5 more ways to improve scheme member communication

By Advice Bridge

We’ve already shown you four ways you can improve communication with scheme members.

Combined with the four methods we introduced last month, these five extra strategies will add value to your relationship with the employer and their employees while positioning you as the go-to financial planner for scheme members.

1. Use social media to engage scheme members

A LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram presence can help you reach asset-rich but time-poor clients, as well as offering a chance to engage younger scheme members, particularly through Instagram.

Use your social media presence to highlight issues relating to the pension scheme, which you can double-down on with a targeted newsletter. Think of social media as a “shop window” to highlight your communication strategy and ability as a financial expert, rather than a means of communication. Keeping this in mind:

• Aim to keep your posts professional
• Stick to the theme of financial planning
• Re-tweet news content to keep your feed interesting
• Re-tweet industry figures (but avoid controversy)
• Mention your client newsletter at the end of any posts
• Post regularly, at least once a day if possible.

To do: Make the most of tools that help you track your social media reach. Tools, such as Instagram’s Professional Dashboard, can help guide you through what you need to know to make the most of your account.

2. Send your newsletter to scheme members

If you have the contact details of scheme members, usually email addresses, and you can compliantly communicate with them, then a regular newsletter can complement your social media strategy.

Some financial planners also alert clients to an incoming newsletter’s subject matter with a WhatsApp or text message. If you can do this compliantly, then it’s a great way to engage a time-poor client who may struggle to communicate in other ways.

Your newsletter should also provide valuable personal finance insights – read last month’s blog to learn more, or consider the following topics:

Tax planning

A great hook for a tax planning conversation is the Budget; this is when the government announces any taxation changes or new limits. Tax planning involves all elements of financial planning and you can use this to encourage scheme members to consider upping their pension contributions.

Making a Will

This can be a general topic, and should probably be given a mention in all newsletters, as it may prompt clients to consider re-arranging or pivoting their finances, such as towards Inheritance Tax Planning (IHT), for example.

Saving for children or grandchildren

Of course, pensions can be used as IHT planning, but for some scheme members, it may be worth focusing on the benefits of financial planning for their family.

Protection

Life insurance or critical illness can be brought into a conversation about the benefits of financial planning. At least one scheme member will be planning an event likely to require forward financial planning.

Create a financial “event” diary

It’s common for people to marry in the late spring/summer, and for parents to consider whether to enrol their children in a private school during the end of the spring term, for example. Use these and other key dates to inspire ideas for newsletter content.

To do: Stay alert to upcoming financial news events. Even a regulatory update may offer a client-oriented angle.

3. Use video to communicate with scheme members

We all like to receive information in different ways – some of us like to listen to podcasts, others prefer to read blogs or watch videos.

Consider adding videos to your regular newsletter. Again, these should aim to add value and tackle the challenges and aspirations of the people who will be watching, using some of the content ideas mentioned above.

You could produce these videos in-house, or pay a dedicated video production company, such as Money Alive.

To do: Create a YouTube video channel.

YouTube is the go-to video platform for small businesses. It has over 2 billion users and has 40 million visits a day.

According to Business News Daily, the platform was purchased by Google in 2016 and currently ranks No. 2 for global and domestic web traffic.

You can use YouTube by setting up a small business profile. The good news is people can see your content without having to sign up for an account.

This, in turn, means you can use your presence to set yourself up as a knowledgeable YouTuber and increase your potential to win over more clients.

4. Run a scheme member webinar

Before the pandemic, workshops were a popular way to engage with scheme members.

However, social distancing rules mean that this is no longer possible, at least for the time being.

Fortunately, these face-to-face interactions can now be cost-effectively replaced by webinars.

Most financial planners have attended webinars, but only a handful have ever run them. Compared to live events, running webinars offer several key advantages. They are:

• Easy to set up
• Extremely cost-effective
• Recordable for future re-use.

To do: Run live webinars or offer pre-recorded ones via Zoom. There plenty of other webinar software platforms available, of course. Your choice will come down to personal preference and what you feel works best with clients.

5. Add content to the employer’s intranet

Most employers will have an intranet which they use to communicate with their employees.

This can be a great tool for financial planners to make announcements regarding the pension scheme, for example.

You can use a three-pronged approach to make sure the content is viewed or read:

• Upload videos, or even recorded webinar content, on the employer’s website
• Next, use your Twitter or Instagram posts to back up this message
• Invite clients or make them aware of the content using email. If compliant, use text or WhatsApp.

To do: Make uploaded content relevant to scheme members. Aim to provide a balance that considers both the scheme’s demographics and the concerns of its members.

Adding value creates engagement and opportunities – AdviceBridge can help.

AdviceBridge has developed a platform that helps financial planners deliver personalised financial advice to clients in an efficient and cost-effective way, specifically for those less profitable and harder to service clients.

The white-label app gathers personal and financial information from the client digitising many of the manual, time-consuming processes, which allows the planner to focus on the relationship and not admin, research or reports. It also calculates the income the client will receive on a monthly basis in retirement, alongside a “safe to spend” figure of what they can spend on a monthly basis currently, whilst showing the best way to invest across different tax wrappers.

The app enables financial planners to communicate and engage with clients from all walks of life, no matter where they are, specifically those who traditionally prove unprofitable due to the accumulating phase of their financial planning journey.

Get in touch

To find out how AdviceBridge can help you improve scheme member communication and

engagement, please get in touch. Email hello@advicebridge.com or call us on 020 3925 3850. You can also visit our website to book a quick demo with our friendly team.