Kalli
Welcome to AUM, we are live, which means anything could happen. I'm your host Kalli Fedusenko of Kalli Collective, a digital marketing agency designed to build relationships between financial advisors and their target audience through data-driven custom content and advertising. Have you ever wanted to be featured in the news or wished you interviewed better when you were featured?
Today, we're talking with Ben Lewis, Chief Communications Officer at the Financial Planning Association, about the do's and don'ts of public relations and the resources available to all FPA members. I have my own set of questions, but since this is a livestream, please ask your questions in the comments. We'll see them on our end and answer them as they come in.
And if we happen to get more than we can handle, we’ll reply in comments after the event. So welcome Ben. We're excited to have you with us today.
Ben
It's great to be with you, Kalli. How are you doing?
Kalli
I am doing so good.
Ben
Good.
Kalli
And so many of our viewers may not know this, but Ben, you used to own and operate a public relations firm for eight years before transitioning to the nonprofit sector. And now you're the Chief Communications Officer for the FPA. So you're bringing over two decades of experience to this conversation, which is really exciting for me.
Ben
Well, yeah, it's more than two decades. It's actually closer to about 28 years.
Kalli
Amazing.
Ben
It makes me feel a little old.
Kalli
Age is just a number.
Ben
Yeah.
Kalli
Public Relations, so it means a lot of things to a lot of people. How do you define it?
Ben
That's a great question, because too often I think people think of public relations as purely being about media. Media's one small part of public relations, when you think about it. Public relations, to me, is really two key things. Number one is creating and maintaining a positive public image. It's about telling a positive story. And so when you think about all the ways that you can leverage public relations to build that, and you're a marketer so you can appreciate having a digital footprint.
The bigger your footprint is and the more positive story it tells about you and your background, your expertise, who you are and what you do. It's better for you. But on the other side of that, it's also about effectively connecting with your publics. Public relations, not media relations. Yeah. All your publics are everyone that you touch, everybody you influence.
So it certainly could be the media, but it's also your clients, your prospects, centers of influence, family, friends, I mean anybody. Right. So it's all about having this, creating this, positive impression of yourself among everybody that you can be in front of.
Kalli
Okay. Yeah. I mean, branding, marketing... hand-in-hand here.
Ben
Exactly and one feeds into the other. Yep. Getting this great media attention and being in front and being in the public and doing more things that make you more visible can easily be leveraged across your marketing.
Kalli
I mean, in your experience, what is one of the most important things an advisor can do to keep this well-maintained public image?
Ben
To me, I think the most important thing people can do is put a premium on the client experience. You know, you want to build advocates for you as a professional, for you and your business. By putting that premium on ensuring that your clients have that great experience, it helps prevent from having detractors rather than advocates. Get people out there talking about you, talking about your business, talking about an experience they've had in a negative way that can cause more damage and force you to be in reactionary mode.
So you can't be out there talking about all the other great things that you want to be talking about. Yeah, putting that putting that premium on client experience to me, I think is just table stakes. It's something that you have to be thinking about at all times.
Kalli
I mean, talking of detractors, how do you come back from that bad press?
Ben
You know, bad press isn't something that just happens. Yeah. Chances are, if you've had a bad experience working with a reporter or feeling like some coverage of you and your firm is not what you were expecting, chances are you either said something or did something during an interaction with that reporter that led to that.
And this is all about having a good mental mindset when you do media and work with reporters, is that you need to be able to find the silver lining in any cloud. Every experience that you've had working with a journalist or doing some kind of, you know, interview or whatever is an opportunity to, you know, to tell a different side of the story, one that actually can create a learning opportunity not only for you, but for people who are being exposed to that news coverage.
So if something comes out and it's, you know, it's not necessarily telling a positive story about who you are, what you do, how do you actually internalize that and turn that into an opportunity to not only improve your processes and what you're doing, but then to tell that story in a positive way? So, you know, a lot of it comes down to how you think about, you know, if your gut is to attack...
...because you feel like you're attacked, that's going to be worse for you down the road.
Kalli
This is bringing up the old saying all press is good press. So in a way, it sounds like it could be. You know, the way you're thinking about the bad press could be good press.
Ben
Well, I mean, look, getting your name out there is great. But remember, we said at the very beginning public relations about creating that positive digital footprint, positive public impression of who you are.
Kalli
Yeah.
Ben
Anything that's negative about you is going to be giving people yet another impression of who you are. You want people to, you know, to readily understand what you're really about. And that any kind of negative coverage, not necessarily that there's going to be a lot of negative coverage...
Kalli
Right.
Ben
I mean, unless you are Bernie Madoff, right? The coverage isn't going to be, you know, really bad. I mean, maybe you're misquoted or maybe, you know, something you said was taken out of context. There's ways that you can address that directly with the journalist to have that corrected. You need to be in the right mindset and not just automatically go to attack, you know, because you feel like you were attacked.
That will work against you.
Kalli
Right. I guess I should back up a little bit and let's talk about how advisors can get press because I went straight to bad press. I know it's on many advisors’ goal list to be in the news. I mean, I get asked about that a lot. What advice do you have to advisors to accomplish this?
Ben
Yeah, I mean, I've got a lot of different points but if I had to kind of focus in on maybe a few that I think are important. Number one, I would say is really understand who you are and what you do. All right. So really kind of doing a little, you know, internal self-reflection about who you are as a professional, areas of specialty, things that you actually do for your clients will help you kind of hone in on those things that you're most passionate about.
Right? Those things that, you know, look, when you come from a place of passion, you talk to a journalist, you talk to one of your COIs, and you're talking about a subject that you're really passionate about, that you know, something that you do like - if you're an advisor, you work, you have a passion for working with teachers, or working with women in transition, or working within, you know, diverse, underserved communities.
When you can focus your media outreach on those subjects that are really central to who you are, that make up what you do... what you say and how you say it's going to come across differently. The other big thing is and I see this all the time, people want to get in the media, but they're not a consumer of the media.
Kalli
Now, that's interesting.
Ben
I mean, it is. It's crazy. I mean, I hear all the time from people that are like I’d love to be in the Wall Street Journal or TIME magazine. All right. But are you actually like reading and really digesting what those outlets are actually covering, what they're doing, what their journalists are specifically focusing on.
And so by actually being a consumer of the media, you can actually not only understand potential opportunities for you to position a story, but actually pick up on stories that are already being written where you could actually provide further context. Where you kind of help a reporter take a story in a bit of a different angle. Present other sides to a story that maybe they're not covering in their stories.
So taking the time to really kind of sit down and actually read or listen or review what's currently out there can go a long way. Then the other thing I would also say is, you know, stay true to what you do. Remain in that comfort zone. This goes back to that earlier point about focusing on those things you're most passionate about.
Those things you actually do. It can sound great because, you know, maybe cryptocurrencies or alternative investments, but those are especially alts, they're kind of all the rage right now. People are talking a lot about it. It might sound great, you know, to be in a story in the Wall Street Journal talking about alts. But if at the core of your business is you're not doing that then don't agree to do an interview with a reporter because they're calling up saying I’d love to talk to you about alternative investments and you're like, great, I'll do it.
And then you’re instantly an hour out from the interview, you're going, Oh crud.
Kalli
I don't know anything about this.
Ben
Or I just haven't done my research. I haven't done my homework. You know, you don't want to be in that position. So don't agree to do things or don't agree to do interviews that maybe aren't in your wheelhouse. Focus on who you are and what you do.
Kalli
Yeah, we just got a really good question. So when we're talking about the outreach to members of the press, are we talking about cold emails to reporters or should advisors be making phone calls? How would you suggest they reach out?
Ben
Yeah, I mean, look, I would say nine times out of ten, it's going to probably be an email, right? A lot of time you have, this all goes to really understanding the preferences of these journalists. All right. Journalists today, I mean, really, I mean, you look at kind of where the media landscape is today. I mean, everything is really kind of driven digitally.
There's a lot of journalists I've been working with for 20 years. 20 years ago, they were writing one article maybe a week. Some just writing a column for a magazine. A lot of these journalists are generating content every day and multiple times a day. Right. So they're always working on deadline. You pick up the phone, your gut is to call a reporter.
That's probably not going to do you any good. Right. My simple suggestion is simply drop them an email. A lot of times, a lot of journalists, you look at a lot of these digital stories, you go all the way down to the footer and there's like an email address for them. Yeah, shoot them a note.
But the best thing I think to do is to give them, number one, an understanding of why you're reaching out. So maybe there's something in that story that you read that you really liked right? Mention that. Say, I was just reading story about X. I really like what you said about this. As I was reading it, I thought of this other side of the story that you haven't really considered. Or things like that.
The idea here is you want to make that connection, but you want to actually demonstrate how you can be helpful to them in their work.
Kalli
Value add-on. Absolutely.
Ben
Exactly.
Kalli
And even I mean, I have a story myself. When I worked internally for financial firms and I did exactly what you're saying. I was reading an article, scroll to the bottom, the journalist's email was there. So I reached out and it actually ended up I was like, hey, do you ever take guest contributions? Yes. And then they had us doing one monthly after that.
So you just never know, like what's going to come out of reaching out.
Ben
You never know. I mean, look, I also tell people all the time, use LinkedIn to your advantage I think LinkedIn is almost, you can use it as almost, a pseudo media database. I mean, look, there's a lot of these big platforms out there. It can cost tens of thousands of dollars a year. But if you come across an article by a reporter and you really liked it and you think that there's an opportunity because you have a certain area of passion specialty that you're working in and you know that this reporter's actually covering this, send them a link and a LinkedIn request.
You know, and then and then the little message that you can send in your request comment in the story, say, I really liked what you did here. I'd love to connect with you on future stories you might be working about this topic. Right. And actually utilize that to your advantage. And then, you know, I would say that journalism is a bit of a nomadic profession.
One day a reporter might be at investment news. The next day they’ve taken over your job at Financial Planning. Yeah. The one thing that everybody updates; the one place that everybody updates is their LinkedIn profile.
Kalli
Yup. New job. Update the status.
Ben
Exactly. So now what you can do is you can actually find you can actually track where people are moving to and be covering and so on. And so you can actually use it almost as like a little bit of a media database for yourself. So take advantage of what LinkedIn can do it.
Kalli
Speaking of resources, does the FPA offer any resources for members? I’m pretty sure I remember there was a checklist a year or two ago.
Ben
Yeah. So at FPA we do a couple of things. So we actually have a media training program that all FPA members can go through. It's an on-demand virtual media training that I've actually recorded for the association. What's cool about the media training program is that when you go through it, if you're a CFP professional, you can actually then be opted into FPA media source, which is our completely automated media query platform.
What it does is it connects journalists with FPA members who are CFP professionals on stories that they're working on. And the system just powers the entire connection. But what's neat about it is that it gives it presents opportunities to our members on a regular basis. I mean, just today I've already sent out six . To date, we've had the system in place for about seven years.
We've sent out just over 7300 plus requests to members. And these are coming from everything from New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, CNBC and so on, all the way down to the trades. Yeah. And so they're just like these quick opportunities to get your name out there. What's neat and I'll mention this and we're going to be making a big announcement about this in about two weeks.
We're relaunching the entire media training program. To go even deeper. And so we're actually partnering with AdvisorPR, which is a subsidiary of J Connelly. On creating a five-module course available through the FPA Learning Management system. And that first module is going to be completely free, and that's the one that's going to get you qualified to go into media source.
And there are other four modules that you can go deeper. Everything on how you actually forge relationships, how you pitch reporters. Yeah, how you leverage those in your marketing. All the great media attention you're getting. So that's coming in two weeks.
Kalli
Oh, that's exciting. Especially the leveraging and marketing because that's on my end. That's where I see people missing the boat.
Ben
Yeah, absolutely.
Kalli
So this sounds like a lot of investment of time for an advisor. Have you seen advisors get any business from being in the news?
Ben
Oh, yeah. I mean, there's several stories that I have. One that really stands out was several years ago I was working with a journalist who was with the Associated Press. The Associated Press. I mean, you know, it's a network of, you know, tons of papers. And they basically distribute this content through multiple newspapers and media outlets across the country.
They wrote a story about, it was about financial windfalls. And I had this advisor that had this specialty in working with, like, inheritances and so on. And so she did an interview and the article came out was great. About three or four months later, she got a call from somebody who had just come into an inheritance.
A relative had passed and left a few million dollars. But what she saw was this article appeared in her community newspaper. And she kept it. And finally, after about a few months, she actually made contact with that advisor and became a client.
Kalli
Long shelf life is what I'm hearing.
Ben
It really does. I mean, it is amazing what being in the media can do, but, you know, look, I'd like to sit there and say that it's always going to result in new client leads. But it’s all about how you really leverage it. And getting in the media is great, but people can't sit back and just think, oh, I'm going to do a bunch of media interviews that's going to automatically generate new clients.
You have to be pretty aggressive in pushing that content out to your ideal client. Pushing that information out to your client base. The more you can do that, the more you can really kind of shout from the rooftops that you've been in the Wall Street and show them the content. The more it's going to actually result in actually getting some potential new business out of it.
Kalli
Yes, 100%. I think that's for any content. I mean, I've seen people put so much time and effort into creating videos or a blog, but they don't push it out. And then it's just a lot of time. And if someone just happens to go to your website, then it can be valuable. But unless you're pushing it out, they're not going to see it.
I always tell clients, if you email it out, you will get double the views and that's something I've seen like consistently and historically.
Ben
Yeah, I mean, look, I mentioned this before. I mean, we live in a much more digital media landscape today. And so a lot of the journalists that you're going to be working with, they're going to want to know that you are going to be an advocate for that content. And that you’re going to be pushing that out there.
I tell every reporter journalist that I work with on FPA-related things send me the link as soon as it comes out and I will push it through our network, I will share it far and wide. That goes over really well. I mean, when you're not only a consumer of what they do but you're going to be a distribution mechanism for that content...
...you know, everybody wins in that regard.
Kalli
Okay. So we talked briefly about sending cold emails and then this resource that the FPA has and LinkedIn. But how can advisors make connections in the press? Are there any other ways that they should be aware of?
Ben
I mean, there's a variety of ways. I mean, the ones that we talked about are kind of to me are just kind of like the low-hanging fruit. Those are things you really need to do. The key is, is it all comes back to this idea of mindset. Right. And there's I mean, think of all the different tactical ways you can do it.
The big thing, it all comes back to mindset. When you have an opportunity to send a reporter an email or send them a LinkedIn invite, or in the case of like media stories where you have inquiries that are coming in, you're seeing and after a while you start to develop a bit of a relationship with these folks.
It's all about approaching that outreach with more of a helpful attitude and less about a selfish attitude. It's very easy to want to position yourself as the expert. So I tell everybody all the time, I mean, approach it like you want to help them do their job. You want to help educate their readers, their viewers, their listeners.
When you can do that, it's really going to help you. You know, the other thing is that, you know, I know here at FPA one of the greatest advantages that we have as an organization is that we're really focused. We put a premium on the idea of community. So, you know, our members are not only members of the national organization, but they're members of their local chapter.
And there you're meeting people. And when you have an opportunity to engage with other planners, you may have worked with a journalist ask for a virtual introduction. You know, ask a colleague of yours to make that introduction to that journalist because you know that you have information that's going to help them do their job.
So, I mean, leverage those connections, leverage those COIs. I mean, if you know somebody has that connection and you want to be introduced, you have to ask.
Kalli
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So they ask, they introduce, they land an interview. What tips do you have to help them nail the interview?
Ben
So I've got a lot of these and I go over the media training, but I'll talk about it. First and foremost is you have to do your homework. All right. Don't sit back and think I know everything about the subject because people in financial services, financial planning, they know that things are always evolving, Things are changing.
There's new information, new data that that you can use to your advantage. So you have to do your homework on the topic. All right. So understand the ins and outs, the data and everything else. The big thing and this is the thing that a lot of people miss out on, is doing your homework on the reporter themselves.
I tell everyone before you do an interview, Google the name of the journalist. Then click on the news button and then sort by most recent and actually read what these journalists are writing. When do that you can actually pick up on hot-button issues. Topics that they're actually covering; how they frame the stories. You may actually pick up on how they might position a certain issue that maybe they're not very pro about.
And maybe that's an opportunity because when again, when you're sitting back and you're thinking about your messaging, you'll be able to better frame what you're going to want to say if you really understand how a reporter will address that specific issue. Yeah. So you have to do your homework. The second thing is you have to nail your messaging.
So I call it “your aces” So it's like a good hand of poker, right? Not everyone out there's played poker. You know, an ace is a winning card, right? You always hear the term player aces. There's a lot of merit to that when it comes to PR. So when you're doing an interview and you have your aces, those are your main message statements.
Those are the statements that you're going to play time and time again, because you know they're going to inform. They're going to educate. All right. You need to draft those out in advance. And what's cool is when you do a lot of your interviews, you're going to be on your computer. I'm on the computer right now.
All right. You can have your messages right up on your computer screen and you can go right through them, right? But you also need to have, and you're going to appreciate this, you need to have a message about your business, what you do, how you do it, who you serve and when. The reasons why people need to work with you. 20 seconds or less.
How do you convey that? It sounds pretty bad when you get asked, “so tell me about your business” and you're kind of stumbling over... “oh I have 100 clients, etc”. And I think, you know, you want to have a nice 20 sec - who you are, what you do.
The other thing I would say is keep in mind, it's a conversation, not an interview. Approach that opportunity to talk to that reporter like you're talking to a client. Right. Or you're talking to a prospect. You think about how you actually have a conversation with your client, when you get asked a question. Use that same approach in actually talking to that journalist.
The more conversational you keep it, the better you're going to come across, the more comfortable you're going to be. So that's the other big one. And then the other one I would say is, and this is always my favorite, is content is king, but passion is what sells.
Kalli
Oh, I love that.
Ben
That's one of my favorite things that I talk about when I do the media training. Yeah, you can have great content. It's easy to come up with it again if you do your homework, you do your research and so on. You can have great content, but if you can't deliver that with some passion and it's an excitement and get the end, get the listener in this case the journalist, to really believe in what you're saying.
Yeah, it's going to go over not the same way.
Kalli
It comes across more fake.
Ben
Well yeah, I mean or it makes it sound like you have a lack of belief in what you’re saying. Because everything when you're talking to a reporter everything is “I believe this”. “My opinion is that” Make them feel that opinion. Make them feel. Because the more passionate you are about the subject, the better it's going to come across.
Kalli
And I'd say most advisors I know are pretty passionate. They just got to tap into what they're passionate about.
Ben
Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And that all starts with knowing who you are. Knowing what you're about.
Kalli
We put a lot of time in our onboarding doing just that with advisors. Let's talk about who your audience is and let's talk about who you are and what your key topics are. For this very reason, we always go back to it. So in your experience, what have you seen work well for advisors and what mistakes have you seen them make?
Ben
What's worked well? I mean, so this is I mean, when we think about like the interaction with the journalist, I would say outside of, you know, approaching with the right mindset, I would say being original. You know, journalists are reaching out to you, you know, because they believe that you've got maybe a unique perspective.
You have something different to say.
Kalli
Yeah. Okay.
Ben
Don't just regurgitate the same thing that everybody else is going be saying. Really, if you take some time to think through, this is the subject. This is what you know, and thinking through kind of maybe a little bit of a slightly different opinion than maybe what everyone else is saying. Look, you may on a subject, you may have a totally contrarian viewpoint.
Compared to what everybody else is saying. If that is, if that's really your opinion, say it. Right. You’ve got to let them understand that.
Again, I would say keeping the focus on the reporter and the end reader/ listener/ viewer is key. The other thing I would say is being brief and to the point. You know, I mean, a lot of these journalists are working on multiple deadlines and so on. I think the more concise that you can engage with that reporter, deliver your main messaging, the better it's going to be.
The thing that I see, the big mistake I've seen advisors make is being selfish.
Kalli
Mm. Okay.
Ben
I've got too many stories about advisors over the years who have done things that just ran contrary to what building a relationship is all about. So, you know, a case in point, I had somebody who did an interview for a major magazine, and the magazine took pictures of this individual's client for the story.
They didn't get their photo and it wasn't their photo. It was their client’s photo. They were really taken aback by it, and so they ended up their gut reaction was to contact the editor and blast them for not including their photo in the magazine.
Kalli
Right.
Ben
That didn't work out well for that advisor. So, again, it's an opportunity to educate. It's an opportunity to build a relationship. I always tell everybody your goal is not to be a source for a journalist. Your goal is to be a resource. A source is somebody who might get interviewed once, and you may never hear from that reporter again.
A resource is somebody that the reporter knows that they can come to time and time and time and time again, because maybe you gave great data, maybe you had a different viewpoint or maybe you just connected them with another professional who maybe is an expert in something. When you've taken the time to actually develop a relationship, you're going to create 100 additional opportunities for yourself...
...in stories written by that reporter. Right. And that's all mindset, right? Yeah. Approaching it with the right attitude and really with what you're trying to achieve. And that is building relationships that lead to more opportunities.
Kalli
I mean, I think that's great advice for any COI or relationship that an advisor trying to build or any person, I guess.
Ben
Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely.
Kalli
Okay. I'm coming up to the 30-minute mark here. So, Ben, I really appreciate the time you took to talk with us today. As we are closing, could you let everybody who's watching know what they can look forward to at the upcoming FPA conference?
Ben
Yeah, so the FPA annual conference is coming up September 27th - 29th. It's going to be in Phoenix, Arizona. We've got a really cool show planned. We've got our keynotes, are Chris Gardner, and he's going to be interviewed on stage by Caleb Silver, the editor-in-chief at Investopedia. And Chris Gardner. Everyone should know this, if you’ve seen The Pursuit of Happiness.
It's Chris Gardner from The Pursuit of Happiness. He's a terrific guy. I had an opportunity to actually interact with him about a month ago. We're going to have this really great marketing panel that's going to have Diana Cabrices, Samantha Russell, We've got Penny Phillips, and that's going to be moderated by Justin Mack of Financial Time magazine.
Kalli
Yeah, I remember you posting about this on LinkedIn, and I was like, It's all women. Yes!
Ben
It’s all women. I mean, and they're all terrific, just like you, Kalli. And so that's to me a great one. But we just have there's so many different cool things that are planned for the event this year. And I know Kalli is going to be, as well. You're doing a breakout session. So yeah, it's going to be it's going to be a terrific event.
And I think everyone who’s coming to it is really going to enjoy it.
Kalli
Awesome. I'm excited to be there.
Ben
We’re excited to have you.
Kalli
And for everyone watching, if you are going, make sure you bookmark my session Effective Digital Marketing Strategies on Wednesday at 3:30pm. Something else to note is next month we will be talking about how to get referrals from CPAs, from someone who built his business doing just that. So join us next month as we talk with Gerry Scott about building COIs and getting referrals.
Thanks for joining. And if you're not already, get savvy at the following. And please take note that during this month and next month, we are offering 50% off of our onboarding for any advisor who signs up for one of our content packages called the Full Monty. So check it out. Go to our website, and I will see you next month.
