Welcome to the latest edition of Update, IFAP’s regular newsletter keeping you in touch with our recent initiatives and filling you in on our plans for the months ahead. 2005 has already proved a busy year for IFAP, not least with the restructuring of the advice market. Throughout the period IFAP has stayed focused on delivering value to member IFAs, whilst at the same time, ensuring we’re best placed to continue promoting the benefits of independent financial advice to consumers and business.
Sponsor news
Further online member promotion
I’m pleased to report that we’ve been progressing development of our online white label ‘Find an IFA’ and ‘Find a Media IFA’ search tools. New versions are now live in the consumer, employer, and media sections of www.scottishlife.co.uk and on www.is4profit.com (an online portal for businesses). This takes
the total number of white label ‘Find an IFA’ searches IFAP’s running on partner websites to 51, and white label ‘Find a Media IFA’ searches to 18.
IFA Promotion news
Do you really know where all your new business leads come from?
When potential new clients contact your office for the first time, can you always accurately identify what prompted them to get in touch? Leads sourced online can be difficult to pin down – even when you know someone’s contacted you by e-mail or through your website, do you really know what or who prompted them to get in touch? Obviously you also know when someone’s phoned your office to arrange a meeting, and when asked some may state they found your details via the web - but where online?
Without a shadow of doubt the internet has become the tool of choice for people looking for a new adviser.
IFAP’s own figures support this and show just how many people are embracing the web to conduct their initial financial research – last year, of the 446,000 people using IFAP to find a local member IFA, a staggering 75% did so online.
I’ve listed below some of the main ways IFAP is generating leads – to help you accurately identify whether or not IFAP played a role in generating a new enquiry for you.
- Consumer press advertising. Each year, IFAP places hundreds of adverts in the national and regional press directing enquirers either to www.unbiased.co.uk or one of our hotlines. Either way, that enquirer receives a list of local relevant member IFAs. As a result that enquirer could subsequently contact you via e-mail, through your website, by phone or in person by visiting your office.
- Consumer media editorial. IFAP generates 1000s of pieces of media editorial each year, in the national/regional press, in consumer magazines, on TV/radio and online. Inevitably, many of these media editorial mentions carry a call to action encouraging people to either call our hotlines or visit www.unbiased.co.uk. Again, that enquirer receives a list of local relevant member IFAs, which could lead them to contact you via e-mail, through your website, by phone or in person by visiting your office
- IFAP Press Clubs. IFAP currently co-ordinates over 30 Press Clubs across the UK – between them they generate around 500 pages of advertorial in the regional press annually and numerous editorial mentions. This often results in enquirers contacting participating Press Club members directly, normally by phone or by e-mail.
Given the central role we know the web is playing in directing new enquirers to member IFAs you need to be familiar with the numerous (and sometimes complicated) routes people could have taken to find you. It’s not enough to simply identify that someone found you online or through your website – you have to find out precisely what route they took. This applies whether they contact you by e-mail, through your website, by phone or in person by calling in to your office. If you don’t know this information accurately you won’t be able to properly assess the value of your IFAP membership.
So how can you optimise this value and win more business?
If you haven’t already subscribed to IFAP’s Online Marketing Package then you may not have spotted the way people’s behaviour has changed. It also means you’re missing out on valuable business leads.
IFAP’s new Online Marketing Package, launched in the summer of 2004 and available to all members, offers an enhanced service which is applied to members’ online entries on www.unbiased.co.uk and the 50 plus white label searches IFAP’s currently running on partner websites.
To date, over 1,250 members have subscribed to this new service. And in March alone these members’ enhanced entries were viewed by over 26,000 enquirers. In fact, subscribing members’ entries are now twice as likely to be viewed. Why? Because enquirers now have the option to specify (should they so choose) that they wish to view only those members displaying enabled e-mail and/or website details.
Members subscribing to the Online Marketing Package can now offer enquiring consumers and businesses the following features:
1. "Call me back" facility
Enquirers are given the option to waive their confidentiality (by their own choice) and request that you call them back directly by way of an email alert to your inbox. Meaning that, for the first time, you can talk directly to IFAP enquirers electing to use this service.
2. "Send me info" facility
Enquirers can request that the full details contained in your IFAP entry are forwarded to their email inbox. This allows enquirers to store your firm's information in their inbox for future use when convenient to them.
3. Online functionality
Your web and email addresses are displayed and enabled by IFAP, allowing an enquirer to click straight through to your website or contact you online. Enquirers researching online are interested in visiting your website to find out more about your company - quite simply, to help them decide quickly if the services your firm provides are right for them. They also expect you to offer them an email facility. With your website and email links displayed and enabled on IFAP's online searches, enquirers can find out this extra information which increases the chances of your firm being selected if appropriate. Be in no doubt, your website can play an important role in filtering enquiries and improving the quality of the leads you receive.
4. Enhanced entry display
Your IFAP entry will be placed in a coloured box making it stand out on the list of member IFAs presented by IFAP to an online enquirer. Meaning that IFAP makes your entry stand out online - whether or not you currently have a website - as enquirers will naturally be drawn to entries with more impact, giving you a better opportunity to get your firm's messages across.
Here’s what some members already subscribing to IFAP’s Online Marketing Package think about the new service.
Robert Douglas Associates
'We are very pleased with the results so far, with a marked increase (up around 70%) in the number of leads we are receiving. We currently have five on the system and are in the process of adding a further three IFAs. It has proven for ourselves to be a very cost effective way of raising our brand and profile in the IFA market, not to mention the benefits from additional clients and sales opportunities.'
Ben Sherwood, Hillier Hopkins LLP
'Very happy with service, resulting in increased productivity.'
Ian Pealin, Mercer & Hole
'I confirm that the number of enquiries we have received since upgrading to the enhanced display has exceeded our expectations.'
Veronique Banse, La Bourse Ltd
'Extremely happy with the volume of prospects received as a result of signing up to the enhanced marketing package.'
Stan Foley, AMJ insurance and mortgage services ltd
'Excellent service, receiving prospects.'
Special offer available to first time subscribers for a limited period only
For a limited time only, we’re offering a 10% discount on the first 12 months of any new Online Marketing Package subscriptions. Which means that non-subscribing members can now make the following savings:
Annual £224 + VAT (to cover 12 month subscription) SAVE OVER £25
Monthly £21 + VAT (payable each month for 12 months) SAVE OVER £28
According to Mercer Oliver Wyman, the average value of IFAP generated cases is over £500 – which means you need less than the value of one IFAP case to cover a year’s subscription. To find out more about subscribing to the Online Marketing Package, please read the enclosed flyer or call the member Hotline on 0870 325 9020.
Depolarisation: D-Day and beyond
As you may recall from the last edition of Update, much of our effort over the past twelve months has, in one way or another, focused on depolarisation – not only enhancing our member database structure, but also putting in place the right marketing material to help reduce consumer confusion. Here’s an update on some of the work we’ve been undertaking:
- IFAP’s ‘Be Advised’ campaign - as we approach the end of the six month transitional period, we’re amplifying our messaging media wise, through a boosted brand advertising campaign with national and regional media, highlighting the blue IFA roundel and explaining what consumers should be looking out for. Colour examples of these adverts are included in this Update <
- Alongside this, we’re also conducting a positive media liaison programme to generate editorial coverage across all key media. <
As part of this process, we’ve run a series of one to one briefings with personal finance editors and key journalists from the national press. And, as mentioned in the last edition of Update, we’ve set up an exclusive campaign in the Financial Mail on Sunday which runs to the end of May.
The underlying message running through all of our Be Advised campaign activity is that there is only one gold standard for advice, and it’s only available from an IFA. Through this PR and advertising strategy, we’re highlighting the fact that consumers need to be aware that just because an adviser is independent for mortgages or GI / protection, it doesn’t mean that they are independent for other product areas - which are often advised on at the same time.
As we approach the end of the transition period, we urge you to become as involved as possible in our campaign, and spread the independence message. Some of the ways in which you can do this easily include speaking to your local press, providing case studies and comment to journalists through IFAP’s Media Services, or by displaying campaign posters in your office window (available free by calling 0870 325 9020). A reminder that all the campaign material, including an explanation of the changes to the advice market, our free consumer guide, campaign press releases, tips, advice decision tree and details of how to find a local IFA can be found at www.unbiased.co.uk/
beadvised.
Qualifications update
PFS qualifications
As a result of the merger between the Society of Financial Advisers (SOFA) and the Life Insurance Association (LIA) IFAP has amended the titles of new Personal Finance Society qualifications on its online and offline searches: Dip PFS, APFS and FPFS.
During May IFAP will be adding further qualifications to the ‘Find an IFA’ searches; all the individual papers under AFPC – G10, G20, G30, G80, H15, H25, K10 and K20 (G60 and G70 already listed), Certificate in Mortgage Advice (CF6), Certificate in Lifetime Mortgage Activities (CF7), Certificate in Long term Care Insurance (CF8) and the pension specific APMI (Associate Pensions Management Institute).
If you hold a listed incremental qualification and have not yet informed us you can do so by completing the Member data form attached to the back of the enclosed Update letter.
PR campaign round-up
TaxAction 2005 – launch of this year’s headline campaign
Since the last edition of Update, we’ve launched our headline PR campaign, TaxAction 2005, which is now in its thirteenth year. As before, the campaign draws on figures from the Inland Revenue, the Family Resource Survey (carried out for the Department for Work and Pensions) coupled with a bespoke consumer survey into people’s attitudes towards tax. The data is broken down by region, gender, age and socio-economic group and has produced some interesting results which will be issued over the course of the next twelve months.
The headline figures for TaxAction 2005 show that 9/10 UK adults will waste almost £5.7bn in unnecessary tax this year – a staggering £133 each and enough to create a new millionaire every day for the next fifteen years. And whilst 25 million people (60%) resent their rising tax burden, three quarters (76%) admit to doing nothing to reduce the amount of tax they pay.
This year’s campaign serves to highlight the effect inefficient IHT planning has on the mountain of wasted tax across the UK, with a massive £1.6bn going to the pockets of the taxman. Unclaimed credits also remain a poorly planned part of our finances, which is only set to worsen with the introduction of CTFs this year.
As with previous years we’ve developed a dedicated campaign microsite at www.taketaxaction.co.uk and produced a consumer guide, An IFA can help you fight back against the taxman, which is available at cost to member IFAs through the merchandise section of www.unbiased.co.uk or by calling 0870 325 9020. Both highlight simple tips to help people reduce the amount of tax they waste and how an IFA can help.
The launch of the campaign has so far produced coverage across a broad range of media including 19 pieces in the national newspapers (in the main and personal finance sections), 106 interviews across national and regional TV and radio channels, following a dedicated broadcast day, 95 pieces of coverage in the regional press and coverage on 15 consumer websites, including being flagged as the main story on the home page of www.msn.co.uk.
More recently, and to coincide with the Budget, we issued the results of the consumer survey which showed Britons’ most hated taxes. Perhaps unsurprisingly coming out top were petrol duty, TV licence fee and stamp duty on home purchases. Linking this to the fact that people resent their rising tax bill, yet do little to remedy their situation, generated coverage across a wide range of media.
Coming up we will be issuing a new element to the TaxAction campaign, which focuses on how much tax UK adults will pay in their lifetime..... watch this space. As with all our PR campaigns, the main aim is to promote the value of independent financial advice and most importantly, where to find it.
Get Saving! 2005 – Latest attitudes and statistics towards saving and budgeting
Since the last edition of Update, we’ve continued issuing further elements of our annual Get Saving! campaign.
In March we released the latest quarterly Savings Brake figures (the ratio of how much we’re borrowing – not including mortgage debt – compared with how much we’re saving). The latest statistics show that 2005 could be the year of the saver, as buoyant saving levels provide some hope for UK finances. But despite a slump in high street spending, and savings outweighing borrowing by the largest ratio since 2001, as a nation, for every pound saved, we’re still borrowing 57 pence.
In addition, we’ve recently shifted attention to the bespoke consumer research which forms part of the annual campaign. In particular, we highlighted the issue of budgeting and released statistics which show that just one in four (25%) UK adults currently budget and manage to stick to it. As part of this we analysed the results by gender, and found that 61% of women who work to a budget fail to stick to it, compared with 49% of men, as well as looking at the budgeting differences between married and single adults and between younger and older generations.
Both initiatives enabled us to remind the media, and in turn consumers, of our campaign material which can assist in kick starting the savings habit. A reminder that more detail about the campaign, including a dedicated savings guide, tips, a budgeting calculator and details of how to get in touch with a local IFA can be found at www.unbiased.co.uk/
getsaving
IFAP Media Services
I am pleased to report that IFAP Media Services is thriving, with writers, producers and presenters from across the spectrum of financial and consumer media getting in touch. We’re regularly providing the media with expert IFAs for independent comment, product reviews and recommendations, and client case studies.
The three main services for the media include:
- The Media Services Hotline which received over 370 calls in 2004
- The published Media Services Directory which is distributed annually to 1,250 national, trade and consumer journalist
- The online 'Find a Media Services IFA' directoryat www.unbiased.co.uk which is also reproduced as a ‘white label’ online search in the media facing sections of 18 product provider, trade body and media portal sites. This online 'Find a Media Services IFA' search was used 12,582 times during 2004! <
Stats for this year show that 2005 is proving to be Media Services’ busiest year yet and this trend looks set to continue.
This is a free, added value member opportunity, so if you’re willing to commit the time to raise your own firm’s positive profile, as well as that of independent financial advice as a whole, then sign up online at www.unbiased.co.uk under ‘Media Services’ and make the most of this PR tool which not only promotes independent finance advice as a whole, but also you and your business.
Member IFA and IFAP sponsor offer
IFAP has negotiated a 10% discount for member IFAs (and sponsors) wishing to purchase Mintel's latest Mortgage report. Key report findings include:
- The prime mortgage market remains ABC1s aged under-35. Within this group, better-paid individuals are most likely to be open to cross-selling whilst more moderate earners may well stay with a particular lender for longer.
- Although targeting ABC1s is a priority, market share in this group is easily eroded and more investment in retention, without resorting to heavier discounts, would be beneficial
- Younger borrowers are more likely to change their mortgage arrangements.
Press Clubs report
News from around the country
Birmingham: It is hoped that this Club will commence a new campaign with host newspaper, The Birmingham Evening Mail, in the next few months.
South East, Hants: This Club is about to embark upon an exciting new campaign with its host newspaper, The News, Portsmouth. Members will be working with the newspaper to produce a weekly feature, which will be linked to the personal finance pages. This will replace the monthly feature that existed previously. This is great news for this Club.
Shropshire: Members of this Club continue to support a weekly feature in the Shropshire Star, and have recently contributed to a health supplement published by the paper. As with several Clubs, members recently played a role in providing comment and case studies following the recent Budget, and continue to have ongoing discussions with the editorial team about what IFAs would like to see in the Government’s agenda going forward. This should be particularly interesting around Election time.
Suffolk: This Club continues to provide an excellent monthly series of features in conjunction with the editorial team at the East Anglia Daily Press. Following a recent recruitment drive, the Club is about to introduce a case study initiative which will help to promote the added value of an IFA and the independence message.
Glasgow: Members continue to produce a full page feature on a bi-monthly basis with its host newspaper, The Herald. The Club is fortunate to receive help from a freelance journalist who assists in the drafting of articles – particularly from a regulatory perspective.
As highlighted throughout this edition of Update, depolarisation has been the hot topic of discussion for the first half of 2005, and as we approach the end of the six month transition period, now is the vital time for IFAs to continue to promote the added value that they can provide to consumers and businesses seeking advice. IFAP’s Regional Press Clubs provide a platform to do this on a local basis, and support the national PR and advertising campaigns that IFAP already has in place. Any member who is interested in joining any of the Clubs mentioned above, or who wants to learn more about other Clubs running across the UK, should contact IFAP’s Regional Press Officer, James Sharp, on 01902 850053 or at james@ifap.org.uk
Forthcoming Press Club Dates .
May
11 th – Glasgow
17 th – Aberdeen
24 th – Leicester
25 th – Bournemouth
June
1 st – Edinburgh
29 th – Shropshire, Telford
The bottom line
2005 is proving to be our strongest year yet, which, in light of current changes to the advice market, proves that those seeking financial advice continue to value the independent route. So far this year, IFAP has dealt with over 175,000 enquires from consumers and businesses looking for local member IFAs – a 30% increase on the same period in 2004.
Promoting the benefits of independent financial advice has never been more important. And in a depolarised world I hope you can see that we’re working harder than ever to ensure IFAP continues to deliver value to member IFAs.
David Elms
Chief Executive
IFA Promotion Ltd
