With the ultimate goal of correcting the perception of what good financial planners do in order to take away the fear factor and allow more people to get more advice, the campaign will have many facets:
1. Educate the public about the good work that the majority of planners do on a daily basis to help their clients and change lives.
2. Show people what good advice looks like, so that if they are not getting good advice, they know it is time to walk away and find it.
3. Unite the planning community with a non-product focused, non-aligned, non-sales based campaign for the whole advice community to be a part of.
4. Bring the positive perception back, and allow planners to get on with helping people, with pride in their profession, and pride in their place in the community as educators, communicators, and strategists.
There is a great team of varied individuals from all walks of the profession who are the driving forces behind the ‘Positivity for Planners’ campaign, united by their enthusiasm about the good the industry can do for people and society, and the strong desire to want to share this news with the community and re-balance the perception.
“We know we do a great job, we know we help people, and we know that the work we do changes people’s lives. We also know that the majority of advisers are ethical and hardworking. We want to assure our clients, both current and potential, that a lot of value comes from engaging a good financial adviser,” they say.
Positivity for Planners #PerceptionCorrection will educate the public in a short, sharp, and interesting way about the positive work that financial planners do (often unacknowledged) to help people reach their financial best, and feel confidence in their future.
It will do this through the powerful medium of short-form good-news-stories – using real life examples of how financial advice produces a positive result, and how clients can develop trusting, long-term relationships with their advisers and achieve their goals.
Specifically, they are looking for all financial advisers and industry participants to contribute to the campaign, and in the process help balance out the public’s perception of the profession to allow more people the confidence to get more advice.
Once the funds have been raised, a professionally coordinated public campaign will be developed and launched Australia wide, with a consumer focused campaign name and theme.
There will be a formal incorporated association formed, in order to ensure transparency of the use of funds, with all relevant record-keeping requirements that are associated with that structure.
Having a formalized committee structure means no one person will have control of funds or creative decisions, reducing the risks of any poor financial or creative decisions being made and ensuring cross-representation of the advice community.
The funds are expected to be allocated as follows:
30% to pay for professional creative short-form content development i.e. videos, blogs, cartoons, podcasts, animations, info-graphics, articles and memes.
30% to pay for a Project Manager (committee appointed and accountable) to ensure professional campaign preparation, co-ordinate preparation and release of material, record and adjust based on reach and results, and manage volunteer activities.
30% to pay for airtime for the content to be released on forums such as Linked In ads, Facebook ads, internet banners, podcast hosting, website hosting.
10% to pay for the production of supporters certificates and framing, crowdfunding fees, flyers, postage, a dedicated phone number, and pay for administrative costs of running an incorporated association including registration fees, bank fees and accounting/audit costs.
Based on the current sentiment surrounding the minority of unethical industry participants, we believe that the responsibility lies with all of us now to help change the perception and get more advice to more people. We can then continue to make a positive difference to our clients and society with the good advice we provide.
Whilst we acknowledge and abhor the scams, crooks, and problems people have faced, that is not all that financial planners are about,
However in order to have a perception change that is about the clients and the work we do for them, we need the funding to come from within our ranks, little by little, from everyone who cares about the great work we do. Not just from those who have something to sell to the public, or from groups with vested interests, but from all of us, in all our different roles, and with all the different areas we make a difference in.
So stop complaining that no-one understands you, and put your money where your mouth is to tell the stories of our clients. Dig deep for the opportunity to put some perspective back into the financial world, and help the people who are scared of planners to benefit from what we do best; provide life changing strategies that help people achieve their goals.
#PerceptionCorrection