Making best use of online branding

Alliances between banks and media or telecommunication companies will pose the biggest threats to financial planners over the next 12 to 18 months, according to InvestorWeb managing director Otto Buttula.

Speaking at the Colonial First State's Young Advisers' Club, Buttula said the media/telco model offers the all-important ingredient of trust.

"People watch television, they read the paper or the magazine, and they get to trust a brand name or a person. They then visit the site promoted in the media.

From there, it's a short step to transacting online."

Buttula says clients like the Web and the banks are actively encouraging their customers to make use of it.

"If the banks spend a lot of money on something, they will drive their clients that way. And clients like the Web, it's a great place to ask stupid questions."

To meet the challenges posed by the media/telco model, Buttula says planners need to do more than simply provide better service.

"You've got to be doing something else as well - service is an adjunct. If your customers are online, you will need to be online too."

He says planners need to invest in technology and develop an e-strategy by the end of the year.

"Planners are poor at adopting and investing in technology. But by the end of the year, they must have developed an e-strategy and have it in place."

Buttula says the planner's key to success is to use their brand and the trust their clients have in them; to develop a clicks and mortar form of distribution; and to partner with someone who is technically literate, and who can make their sites interactive and who will white label their products and services.

"You already have a brand whether you know it or not - use it," he says.

"You are also the natural aggregators of information - offer that information to your clients. Leverage your current relationships, rather than being product driven. Surround your client with personal information and focus on the opportunity the Net offers, not the threat."

Buttula's comments follow InvestorWeb's appointment as content provider for Internet search engine LookSmart. Under an agreement between the two groups, InvestorWeb has become the new content provider for LookSmart's Money Center - its online resource for investors.

InvestorWeb takes over from Channel E as LookSmart's financial information content providers.

InvestorWeb says it is the 13th most viewed site within Australia.