One of the biggest gaps we see in how product providers speak with advisers, is using the wrong language. We understand how this happens – marketers are surrounded by internal language conventions all day. Taking a second to ensure you are speaking the right language will ensure your message hits home immediately.
- Customer vs client
One of the most obvious words for an adviser to know if what you are writing is relevant to them, is whether you refer to their clients as ‘customers’. A customer is someone with a transactional relationship with. It lacks a personal connection. To complicate the matter, an adviser’s client will more than likely be a product provider’s customer. However, if you want to capture the attention of advisers you need to write from their point of view. An adviser would never refer to one of their clients as a customer, and as a marketer – you shouldn’t either. - Share of Wallet
Another internal word used by product providers to talk about the extent of financial products used in the adviser-client relationship. The issue here is, advisers don’t think in terms of the extent to which their client’s products are entangled with them. They think in terms of the extent to which their client’s lives are entangled with them. The term ‘share of wallet’ reduces the complexities of the relationship down to the product level. As such, this immediately puts the adviser offside and you will struggle to communicate any kind of message from here. - Thanking advisers for using your product
On the surface, thanking an adviser for using your product seems like a great idea. But the framing of that message puts the adviser in a tough position. An adviser will use your product if they believe it is the best thing in the market to help their client achieve a certain result. By thanking the adviser, you are replacing the adviser from the position of authority who makes decisions based on quality, to someone doing a favour to you as the product provider. We understand how this mistake happens but re-shaping a message to be happy your product is helpful to the adviser’s client is a much better frame. - The word ‘independent’
Most marketers are aware of the battle over the word ‘independent’, the legal challenges it faced from many annoyed advisers, and the ultimate result. But just in case you somehow missed it – the requirements to be ‘independent’ are quite high, and not many advisers reach the terminology. The issue arises around how to classify advisers who do not have any link to a product provider, but still receive some type of revenue from different product providers. As such, the term ‘privately owned’ has risen to the top. While the clarification has existed as far back as 2017, we’ve noticed many parts of the industry still refer to ‘IFAs’ or similar. As the subject has been put to bed some years ago, make sure your language reflects it.
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