Skip to main content

You are here

Advertisement

Cogent Offers Thoughts on Thought Leadership

A new report suggests that so-called “thought leadership” pieces can indeed cut through the clutter in reaching advisors, but only if they “go big” — and maybe even make a bad call.

Cogent Reports says that advisors are more likely to read thought leadership from an unfamiliar mutual fund, ETF or VA provider over all other types of marketing content. Additionally, their research indicates that advisors want thought leadership and market commentary to comprise a larger percentage of the marketing content they receive — in lieu of more product-specific updates.

According to the study, advisors not only want thought leadership, they have high expectations for the content provided. Advisors want materials that are forward-thinking, actionable, topical — yet unbiased — and sophisticated, with a simple, clean design.

These and other findings are included in “Cutting Through the Marketing Clutter,” a Cogent Reports™ study by Market Strategies International.

In March, Cogent Reports conducted 18 focus groups — speaking with a representative mix of 85 advisors in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles — to help providers maximize the impact of their marketing efforts to financial advisors.

“Above all, providers must be willing to ‘go big or go home’ and take a more unique, provocative stance with their thought leadership materials,” said Sonia Sharigian, senior product manager and report coauthor at Market Strategies. “Advisors would rather a star manager risk making a wrong call than be saddled with the same commentary from a dozen or more providers. Advisors welcome a healthy range of viewpoints because it ultimately enables them to make more educated, informed decisions on behalf of their clients.”

Advertisement