A busy year
January 10, 2012: 05:31 PM
Mutual fund shareholder reports have long been the cornerstone of my financial copywriting business. They've carried me through several recessions. Even as clients are loathe to spend marketing dollars, fund companies still have to communicate to shareholders, once or twice a year, in good markets and bad.
So shareholder reports have been my bread and butter for a long time. In 2011, I wrote 197 quarterly, semiannual and annual reports. If that seems like a lot…well, it does to me too.
I like writing investment commentaries. It's fun to interview portfolio managers and translate what they say into language regular people can understand. It's important work. If I didn't think so, I wouldn't do it.
Still, shareholder report writing is formulaic, and doesn't demand huge reservoirs of creativity. Which is why I'm glad to have an expanding marketing collateral business. Close to 30% of my practice now emphasizes promotional and sales-oriented copy. Primarily brochures, but plenty of online and other work too. Most of this was helping elite financial advisors around the country market their practice -- a growing subspecialty of mine.
So shareholder reports have been my bread and butter for a long time. In 2011, I wrote 197 quarterly, semiannual and annual reports. If that seems like a lot…well, it does to me too.
I like writing investment commentaries. It's fun to interview portfolio managers and translate what they say into language regular people can understand. It's important work. If I didn't think so, I wouldn't do it.
Still, shareholder report writing is formulaic, and doesn't demand huge reservoirs of creativity. Which is why I'm glad to have an expanding marketing collateral business. Close to 30% of my practice now emphasizes promotional and sales-oriented copy. Primarily brochures, but plenty of online and other work too. Most of this was helping elite financial advisors around the country market their practice -- a growing subspecialty of mine.
The rest of my workload in 2011 included various newsletter projects, some strategy consulting and miscellaneous editing and rewriting.
I'm grateful for my clients and the opportunity to stay busy on a wide variety of projects. Here's hoping for another productive year in 2012.
If you need help with any projects, or want to find out more about my services, please contact me today.