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The Wealth Marketing Podcast (The Wealth Horizon Podcast) examines the trends, marketing practices and growth approaches shaping wealth management firms today. Hosted by Rosemary Denney, founder and CEO of Wealth Matters Consulting, the show features guest conversations and examples from the field that help financial advisors, RIAs and family offices strengthen client relationships and talk about their work without overcomplicating it.
As advisor marketing and online presence continue to influence how firms are seen, The Wealth Marketing Podcast offers support for wealth management professionals who want to improve visibility, communicate with purpose and keep their firms focused on the goals that guide their work.
Rosemary Denney (00:01.868)
Welcome to the wealth marketing podcast where we explore the latest trends, challenges and opportunities shaping the financial industry today. In each episode, we bring you insightful conversations with industry leaders sharing practical actionable strategies to help advisors deepen relationships and meet growth goals. hope you enjoy.
Rosemary Denney (00:26.156)
In this episode, we are breaking down and defining some of the most commonly used public relations jargon out there. Every industry has its jargon. Wealth management, PR is no different. So in this episode, we're going to talk about some of the terms that advisors should be familiar with if they're thinking about a public relations engagement. OK, so we're back. And for the second episode in our series on public relations. We're going to do some rapid fire. Let's do it. PR 101. I'm just going to fire them at you. All right. These are terms that we hear all the time, that we use all the time, and that we just take for granted that people know what they are. And we use them as jargons. We want to clear up some of that jargon with PR terminology and just set the record straight with what some of these terms mean.
Mary Victoria (00:56.876)
ready and to be clear
Mary Victoria (01:15.323)
It's so true and every industry has its jargon, right? We just assume people are knowing it and a lot of times they don't.
Rosemary Denney (01:20.814)
So first question, what is a press release?
Mary Victoria (01:23.896)
press releases the who, what, where, when, and why. And we put that, we tell the story in a really punchy way that communicates exactly what we want to get out there to media. And then they can see exactly if they want to cover it or not cover it from there.
Rosemary Denney (01:38.446)
And how do you distribute a press release?
Mary Victoria (01:40.746)
Oftentimes it's email and sometimes we will also put it on the PR wire which is sent out to all media outlets. So two ways to do it, two very different strategies but very effective.
Rosemary Denney (01:53.998)
So on the PR wire would be a more blanket distribution. email send might be a little bit more hand selected.
Mary Victoria (02:02.648)
hand-selected, very personalized, and we're also going to take it to media that we know have interest in it, where that wire is totally blanketed to just everybody.
Rosemary Denney (02:12.62)
the wire comes with a fee versus emailing it out, which is, you know, just part of your public relations activity. Can you do both? Should you do both?
Mary Victoria (02:23.638)
It depends. If you're doing an announcement, I would highly recommend doing both because it amplifies it. It helps with SEO. It's great. If it's just media that you're wanting to get out there that's not specific to an announcement that you really want to control the messaging on, I don't think it's necessary. Perfect.
Rosemary Denney (02:42.308)
And what is a byline article?
Mary Victoria (02:45.356)
A byline article is a topic that you totally control. It's usually around 750 words, and it's you write it on a topic that's very relevant, very timely, and we submit it to media to be pitched. It is very challenging to get bylines picked up. We do have success with it, but it has to be under very strict outlines and guidelines.
Rosemary Denney (03:08.418)
How is a byline article different from being quoted in an article?
Mary Victoria (03:14.242)
You have way less control over a media story than you would a byline article. A byline article is written by you, controlled by you. It has your name as the author, where an article is going to have the reporter's name as the article, as the author, and then you're going to be quoted in it.
Rosemary Denney (03:32.398)
Clients always want us to pitch byline articles. They want to write the full article because they can control it. But can you talk a little bit about why that's so much harder?
Mary Victoria (03:42.56)
It really needs to have a timely tie-in, right? The lines have to be a little controversial. have to have a little, you know, they've got to be a little edgy. And so as we write these byline articles, we want to make sure that we have that lens. Otherwise, it's a waste of your time writing it. It's a waste of the reporter's time reading it because they're not going to have that clickbait. So it's important to really go into these articles with that lens before writing them.
Rosemary Denney (04:06.51)
Totally. Why do generic pitches fail?
Mary Victoria (04:10.19)
Generic pitches aren't interesting. Do you want to click on that? Do you want to read it? I don't. I know a reporter doesn't. So we really have to make sure that we're timely, we're in line with what the news media is talking about, and we really, really are relevant in everything that we put out there. Otherwise, it's a waste of everybody's time.
Rosemary Denney (04:29.858)
Segueing off of this real quick, why is it so much harder to pitch things like planning and balanced portfolios, sort of evergreen type of messaging versus what's happening right now in the economy, right now in the markets?
Mary Victoria (04:49.272)
This is one of the top questions I'm asked and frankly makes me head bang my head against the wall sometimes, right? So the, it's very like a lot of the content that we have that is focused on planning is so great. It's so relevant, but a reporter's on a deadline talking about tariffs or talking about something in the news. And that just does not fall to the top of their plate. So it's very challenging because you don't really have that.
bait and that urgency and so it makes it very challenging.
Rosemary Denney (05:22.51)
Okay, what is thought leadership?
Mary Victoria (05:25.614)
Thought leadership portrays you as a specialist in your field. You want to be a thought leader because that is when you're quoted. That is when you have an article as a byline. As soon as people trust you as a thought leader, that's when they want to be your client. That's when they want to turn to you in a really challenging situation. So thought leadership is very important.
Rosemary Denney (05:46.808)
So anytime we use the term thought leadership, it could be anything. It could be a podcast. It could be a commentary. It could be media. Yeah.
Mary Victoria (05:56.406)
It could be an article that you write that you put on your website or, know, maybe you're a thought leader when it comes to a really challenging time, whether there's, you know, times of war or uncertainty, you want to be the thought leadership. You want to be the thought leader that your clients are coming to and listening to during those times that almost is like holding their hands, makes them feel at ease because people are very, you know, very attached to money, right? And so they want to feel safe.
in an environment and that's your job as an advisor and we really lean into that.
Rosemary Denney (06:29.272)
What's an embargo?
Mary Victoria (06:31.136)
An embargo is what I live and die by. the embargo is the timing of which we actually release media. So we will often send media out in advance of an embargo. So like that deadline, let's say it's January 1st. And so let's say we choose this date. And this is the date that your media is going out. We'll still reach out to reporters in advance of that. But that embargo is an agreement between us and them so that they don't put the media out in advance and we lose control of it.
So your embargo date is very important.
Rosemary Denney (07:03.042)
When would you have an embargo date? What kind of news would that be?
Mary Victoria (07:06.542)
Typically, you're going to have an embargo date surrounding your merger or acquisition announcement. Any news that your firm wants to share, but you want to share it after a specific date, right? Maybe your merger isn't actually set in stone until the end of the month. We don't want that news to get out there, or we don't want it to go to your clients before you're ready. So that's when we attach an embargo date to it.
Rosemary Denney (07:28.526)
And certainly if news is broken before an embargo date, could impact whether or not a deal even goes through.
Mary Victoria (07:34.158)
100 % and not only that we've been really fortunate. We've never had an embargo not honored But I have seen it happen with other firms and it really creates a lot of issues
Rosemary Denney (07:44.126)
I have to. What's an exclusive?
Mary Victoria (07:46.946)
An exclusive is when you give your story to one media outlet. There's pros and cons of it, right? If you just share your news with one outlet, it can often be a better story. It gets a lot more attention, coverage, time, length of story. Maybe it has better placement. However, you're really limited to this one outlet. When you don't give an exclusive, then you're allowing other outlets to also cover it. So.
There's pros and cons of each, and we always sit down with your specific news and discuss which is the better option for you.
Rosemary Denney (08:19.918)
What's media training?
Mary Victoria (08:22.358)
Media training is really important because you want to go to your first meeting with a reporter and be prepared and feel prepared, right? They're two different things, but both very important. So when you have a first meeting with a reporter, they're going to know if you've talked to media before in the way that you communicate. If you're giving really long answers that are not quotable, they're going to know you haven't been media trained. And that's going to reflect on me poorly.
and the firm, Portly. So we want to make sure everyone is prepared to talk to media, because it's a different way than you would talk to a client or a friend or whatnot.
Rosemary Denney (08:54.976)
Absolutely, and I think also media training is so beneficial because it makes it a more pleasant experience. Not all of our advisors have ever talked to media before. There's a lot of nervous energy that goes with talking to the media. People are a little bit nervous. Media training can help to alleviate some of that.
Mary Victoria (09:13.528)
It's the same way as prepping for a meeting with a client. You go into that meeting feeling prepared, and we want all of our clients to feel prepared as they go into a meeting with a reporter.
Rosemary Denney (09:22.784)
Absolutely. What are some mistakes that you've seen executives make that have not had media training before?
Mary Victoria (09:29.664)
One of the biggest mistakes you can make or that I often see made is not being quotable. You go into an interview and your response is so long, but it's too much. It's too long of a quote, right? How does a reporter work with that with their story? So it's very important to tell your story in a very concise way so that reporters can use that for their coverage. Got it.
Rosemary Denney (09:56.088)
So I think as we're talking about all of these definitions when it comes to PR, I'd love to talk a little bit about how does it all come together, right? How does it come together on your website and your social media and how do you amplify your coverage? Can you talk a little bit about that?
Mary Victoria (10:12.344)
think one of the biggest strengths that Wealth Matters brings to the table is taking this piece of media and making sure every COI sees it. You want your entire center of influence to see this piece of media. You were quoted, you did a lot of work to be in Barron's. Now who sees it? It's great that it's in Barron's and Barron readers are seeing it, but maybe your client didn't read Barron's that day. Maybe they missed this article. So you then take it and you put it on social media. You put it on the website.
It lives in all these different places. You email it out. And then you take this piece of media, and everybody gets to see it because you presented it so well in all the places that they are.
Rosemary Denney (10:53.486)
It's about amplifying the coverage versus just hoping that someone might or might not see it. This has been such a fun conversation and I really cannot wait to do it again.
Mary Victoria (11:05.1)
Any excuse to chat with you, Rosemary, is always the best.