gold

Best Blogs of the Week

Posted by Anu Heda on Aug 01, 2011, in Best Blogs of the Week , tagged with , , ,

This week’s posts do not include debt ceiling discussions, though that is the most important topic of the moment.  They do include easily shared content that advisors may value sending on to clients.

  1. Vanguard – Possibly the strongest language I’ve ever read on this blog; the author clearly thinks buying gold is a bad idea.
  2. BlackRock – This post applies a common, short-term  institutional investment approach – cash equitization – to retail and individual investors.
  3. American Century  – This post is the final of a four-part series dedicated to inflation.  The author presents a straightforward case on how inflationary trends may change in years to come.  (Also, the author used commodity intensity – a great term.)

Subject What You Mean

Posted by Anu Heda on Jun 14, 2011, in Thoughts , tagged with , ,

We subscribe to numerous hedge fund and asset manager e-newsletters.  The typical e-mail subject is something safe , like “Q3 Investment Opportunities.”

Atyant Capital, a hedge fund manager with a gold-focused flagship fund, sent a newsletter recently with a clear subject I thought to share: “Credit Deflation is Prime Driver of Resurrection of Gold Mining Industry”

We subscribe to numerous hedge fund and asset manager newsletters. The typical e-mail subject is something safe like “Q3 Investment Opportunities.”

Atyant Capital, a hedge fund manager with a gold-focused flagship fund, sent a newsletter with a clear subject recently.

“Credit Deflation is Prime Driver of Resurrection of Gold Mining Industry”

I liked the subject for three reasons:

  1. Reminds the recipient of the fund’s focus (gold).
  2. Makes a statement, so the reader can agree/disagree.  Either way, it’s a good hook to convince the reader to continue.
  3. Simplifies sharing the idea with colleagues.  You could imagine one colleague telling another, “Atyant believes credit deflation is driving gold right now.”

Writing compelling emails is difficult.  Subjects are usually the most difficult component.  Perhaps working from this example can help.

Best Blogs of the Week

Posted by Anu Heda on May 23, 2011, in Best Blogs of the Week , tagged with , , , ,

More high-quality education that’s relevant for both direct investors and FAs advising clients on tenets of good long-term investing.

  1. Vanguard – Straightforward (re-)education on the impact of consistent periodic investing.
  2. BlackRock – Answering the question many clients ask – why not just buy silver instead of gold; it’s cheaper? – about the differences between gold and silver investing and previously.
  3. American Century – We appreciate the Q&A format and this post explains debt ceiling and other timely topics clearly.

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?