In a perfect storm of market volatility, financial professionals must move with speed and calm confidence.
That goes for the PR and marketing professionals who work alongside those financial professionals, too.
To set the stage: A weaker-than-expected jobs report, a routing Nikkei, investor impatience with the tech sector, and several other factors sparked a global sell-off in financial markets this last Friday. Investor panic ripped through social media like wildfire as the Dow dropped by 1,000 points. Analysts revived conversations about the likelihood of a recession waiting in the wings. In short, it is exactly the kind of event and emotional climate that compels people to hire financial advisors in the first place.
Whether you work for a brokerage or run your own RIA, these are the days you can remind your clients of the value you bring to their lives. Good advisors have proactively reached out to clients about their long-term plans, ongoing cash flows, and a dash of perspective about the ups and downs of the market’s fortunes. Great advisors have already laid the groundwork with service models that maximize the financial levers under the client’s control, while minimizing the impact of market volatility.
This is your time to shine.
Our clients have already put that time to good use. CBIZ and Exencial relayed messages of calm in Marketwatch. MFS Investment Management shared constructive steps in Bloomberg on what investors should do next. On Yahoo! Finance, Zacks Investment Management spotlit sectors and investments to watch amid a global selloff.
The professionals at our agency sprinted to action as soon as we understood what was unfolding. We knew that our media counterparts needed polished experts who could explain and contextualize the selloff without contributing to the panic, because we knew their audiences are hungry for answers in times like these.
This is not the time for advisors to shy away, whether from clients or from the media. For many of us, this isn’t our first time at the rodeo. The details and circumstances may change with each flash of volatility, but I’ve seen that advisors who kept their foot on the gas during tough times have always fared better than those who tried to keep their heads down.
Not every investor has the benefit of this kind of perspective. A major market drop will test anyone’s mettle. And it’s certainly easier for business leaders to speak with confidence when things are going well. But everyone wins when we rise to the occasion. Media professionals find experts who can act as a lens to clarify what is happening. Advisors gain major platforms to tell their clients and prospects to act with confidence. And investors get to win back a little more calm in an atmosphere of panic.