Welcome to the webinar. I'm Heidi Tennant, NAPFA's Senior Coordinator of Membership and Continuing Ed. Our presenters today from Out and About Communications, based in San Diego, are Lauren Hong, President, Tiffany Silberberg, Content Director, and Meena Kim, Creative Director. Out and About provides a full suite of marketing services to midsize financial focus companies from website designs through CMO-level strategy and implementation. Thank you for joining us today. All right, Heidi, well, thank you so much for having us. We're excited to jump on in. So let's get to it. We've got a lot to cover. All right. So first of all, we're going to give you a little bit of an introduction, just so you know who's behind the screen here. And then we're going to go into our top 10 trends, which is really the reason why we're here today. We've broken those trends into three sections. First, we've got strategy, second, content, and third, design. And then last, as we're going through this, if you've got questions, go ahead and drop those into the Q&A chat. We're happy to address those post-webinar. And of course, if you've got specific questions, we can do a one-off deeper dive later on. All right. So who are we? Well, my name is Lauren Hong. Nice to meet you all. I founded Out and About Communications. Now we've been in business for about 10 years. And I feel very fortunate to share the stage today with Tiffany, who is our content director, and Minae, who is our creative director. So in Tiffany's role, she's working with firms all across the United States to help them think about their content marketing strategy. That's things like blog posts, social media, podcasts, et cetera. And Minae is our creative director. She oversees our creative team and is in charge of ensuring that brands are consistent for websites, print collateral, digital collateral, et cetera. So this is important for you all to know, because we have the fortune of really seeing the C-suite level for RAs and firms at all different sizes of growth. And because we're having those conversations, we today have plucked what we feel is really the best of the best and a look ahead for those 2023 trends that we'll be going into in just a minute. We are supported by also Jimmy, who's our marketing director, who helps to support with strategy, and of course, our amazing team. We're about 25 folks that are spread across the United States. So let's go ahead and jump in. Okay, to give you a little bit more, we've got who we serve. This is just a quick map of clients that we serve, or really geographies that we serve nationwide. But the employee size is anywhere from a few to thousands of employees, and AUM size varies as well. So why this is important for you all is because as you know, as your firm's growing, there are different really growth challenges that you're having. If you're a firm that's just a few employees to thousands of employees, you're going through M&A or all kinds of things like that. We're having those conversations because those business strategies directly impact marketing strategies. All right, so let's go ahead and get into our trends. I'm going to go through the first four trends, which are going to be around strategy. Then Tiffany is going to go into content. She's got three trends that she'll hit there, and then Manea will hit the next three trends. So let's get to it. OK, so trend number one is around change management challenges. I'm sure this is probably not a new thing for most folks that are on this call. But let's start with a quick fact. So did you know that North America ranks as the top region for VINSERV M&A globally? So this is a stat pulled from Global Data Deals Database in July of 2022, so this year. North America ranks number one, Europe number two, and Asia's number three. M&A deals are totaling more than half a billion in July of 2022. So this is important because, as you know, M&A in this space is impacting brand, it's impacting all kinds of really domino effects that are changing the way that we market. They're changing our decision making and really our forecasting as we're doing strategy. Another thing that we're seeing with change management across the board is we've got a lot of strong M&A activity, and so what we're seeing that's happening is that really we've got consumers that are going, OK, well, I worked with this firm for a number of years, but now we're seeing M&A actually happening. And how is that actually going to impact my relationship? So we have firms that are going, OK, I worked with you for a number of years, and now you're going to be merging with this other client or advisors are then being absorbed into other firms. And the challenge that we're seeing in the conversations that we're having are really around how do we ensure that there is brand loyalty when that transition is actually happening? So actually, Harvard Business Review says that 64 percent of consumers form brand loyalty because of shared values. So really, brand loyalty is priceless. And one of the biggest conversations we're having with M&A is when there's that merger that we're seeing that there is a simple it's as simple as this, that there's just shared values between one firm and the other. So with that, we're making sure that there's synergy within the marketing strategy. The marketing strategy is really critical because it's going to impact if you've got a firm who is coming and merging with another one, you want to be on the same page internally as that impacts company culture with the brand, but also externally. Another example for what we're seeing with change management is really around this idea of succession planning. So many founders and first gen leaders of companies have been proactively looking at succession planning. These companies have been around and they've been in business for about 10 to 15 years and they understand that the market's consistently changing. So with new consumers and preferences, they also are consistently evolving and they need to meet those market demands. Therefore, we need to make sure that our marketing strategies take all of this into consideration. So as such, many are looking at much more of a longer term view of their marketing strategy when working with their current marketing plan. And this is really a way that they can help to ensure that there's a smooth transition from one generation of leadership to the next and really setting them up for success. All right, so trend number two is around values based investing. OK, so if you want to get that CE credit, this is your first opportunity. Go ahead and drop this into the Q&A. So how much did millennials' interest in sustainable investment rise in 2021? Was it 75 percent, 99 percent or 87 percent? So go ahead and take a guess and remember to drop that in. Wait a few minutes or a few seconds, I should say. See the answers coming in, getting that credit? All right, so the response is 99 percent. So millennials' interest in sustainable investment rose to 99 percent in 2021. This is a survey that was done by Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing. And this is actually stat has increased. So in 2015, the stat was at 84 percent. Why this is really important is because that millennial group is considered to be or is the millennial group of consumers is actually the largest living adult population, adult generation, according to the U.S. Census Bureau in 2019. So as a firm, if you're thinking about the future and trends and where things are going, ESG and the idea of sustainable investing and aligning values is very much aligned. So what we're seeing. So as mentioned, there's this overall interest in ESG over the years. Overall interest in ESG over the years. So hence, many companies are taking a serious look at values-based investing as a revenue driver for their business. Well, that said, along with this growth is an interest that comes with a greater emphasis that consumers are placing on values of the company that they're doing business with. They want to know that the company values that they're working with align with their values and that they're not just taking the company's word for it. And they also want to make sure that there's an authenticity so that there's this living, breathing idea of values and companies aren't just saying it. So hence, there's a greater demand on transparency as the company operates. And another quick fact, 77% of consumers prefer to buy from brands who share the same values and 46% of consumers would pay more for a brand that they trust. So as a result, the kinds of things now that we know that ESG is not only something that is trending for what a younger population is interested in, as is an older population, but it's sparking up all these value-based conversations. So the kinds of things that we're doing are really around this. We are ensuring that clients who want to embrace ESG are actively marketing to ESG investors. So what we're talking with firms about that do want to embrace ESG is things like doing keyword research, updating their website, creating landing pages for ESG, and even enhancing their SEO to make sure that their content marketing strategy is rich with ESG content. Next, one of the ways that we're seeing ESG be folded in is making sure to spotlight company values. So this is a little bit tricky because we want to make sure that it's authentic and genuine and real, but we are working with companies where they're taking a very strong stance on ESG and they are really living and breathing that and baking that into how they do their day-to-day. So why this is important is because it's really authenticity-led marketing. So it's very authentic to the firm. They're saying, okay, not only are we leaning into being ESG focused, we're putting that out there on our website, but we're also doing things like having our team give back through volunteering time or making donations. And so it's very real feeling and it's not only led by the heart, but also by the mind. So another quick fact is that 64% of consumers form brand loyalty because of shared values. So I'm sure you all have seen that you've got clients that you work with, and they're not just working with you because of excellent customer service. That's a critical element of it, but because there's a shared value base, there's a likability, and these things are very real and they directly hit on ROI. Trait number three, hyper-personalization. This is a fun one, especially in a digital marketing world, because it's very big brother out there and we can get a lot of information. So did you know that brands risk losing 38% of customers because of poor marketing personalization efforts? So an example of poor marketing is just mass communications. So you all know that feeling when it feels personal. So an example of that is if you go into a coffee shop, it's your favorite coffee shop, and the barista knows your name, they know how you like your coffee. It's personalized. It feels comfortable, right? But there's this delicate balance between being personalized, being hyper-personalized and being over-personalized. In fact, over-personalization can be, well, kind of creepy. So actually 38% of individuals will stop doing business with a company if they find personalization efforts to be creepy, which is important in the digital world because we have so much data and we can tag so many specific pieces that there's this balance between being personal but not being over-personal. So what we're seeing, well, number one, companies are understanding the importance of seeing consumers as individuals and that they're catering to individual needs via hyper-personalization. This is done with advancements of technology. You can think about Google Analytics or all kinds of retargeting ads, et cetera. And it's much easier to be able to do this now because of the kinds of technology and the tools that we have in place. Second is really the other reason that companies are focusing on hyper-personalization and that it's really key to understand how you're positioning yourself as a firm but to the general public so that you don't sound like the firm down the street. Without hyper-personalization, it can sound like this. I'm a firm that targets high net worth clients in San Diego, California or even in La Jolla, California, but you could sound just like the firm down the street. So how are you getting that much more personalized to differentiate yourself? Maybe it's more like I'm a firm that is in San Diego, California targeting high net worth clients, but specifically business owners that are going through a liquidity event. And therefore, you're able to hit on those specific pain points and really get much more into the personalization that that particular prospect or client would need. And you can even build your processes and operations around that. So this is really critical because the branding consistency can actually help to increase your revenue by 20%. So that's a report that was done by the State of Brand Consistency. And you could see that, right? If people know you because of one thing, it helps to be able to get within that market and then to build your audience and to build your content and to build your processes around that. So people want to do businesses with established brands that have brand awareness and that build credibility specifically around their problems. So other things that we're doing around hyper-personalization is this. So given that there's a need for many companies that are focusing their efforts and energy on hyper-personalization is that we are conducting target market discoveries. So this is really an analysis of who you're trying to go after. What do they sound like? What do they look like? This exercise, the gotcha, is that it's really valuable only if you're at a state with your current growth where you feel like you are ready to dig in and to really identify who your target market is. And if you're able to do that, then you can really build out a deeper profile and really feel comfortable leading into that. So that's kind of the gotcha on that one. Second is that we have so much data-led marketing that allows us to make so many decisions. Frankly, it's too much data. Google Analytics has a lot of information and then you can pair that with a bazillion other tools. All that data is great and you can create a fancy dashboard to make you feel like you've got the data, but it's only as valuable as your business strategy and understanding where you're going. In fact, what we tell a lot of firms that we're having conversations with is, OK, let's identify our business strategy, where we're going, and then let's pick our main focus that we want to really focus on. And that's our objective for a short period of time. Once we nail that, then we can go to the next piece. Otherwise, it's kind of like spaghetti. It's tons of information. What do we do with it? How do we make sense of it? But if we can have those clear goals, it helps us to then really hit those and then move to the next. OK, trend number four, this is our last one for strategy, and then we're going to get into content, is around diversity, equity, and inclusion, so otherwise known as DEI. Here are different companies across financial services that have identified that there's an importance on hitting on DEI. And this is the percentage on which those companies are putting resources behind it. So wealth management is at 69%. So there's definitely an awareness and effort, but of course, more needs to be done. The hard thing is, is with so many conversations around DEI, is that there's an interest, but then how does that actually translate into what we do? So this is what we're seeing. So given some of the statistics that we've shared earlier, many companies within the wealth management industry are now putting a focus on their DEI efforts and how they're doing business. So they understand that there's a growing focus on DEI from consumers as well, and they want to make sure that they're appealing to those consumers. Well, also many of them are leaning into DEI and that they know that there's a lot more that needs to be done. The challenge, as I was mentioning earlier, is that they don't know how to actually proceed with those efforts. And so it makes it hard to put together a strategy. Well, some of the stuff that we're taking and we're seeing that firms take around DEI are the following. So first is that there is a focus on social media channels and social media is one channel in which you can communicate. But firms are using social media channels as an avenue to share their company values and really frankly, their company culture. It's not pretty opportunity to put it out there how you're investing perhaps in giving back or promoting your company culture for the things that you're doing with your team. Or it could be a variety of initiatives, but it's really a channel under which you can share more to give a feeling of what it's like to work with your company. And that's been a point of focus. The other thing that we've been doing and we've been seeing firms do is baking and giving back initiatives. So this could take the form of volunteering their time. It could be a chosen outreach initiative. It could also be a cash donation. We are also seeing folks take advantage of technology. So technology is an incredible, incredible tool as it's continuing to evolve. It's in fact, one of my favorite pieces around DEI. We're seeing within the wealth management space, also, especially within banking that there's new technology that's been created that has the opportunity to reach new audiences from diverse backgrounds in order to make sure that we're really speaking to individuals and not at them. So the one thing that is really key as we always wanna stress when we work with companies who are taking strides around DEI is to ensure that there's really authenticity. So those actions that are taken and the words that are spoken to consumers are really critical because consumers are very savvy, right? And that they can easily pick out companies who are just kind of whitewashing walls versus a genuine audience. A genuine effort and their interest in DEI or how they're leading and doing business. So that's an asterisk to put on really any marketing that we're doing at large, but especially for DEI. All right, I'm gonna hand it over to Tiffany and we are gonna get into our top three trends starting at trend number five for content. Hi, thanks, Lauren. So yeah, we're gonna talk about content now which is my favorite topic. So thanks for tuning in. So I have a question for you for your second NASBA opportunity. So we can go to the next slide. There we go. So what is the ideal word count for each page of your website? So especially your really content rich pages, your about page, your services page, your homepage, what's the ideal word count for SEO in particular, right? So Google, in order to say, hey, this website is super relevant. How many words should be there? And I see some numbers coming in. We're all over the map. We do not have consensus. I'll give you guys a few more minutes. Yes, this is where you respond. I think from what I know, which is not, I'm not in charge, but I've been told that the Q&A chat here is where you're supposed to drop the answers. That's correct. Okay, thanks Heidi. Yeah, so yeah, I see all over. Answers still coming in, but okay. So question is, are we on the minimalistic side? Are we thinking let's keep it short and sweet? Are we on the more merrier stuff at all and make Google happy? And of course, as I'm asking the question, obvious answer is right there in the middle, 500 to 1000. Of course, algorithms always change, but this is kind of the sweet spot that we found as we've been working with clients. That 500 to 1000 words is ideal for each page. Now, even as I say that, you're probably thinking, my goodness, he wants to read 1000 words on every page of my website. And that kind of leads us into our first trend here with multipurpose content. The reality is we're just, we're asking a lot of our content these days. So longer word counts, that's the first thing we covered. So Google wants to see a lot of words. LinkedIn wants to see a lot of words, like you see these narrative stories. We need a lot of words, basically. At the same time, we're trying to reach multiple audiences, right? So we talked about M&A earlier. We're trying to reach, you know, get our values out there to different firms. We're growing, so we need potential hires. We're trying to hold our clients. We're trying to reach new clients. We have all these audiences that we're trying to reach. And then at the same time, audiences are just getting kind of tired, right? We'll talk about that in a few minutes. But there's a certain fatigue out there. And then reality check, I mean, we just don't have the time. So even as I'm saying it, like, hey, we need 1000 words on each of your pages. And oh, by the way, your LinkedIn post should be longer. Everyone's ready to check out. And so that's the biggest sort of trend we're seeing right now, is just there's a demand on our content. We need our content to do more and more and more for us. And there's just less time to do that. So we have, let me go to the next slide for me there. Yeah, so a few things we're doing to kind of overcome this bump, this obstacle, is we're basically starting with bulk content. This is kind of our hack, so to speak. If we can start with a bunch of content, then we suddenly have more to pull from. And the best way to do this that we've found is audio. So honestly, getting people talking, if you can get them talking, you suddenly have a lot of great content to pull from, whether it's a transcript or actually just passing it to a copywriter who can turn it into great copy. And it's also suddenly keyword rich. So we don't have to overthink things, again, to make Google happy, to make LinkedIn happy, or anyone else. It suddenly just sounds very human. And there's some great ways to do this. We've been working with a lot of clients with podcasts, whether that's once a month or a couple times a month, or even just hopping on a Zoom call and hitting the record button and having a conversation. And another sort of hack or way to get over the obstacle is just having cross-industry conversations. So reaching outside of our own little circles and starting to talk with people, whether they're referral partners or just people in your circle of influence. Having those conversations, again, it's just automatically great content to pull from. So that is the first trend in content. Yeah. The second is around connecting with real people. And of course, you've probably heard this. This isn't actually a trend, so to speak, as much as it's an increased demand. It's just something that we're seeing more and more and more of. So again, here's a question. Get your keyboards ready. Which of these are we expecting to see an increase in spending for 2023? So this was a report done by MarTech. They interviewed marketers actually just last month and said, OK, where are you going to be spending your money? Is it going to be in virtual events in 2023, webinars, this kind of thing? Is it going to be in technology, like all the little gadgets that help us do social better and do emails better? Or is it going to be in-person events? And you've got to take a peek at your answers to see what you are saying. And Tiffany, let me just say this is NASBA question number three. Question number three. In the Q&A box, it's required only if you want to earn NASBA CE. Thank you. Thank you, Heidi. OK. Oh, we're all over. OK. It's like I changed my answer. Yes. So the answer is in-person events. There we go. In-person events, which was super interesting because honestly, the other areas didn't come up as seeing an increase. And the reality is it's just like this picture. We're kind of ready to come out of the cave. We're ready to talk to people again. And this is a big this is a big sort of trend that we're seeing. So next slide, please. We're just seeing generally some digital fatigue. You can click the first little thing. We're seeing this a lot with like the privacy barrier stuff, right? Like we're kind of just tired of giving the Interwebs every part of our information. So we're opting out a lot. And then also people are just becoming more savvy. Consumers are we've seen that pop up. We've seen that cool gadget. That next cool thing you can do with digital. And we're ready to just kind of connect with real people and have authentic conversations and authentic relationships. So that's kind of one thing we're seeing, just kind of finding ways to be more real. And so some ways that we're going about this is. Next slide, please. Oh, no. Are we stuck? Okay. Yeah. So live events. It's definitely something we're seeing a lot of doing a lot of just real seminars and meeting with clients and that kind of thing. Also, just in areas like our bios on our websites, finding ways to actually connect. So it's less about like, here's where I went to school. And here's what I do in my job every day. And more about like here are my hobbies. And, you know, here's where I volunteer. And here's what makes me human, basically. We're also seeing this from reviews, which could totally be a trend in and of itself, with the SEC rules just changing. I'm sure next year we'll be having a whole conversation about this, but it's just starting to trickle out. And again, it's just that way to connect. You know, you find out Bob really liked to work with this firm. So it might be a good fit for me. And then around technology in particular, we're having a lot of conversations about, okay, there's this cool gadget that's come out. There's this cool thing we can use. But really wanting to be careful about making sure that we're doing it not just to be splashy, but to actually curate these relationships and develop relationships further. How can this new gizmo gadget actually hit those marks without just being, hey, cool, another pop-up? So that's what we're doing with that. And then related is just user-first content. So question here. And this is kind of fun that we actually have questions and answers. So this is more if you want to pop in your answer, not necessarily for NASBA. But what is some industry jargon that you are tired of hearing? I'd love to hear your answers, because it's kind of fun that we can actually do this. Otherwise, I have to make it up, which is fine. Yep. Anyone else? Anyone else have any phrasing that you're sort of tired of having to use? Yeah. Absolutely. Okay. Yay. You started saying some that I was hoping for. So a lot of these things, a lot of these phrases and words that we're sort of tired of hearing and using, a big part of the reason we're tired of using them is because everyone is using them. And when everyone starts using all the same phrases, they don't mean anything anymore. And like I said in the previous trend, the whole point is that we're trying to be more personal. But again, if everyone's using it, it's not personal anymore. It doesn't mean anything. And it's not human anymore, because I'm just repeating myself, because everyone's using it. Next slide, please. Yeah. So again, consumers are just bored. Again, if everyone's saying holistic, holistic doesn't mean anything anymore. We're just tired of seeing that word, you know, eyes glazed over. If everyone's saying fiduciary or whatever, it doesn't. I mean, fiduciary is a word we might have to use. Anyway, I've repeated myself too many times. You're all bored. See what happens? This is what happens. So on to the next slide. Here's some ways we're sort of overcoming that digital boredom. Just building customer journeys. So we talk about this with websites. Okay. That user, user first. We're thinking about Bob. How is he going to interact with the website? We're also looking at it with just everything we're putting out. So every flyer, every deck, every, anything we're creating, we want to really get, dig deep into how people are actually interacting, so that we're not just splashing out another cool thing, but actually thinking carefully. We've already talked about this a little bit, but really digging into the target market. So getting past, okay, we're trying to reach millennials, but, and you know, whatever demographic and whatever we assume that means, but really digging down into who our actual target market is and what motivates them and what keeps them up at night and what gets them going in the morning and trying to speak directly to that first. And then a couple of little hacks I have. So when, you know, when we're looking at all that jargon and we're tired of just listing all those bullet points, a great way to get past that is just turning everything into, but turning it into a narrative and turning it into a story. So whether that's just a case study or just a, again, just a little story, a little narrative where you're just talking about here's how people interact with us, or here's what we've been able to do for clients. If you're able to turn it more into a story, we can pull out some of that jargon and touch those, those pain points. And again, what, what keeps people up at night and what gets them going in the morning, we can hit that more authentically. And then the last one is analogous phrasing, which by that, I just mean we're going into other industries and pulling phrases that they use to communicate the same sort of emotion or pain points or drives and motivations. But then we don't have to look within our own industry. So just an example. So if we're kind of tired of seeing like family office or a boutique or something like that, we can look to other industries and use phrases like luxury concierge. So we can look to entertainment or we can look to luxury, or we can look to even healthcare, legal things like that. So we can start to just pull phrases that we know what they are supposed to feel like, but aren't necessarily being overused within our, our own industry. So that is what I have to share on the content side of things. And now I'll pass it over to Minae. Thanks Tiffany. Tiffany. Well, I just realized that the attendance, they can't, attendees can't really see the phrase as Regina pointed out in the chat. So maybe we can share what everybody's answer was for the question. I think that's. Sure. Absolutely. Yeah. So I saw a lot of fee only fee-based and fiduciary. I saw a lot of, let's see, transitory inflation dripping on your prospects, SEO financial plan, DOL rules, BPS. Yeah, I think that's it. That's interesting that I guess it makes sense. You can't see. Oh, another one is isn't technology great when it's really, really not. Okay. All right. Thank you, Tiffany. Okay guys, let's talk about design now. As Tiffany mentioned earlier, we see so many sites with some overcrowded content, but is it really visually appealing? And do people really care about all the information we see and have to read? So the train number eight is the show versus tell. So let's go to the next step. I have a question. You don't have to answer, but just to think about it, like how long do you think the users stay on your website in average? And the answer is less than 15 seconds. That's the average time to spend on the website. So what does this mean? This means that they just don't have time to read and go into details on our stories. We need to grab their attention within that 15 seconds, wow them and make them want to stay longer to learn more about us. So we need to show them, entertain, surprise and impress our audience. And the best way of doing that is using a simple yet powerful visuals. So let's take a look at some of the design examples. So this is Apple. I mean, Apple always amazes us with their simple and clean design that creates incredible hierarchy. So we pay attention to their product right away. There aren't any distractions around the main elements. Lots of negative space makes the site not empty, but gives us the impression of a smart technology and something very expensive. The next example is Asana and the Heartbeat Lab. So on their homepage, instead of showing so much images, video clips or animation and stories after stories, they decide to only use a simple type and type only on their hero section with a solid color background, with the contrast color. It's just a simple text and that's it. It makes the website powerful, eye-catching and young. Are you worried about using a simple tech line only on your website homepage hero and worried about it might look unfinished and empty? Maybe we should think again because typography is much more powerful than you think. The next example are the samples focusing on the negative space and typography. Zoom.com and Wix.com are a great example of using clean and fast layouts. They emphasize typography and only using black and white with a one accent color. So they are beautifully designed, really easy to navigate. And that blue button, you just want to click it because it's just shouting at you, right? So it's just beautifully designed, extremely simple website. So the next one is our last example for the show versus tell on design trend from MetLife.com. Again, lots of negative space with a limited brand color use, highlighting type, not too much content in one window space. So it is so comfortable on users' eyes, very easy to navigate, and it's visually satisfying. All right. So as Tiffany mentioned earlier, we are seeing so much overcrowded content on companies' websites, especially for smaller size firms. They tend to deliver lots of messages and stories all at once, thinking more is better. However, what we suggest to do is we need to emphasize negative space. We always need to give our users some breathing movements. We visualize our data. So instead of showing them the bulk of text, we use icons, numbers, graphs, and infographics to make it more attractive and easy to understand. We make fast, clean, and eye-catching designs. We also use text-focused heroes for the homepage. And last, we use simple and impactful images that will stop the users from scrolling or attempt to close the tab. Okay, so the next design trend is customizations. So my financial service people, are any of these images looking familiar? We have to admit that we use that helping hand while climbing up the mountain picture, probably on your About Us page, right, or on top of the mountain for the investment page. And that coins, I mean, who uses the coins anymore, but we use that picture somewhere on our blog. And of course, the happy retired couple on the sailboats, maybe on our brochure. So yes, we've all been there, but now in 2023, it's time to say goodbye to our old friends. All right, but let's talk about the wireframe first. We need to customize our website design, especially for the mobile-friendly version. More and more audiences will land on our website through the social media platform, which means that most of the time they will view our website on their tiny phones. It is extremely important that we plan a wireframe for mobile and build our website that can easily move between desktop and phone. We see so many web design templates out there that's even free for the commercial use. However, most of those templates do not have the custom designed wireframes for different devices. When you make a mistake of not considering mobile while building your website, your users will end up in forever, forever scrolling, confused and not knowing where to click or how to move in this chaotic moment. So work with a customized wireframe should be the starting point of building a website. OK, so now we have a custom designed wireframe. That's great. Then it's time to add some custom topography and custom illustrations. They always add that extra value to your website. This ideal website is a perfect example of using simple yet powerful layout using the custom topography and illustrations. The next example, the Yellow Leaf Hammock website also uses the custom photos, custom colors, custom topography, and which makes this simple, very simple page, but full of personality. And it highlights their brand values very successfully visually. The next example is Upsleep, Upsleep website. This is a great site. Great example of using customization icons and illustrations. There are again, guys, so many free illustrations out there that you can just search and download. But what makes this website so unique and different is that it uses a total set of a customized illustration built with the same line styles, same color scheme and patterns. That it's not used to only tell a story, but this illustrations also features their brands overall. So users appreciate all the details, the unified and harmonized visual content throughout the website. The last example of the customization animation is from a Smash Mellow. I wonder if we can click and then show it moves. And there you go. It's just that subtle movements there with the custom illustration. It's just very entertaining and refreshing and it's very dynamic. Okay, so we see lots of websites. Let's go to the next page. If we can move to the next page. There you go. We see lots of websites made with pre-designed templates, which makes all the websites, all the financial services websites looking very identical. On the other end, we also see overused stock images. So again, same wireframe, same template, and then everybody use that sailboats, the retired couple on the left. And then the sailboats, the retired couple on the sailboat on somewhere on their website. So they're all looking very identical. So what we do and what we're trying to do is we customize our website, all the digital and pre-marketing collaterals from the scratch with using the custom illustrations and icons. We also like to use more personal photos instead of the stock photos. Okay, the last design trend, trend number 10 is a micro-interactivity. Okay, instead of showing a full opening movie or animations, the new generation, they react to a subtle and fun interactivity. Users enjoy the full control of the movement of the elements. So instead, for example, for this one, instead of clicking yes or no, then the image closes or gets saved. They want to swipe it in all different directions and get involved as much as possible with the action. The micro-interactivity means small movements, but impactful messages. So let's go to the next example. The one, there you go, yes. So like this website, the subtle movements of each tiles, you see all those tiles. When you scroll the site and how they follow you, your scroll movement, but in this very subtle animation movement and with that actions and it creates the incredible rhythm to the website. The next one, instead of click and then you just go to the next page or go to the next action, this is a great example of this beautifully designed cute buttons that people enjoy the small interaction like those buttons that has some activities that happen in there. Okay, the last example is the hover feature. The hover feature can have a short animation as well. So users will feel more alive and connected to the website. You want to give them an impression of navigating in a live page instead of clicking on a dead wall. Okay, so we see lots of pretty but dead wallpapers out there. On the other hand, we also see extended animations and movies on the homepage, which goes back to the overcried content issue. So, but the new trend is that we deliver more live website that has interactive sections, such as a small quiz, what's behind, move your mouse and see what happens. Oh, something follows me, right? So all those fun features, the users interact with all those features and we make them feel excited and alive on our website with micro interactions and micro animations. All right, so before I finish my section for the presentation, I want to share just a few more design trends that will continue to next year. The first one is dark mode design. Second one is gender inclusive design. Third one is a use of gradient. Another one is the use of more organic shapes on the page. And the last one is mobile friendly design. Okay, so that's it for the design trend part. And thank you for listening and back to you, Lauren. All right, thank you, Tiffany and Mone. So now that we've gone through all 10 trends, really, if you were to create a common thread between all these, and we took a step back is we became very real to us that it's really around this idea of connecting with people. So all the marketing that we're doing is it's really about the human-human connection. So we heard that through these concepts around hyper personalization and making sure that there's also marketing that's out there that's authentic. And even with M&A, that if that M&A activity is going on, that you're making sure that there's a shared value base, right? That there's an authenticity in that. And we heard from Tiffany about this idea of long form content and in-person events are trending. And it's this very real human idea of real needs that people need, and especially in this very digital world. And then from Mone, we talked a lot about all kinds of ideas about use of white space, taking a moment to be able to breathe, to be able to take in the content and that your website can really be this sort of your new office space, if you will, especially in this hyper digital world. So through all the marketing, through all the design trends, content, strategy, et cetera, it's really about the human-human connection and making sure that that's personal in all that we're doing. So with that, we will open it up to Q&A. We do have about 10 minutes remaining, and I do see one question in here. Go ahead if you have questions to type them into the Q&A, but there's an open question around thoughts using video on the homepage and really overall video strategy. So I'll pass that over to Mone to get her thoughts on design and video strategy. Yes, video is an extremely attractive the element on the homepage for sure. And people, users definitely react to videos more than still images. However, it just has to be limited within, for example, if it's an intro video that people have to stop and actually click and then watch, that can be a different story. But if it's an ongoing live video that you just land on the page and then it just plays automatically, then we need to make sure that it stays nice and short. And so, and it's not, it does not contain so much important information in there because there are chances that users will just scroll through them, but it does definitely make your website look much live. It's just, it's alive. So it's always, we always encourage our clients to have some kind of video features in the homepage for sure. So we have another question and it's about, there's a lot of great suggestions. So thank you for that. I hope everyone's finding this valuable too, but question of where do we start? Like where does the firm get started, right? Especially as you're planning for the new year. And I think just to, I'll start that question, I'll let Tiffany and Minae add to this. But one of the things that we get is that marketing can be very shiny object syndrome and you hear things like you can build a website in 24 hours and you can create a click funnel in a week or even less. And that's great, but the harder thing to do is really to be able to ask the questions about the business strategy and where you're going and then to be able to reduce, utilize that to reduce the shiny object syndrome for marketing and then build your marketing strategy around that. So if you've got a well-established website and you've got your regular communications to your clients and that's humming, you might explore perhaps more of a targeted campaign to a very particular niche. Or you might say, well, we wanna roll out ESG and we wanna really be loud about that. And so you might be able to create a whole series activities that is just specifically ESG based. But in a simple way, I think it really just comes down to the business strategy. And then you can plug into that from there as a means to get started. And the other pieces are things that you could either take to either enhance or tweak what you're doing, but it would really fall back on that business side. So Tiffany, Minae, anything else to add about where to get started? No, I mean, yeah, it definitely starts with that. I think if you need an exercise, I think just getting really hyper-focused on who your target market is, everything kind of can fall after that. So yeah, that's what I would add. So we have another question, which is, what measures should I use before and after making marketing changes to improve or to gauge the efforts? So really, how do you define success? It's a tough question because in marketing, it's this hyper-digital world that has tons of data like we were talking about before, but all of that can just be information, but not necessarily mapping up to success. So I think the most important thing is really heading on the business strategy, letting the marketing back into that, and then setting those clear goals with either your team, a marketing team you're working with, or whomever it might be. So for example, to define marketing success, it could be as more like gray as we just want to build our brand, or we just want to accomplish creating X website or what have you. So it's more like an end-to-end, but it could be much more of a measurable goal. So for example, we want to be able to rank on page one in the top five when someone types in financial planner, Dallas, Texas, litigation, something like that. And so we're pushing off our content and our marketing towards that, and then really hitting on that goal and then building upon those goals. So Tiffany or Monet, anything else too around success and marketing? No, just when it comes to measures, again, trying not to get distracted by too much data and just zoning in on exactly what you're trying to do and just measure that for a while and then later on as you go. We have a question about how do I develop a strategy to better track where my new clients are finding out about my firm? So, oh, goodness gracious. Google Analytics is our friend there. So Tiffany, anything you want to hit on there with how we track new clients and finding firms? Oh, goodness. Yeah, I know, where do you start, right? I know, I'm trying to find, sorry, I'm trying to find the actual question so I know I'm answering it. Oh, here, how do I develop a strategy to better track where I, oh, a strategy, okay. I thought we were looking for the big gizmo, like what's the right CRM, but go for it, Lauren. Yeah, I mean, it's really Google Analytics is your friend with that. So you can set up measures inside of Google Analytics to identify where new people are coming. But the truth is, is that when a prospect is looking for you, it's not, they go from A to B to C. We all know this is a very long sales cycle. In fact, it can be multiple years. And so depending on the CRM type, as Tiffany was alluding to kind of the gouging gizmos is that like, for example, in HubSpot, you can actually track, okay, well, prospect came in, they went to this page, they opened up this e-newsletter, they came to this event. Oh, we haven't heard from them for six months and then all of a sudden they show up again. So just easily in Google Analytics, you can see your new users versus your old users. But the harder thing to do is to be able to say stop, it's basically to be able to capture that traffic and then to be able to stay top of mind so that you can start to lean into that long sales cycle. And that's not gonna go away with marketing. It's just, it's gonna help to be able to enhance it to help to stay top of mind and widen your pool. So we have another question here is, what do you think about canned content? Is it hard to be original? Oh boy, that's, well, I'll get that answer started. So it's really easy to use canned content because it's right there and it's quick and easy and it can work, but it only works a certain extent. And that if your objective is around increasing SEO, if you really want to be able to showcase your firm's voice and your personality, which frankly, we look at a lot of the backend of the data and the firm's personality and who they are, that's what people want to hear more about. And so if it's canned, you're losing that and it's stuff that other people have. So Google says like, hey, a thousand other firms have the same content out there, so it's not gonna increase your SEO value. So it can be hard to be original and there's definitely resources that take to do that, but sometimes canned content does have a place and in the world of, I'll say, just kind of getting it out there. But Tiffany, other thoughts on that too, or Monae? Yeah, our answer is generally, so I don't wanna say anything bad about canned content, there is a place for it. We don't generally use it too often. We would look to create original content, but where we would find the happy medium is canned content can be really helpful to pull in like the market updates and like the data and the charts, just depending on who you're using, that can be really helpful. And then just adding your voice to that. So like, whether it's a newsletter or a blog post, if you wanna pull in that canned content for the, like I said, the charts and the data, and then just adding your commentary and your voice. And then just, again, to try to get over that, it's hard to create, to be original. Again, if you can just record yourself talking, whether it's a video, even if it's just like a recording, be like you just record yourself on your phone, that can help you get over the like, it's hard to be original part. Cause it's, you know, you probably already having those conversations with your clients and that can, you know, that part is easy. So I don't know. I hopefully that helps. Pass a question to Menee here too around design. I think Menee, if you don't mind talking just because the brand is so important as we're looking ahead but the use of a brand book and consistency, you know, we talked about how branding and creating that loyalty is key. I think it would be helpful to hear a little bit more about how brand books can be used across platforms and visuals and typography and all that good stuff. Yes, so absolutely. The first thing we do with our client is we learn all about them, right? From A to Z and what their values and the goals and everything. And then we make a brand book. So within the brand book, we have a three sections, strategy, content, and the design. So the brand book basically sums up everything from, you know, the target markets to the voice guideline, to the design guideline, then everything. It's great. It's very important, I think, to have a brand book for your company because that can be hand to the designers or copywriters or any content makers, because it literally tells everybody, like, this is what we're doing. This is not what we're doing. This is what we're trying to do. This is not what, this is how we try to sound. This you should not use. So it's very clearly stated in the brand book. So yes, that's what we are working with. And it's very, very helpful for, especially for design and copy teams. And then just to note with that strategy piece on M&A is that the more you're growing, especially if you are acquiring firms, the more important is to be brand consistent. And so your brand becomes an asset and it becomes very valuable. And so it can start to fall apart if there's not that consistency, both the way that you're sounding it as a company and the look and feel. So there is a very real ROI that can be attached to the brand and also customer loyalty and hiring and all those good things. So I believe we're at the top of our time here. So Heidi, any closing notes as well? I just invited, there were a few questions we didn't get to. You see out and about information there on the screen. Please feel free to reach out to them. So Lauren, Tiffany and M&A, thank you for a wonderful program. I know people are gonna be playing back the recordings to take advantage of all the great information. Thanks for attending everybody and do please fill out the evaluation that will pop up when I close the webinar. Thanks again and have a great afternoon. Bye now. Thank you.

trends

marketing

design

hyper-personalization

values-based investing

visuals

video on websites

tracking and measuring

brand identity