As content creation has become a well-known staple of most financial marketing initiatives, blogging has in turn transitioned from a “nice-to-have” to an essential. It’s easy to see why: blogs need no …
Hiring an external marketing firm can be a big decision, especially for smaller asset managers or marketing departments with limited budgets. As to-dos and projects-in-progress gradually pile up, day …
The financial services industry is awash in whitepapers: short ones, long ones, engaging ones, boring ones. We’ve all come across them in the course of our professional work, but what exactly is a whi …
With all of the focus on bleeding-edge marketing mediums (think social media influencers, virtual reality experiences, interactive games, and other “next-big-thing” technologies), you could be forgive …
We’ve all heard the rags-to-riches success stories that brands, content creators, and companies can sometimes experience when something they’ve created “goes viral.” These stories follow a familiar ar …
At the root of any content generation strategy lies a basic, fundamental assumption, that the more content you produce that is relevant to your business, the more traffic your website will receive, an …
Millennials are a coveted demographic for a number of industries, not least of which the financial services sector, but their habits, preferences, and attitudes can seem contradictory, impenetrable, o …
Compared to the often arcane ins-and-outs of complex financial products, putting together a successful financial marketing plan seems relatively straightforward: you want to get your firm’s products a …
When investors make a decision to purchase a financial vehicle, they are setting aside hard-earned money in the hopes that they will achieve a positive outcome. Naturally, the decision of which invest …
In the course of running your business you may eventually conclude that it is best to focus on your core competencies, offloading the marketing and public relations duties to an outside firm. But wher …
One-pagers are by necessity brief, distilled, impactful marketing documents whose purpose is to get one simple message across clearly, concisely, and memorably. Due to their brevity, these pieces are …
A great deal of the ETF marketing material that crosses our desks takes it for granted that an ETF investor is familiar with—and understands the difference between—alpha, beta, and smart beta. However …
Depending on how loosely you define them, you could say that mutual funds—investment strategies wherein many investors pool their money together—have been around since at least 1868, when shares of th …
Ah, the humble fact sheet: every ETF—newly-launched niche fund and multibillion dollar juggernaut alike—has to have one. Spend a little time browsing ETF fund materials from across the investing lands …
Press releases serve a necessary and valuable function as part of any ongoing marketing or public relations campaign, but it’s important to use this powerful tool in the correct ways, in service of ap …
As we’ve noted in a previous blog article about the ETF industry and social media, a social media campaign will not, on its own, grow AUM. That doesn’t mean that social media can’t still play an impor …
It’s become something of a truism in the financial marketing world to observe that “nobody reads anymore,” and that today’s consumers only respond well to rich media, whether it be audio, visual, info …
The public relations aspect of marketing initiatives can sometimes prove a little tricky to get going, and for good reason. There are a number of implicit misconceptions about how public relations wor …
Although the phrase “less is more” first appeared in a Robert Browning poem in 1855, it only entered the modern lexicon when it was adopted as a mantra by the minimalist architect Mies van der Rohe in …
Whether you’re early in the product development cycle, are nearing the finish line, or have already launched, it’s absolutely critical that all of your marketing materials and PR outreach are working …
If you’re like any of the financial services firms that we work with, you’re busy: busy chasing down leads, building new products and business lines, meeting with vendors and partners, executing on yo …
Although animated videos have gained some traction in the financial services industry, and are now recognized as a valuable, engaging format to communicate key information quickly, there is still plen …
If you’ve been in the ETF industry for any length of time, you’ve probably already become familiar with a little document that lives on most, if not all, ETF fund webpages: Fact Sheets. Typically data …
Numerous studies have indicated that it is good for you to do good for others: it boosts your mood and emotional wellbeing, and can even generate measurable health benefits. What if you could bring so …
Regularly-produced content, whether investor-facing or otherwise, is a must-have for financial firms of any size, and for good reason: your public-facing content is a golden opportunity to demonstrate …
A recent Freakonomics episode, appropriately titled “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Money (But Were Afraid to Ask)” took a closer look at financial literacy both in the United States and a …
It’s undoubtedly true that investors’ financial security is no laughing matter, and this is reflected in the stolid, dour, reliable imagery and branding that is, by and large, the industry standard. T …
So your PR team has finally lined up your first media opportunity. Hopefully they’ve adhered to the principles of crafting a killer pitch, and the journalist that wants to talk to you has the right id …
As the ETF marketplace continues to expand, asset managers are continuing to face an uphill battle in the struggle to gather investor mindshare and AUM. One of the key decisions ETF issuers must make …
The two-word phrase “value proposition” gets bandied about quite a bit in the world of financial marketing, but what does it mean exactly, and what’s the point of focusing on it? Simply put, a value p …
Your new ETF has just launched, you’ve already commenced your public relations outreach, and your launch materials—including investment cases and fact sheets—are already done. That alone already puts …
As a new or existing ETF issuer, launch day is the day when all of your carefully-laid plans, all of your hard work, begin to bear fruit—at least in theory. Your fund is now out in the wild, available …
As an ETF issuer, service provider, or financial services company, becoming a thought leader is one of the most rewarding and difficult paths you and your company can take as you seek to broaden brand …
If you’re a growing firm, it’s very likely that your company’s approach to its materials, content, website, and messaging, has been a bit scattered and haphazard. As you’ve grown, you’ve seen the need …
It’s become something on the order of prevailing wisdom in the financial world that ETF issuers should be “on Twitter.” Putting aside for a moment the question of whether or not social media posts act …
Does this sound familiar to you? You’ve put together a tremendous white paper on the academic merits of your fund. You’ve poured countless hours into gathering research, crafting elegant prose, tracki …
It’s an unavoidable fact of nearly any profession: in order to become an expert, it’s necessary to learn to speak the trade’s specific language. In the financial world, this is doubly true, with entir …
All marketing is essentially storytelling that leads, whether directly or indirectly, to a sale. In some realms, such as fashion or consumer electronics, the path from a content marketing piece to a s …
What is a pitch? In the PR world, it is the tool—usually an email—we use to reach out and attempt to grab a reporter’s attention. Sounds simple, right? Deceptively so. No matter the product, service, …
Utilizing videos in content marketing to gain investor mindshare The secret is out: if ETF issuers want to get investors’ attention, dry materials and long-winded brochures no longer suffice on their …
In our previous article, we addressed how archaic imagery and poor use of social media are hindering fund issuers in their attempts to connect with Millennial investors. In this 2nd of two parts, we w …
As Millennials age, with some already entering their late 30s, they stand to inherit a staggering amount of assets—by some accounts, around $30 trillion worth over the next few decades. They already c …
