Advertising Copy

I’d be interested in hearing responses to this question. Let me tell you

what I’m dealing with now, as if I don’t have enough BS on my plate.



About a year and a half ago, I received compliance approval for my

letterhead, etc. So naturally I went to a local print shop, selected high end

paper and envelopes etc. To take advantage of a volume discount I

ordered probably enough to last me 3 years.



As part of a routine bi-annual compliance audit, I re-submitted my

letterhead to compliance. The 26 year old in compliance went hog wild on

my previously approved materials. Now I’m told I have to purge all that

letterhead and make changes. Furthermore, my principal can’t pull a favor

at the home office.

The NASD might be doing you a favor. The approved copy might be so watered down, as to make little or no impact. Personally, I've never had much luck with newspaper ads and never tried radio.

You could do co-op ads with mutual funds, since they would already be approved by the NASD. Still have to get your compliance dept. to ok, though.

Co-op sounds like the way to go. Its hard enough to get seminar invitations approved, I cant imagine writing my own radio ad and doing it in a compliant way.

referrals are even better!  don't have to worry about NASD approval for those!

What about newsletters?  I have beren sending bi monthly newsletters from Liberty to clients and prospects. But I'm not too happy with them. They booooring and obviously canned articles.  I would like to do my own either bi-monthy (every two months) or quarterly newsletter where I could add some personal touchy feely local interest articles along with the approved NASD stuff.  Getting this stuff by compliance is a pain in the .....

Any one doing their own newsletters?  Where can we get some generic articles that have already been NASD approved?   I don't want to write my own.  I must say this is one of the things I do miss about EDJ....They had great newsletters.

[quote=dashampersand]It is becoming increasingly more difficult to get the NASD to approve radio and newspaper advertising copy. [QUOTE]

I find it interesting that we're having this conversation the day after I watched Jim "BOOYAH/ IF I YELL LOUDER THE STOCK WILL GO HIGHER" Cramer tell college kids that it's a good idea to take their tuition money to buy stocks.*<?:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

(yes, I'm aware of the "mass media" exemption to the regulations we face, so don't bother explaining it to me    )

[quote=mikebutler222]

[quote=dashampersand]It is becoming increasingly more difficult to get the NASD to approve radio and newspaper advertising copy. [QUOTE]

I find it interesting that we're having this conversation the day after I watched Jim "BOOYAH/ IF I YELL LOUDER THE STOCK WILL GO HIGHER" Cramer tell college kids that it's a good idea to take their tuition money to buy stocks.*<?:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

(yes, I'm aware of the "mass media" exemption to the regulations we face, so don't bother explaining it to me    )

[/quote]

I loathe Jim Cramer.  The ultimate snake oil salesman.  What I keep on wondering is how a hyperactive retarded monkey get's so much airtime.  Very revealing about our society and culture.  I have an 80 year old client w/ about $1 million in stocks and he watches Cramer religiously and is always quoting his stock picks. 

BL,

Forefield used to have pretty decent newsletters, and I believe you could customize them also.  You might ck it out.

[quote=dashampersand]It is becoming increasingly more difficult to get the NASD to approve radio and newspaper advertising copy.  Does anyone know of a good ad agency that has had success writing effective copy that also flys with the NASD?[/quote]

It may not help in what you're trying to do, but the only things the NASD has to review & approve are ads specifically mentioning certain products (e.g., funds, VAs, options, etc.).  Everything else is handled by your compliance department.  Maybe you can accomplish what you want with non-product ads to by-pass the NASD review (and the several week lead-time they require).

Also, even with NASD required review topics I'd think your compliance dept should be able to guide you through what will be acceptable/unacceptable to the NASD based on their experience.

[quote=babbling looney]

What about newsletters?  I have beren sending bi monthly newsletters from Liberty to clients and prospects. But I'm not too happy with them. They booooring and obviously canned articles.  I would like to do my own either bi-monthy (every two months) or quarterly newsletter where I could add some personal touchy feely local interest articles along with the approved NASD stuff.  Getting this stuff by compliance is a pain in the .....

Any one doing their own newsletters?  Where can we get some generic articles that have already been NASD approved?   I don't want to write my own.  I must say this is one of the things I do miss about EDJ....They had great newsletters.

[/quote]

BL, if you have this need (pre-approved articles and newsletters) I'd think other reps in your b/d have that same need.  Maybe if you bring this up to your b/d's marketing department (or whomever) that they'll commit to provide a library of suitable articles and/or newletters so nobody has to reinvent the wheel. 

My b/d has a pretty large library of articles available and also three or four series of complete newsletters for us to use if we want.  While they're not alwasy as consistently good as some would like, they're at least more than adequate for the purpose of providing some value-added client communication at no cost & little effort to the reps.  Even if I don't like a particular article for a subject I want to cover with clients/prospects, it'll often give me a foundation for what I might want, and I can edit it and then run it back through compliance.

The indy b/d world is pretty competitive and I'd think you could make a good case with yours that by dedicating some resourses to provide these types of things the reps will be happier campers and the tools should result in greater revenues.  They'd also be good tools for your b/d's recruiting efforts ("see how we provide such great marketing support for our reps?").

Just a thought.

Thanks for the Forfield suggestion.  They look pretty good, flexible and seem to be affordable.

Duke you are right on... My b/d needs to get a library of articles.  Good point about being able to recruit too.  It is my understanding that shortly before I came they merged three other indys together to form the b/d as it is now.  Some of the reps say that they used to have this service.  I definitly will bring it up as soon as I can.  What b/d are you with?  PM me if you want, so I can beat my marketing department over the head with the name of your company.

BL, it’s RJFS.