Putnam Investments, which was recently voted to have the best website in the asset management industry for financial advisors by Kasina, is expanding its social media presence with a blog launched today to communicate with advisors.
The Advisor Tech Tips blog (www.advisortechtips.com) is designed to have the latest applications that advisors can use and share with clients and to educate them on how to use them in the best possible manner. It also will allow Putnam to solicit ideas from advisors to keep them up to date with new applications, said Mark McKenna, Putnam head of marketing.
Putnam is among the first to use a blog site with an array of videos to connect with advisors in a way that enables them to access videos and content that can be shared with clients, McKenna said. For instance, one feature that has been available for a few months is Infographic, which allows advisors to plot investment strategy using information of interest to that advisor.
"For example, if a client were in a particular state and wanted to know if it was wise to make an investment in municipal bonds, the Infographic could show the tax strategies and treasury rates applicable to that situation," said McKenna.
The blog will help advisors use Infographic and other features more efficiently and put them to the best use for clients, he said.
These latest practice management offerings from Putnam build on the firm's efforts to use technology, including Web-based and mobile capabilities, to help financial advisors and their clients achieve their goals, Putnam said.
Among the Web-based technologies available through the blog will be applications such as Penultimate, which allows advisors to draw and illustrate scenarios on their tablets and then e-mail them to clients or others for further study.
An interactive feature known as FundVisualizer lets advisors demonstrate different fund options on the tablet to compare funds.
Other features let the advisor optimize their LinkedIn profiles to prospect for new clients and collect client information. Videos are available on the blog site to help advisors make the most of the new features and use them in their client meetings and followups.
Kasina representative Steven Miyao said the Putnam blog and Web site are ahead of tools for advisors from other asset managers because they are more sophisticated and also help the advisor use the tools.
"This site allows advisors to exchange ideas with Putnam and use the new tools for business purposes, which can sometimes be a struggle for advisors," Miyao said. "I do not think it has been done before in this blog format."
"Technology and social media are changing the way financial advisors and investment professionals build their businesses, from prospecting to communicating to actually serving clients," he added.
Last year, Putnam launched a new Web site, www.putnam.com/advisor, dedicated to enabling advisors to do in-depth evaluations of more than 10,000 investment options in real time using more than 60 different selection criteria based on client preferences.
-Karen DeMasters