Video Market Commentaries
Orion believes that video can be more powerful than the printed word in delivering quarterly reports to clients. Video also helps advisors build their business while creating a more "sticky" relationship between the advisor and Orion.

The firm has even established production facilities and a production team to help advisors create effective messaging. The videos generally run two to three minutes. Orion has found that client attention wanes after about three minutes.

Orion does the preproduction work, including video coaching for the advisor, should the advisor wish to appear in the video. The firm will also do the video recording, supplying actors and animation if necessary, as well as the postproduction work. And the firm will host the videos and provide a thorough analysis of the results.

The prices are surprisingly affordable. Those who commit to quarterly video market commentaries are charged $800 per quarter for actor-only videos. For advisor videos produced in the Orion studio, the cost is $1,000 per quarter.

Once you create your videos, Orion will help you make the most of them. The firm will show you how to use the video as an introductory tool and a client retention tool, as well as demonstrate how to use the videos in the client-acquisition process.
For example, Orion can help advisors create "smart tags." These can be attached to a client statement, a prospect brochure or even a business card. The tag can then be pointed to a video, so the client or prospect is taken to the clip you want them to see.
Since the location that the tag points to can be changed through the Web site, you can have one tag on your business card but change the video it points to later. Advisors who have taken advantage of video market commentaries have so far been pleased with the results.

"Video market commentaries can fundamentally change your business," says Steve Biermann, the chief marketing officer at Orion's parent company, NorthStar Financial Services Group LLC.

EProfile Template
Orion has long offered an optional module to clients called the "eProfile." This module was designed to gather demographic data. Once the data is in the system, it can be used to output risk scores (which can then be linked to a model portfolio), custodial paperwork, investment advisor agreements, investment policy statements, and more. This feature has proved popular with larger firms, but until recently Orion had to do the programming to create each advisory firm's profile, so the average cost was approximately $10,000. The price discouraged some advisors from taking advantage of this powerful technology.

Then in May 2011, Orion rolled out an eProfile template that allows each firm to create its own eProfile module at no charge by simply following a wizard. For the most part, it requires checking boxes or making selections from drop-down lists. If you want to automatically link scores on risk profiles to model portfolios, you need to supply that information.

Risk questionnaires can be uploaded as PDF files, but it is more effective to create them using HTML 5 so you can include graphs, hot links and other elements. Since this task may be beyond the capabilities of some advisors, Orion can perform this task for an hourly fee. Generally speaking, the work can be completed in five hours or less at a modest cost.

Once the template is completed, it can be used to complete and store risk profiles. These profiles can be used to automatically create client asset allocations and an investment policy statement. In addition, the information will automatically complete all advisor intake forms, as well as all required and optional custodial forms.