Tactics to Become the Most Quotable Financial Advisor in the Press

Reporter relationships help advisors gain exposure and build brand awareness.

When it comes to maintaining these relationships, interviews, pitching and being on camera, what are the most common mistakes advisors make? On this podcast episode above, Wall Street Journal wealth advisor Veronica Dagher gives us tactics, tips and ideas to make it easier to work with the press.

If you’re being vague and not specific, you’re not going to get quoted and it’s not going to help the editors or readers understand. - Veronica Dagher

Takeaways + Tactics

  • Don’t be vague or use industry jargon - being vague means the reporter has to keep asking follow-up questions.
  • Think and speak in sound bites - come up with 3 bullet points and practice those before the interview.
  • When you approach reporters, make sure you’re not pitching something they’ve already covered.
  • At the start of the show, Veronica told us about the biggest mistakes financial advisors make in interviews. She shared insights on advisors being afraid of talking to the press, and why it’s so important to be specific. Next, we talked about the importance of not taking it personally when you don’t get quoted. At the end of the show, we discussed the importance of bringing energy when you’re on camera.

    On this show we also covered:

  • How to avoid creating more work for yourself and the reporter
  • Why you have to avoid industry jargon and big buzzwords
  • The importance of persistence
  • How to think and speak in sound bites
  • Why there’s a chance you won’t get quoted
  • When you put yourself out there to journalists and talk to them, it’s on their time. Make working with you as easy as possible. Be available, conversational, and be concise and easy to quote. Healthy persistence also comes in handy. Just because a reporter doesn’t work with you on a story, remember down the line there will be more opportunities. Keep building those relationships.