Positive publicity is a cost-effective way to boost an advisory business, but many advisors are still resistant to getting public relations help.
Brett Weinberg, an senior vice president of corporate communications at LPL Financial, gave two sessions on media relations at the LPL Focus conference earlier this month in Boston. In a follow-up interview, here is some of the advice he shared.
Know The Pros And Cons Of PR
Weinberg cited a Bill Gates quote: “If I was down to the last dollar of my marketing budget I’d spend it on PR!” That is because PR can greatly help increase awareness, promote a business and demonstrate thought leadership. All this can translate to leads, said Weinberg.
The weakness of public relations compared to advertising is that the message cannot be controlled and the amount of effort does not always equate to in-depth coverage. “There is no guaranteed placement and your message cannot be controlled,” warned Weinberg.
With that said, publicity derived from public relations efforts is much cheaper than advertising and can carry more weight than ads.
Pitch The Media
One way for advisors to drum up publicity is to offer up consumer trends and tips, said Weinberg, who called these tips “lifestyle packages.” For example, weddings are popular in June, so that might be a good time for advisors to offer financial tips for newlyweds, possibly through an article in a bridal magazine, he said.
It is important for advisors to know the characteristics of the media they use for their messaging, he said. If an advisor is pitching a story to a monthly magazine, for example, it might take three months before the story goes into print. Meanwhile, a spot on a TV program might only take a week—or as little as a day if they like the story idea. That's why it's good to pitch something related to the news of the day, Weinberg said.
To pitch the idea, he suggested that the print media might want to receive an e-mail, while the TV media might prefer a call.