Investment Marketing Newsletter – 4Q07

The Investment Marketing Business

Investment companies need to invest in their own success, and practice management programs have proven to be a very successful way to do this. Core value-added marketing initiatives are a great strategy to really connect and resonate with advisors. The right program will deliver tangible results to a financial consultant, helping to build lasting loyalty. Practice management programs also give wholesalers an interesting, non-product-related story to discuss in both initial and follow up meetings. Offering advisors a way to better themselves and their practice can be a powerful way to differentiate your firm. Help your partners build their business to ensure a long-term mutually beneficial relationship.

Watch List

For years, the research team at MBC has supported large-scale financial conglomerates in positioning their products, services, and strategies within the investment community. During the fourth quarter, our staff worked at analyzing current market trends and volatility to help educate both brokers and investors on topical retirement strategies relevant in today’s economic climate. This involved scouring the market for new and interesting data and developing topical concepts and positioning that resonate with market participants. Topics included the spike in volatility in 2007, housing and credit crunch, and how the political and election climate can impact financial markets.

Marketing Consultant’s Corner

As we are all probably deep into the 2008 planning process, it is important to revisit and update those marketing plans to ensure they are as detailed, targeted, and goal-oriented as possible. Remember that these are dynamic documents and should be updated every quarter. Archive your plans and analyze everything that has been successful to determine why and how you were able to find that success. Get input from your entire staff to keep them involved and informed and measure results and ROI as best as possible. Try some new marketing initiatives in ’08 and look for the right combination of innovation, strategy, and creativity to find the growth you seek.

The Ticker

During the fourth quarter, MBC completed a white paper series for a large ETF firm through its relationship with a widely-read financial journal. The project involved a tremendous amount of investment research, analysis, and copywriting, as well as the development of the logical flow, charts, and creative strategy to most effectively support their case. The main directive of the papers was to take a closer look at how indexes have been built historically and examine new ways to create and track market proxies. The papers will be used to educate, build credibility, raise assets, and widen market share around the globe in the ETFs that track those indexes.