WSJ on Financial Advisor Newsletters: It Pays to Publish
The Wall Street Journal reported that financial advisors are increasingly using newsletters as a primary cog in their marketing efforts.
“When it comes to staying in touch with clients, many financial advisors swear by the simple, age-old dictum: publish or perish,” writes WSJ reporter Charles Passy. “The goal, of course, is for the newsletter to become a powerful marketing tool, cementing relationships with established clients (and perhaps getting them to invest more) or convincing potential ones to join the fold.”
The article provides examples of five advisors’ newsletters and looks at the advisors’ different methods for writing and distributing the newsletters (hard copy vs. e-mail; quarterly vs. monthly; writing it yourself vs. hiring an outside writer).
Two Things to Remember About Publishing a Newsletter
As a writer who works on a lot of newsletters for financial advisors and other financial services firms, I can tell you that there are two main points that the article gets exactly right: 1) the biggest cost of publishing a newsletter is time, and 2) the best newsletters contain some lighthearted or fun content that connects with the reader on a personal level. Let’s take a look at both of those points in more detail.
-
- Time is your biggest expense – “It doesn’t cost much to publish a newsletter–-not in dollar terms anyway,” Passy writes. “The writing, editing, and production work, however, can eat up a lot of time: one to two days a month, or more when the advisors attempt to do everything themselves. Many end up hiring outside editorial firms for this very reason.”
Wentworth Financial Communications is one of those aforementioned “outside editorial firms,” so it is admittedly self-serving for me to include Passy’s quote. But his quote is also quite accurate. Even for good writers, creating a newsletter can be a time-consuming process when you consider all the steps involved: identifying topics, researching the topics, writing the articles, editing the articles, laying out the newsletter, and distributing the newsletter. And once you’ve sent out the newsletter, the deadline for the next issue is right around the corner.
That is why the reporter is right in saying that using an outside financial writer, or a “ghostwriter,” can be very helpful, or even essential, if you want to publish a financial newsletter. At Wentworth Financial Communications, our business model is built on allowing you to outsource the time-consuming aspects newsletters and other writing-intensive projects. In addition to turning your ideas into polished articles, we also can manage all the production and distribution aspects of publishing your newsletter. Learn about the five marketing benefits that financial services firms get from publishing newsletters.
- Make a personal connection – The article points out that many newsletters include some sort of fun or personal content for the reader. Examples of these lighter sections noted in the article include sudoku puzzles, recipes, and profiles of clients. I am a firm believer in the power of the personal when it comes to newsletters. For financial advisors, marketing is about building and strengthening connections. And newsletters can be powerful tools for doing that. By sharing some information about yourself or writing about a big achievement for a long-time client, you give the reader something tangible to connect with and relate to.
- Time is your biggest expense – “It doesn’t cost much to publish a newsletter–-not in dollar terms anyway,” Passy writes. “The writing, editing, and production work, however, can eat up a lot of time: one to two days a month, or more when the advisors attempt to do everything themselves. Many end up hiring outside editorial firms for this very reason.”
Getting Started with Your Financial Services Newsletter
Are you looking to publish a newsletter but don’t know where to start? Our free e-book shows you how to publish a financial services newsletter that strengthens relationships with clients and generates new leads:
About the Author 
Scott Wentworth is the CEO at Wentworth Financial Communications. He collaborates with a team of writers and editors at Wentworth to help professionals across the financial services industry build their brands by creating investment-grade white papers, bylined articles, newsletters, blogs, social media posts, and other forms of content marketing.