Our Yardstick Membership packages have grown in popularity over the years, and it’s not difficult to see why.

Not only does the package include us producing blogs and newsletters but members also benefit from branded guides, an annual Budget update and a host of other options. It’s a service that really helps financial planners and advisers accelerate their growth and turn their marketing up a gear.

I promise Phil didn’t make me write this – I am simply just a huge fan of our membership packages and the great benefits they can offer financial advisers and planners who are looking to give their clients, prospects and professional connections valuable news and information that’s engaging and easy to read.

So, let me tell you about Yardstick Membership in all its glory.

Pop the kettle on, grab a Jaffa cake and strap in.

1. Blog content and e-newsletters

I thought we’d start with the obvious.

Finance is a notoriously dry subject and so, you may think you need to keep things simple, succinct, and plain. What if I told you that’s not the case? We all know finance as a subject is slowly becoming less taboo and more accessible which means it’s a super competitive space.

All you have to do now is go on TikTok and every few videos, there’s one about investments, how to buy your first home or budget planning. I’m not telling you to make a dance video on TikTok in a T-rex costume – in fact, please don’t do that. Instead, stop sleeping on one of the best marketing channels at your disposal: email marketing.

But email marketing is lost without it’s much-needed counterpart: beautifully crafted content.

Blogs are a fantastic way to pass on updates, connect with clients, and engage with prospects. But when asked what they enjoy reading about online, pensions, protection products and Inheritance Tax aren’t going feature on many peoples’ lists.

Yet, that doesn’t mean there’s not a demand or interest in reading about financial planning topics. The number of people who click through to learn more on the newsletters we send out on behalf of financial planners and advisers show clients do want to read carefully curated content.

Plus, not every topic needs to be finance heavy – indeed, we’d actually advise against only writing about finance.

But if not retirement or investments, then what? The answer: lifestyle content.

“But who wants to read about the best walks to go on in the UK? I’m a financial adviser/planner”.

I’ll tell you who: your clients. Lifestyle articles feature high on the “most read” articles in a newsletter, as do team updates, award wins and any charity work you may be involved in. Clients are interested in what you as a firm are up to, as well as important financial topics, as they like to know you’re relatable and human.

If you’re looking for some help in writing engaging content and sending newsletters, drop us a line and let us know how we can help you. Or, visit our page that explains what Yardstick Membership entails, and the difference between our syndicated and bespoke services.

It’s worth noting that we not only write the articles, but we also upload them to your website and build and send your newsletter, so you don’t have to lift a finger (well, maybe occasionally, but you get the idea).

2. Guides and other fantastic resources

If all the above hasn’t got you excited enough at what we offer, then this might be the ticket.

Every month, we produce a guide that is free to you as part of our Yardstick Membership package, and we brand it up all fancy with your logo, colours, and contact details. I say we, that’s down to Rachel and Luke, our very talented graphic designers.

You can see some of their fantastic branding skills in action on our online shop where, even if you’re not a member, you can still purchase some of our guides.

While I’m here, I should also tell you that we produce e-zines, documents, and animations to name a few other bits our wonderful design team get up to when Dan’s not writing about Mr Blobby, turnips, or Pingu. In fact, a handful of recent blogs from the design team may be worth a read, you can check them out below:

• Video Marketing: How to increase your website traffic with video
• How animation can transform your marketing and increase your website traffic
• 7 tips to help communicate your brand internally ft. Pingu

Our most recent e-zine was “Your Guide to Organising Affairs After A Loved One Passes Away” which we coupled with a comprehensive “In Case of Emergency” (or ICE) document.

You can view the e-zine here and the ICE document on our online shop. As a Yardstick member, you’ll also benefit from a discount on the price of these resources – a £100 saving on the price for other clients.

3. Annual Budget update

If your appetite still isn’t whet, then I must say you are hard to please. But let’s continue.

Now, you have your blogs, they’re nicely formatted on your website, we’ve built your newsletter and sent it to your clients, you have a beautifully crafted free guide and maybe you purchased some extra resources too. What more could you want? Well, luckily for you, we do have more.

Again, this comes at no extra charge as part of your membership. We produce an annual Budget update consisting of two blogs (uploaded to your website) and a newsletter built and sent to your clients. This is all before the evening news, meaning your clients get the update from you before anyone else – brilliant, eh? Round of applause for the content team.

4. Ad hoc client communications

Sometimes, you may want to send something out to your clients about a recent award win, a charity bike ride or a new member of your team. We will send these out for you on your behalf and upload the update to your website if you want us to.

We also know the importance of keeping clients informed when things are all a bit doom and gloom. So, we offer one-off communications in a timely manner – for example, we’ve recently written a couple of articles about the current state of the markets and a Spring Statement update.

These communications are usually through an opt-in service with a one-off cost (we can’t do everything for free now, can we?).

5. Newsletter management information

Of course, you’re sending out newsletters and need to measure the success of your marketing activities.

Each month, we provide a comprehensive report showing a series of key metrics (open rate, click-through rate, unsubscribes etc.). You can read more about that in my recent blog if you want to understand these metrics.

We give you access to all the information you need to keep track and see how well your campaigns are performing.

6. Online portal

Our portal is a secure way for you to manage your client data. You will have access to your mailing lists and be able to amend them with new additions or removing clients when needed.

There is a wealth of other things you can do on the portal, such as picking your guides, article choices if you pick the syndicated package, view your newsletter management information, project updates and more.

We’ll save that for another blog, shall we?

I’m interested and want to know more

This whole blog wasn’t just a sales pitch – I honestly believe in the real value we can offer.

If you really aren’t interested in our membership packages, hopefully you picked up a thing or two that you could implement to improve your own marketing.

On the other hand, if you just can’t wait to learn more about what we can offer you, drop us an email at hi@theyardstickagency.co.uk or give us a call on 0115 8965 300.