Social media: learn the rules before you go online.

Remaining compliant as a financial adviser and not breaching any regulations, whether they concern the provision of best practice advice, privacy constraints, or legal responsibilities to remain within certain boundaries is actually a very simple thing to do.

Do not provide personal advice to clients in a public forum. Ever.  

….there…that was it…it is actually that simple.

The same rules, or guiding principles, that would apply to you when drafting a written advertisement in the local paper work for social media as well.  All the things that advisers are (or should be!) used to having to comply with apply when using social media.

This may seem to be simply stating the obvious, yet it is something that I have been asked about quite a bit.  It is something which is thrown up even more often as a barrier to using social media at all.  This fear of non-compliance for financial advisers is offered as a reason to ignore using the primary method of communication with other humans in the world today.

Here’s what I hear inside my head when I hear advisers offer this reasoning: “you’re saying you’ll stick with a musket thanks…because a rifle sounds dangerous”  

Voice inside my head goes on to say: The safety principles for both are the same…the purpose of the weapon is the same…but the difference in effectiveness is immense…what you are really saying is you haven’t familiarised yourself with the different extra features on the rifle or tried it in a safe environment…it is the learning that intimidates you, not the rifle itself”  

The reality is that all the customary things like not using bait advertising, or making false or misleading statements, or breaching privacy, simply extend to anyadvertising or marketing medium.  No matter whether that is digital marketing or print advertising  the same principles apply regardless.  Musket or rifle…the safety principles remain the same essentially.

To say that one doesn’t intend to use digital communications as a marketing method for fear of non-compliance is the same as saying I shall not run client appreciation events due to my fear of making a compliance slip whilst talking to my clients at a function.

The same principles of good behavior, ethics, and how one provides personalised advice apply regardless of the marketing medium used.

It really is that simple.

www.financialadvisercoach.com

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Financial advisory firm or boutique fund manager, we’ve all posted the classic direct marketing (DM) pack – the traditional covering letter and flyer. And while DM is far from dead, today you can do it electronically. Welcome to the world of e-marketing.

Broadly speaking, e-marketing is the use of digital media (from SMS to social media, email to web) in order to promote your services to existing and potential clients. It can be a powerful, cost-effective way to deliver the right message to the right audience.

Who do I email?
The first step is to segment your database, making it easier to tailor your emails to each segment’s needs. For example, young and single clients might want to know more about saving for a first home, whereas couples with adult children might be drawn to emails about retirement strategies and protecting assets.

Once you’ve segmented your database, decide which segment is the most important to the growth of your business; they may be the best segment to contact first.

Bear in mind only people who explicitly gave you permission to email them can be contacted. Having a ‘Subscribe to newsletter’ button on the home page of your website, for example, is a good first step to help grow your client database.

When do I email?
The evening rush can be a popular time of the day to send emails, but open rates vary for each industry. In the finance sector, emails sent before 10am receive the most traction. Click here for an interesting infographic that illustrates the open rate landscape (by Pure360 Research).

How often should I email?
Think carefully about the regularity of your emails to clients. Not only do you need to consider the volume of emails they receive from you, but you need to be able to create and maintain a level of interesting content. A daily email – even though packed with information – can easily become invisible to the recipients. On the flip-side, infrequent emails, like only emailing once a year, can also lead recipients to forget about you.

Depending on the nature of your business and size of your client base, a monthly or quarterly e-newsletter may be well received and a manageable deliverable for your team. There are no established rules, but aim to maintain a consistent email schedule.

What are the ingredients of a successful email?

• Subject line: a rule of thumb is to ‘tell what’s in the email, not just sell what’s in the email’. Make it meaningful to the recipient, because you want to convince them to open your email without being too pushy.
• Content: recent research shows the average time allocated to a newsletter after opening it is only 51 seconds , so be direct and to the point. Recipients won’t read a long, verbose piece no matter how relevant. Whether it’s your view on FOFA or an update on your business, the content should contain something that interests the reader.
• Call to action: include a clear call to action so your readers know exactly where to click. Avoid offering them too many links, but focus on a key action point such as ‘Contact us now for an appointment’, with your email address embedded as a link.
• Opt-out option: an opt-out or unsubscribe option is legally required in every email. Simply make it part of your email template and ensure people who unsubscribe are not contacted via email anymore. You must be compliant with the Spam Act (for more information see ACMA’s link below).
• Disclaimer: don’t forget to include the legal small print where relevant, including your registered business name, ACN and AFSL details. Your compliance person should be able to draft a suitable disclaimer that you can re-use for all e-marketing activities.

Test, test, test
All the above tips could easily go to waste if your email includes small typos or links that aren’t working. These mistakes signal a lack of professionalism and can easily be avoided. Always send a test email to yourself and proofread it. Ideally, let a second pair of eyes run over the email.

Don’t forget to follow up
Engagement is a strong measure of email success. It’s important to measure the open and click-through rates of each email campaign, including phone or email enquiries that result from your efforts. There are many software packages available to help you with email marketing, such as Vision6 or Swift Digital, but Google Analytics, which is free of charge, will show click-through rates to content on your website.

Following a potential client from visiting your website to subscribing to your emails, and getting further engaged by requesting additional information or reading your articles, is an informative exercise and important to help you improve your e-marketing activities.

People don’t give out their email address for nothing – they do it in exchange for value. So be creative and try to add value.

For further reading on e-marketing, please review the below links.

Identifying the 10 best email subject lines:
http://www.bjcbranding.com/10-best-email-subject-lines/

The Australian Communications and Media Authority’s (ACMA) blog: http://engage.acma.gov.au/category/e-marketing-blog/

Your complete guide to measuring email marketing success:  http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/53/docs/ebooks/an_introduction_to_email_marketing_final.pdf

Five ways financial advisers can improve their email marketing campaigns:
http://financialservices.about.com/od/ClientService/a/5-Ways-Financial-Advisors-Can-Improve-Their-Email-Marketing-Campaigns.htm

http://www.bennfundsmanagement.com.au/

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