Participants:
Steve Wershing
Julie Littlechild
Tad Fabiaschi
Steve Wershing:
Welcome to Becoming Referable, the podcast that shows you how to become the kind of advisor people can’t stop talking about. I’m Steve Wershing. On this episode, we have a conversation with Tad Fabiaschi, Vice President of Audience Development at assettv.com. You may know Asset TV as a learning and informational channel for investment advisors. But we’ll talk about their new project, Asset TV Investor, a new video channel aimed at retail investors. We’ll talk generally about how to get video to work for you in your marketing plan, but then we’ll talk about some of the opportunities available for getting exposure on an existing national video platform. We’ll talk about how to do your own video, what to put in it and how simple it can be to put together. We’ll talk about how you can utilize video to differentiate you from other investment advisors. And of course, we’ll talk about the role of video in referrals.
There’s a lot of really interesting information in here about how to utilize this new medium to connect with new prospective clients. So, I hope that you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tad Fabiaschi.
Ted Fabiaschi, welcome to Becoming Referable. Thanks for joining us.
Tad Fabiaschi:
Stephen, thank you so much. Julie, thank you so much. I’m such a huge fan of what you guys do. I think it’s really important for the industry and having listened to the Michael Kitces interview, the Mark Tibergien interview, I think it’s great what you guys are doing. So thank you so much for having me on today.
Julie Littlechild:
Oh, thank you. We’re excited.
Steve Wershing:
That’s very kind of you. We’re just as excited about Asset TV. Tell us a little bit about Asset TV and what’s the goal and specifically, you’ve got a new project coming out for advisors to talk with the public. So, can you fill us in on those things?
Tad Fabiaschi:
Absolutely Stephen. Just to kind of backtrack for everyone’s history, Stephen and I met at an FPA conference. I think, gosh, a few months ago at this point now. We were able just to kind of connect and learn about each other’s operations and businesses. Asset TV, assettv.com is our main US website. It’s a completely free video destination. It’s only intended for professional investors and financial advisors. And we really just try to be a source of education, a source of due diligence. We currently reach about 200,000 professionals in the US. We’d love to extend that invitation to all of your listeners to come join and watch a video on our website as well.
Steve Wershing:
Oh, that’s great. When we met at that conference, or maybe subsequent to that, you were telling me a little bit about a new project that you’ve got going that will go beyond just the continuing education and resources for advisors and give advisors a way to communicate things to the general public. So, can you tell us a little bit about what you have in the works there?
Tad Fabiaschi:
Absolutely. And thank you for the opportunity to even mention it on your podcast. But really, for the past few years, we’ve been just trying to connect the dots and figure out what is it that advisors are looking for when it comes to educating their end client. We hear it all the time. I love these videos, Tad. I love these videos, Asset TV. Is this approved for my end consumer? And the answer most of the time is not really. But what we’ve decided to do is go back to all of our large asset management clients and really ask them, hey, how can we extend this distribution and also enable the advisor?
So, we’ve launched a new website called Asset TV Investor, and it’s really designed to be that intermediary tool, no pun intended of course, but, allowing the advisor to use video and communicate either product offerings or strategies. So that website is investor.assettv.com. And again, it’s totally free. We’ve literally filmed about 150 glossary term videos. We have news updates from the floor of the stock exchange in addition to just all the other consumer facing videos that are from Asset TV. It’s been very well received. We see new people signing up day in and day out and of course, we’re the ones here making sure that they’re good to go. So, please check it out and we hope to be a tool for the larger industry just like Becoming Referable.
Julie Littlechild:
This is something where advisors can post their own content and it would be accessible by the public, or what’s the actual process behind all of that?
Tad Fabiaschi:
It’s a fantastic question, Julie. I’ll point back to a show we launched on Asset TV about three years ago. We were hearing from the advisor viewer, hey, I want to participate. We were hearing from our asset manager client, hey, we want to hear what they’re saying. We created this new show called In the Hot Seat and that’s really been the kind of spur and the catalyst to get us to this place now. The show basically incorporates on the ground boots testimonial commentary from advisors across the country and they send us video via some sort of transfer link or we were working on an app that could send video to us directly. But the whole idea is that we want to bridge the gap and really show the whites of the eyes of not only the portfolio manager who is here in studio but the end advisor who’s allocating to these products. And then from there, the actual end client. So almost a B to B to C sort of proposition as far as the pipeline.
But yes, the answer is yes. We have a ton of programming coming up, I should say, coming up down the road here in 2019 on Investor. And certainly, I can give out contact information at the end. If anyone wants to submit us a video, we would love to get you on there and then get the word out on what you’re thinking.
Steve Wershing:
And some advisors will bring in a fund manager or a money manager for like a client event or something like that, or they’ll have a client event where they talk about the state of the economy or the markets. And so, is this kind of a way to do that digitally so that first you don’t have to bring somebody in to town, and second, people who may not be able to make a meeting or out of town could have access to it or is it something different?
Tad Fabiaschi:
I’d say a little bit of column A and B, Stephen. Obviously, it’s a very large country, the United States of America and, you know, certainly you want to attend every conference. But realistically, I’m sure advisors listening to this right now, they probably look at their calendar for the year and they say, gosh, I can probably do this event, that event, skip this one. So much of our DNA here at assettv.com is that kind of whites of the eyes of the manager. Let’s get a sense of what you’re thinking just to kind of give us a reason to pick up the phone, to send you an email, to bridge that connection. For the advisors, going into 2019, we think that there is just a tremendous opportunity to get their perspectives to feature them, to give them a little free press, of course, and obviously with the hope that someone sees that video down the road and gets compelled to give them a call or shoot them a text message. Obviously, a lot of these financial advisors, they love to text these days.
No, really, we want to be here as a complete exchange of thought. And again, having listened to so many of your podcasts Julie and Stephen, I can so appreciate that exchange of thought that you offer people. Certainly, not all the commentary received is positive on funds or negative on funds. We get kind of a mixed bag. But that’s the beauty of what we’re doing.
Julie Littlechild:
What’s interesting about your model as a whole is obviously you’re picking up on this idea that video is going to be more engaging. When you talk about the whites of the eyes, and I think we’re just seeing more and more of it. If you think about it broadly, how important do you think it is that advisors have video as part of their own digital footprint?
Tad Fabiaschi:
Gosh. It feels like it’s the missing secret sauce, Julie, for all of the communication that an advisor could be putting together. Certainly, there will be clients who I’m sure only want phone calls or only want emails or only want quarterly statements. But yeah, I mean, gosh, for everything in my own life, I look at the media that I consume as kind of a not professional investor whatsoever. When I think about the time that I spend on a few websites and the time I spend watching certain categories of video on like YouTube, it really does influence how I’m thinking about things. And yeah, we just see video as the next evolution beyond a traditional quarterly presentation in a hotel or something, whatever the case may be.
I think that it’s actually a great opportunity for financial advisors to lead the way and take charge. I’m quoting, I’m paraphrasing an advisor I spoke to earlier today from Regent Atlantic here in New Jersey. But he just said you’ve got to be the first one to make the move. Have a video call. Something as simple as just a video call if you can’t make that in person meeting and turn on the video camera just so they can see you first. They might be a little more sheepish to be the first one on air if they’re not seeing you there. In short, the medium of video, I can’t obviously tell you how jazzed up we are about it here, but I hope that your viewers can start to think about a strategy and I think that’s really key. What is your video strategy for marketing yourself?
Steve Wershing:
What it sounds like is an advisor could tape a segment and upload it to your platform and that potential clients or existing clients or other folks could see that or be directed to it.
Tad Fabiaschi:
Absolutely.
Steve Wershing:
What are some of the benefits to the advisor as people find them on Asset TV?
Tad Fabiaschi:
Well, you know, I love financial advisors, Stephen. I mean, we’re all businessmen and we’re all sales guys at the end of the day. And so, any sort of a free press certainly can help out. What we’ve seen that’s been successful with the financial advisors that we talk to is whether it’s a market commentary piece or whether it’s a kind of quick flash on best practices for practice management. The ability that they can leverage that to their own networks, to their own end clients, we’ve heard that the response has been just astronomical, not only is engagement up, but just sheer interest and that sort of personal relationship is just so strengthened when you can send someone a video that quickly opens out of an email or is in some sort of social media feed. We’ve heard nothing but positive responses from all the advisors who have worked with us on video.
Steve Wershing:
Can you give us the story of somebody who’s done that and what you heard back from them in terms of the public response?
Tad Fabiaschi:
Oh yeah. I’m thinking of a Barron’s top 100 advisor here in New York City who, he’s a duly registered advisor. He told us, we brought them in to do a kind of a gratis sort of off the cuff market commentary. I think there was some sort of event driven movement. We just brought him in to film a video and he said that once he got the actual link and was able to drive that out to all of his end clients, that he was getting engagement that he had never really even seen before from either clients who we thought were dormant or that they were not really tech savvy or even cared, that they just wanted their end of year statements. He said it’s been a tremendous tool in his larger arsenal of just connecting with clients.
Julie Littlechild:
I guess the elephant in the room for some of this is just the fear, and you kind of touched on it before with your comment from Regent Atlantic. What do you say to advisors who have some anxiety or some nerves around getting on video?
Tad Fabiaschi:
Well, I can understand it. I mean, I’m on your podcast and I’m completely shaking in my boots. I’m so used to video.
Julie Littlechild:
We’re frightening people, you know.
Steve Wershing:
That’s right. Not to worry, I’m pouring you a drink now.
Tad Fabiaschi:
I thought I owed you a drink. Julie, it’s a totally fair point. And we’ve certainly had plenty of funny blooper reels here in the studio in New York City. Advisors just blowing it on camera and really, you know, hi, my name is Tad, oh, man, I messed up my own last name. No one’s perfect. And even the professional newscasters that they see on CNBC with all the flashing lights and colors, I mean, they’re just as afraid every day to get on camera as well.
Putting that aside, I think for advisors who want to go down this video road, you need to outline a few things. The first thing is, what kind of video do you want to make? Is it a weekly update that’s a quick hit? Is it a monthly update that’s a little more long-winded? And what kind of format do you want to be seen in? Is it really just a relationship build or is it more of an information dissemination kind of proposition? So, starting to outline some of those strategic goals I think is important for advisors. But really, how do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice makes perfect. You just have to get on video, you have to find an excuse to hit record and just see what you like, see what you don’t like.
The first time we all saw ourselves on camera, we probably said, oh my God, I look awful and I’m not even smiling. Like I should smile more.
Steve Wershing:
I still say that.
Tad Fabiaschi:
Yeah. Right before this show, I do a quick hit that we put up on Saturday mornings. I’m reading off a teleprompter off of a script in a studio. I wrote the script, I messed up seven times before I even got it right. So, don’t worry, just don’t worry about it. That’s all.
Julie Littlechild:
I like the strategy comment though because it’s too easy to say, okay, well, I’m just going to get on film and not even think about how you’re going to use the end result. And that’ll change, I suspect, the kind of video you create.
Tad Fabiaschi:
What I hear from advisors a lot is, yeah, I really want to do video but I don’t have an editor. I don’t have a graphics guy. I don’t know how to upload to the website. Don’t worry about that. We’re living in a day and age where we’re walking around with computers in our pockets that are 4k cameras. I mean, you can make a video, even just a quick hit that is compelling. And that should be the number one objective, at least from, speaking from my own experience that, I know every time I want to get on camera I want to be as compelling as possible. I want to bring it. And making sure that you’ve obviously had enough coffee. I’ve had several thousand milliliters today. Take a chance.
But the beauty for financial advisors is that we all kind of got into this industry because we were willing to take chances. We were willing to put our neck out on the line a little bit, you know, cold call some people, take some meetings where maybe you didn’t have all the answers. But, that’s the beauty of being in sales and that’s kind of why we’re all here and the beauty of the relationship build. Yeah, try out some video. I mean, why not, you’ve got literally nothing to lose.
Steve Wershing:
Is there anything that the Asset TV does, if an advisor tapes a segment to upload to Asset TV, do you post just what they send to you or are there things that you do with that video to polish it up or do any post on it?
Tad Fabiaschi:
Well, we try to provide financial advisors just some very basic guidelines about filming. Little things like introducing yourself, that’s a big one. But making sure that you’re in a place that’s well lit, that’s quiet, that’s some sort of even background. As fun as the kind of like city scape shots are with trains and planes and buses going behind you, it makes it completely unusable in the editing room. So, controlling the environment, controlling the circumstances, that’s really what we kind of practice and preach. And just to finish your point Stephen, we would want to take that footage and find sort of thoughtful ways to salt and pepper it into programming.
Perfect example, we’ll have advisors who tell us, hey, I really want to comment on blockchain technologies. Okay, fantastic, great. Send me a clip. We’ll just do some sort WeTransfer or even send me a video from your phone to my phone. And then when we have a much larger full-length panel discussion, we’ll find an excuse to play that question. And it just makes everyone feel more engaged that they’re getting that sort of testimonial from the boots on the ground, and of course the financial advisor, he’s getting some press that he can then throw to his end client’s way. So, yeah, finding thoughtful ways is really how we take that footage and utilize it to the best.
Julie Littlechild:
Are there any trends or themes that you’re seeing in terms of the kinds of topics or even kinds of videos that are really particularly engaging for prospective clients?
Tad Fabiaschi:
Gosh.
Julie Littlechild:
Or is that just all over the map? I mean, that might not be a fair question.
Tad Fabiaschi:
It’s a really fair question. I think if anyone knew the answer to that, I probably would be out of a job. We’re always struggling with just engaging forms and content. The part two to this entire conversation is, yeah, you can make a video, but how are you going to distribute it, how are you going to disseminate it out there? And that’s a whole other conversation we could have. I think for the advisor first time video, try something and just say, I want to put a 60 second cap on this. 60 seconds on a video is plenty. Feel it out and maybe send it to just a few clients as a test the waters. Get some feedback. I mean, we all grow here with each other. Really, I would implore your advisor, viewers and listeners right now, to just, if they have a gut feeling on what they know they’d be good at, give it a whirl and see what happens.
Steve Wershing:
When you think about the advisors that you’ve worked with before, do you have any sense for what kind of content tends to connect better? Is it market updates or economic updates or financial planning ideas? Of the folks that have come to you so far, which of those seems to have gotten the most meaningful engagement?
Tad Fabiaschi:
It’s a heck of a question. Obviously, it’s hard to ignore the kind of celebrity advisor out there, knowing here in New York, like the Doug Boneparths, and the Ron Carsons, the Josh Browns of the world, they’ve got their own kind of following and if they’ve really got their metie down completely. Beyond that, beyond that flashy social media heavy kind of feel to a video, I think that advisors can easily jump into just a kind of quarterly update and something beyond the noise. I’m sure end clients, and again, I don’t manage any money. If I was a client to a financial advisor, I would probably get a little jumpy when I saw this recent market volatility and I would probably be a little freaked out when I opened up my retirement plan in January. And right there, that’s an opportunity for an advisor to either put together just a soundbite to alleviate any concerns. And obviously figuring out how to get it to the end client is a whole other thing. There’s a tremendous opportunity there.
And again, that whites of the eyes idea really falls in line with this whole thing that, you can use video to strategically communicate in these unknown times right now. So, I would say that the type of video we’ve seen be very successful is that kind of quick 60 second hit that’s a very personalized message. If you know your top five clients, make five videos and just send each one of them a video and see if they like it, and go from there.
Julie Littlechild:
I like that idea of, I mean, you’re not trying to share information that they can’t get somewhere else because that would be impossible, but the context, the context for what they’re hearing seems incredibly powerful. But you’ve mentioned distribution a couple of times. Maybe we could go down that path and just talk a little bit about how advisors can get videos out to clients, prospects or the world.
Tad Fabiaschi:
I’ll start with just our assettv.com. And that’s really for the most part an email distribution list. We’ve got certainly a long track record and can put up some pretty impressive numbers. Obviously if we have a Bob Doll from Nuveen, all the sudden our numbers go through the roof and it breaks our internet and it goes bananas. Emails are our main distribution. But that said, we’re also doing campaigns all the time on Twitter, on LinkedIn. Those are our main two drivers. And we’ve kind of played around with both paid and organic. And I think an advisor should also be thinking about that as well, that yes, of course you can put up a video and you start to get a following and a series. That’s great, keep it going. But on the flip side, maybe you’re looking to attract some new business and you do a paid search. And really, the functionality on all these social media websites, it’s pretty user friendly.
And the reason for this, and the reason we really feel it has a place going forward as part of our larger end strategy is just the analytic reporting behind it. Everyone’s logged in, they know who the people are that are engaging with this. So you as the person creating that content and distributing that content, you really have a dashboard and an overhead lens of just how it’s being received. I can’t tell you how many campaigns we’ve done both paid and organic and a whole bunch of other ways. But to get some of that back end data, where wow, 16 percent of the viewers of this video were CEOs. That’s crazy. Those little things we bring back into our larger sales and marketing play. And it just makes everyone more effective, more compelling, and that’s what we hope all advisors find to their own voice to do as well.
Steve Wershing:
So, are you saying that if an advisor starts posting content to Asset TV that they would have analytics as to who’s seeing it and how it’s getting out there?
Tad Fabiaschi:
No, no, no. Certainly if you want it to do business with us professionally on a monetary basis, absolutely. But for the advisor looking for a way to just begin to measure the engagement, I would say, hey, go down the social media route and see what you can pull out. There’s just so many built-in systems and it’s all cloud based. You don’t have to put any third-party software on top of whatever you’re doing. It’s really changed the game from what we can see as far as distribution. Yeah, I would just encourage everyone to just give it a try. Put up something on Twitter, put up something on LinkedIn. It doesn’t have to be earth shattering. But something where it’s meaningful and it’s going out to your targets, and then see who actually is engaging with it.
You start to see the little things that pop up. Wow, I posted that at 6:00 at night and I got two views and then the next day I posted something at noon while everyone was at lunch and wow, everyone’s watching now. Those little bits of intelligence that you can pull out from the in-house analytic packages of social media, I think could be very helpful for financial advisors.
Julie Littlechild:
I was just thinking about the topics. I’ve heard a number of people say for people who are writing blogs who feel stuck to, to just think about the last five questions clients have asked them and use that as the basis for the video, well, for the blog in that case. But I imagine that would work well for video as well if you’re grappling with topic.
Tad Fabiaschi:
Yeah, definitely. I think every advisor could easily make a video right now, 60 seconds, 90 seconds, and just say, here’s what I’m hearing from all of my clients and I value you as a client, and here’s what I think about it. It doesn’t have to be anything earth shattering, just here’s what we’re thinking.
Steve Wershing:
Interesting. And-
Julie Littlechild:
How do you-
Steve Wershing:
Go ahead, Julie, I’m sorry.
Julie Littlechild:
I was just wondering how you would see a video playing into generating more referrals for advisors? I think inherent in your comments so far have been some ideas on that. But just more specifically, what do you think that can do for them?
Tad Fabiaschi:
I know, Julie, that if I was looking for a financial advisor, you know, obviously outside of let’s just say the large wirehouses and their own systems, which I’ll come back to, but if I was looking at a financial advisor and I just came to a webpage that had a video versus I came to a webpage that didn’t have a video, I’d probably go with the one with the video, just simply because I’d be able to see and hear what the lady or gentleman is saying. First impressions are everything in life. You only get one shot and we like to say here, you only get one click. So, making that click count.
I’ve had plenty of advisors come and approach all of us here at Asset TV and say, gosh, I’m trying to accomplish this in a video. And okay, well, what is that? I’m thinking of a UBS advisor out in San Francisco. He recently did a video with us and he just said, Tad, my whole thing is I climb mountains, and I want every client that comes to that webpage within five seconds, sees that video, sees my branding to just go, that guy climbs mountains and that’s the kind of guy I want to be with. Whatever branding that takes as far as your own businesses, roll with it. I know in my own personal space, in my own opinion and volition, I’d probably go with someone who has a video just because I got to hear what they said, I got to hear what they’re thinking.
Steve Wershing:
It’s an interesting point. I mean, it’s one way for advisors to better differentiate themselves. If they can take something that they’re passionate about and tie that video to that passion, they can connect with other people who have that same passion, it sounds like.
Tad Fabiaschi:
Yeah. Outside of our nine to fives, we have obviously interests and hobbies. I was telling you about my crazy airplane enthusiasm and call sign Charlie, all that nonsense. I think it just, it speaks to the 21st century, it’s 2019 already and you know, you can go to anyone’s personal social media feed and immediately pull out, wow, he likes basketball, he’s into horse riding. Whatever the case is, whatever differentiates yourself, versus just, I can manage your money, I have a plan and a pretty good track record. That’s fine and good. Hey, I love that individual too. But video takes you to the next level. It’s taken so many of our viewers to the next level, and obviously all of our asset manager clients as well.
But for the advisor listening right now, I would just say you probably know in your gut what you would do if you could get it together, get that cell phone or get that camera together, I know exactly what I want to say. I would encourage you just to go out and just do it because doing that is what got you here and that’s what makes us all great here.
Julie Littlechild:
It’s funny, you get down to some of the little details of, I’ve seen advisors who I know to be fun loving. I don’t think I’ve ever seen them in a suit kind of people. And then I look on their website and they’re in a suit and tie and I was like, who’s this person that you got to stand in? I have to assume the same applies for videos, like be who you are because that’s what’s going to attract people, right?
Tad Fabiaschi:
I know in my own head, I saw myself on camera once not wearing a necktie and I just said never again. I will always wear a neck tie. Vis a vis, we have other guys that come in and they never wear jackets. They say I wear a vest, that’s my whole look or I roll my sleeves up. Certainly, those production details, yeah, you should think about. I think you need to represent yourself how you are actually representing yourself to clients. If you’re that no suit guy, then don’t wear a suit on camera, it’ll just look bizarre.
Steve Wershing:
It sounds like one of the big opportunities in video is to be able to project your personality in a way that text and even voice can’t do.
Tad Fabiaschi:
Because of where we are as far as deliverability, you can send a video to anyone in the world and it’s going to get to their cell phone in 30 seconds. I mean, it’s pretty incredible. There are so many platforms available. I mean, we’re all walking around with smart phones that can instantly upload a video to anything. There’s no excuse. And again, I understand that people might be sheepish, I am certainly sheepish getting on camera, blowing it on a teleprompter seven times in a row. Practice makes perfect. The first client meeting you walked into, you probably blew it at some point and didn’t even know it, but you got better and you made smarter investment decisions and so on and so forth. That’s the exact same with video.
Steve Wershing:
But just as we wrap up, quick action item oriented. If you were going to put a message on a bumper sticker for advisors, what would that message be?
Tad Fabiaschi:
Be relentless, Stephen. Just absolutely be relentless. Don’t worry if you put up a video and it got two views and zero likes. It happens to all of us. And that’s actually how we learn to make better videos is we’ve put up, I certainly can look at my own like Instagram and LinkedIn and Twitter, and go back a few years and I’m just like, my God, what was I thinking? What was I doing? Delete, goodbye, gone.
I would say actionable point number one is get back on social media and look at your followers, look at who’s actually receiving your stuff or could receive your stuff and take a bit of an audit. From there, think about a strategy. If you’re listening to this right now and you’ve got that gut feeling about the video you want to make, take some small steps to do it and then just put some time on the calendar to do it. It’s easier than you think. You don’t need to hire a crazy sound board engineer and a lighting guy and a makeup artist. You don’t need to do any of that. Certainly you can. But, filming something from your phone, making it as bespoke as possible and customized for every client or for every target, that’s been just very successful for all the videos that we’ve done.
But yeah, if I could print bumper sticker, Stephen, I would say be a little relentless. Get it out there, be pushy. Certainly, it’s how you got to be this successful thus far. Video is no different.
Julie Littlechild:
I love that.
Steve Wershing:
So Tad, thank you very much for spending a little bit of time with us. If people want to learn more about Asset TV and about the way to get to the public through it, how should they find you and the organization?
Tad Fabiaschi:
I’m going to do something very cheeky here. I’ll give you, my email address is tad.fabiaschi@asset.tv. You can ask me any question. I’m more than happy to help out or at least point you in the right direction. And certainly would love to count all of you as viewers on assettv.com. And Julie and Stephen, you guys are rock stars. I am so in love with what you guys do and I hope that I can find ways to support you guys going forward. So thank you for the opportunity. Thank you.
Steve Wershing:
Thank you. Thanks very much and thanks for being part of the podcast.
Julie Littlechild:
Hi, it’s Julie again. It was great to have you with us on Becoming Referable. If you like what you’ve been hearing, please do us a favor and rate us on iTunes. It really does help. You can get all the links, show notes, and other tidbits from these episodes at becomingreferable.com. You can also get our free report, Three Referral Myths That Limit Your Growth and connect with our blogs and other resources. Thanks so much for joining us.