is your recommendation to
sites; but with the clients’ permission, companies could qualify for PPP [loans]. embrace inclusivity an opportunity?
they can republish on their own websites. [Also] get on video! So much of com- Investment brands and others are being
You won’t be [allowed] to just ask a munication is nonverbal. [FAs can benefit held accountable to make sure their mar-
client who has great things to say about from] the psychological principle of the keting is diverse and inclusive across racial,
you to provide a testimonial. You’d need “mirror-exposure effect.” That tells us the gender and sexual orientation lines. If you
to send an email to all your clients and more often we see something, the more want to target an audience that’s diverse,
say, “I’d love for you to give me some likely we feel familiar with it or like it. your marketing needs to be diverse.
feedback.” The SEC is going
to look for documentation Russell recommends that RIAs You have a degree
that you made it possible for in organizational
anyone to give you a review, take a wait-and-see approach communication (public
whether it’s good or bad. relations). Please describe
There are a lot of inter- before rushing to try the long- your career path.
esting legal asterisks. For Out of college [Miami
instance, because people prohibited marketing tack. Let University] I took a job at
can leave either good or bad Penn State University doing
reviews on a third-party the bigger firms test the waters fundraising and event plan-
site, if you republish [good] ning. Twenty Over Ten saw
reviews on your website, you first, she cautions. that most small advisors had
need to have a disclaimer really terrible websites, no
that says something like, “These are not Recording videos and putting them online social media presence, their marketing
all the reviews. You can find them by gives you the opportunity to get in front was nonexistent — and they faced com-
going ‘here’ [hyperlink”]. But advisors of people who are scrolling social media. pliance hurdles. So they decided to build
will now be able to have a little more a tool that would allow advisors to reap
[leverage] over responding to a nega- What’s another good opportunity? the rewards of all the great new market-
tive review and sharing their side of the When writing an email to clients, say ing technology and still be compliant.
story, which is important. something like “I’m sitting here, closed They went to market in 2017 [after
Advisors might want to seek outside off in my upstairs bedroom while my beta stage] and brought me on as
counsel or home-office counsel to make kids are running around downstairs: employee number one. I started from a
sure they’re in compliance with any new Day 7 of quarantine.” So lift the curtain a sales perspective. But when you’re sell-
marketing initiatives, because there are bit. If you pepper in those types of things ing marketing solutions, you need to
lots of things you need to do in terms of with your digital presence, people will practice what you preach by utilizing
disclaimers. Law firms I’ve talked to say feel they know and like you more. the same solutions and strategies. That’s
that if you’re a smaller firm, you wouldn’t what I put into practice for our company:
want to be a guinea pig. There are gray You suggest that advisors offer a creating content, using social media, cre-
areas — a lot of the rule is ambiguous. So subscription-based series. Why is ating videos. I was adamant about being
they suggest taking a wait-and-see [posi- that advantageous? alongside our customer base and poten-
tion] because the biggest firms with the For a long time, advisors would ignore tial customers to say, “Let’s all learn how
deep pockets will be the first. people in their 30s and 40s because to do this marketing together.”
if they’re not going to transfer those
Amid the pandemic, what marketing 401(k) balances [low because of youth], Jane Wollman Rusoff is a contributing
strategies have you recommended they had no way to earn income from editor who specializes in interviews with
for advisors? the relationship. But that age group thought leaders. An author and prolific
Try to hold as many events as they can desperately needs financial advice. The journalist, Jane is founder of www.
online and come up with new ways subscription-based model allows advi- FamilyStarProductions.com.

APRIL 2021 INVESTMENT ADVISOR 25