Often, when developing a thought leadership strategy, a survey will be suggested as a tactic. And it’s frequently a fantastic idea – surveys can help marketers establish a point of view, get “above product” by talking about trends or develop content for a specific target market. Generally, the media is receptive to research as well [...]
Last week, I blogged about lessons that digital PR agencies can learn from recent research conducted by Bill Wreaks of the Gramercy Institute and Frank Dudley of Brand New Media in which they surveyed senior-level marketers at Bank of America, UBS, Prudential and MetLife to learn more about best practices in digital marketing for financial [...]
What are the best practices in digital marketing for financial services? This is the question that Bill Wreaks of the Gramercy Institute and Frank Dudley of Brand New Media set out to answer when they undertook a year long research project that surveyed senior-level marketers at Bank of America, UBS, Prudential and MetLife. Overall, [...]
Last week, we had the opportunity to speak with Ryan George, PR specialist with U.S. Global Investors, one of the fund companies that we listed in our post about the all-stars in fund social media. The company is far ahead of many of its competitors within the fund industry in social media – successfully managing a Twitter feed, Facebook page, blog and YouTube page.
Earlier this week, Emily Glazer of the Wall Street Journal covered how mutual fund companies are adopting social media, both in an article that appeared in the Journal Report and a video. Overall, we agree with her assessment – the fund industry has been slower to dip their toe into social media because of stringent regulations, but with the rules released by FINRA in early 2010 (which we wrote about here), many fund companies were able to explore social media with some comfort.
In B2B public relations, we, and our clients, are often drawn to the idea of writing a White Paper; they are an ideal way to establish credibility and/or increase recognition around a certain issue that’s important to a business. Often, it can fuel a thought leadership strategy, and provide fodder for sales meetings, client communications and website collateral.
If you’ve heard anything about target-date funds recently, it probably wasn’t too complimentary. After the 2008/2009 market downturn, target-date funds received a lot of press about their failure to protect investors, specifically those nearing retirement. For those who don’t know these funds, they are the “set it and forget it” version of a mutual fund. You choose your retirement date and the fund is managed with that end date in mind – asset allocation becomes less aggressive as the investor nears retirement.
It’s a busy week in financial services – this week’s roundup highlights the news of the House’s passing of the historic health bill, Bernanke’s comments about the Fed’s oversight of banks, and more FDIC takeovers of community banks.
Yesterday, FINRA released guidance that attempts to clarify rules for securities firms and brokers about using social media websites when communicating with the public. Check out the guidelines here. Overall, these guidelines are a good thing for financial advisors. They provide a baseline of rules for anyone under the purview of FINRA to get their feet wet in social media.
Many financial institutions have, at one time, considered the need for a PR program for their securities analysts. The truth is, it’s not for everyone—in fact, many respected analysts choose not to participate. But that doesn’t mean that it’s not beneficial for some firms—it just depends on their marketing needs.
