This year’s IMPACT conference highlighted an advisor that other advisors can learn from. That advisor, Barry Glassman, realizes that effective communications is the key to successful relationships and he is using infographics to help his clients visualize his firm’s messages.
If you do not know what infographics are, you should learn about them because they are one of the successful components of social networks and they can go viral.
Barry Glassman, founder and CEO of McLean, VA-based Glassman Wealth Services, and his management team accepted the Pacesetter Award from senior executives at Charles Schwab for being an up-and-coming RIA firm that has exhibited initiative, growth and promise in less than 10 years.
In a follow-up conversation with Glassman, he joked that his six-year-old son was impressed that he won a trophy. He then explained that communicating with clients was a core reason he believed he won the award. More specifically, he said his innovation with infographics sets his firm apart.
Details On Infographics
Wikipedia defines information graphics or infographics as graphic visual representations of information, data or knowledge intended to present complex information quickly and clearly. The fact is that they are visually appealing in a world where we have too much text to look at. They stand out and they improve cognition.
Glassman Wealth Services pays a firm in California to design its infographics. Glassman cautions that getting infographics right requires both design expense and time invested by the advisor. He notes that his firm usually has several iterations before publishing an infographic. “Each one does cost thousands,” he says.
Why Infographics Make Sense
Glassman believes it is his responsibility to explain their portfolio decisions to clients, and this marketing tool helps them comprehend complex conversations. He explained that when it comes to the weather, nobody cares about high- and low-pressure systems except the weatherman. Most people just want to know that the combination is going to cause rain. He thinks advisors need to learn that lesson. Namely, it is not what is going on in Europe, with the GDP or with the fiscal cliff that matters. Instead, it is the impact on the clients and what the advisor is doing about it. By infographics to explain complex topics, Glassman says, “clients get it.”
“It is one of the things I couldn’t do as a hybrid," he adds, "as disclosures are enormous.”
Glassman praises the impact of social media on his business. “We use social media as an outlet for those client communications that work for the outside world," he says. "We have had plenty of retweets and postings. Our name and brand has been associated with smart and creative thinking, it has broadened our exposure and built new relationships.”
If you are a firm that wants to be known as being innovative and creative, consider using infographics as a way to stand out in the marketing place.