advertising

4 Web Tips for Asset Managers from Gawker (Part 2)

Posted by Mike McLaughlin on Dec 06, 2010, in Thoughts , tagged with , , , ,

In a post last week, I suggested that pending design changes to Gawker’s popular blog family offer up 4 good ideas for asset managers and their Web sites.  The previous post covered two of those ideas; and without further ado here are two others:

  1. Appointment Viewing Works: Having experimented with pre-scheduled content and “theme” weeks, Gawker has found that they do well at attracting readers.  In the past I’ve advocated that asset managers too embrace programming practices from the media – preset publishing schedules that can be promoted in advance, serialized content that can stretch over time.  Gawker’s data validates that this works.

    2. Each week's Economic Calendar drives people to pay attention to information as it is released.

  2. Video is an Advertising Prerequisite, Too: The Web has gone way beyond static banner ads.  Gawker notes that 30-50% of potential sponsors have video ads to run online.  While asset managers have integrated more video into their Web sites, how fast can they start using video to support their online advertising as well?

Yes, Gawker is not an asset manager.  Content is their product.  But what they’ve learned in repeatedly trying to engage more people with their content parallels the similar challenges of asset management marketing and eBusiness teams.

Advertising to the Investor

Posted by Anu Heda on Oct 10, 2010, in Thoughts , tagged with , , , ,

Last weekend, I opened the Sunday paper and the typical coupons and advertisements fell out.  There was an unusual one – a full page, heavy-card stock advertisement for IAU.  IAU is BlackRock’s iShares ETF that tracks gold’s price.  I never received an ETF or Mutual Fund advertisement via the newspaper.  I asked Mike, my dad and a friend – to the best of our knowledge; nobody had.  Interesting – maybe revolutionary!

The IAU insert from the New York Times. Click to enlarge.

My initial reactions:

  • The ad is pretty clear.
  • The ad must be extremely expensive.
  • The “call-to-action” is pretty generic.

Clarity

The advertisement assumes the viewer is already interested in gold.  Then there are five different reasons to invest in IAU over other options.  From the advertisement, I think, maybe it’s time to invest in gold and maybe I should do that through an ETF.  I wonder if IAU is the best option. My thought process is the best BlackRock can hope for.  So, the message is very clear.

Cost

Is this expensive?  Expense is relative to value or return; so I can’t really say.  Yet, I wonder if BlackRock can measure this ad’s effectiveness.  For investors buying IAU via brokerage accounts, there’s no way for BlackRock to measure those sales.  Potentially, this advertisement is simply seen as an effort to elevate the firm’s brand and products to a more ‘top of mind’ status.  In that context, it’s hard to say if the ad is expensive.

Call-to-Action

The ad lists a telephone number and Web site.  I visited the Web site listed (www.ishares.com/gold).  I want a continuation of knowledge sharing, instead it’s a bit repetitive.  Initially, I see the same bullets; when I click “Learn More,” I’m immediately sent to the Fund Overview page.  This Call-to-Action isn’t strong enough.

I’m curious to what you think.  Good idea for industry leaders like BlackRock?  Does the idea scale down well to other firms?