(Dynasty) Positive media coverage helps build your brand, a scenario we’ve seen play out time and again throughout our nationwide network of RIAs.
It works because it establishes credibility around your financial advisory business while providing a ready supply of talking points for engagement with clients, prospects, and potential M&A partners. Media coverage also has real staying power. Thanks to social media outlets like LinkedIn and Twitter—in addition to your website, newsletters, and hard-copy brochures—its effects last well past initial publication.
Meanwhile, we are seeing more national business press, trade publications, and regional business journals telling more wealth management stories than ever before, reflecting a burgeoning awareness among consumers of the need for sound investing strategies and dynamic financial planning.
Although it can take several attempts to get a reporter to write a story about your practice, the return on investment is much better than an ad buy. That said, there’s risk involved in having contact with the media. For example, one wealth management executive we know bragged to a reporter about how much money an investor paid for an equity position in his firm. When these quotes were included in an industry article, the executive ended up doing damage control when the investment firm got wind of his inappropriate victory lap. We also know of a breakaway broker who badmouthed his former firm in a media interview, changing the focus of the article from the prospects for his new firm to complaints about his old one—a real missed opportunity!
To forestall such blunders, some firms engage a public relations agency, which pitches stories to appropriate outlets and coaches advisors and executives on interview dos and don’ts. For firms that don’t go this route, the following tips are meant to mitigate the challenges of courting media attention while maximizing favorable attention from editors and readers alike.
Deliver a “newsy” angle. One advisor we know wanted to talk about financial planning for his firm’s business-owner clients. This angle, while valid, lacked the appeal needed to engage the broader audience the article was aimed at. It was a remark he dropped in passing—about how his business-owner clients were neglecting succession planning during the coronavirus pandemic—that ended up taking center stage in the write-up and that elevated the quality of the coverage for the featured RIA. It let the reporter inject a note of genuine topicality into the article while casting the advisor’s original topic in a more urgent light.
Have a news hook. This is a specific peg on which to hang the interest of the publication’s readers. Suitable hooks include in-house or industry milestones, holidays, current news tie-ins, and compelling trends that provide the kind of “news you can use” journalists love. One advisor described to a reporter how he worked with his clients on charitable donations to local families wrestling with getting access to wifi for their children during remote learning—a topic that was in the local news. That provided the link to a related charity as the news hook. Sometimes, also with newsy angles, the hook can end up being off-topic to the agreed-upon topic of the interview.
Share your expertise. Give the reporter your views on financial and economic trends. Provided you don’t betray confidentiality, discuss what your clients are interested in or worried about. Journalists generally perceive high-net-worth investors—especially those advised by boutique RIAs—as smart-money players. A heartland advisor in our network who works with frontline healthcare executives was asked how these clients were coping with the pandemic. The advisor replied that many wanted to explore downsizing strategies since they planned to secure less stressful positions once the pandemic was over. The resulting article underlined her expertise in positive ways.
Emphasize “color” in interviews. Brighten your story by sharing anecdotes, industry statistics, and telling details. A San Francisco advisor garnered a positive mention in an article after telling a reporter in passing about working with vineyard owners in California’s Napa region. A Northeast advisor generated new leads after he told a journalist that he specialized in helping fast-food franchisees and could discuss P&L statements and inventory guidelines for individual stores.
Avoid platitudes and blatant self-promotion. Most firms say they do “holistic wealth management” and the like, so it’s not really a point of differentiation. Likewise, promotional or sales material is of little interest to a reporter. Save that for the publication’s advertising department, not the news section. You can still tell your story, but sometimes you’re better off backing into it. For instance, incidental to the agreed-upon topic of the interview, one advisor took a reporter through his painstaking efforts to make sure his office was disinfected before his staff returned after a lockdown. This Covid news hook gave the resulting article a topical spin and put the advisor in a favorable light.
Advisors with media experience know the value of understanding what reporters want, the better to showcase their strengths and (at least by implication) their differences from competitors. The result is mutual benefit—the reporter gets a good story, and the advisor gets positive mention. Interactions like this can also lead to subsequent coverage as an increasingly respected advisor becomes a “go-to” source.
Sally Cates is a managing director and is responsible for public relations and communications for Dynasty Financial Partners and the Dynasty Network of Advisors. She has designed and managed worldwide public relations programs. Previously, she led global communications at Citi Private Bank and Smith Barney.
