Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.
New offerings help financial firms keep pace with technology and serve generational client needs. Examples of this are environmental, social, governance (ESG), sustainable, or values-based investing. These offerings are quickly gaining traction and appeal among a certain type of clientele. They allow investors to design portfolio allocations around values and causes important to them, to deliver comparable performance and returns versus non-ESG offerings, and intentionally steer clear of companies that contradict specific criteria.
With a greater focus on corporate responsibility, preserving the environment, and other social issues, your firm may decide to offer ESG investing for the greater good or get left behind. But hasty adoption and promotion could just as quickly impair your firm’s credibility and clients’ trust. In the rapidly changing advisory profession, you must find new ways to swiftly meet your clients’ shifting needs while remaining strategic and authentic to your firm's values and goals.
It’s rarely worth jumping into change without a game plan. It comes down to execution and how you demonstrate your expertise and values to create loyalty and trust, especially around a new service offering that may seem complex, confusing, or unfamiliar to current or prospective clients.
When should your firm begin to leverage a new offering, if at all? Let’s talk about ESG investing and share three strategies to help your firm discuss and market a new product or service in an authentic, practical, and distinctive way.
1. Internalize it
The first step to incorporating ESG or any new technology, service, or concept into your practice is defining what it means to you and your clients so you can ultimately make the offering a sustainable value add. Your efforts will lack impact if you’re perfunctory or pursuing a trendy label for short-term gains. Take a step back and evaluate what the new offering means to you – so you aren’t one of the many firms that jumps into a new service without a clear strategy for engagement, communication, or points of difference.
When considering rolling out ESG investing, your team should first determine what the offering represents for your firm by asking questions, such as:
- Is ESG investing important to our clients? Have our clients expressed a desire to support environmentally conscious organizations or remove investment allocations from industries such as alcohol? An increased interest in aligning wealth with values will accelerate your efforts in this area.
- Does it support our firm’s why, brand identity, and values? Does ESG investing naturally align with how we demonstrate our values or manage our practice, or will it require a rewrite of our policies and accountability standards?
- What role will our firm play? Does it make sense to create an offering or be a resource for education and guidance? What is the opportunity cost for not focusing on this investment option?
- How does our firm define the offering? What baseline will guide our efforts? This is a critical question when considering how political leanings, consumer opinions, and moral responsibility can affect your firm.
- How can we differentiate it? How can our firm make ESG investing seamless, profitable, meaningful, and easily digestible for the everyday investor?
- How “loud” do we want to be with your ESG offering? Should it be a main page on our website navigation or a hidden page that’s difficult to find?
These questions should inspire further discussion regarding where your firm starts, which may be conducting market research, monitoring comparable firms, or consulting with a group of valued clients. They can also identify the criteria and extent of your engagement and whether you have a distinctive enough contribution to make in the ESG space.
2. Build it
Once you’ve fully defined ESG investing, you can thoughtfully build it into your firm’s education, communications, and marketing strategy. But before distributing new collateral or blog posts that may parrot what feels popular, evaluate how it best makes sense to introduce ESG and authentically incorporate it into your firm’s practices. A clear strategy will help your firm roll out the service accurately and appropriately and avoid “greenwashing” or performative marketing that lacks substantiated claims, context, or authenticity.
When building this framework, consider the various arms of your firm, such as:
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Website and search engine optimization: Determine how clients search for and choose an ESG investment partner by reviewing other credible brands and analyzing your site’s keyword traffic. In addition to optimizing your services page, include ESG-related keywords in your story and history, newsroom, and core values pages, weaving in consistent, original, and authentic content backed by credible sources.
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Content marketing calendar: Think about the journey of introducing ESG to your clients and how to keep it top of mind. For example:
- Draft a blog post, newsletter, press release, or special notice unveiling the new offering.
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- Create a library of educational social media and blog posts that include backlinks substantiating facts to share the concept, define standard terms, and address FAQs or anticipated client concerns.
- Communicate on special dates such as Earth Day about topics that support your stance, like climate change awareness.
- Share social media posts and newsletter updates about your firm’s impact in action.
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Community outreach and special events: Partner with organizations that reflect your values and are part of positive change. Share public support such as your charitable gifting, volunteerism, and board involvement.
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Internal and external communications: Ensure employee and client messages share common threads, reflecting on the individual’s, team’s, or community’s ability to make a difference, stay in integrity, and use wealth for a good cause.
A structured versus “set it and forget it” approach will help foster accountability, consistency, and potentially new opportunities you may have yet to consider.
Another outcome of internalizing and building a foundation to support an offering like ESG investing is that it becomes part of your firm’s culture, operations, and even the shared values of your team members. What kinds of changes can you make to your office space? Can you go paper-free? How are your day-to-day operations reflecting your choices?
3. Lead it
At this point, your firm has thoughtfully considered how ESG investing aligns with your values. You’re also living it, demonstrating your commitment in your communications, culture, and practices. When this investment approach essentially becomes part of what defines and differentiates your firm, you can begin to add value to your clients and the industry as a thought leader.
Identify opportunities to share your expertise and distinction through marketing materials, education, service offerings, interviews, events, and more. For example, some podcasts, such as The Green Investor, are already dedicated to shedding light on the burgeoning space so your insights and perspective may be valuable.
It’s an exciting and pivotal time in financial services, with innovative fintech, philosophies, and methods emerging to serve traditional and future generations of clients. However, that doesn’t mean every new service offering suits your firm’s values and vision or your clients’ needs. While the advisory profession moves fast, a critical, thoughtful approach to change and expanding the scope of your services will keep your firm relevant and respected for the long term.
Lauren Hong is president of Out & About, a full-service marketing firm that she founded in 2013.
Read more articles by Lauren Hong
Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.
