With the pandemic over, fund companies – like many advisors – are taking a hybrid approach to product marketing.RealPeopleGroup/iStockPhoto / Getty Images
Five years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Globe Advisor is looking back at how the wealth management industry responded and how it has changed. Read the first article in our series here and the second article here.
Investment fund companies used to travel across the country hosting elaborate roadshows to tell advisors about their latest investment products. But those in-person events halted with the pandemic, requiring new ways to reach advisors.
With the pandemic over, fund companies – like many advisors – are taking a hybrid approach, going back to in-person events but still offering a virtual or digital option to reach as many advisors as possible in a way that suits their needs and learning styles.
“It was a quantum shift when the pandemic hit,” says Kevin Black, head of sales with Purpose Investments Inc., as in-person events were immediately replaced with virtual ones amid lockdowns and cancelled group events.
“The meaningful relationships really begin face to face, not over a digital medium,” Mr. Black stresses. “While digital is very efficient, it lacks that personal touch.”
Advisors adopted virtual tools during the pandemic to learn about new products, he adds, but “Zoom fatigue” eventually set in. “It became clear people were craving that real human connection.”
Still, advisors like having options. Matt Soegtrop, director, investment products, and portfolio manager with iA Private Wealth Inc., says many advisors want to be able to replay events so they can take their time to learn new concepts. “Ultimately, we can now reach a lot more advisors and do it in a way that suits them.”
To be engaging, these online events must be curated carefully and include an interactive component, he says.
Most fund companies offer a live stream or recording of an in-person event to cater to the needs of the broadest array of advisors, he adds.
If you host it, will they come?
Last year, Purpose Investments returned to hosting cross-country live events in major cities that allow advisors to learn more about the latest products, talk directly to portfolio managers and build relationships, Mr. Black says.
“It was a rousing success,” he says. “All our expectations were blown away.”
Purpose Investments is hosting these events again this year and expanding to smaller cities.
The events were recorded so those who couldn’t attend or who wanted to review it later could still participate.
While many advisors are craving in-person events, it can be hard for some to commit. A challenge for fund companies is making sure people show up once they’ve registered, Mr. Soegtrop says.
In some cases, companies choose not to record an event or to delay posting the recording to encourage advisors to leave their desks and attend in person.
Offering unique opportunities to talk directly with fund managers and ensuring the event is held at a convenient location and time – usually midday, and not on a Monday or a Friday – also helps, he adds.
Last year, Mackenzie Investments hosted 26 in-person events, says Gary Chateram, senior vice-president and head of retail. To encourage people to attend in person, the firm focuses on more complex topics for those events, including new private investment or liquid alternative options.
Mackenzie also focuses on virtual events during the colder winter months and shifts to in-person events when the weather is more pleasant.
In addition, the company breaks the events into 20-minute segments, catering to people’s attention spans. They also ensure advisors can ask questions or speak one-on-one with portfolio managers and other experts.
“We also do workshops when we’re in person around more complex topics such as charitable giving and registered disability planning,” Mr. Chateram explains. “You just can’t do that workshop virtually. You don’t get the same level of engagement.”
Dealing with distractions
Mr. Black says virtual formats win for efficiency. Video calls are a convenient way to connect one-on-one with advisors who have specific questions, and they’re more like being in person than a phone call.
But that efficiency comes up against attention spans as virtual attendees can check their e-mails and work on other projects, Mr. Chateram says.
“We’re a society that’s highly distracted. We multitask. We’re never engaged,” he says.
The positive fallout of the pandemic is “it has left us with a much broader engagement toolkit,” says Fraser Stark, head of portfolio solutions and strategy at Purpose Investments, and that allows the company to reach a broader group, including those in smaller centres across the country it might not have previously reached on a typical cross-country roadshow.
“The ancient art of storytelling and painting a narrative is so physical and is so much more powerful when people have committed to gathering in a room,” Mr. Stark says.
“So, we’re trying to line up the right type of engagement with the right content.”