Deadlines can no doubt kickstart action. “It is after all human nature to leave things until late in the day and so there is nothing like a deadline to prompt people to act,” says Jason Hollands, managing director – corporate affairs at Tilney Smith & Williamson.
But there are also other touch points throughout the year that present opportunities to engage with clients, adds Hollands.
“These include major fiscal events, like Budgets, as well as on the back of important data releases such as inflation updates or interest rate announcements from the Bank of England. When markets have seen dramatic moves, these are times when clients will be reassured to hear from their adviser.”
Indeed, Sam Christopher, head of proposition – strategy and growth at Fidelity Adviser Solutions, says the platform tends to see spikes of activity around the Budget or when new tax announcements are made, as clients consider how they might be affected by policy changes.
Awareness days
Awareness days can also create opportunities to connect with potential and existing clients outside of an annual review.
“Throughout the year there are many focus days or weeks,” says Carla Brown, managing director of Oakmere Wealth Management, a senior partner practice of St. James's Place.
“For example, International Women’s Day could be an opportunity to promote financial advice for women and to target your marketing towards this by hosting webinars or events specifically relating to financial issues for women.
“Pension Awareness Day, National Pension Tracing Day, Debt Awareness Day and events relating to specific charities if you work in that area, such as Dementia Awareness Week, are all good topics that can be used to stimulate conversation and social media content.”
Noise, news and hype
Brown adds that anything finance-related in the media can be used to start conversations with potential clients. “The noise around cryptocurrency is a good example of this. It’s got a lot of people engaged and interested in finance who might not have been before.”
Caplan at Charles Stanley suggests using popular hashtags on social media platforms, which can attract visibility by helping advisers join topical conversations with interested cohorts.
“However, advisers should take care to ensure that the content is relevant and helpful to avoid being seen as jumping on the bandwagon,” Caplan adds.
Davies at Oxford Risk says that personalising communications to particular types of investors or financial personalities will do better than one-size-fits-all messaging.
“Different investor personalities will be more or less receptive to certain types of messaging, depending on the current state of the markets.
“Using market dips to encourage investing when stocks are cheap will resonate more with investors who are more risk tolerant, have higher composure, or who are more impulsive.
