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Less is more. Keep it simple, stupid. Brevity is the soul of wit. So many little words to express one big idea: We’re all talking—and writing—way too much. A lifelong lover of words turned professional communicator, I’m no stranger to verbosity. I have often joked that I would rather write a 1,000-page essay than a brief tagline, because being understood in only a few words is hard. But it’s what we must do. With the dizzying growth of generative AI and self-publishing platforms, everyone is a content creator. And getting anyone to pay attention to your content requires cutting through the chitchat with surgical precision. Axios set the comms world astir when it introduced its Smart Brevity methodology, which can be applied to a range of internal and external materials, from executive missives to corporate newsletters. And it’s changed the way I approach every piece of content. Short sentences. Simple words. Bullet points. Bolding. Don’t get me wrong. I’m still a sucker for beautiful, long-form prose. Many moons ago, I studied English Language & Literature inside ivy-wreathed halls, just a few paces from where Toni Morrison and Joyce Carol Oates taught creative writing to the world’s next Jonathan Safran Foers. But that sums up the point here. In writing, not only is the medium the message, but the medium dictates the form the message must take to draw engagement and prompt an outcome. When I am helping my clients communicate—in a LinkedIn post, on a blog—I am not writing the next great American novel. We are driving home key messages and, in turn, driving action. There is an economy of words, and those who win big in the war for attention will be those who say less, better. Cross posted from DLPR.com and written by Jade Faugno. Being in the office during big holiday weeks like Christmas and New Year’s, always seems like a drag. But, it’s actually a great time to get things done and do some strategic thinking. There are less emails and phone calls to distract you, not to mention office gossip and internal fires to put out.
Since both Christmas and New Year’s fall in the middle of the week this year and lots of people are out, there’s almost two weeks of downtime! Here are some things you can do:
Trust and authenticity are words most people associate with political campaigns. If you haven’t heard them before, just wait for the coming Presidential election frenzy. But what we’ve learned as communications practitioners is that these two concepts also matter in investing and asset management. In fact, a recent survey of big institutional investors showed that “trust in the brand” ranked higher in importance than “performance” when it came to picking money managers.
Last month, Greenwich Associates, the big consultant to pension funds, endowments and other institutions, published an important survey on why allocators pick the asset managers they partner with. It also asked institutional investors how they interacted with various forms of media. Here are the findings we found most interesting. (The full study is available here.)
The takeaway from the study is something we have long known as communications experts but have found lacking in the asset management community – building a brand takes a long time and a thoughtful and concerted strategy is a key component to competing in today’s market. Here’s a paragraph from the Greenwich study we found especially compelling: A big pension fund isn’t going to allocate millions of dollars based on a single piece of research from an asset manager, of course. However, a track record of high quality, timely and relevant content will help ensure that an asset manager is top of mind and, consequently, invited to the table when a major decision is being made. Once again, social media proved key at this final stage. Forty-three percent of investors participating in the study said that information learned via social media had influenced an investment recommendation or decision, compared to 35% based on information learned via news media. Meanwhile, information from social and news media was equally likely to influence a decision to work with a particular company or client. For asset managers, whether they’re well established or just starting out, deciding whether to engage with the public is really no longer an option. Either you tell your story or someone else will, or even worse, it will never get told.  Occasionally, prospective clients reach out to us who have never engaged with an outside public relations agency before.
This lack of experience can present a challenge, and an education about the overall PR process itself becomes vital if the prospective clients hope to achieve their business goals. Those new to PR are usually new to the concepts of an integrated communications strategy, how it works in practice, and what the cost and ROI will be. Many of these businesses that are new to these concepts have gone on to become long-term DLPR clients. But sometimes, the real challenge is overcoming preconceived notions of what a PR agency’s communications program can deliver and how the process should work. Based on these past experiences — and in an effort to help prospects and everyone engaged in the public relations process — we thought it would be helpful to compile a list of “9 things to know” before hiring an outside communications consultant:
Keeping these nine points in mind before and during an engagement with a communications firm will not only align expectations, but also create a more valuable and successful PR program. What We’ve Been Reading – Week of July 8
Markets, Economy & Corporate News
What We've Been Reading - Week of July 1
Markets, Economy & Corporate News
What We've Been Reading - Week of June 17
Markets, Economy & Corporate News
Asset/Wealth Management:
What We’ve Been Reading – Week of May 13
Markets, Economy & Corporate News
What We’ve Been Reading – Week of May 6
Markets, Economy & Corporate News
What We've Been Reading - Week of April 22
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