Everything You Need to Know About Media & Publication Features (as a Financial Advisor)

The world of publications & PR can seem confusing from the outside.

But once you get familiar with it, you can use it to your advantage - and that's the goal of today's newsletter:

For starters, a media feature is when you get quoted in a published article (like this). You don't have to be the sole author - you can have just one sentence highlighted and still consider it a "feature".

Once you're featured somewhere, you can slowly build a "featured in" library to display your expertise and establish social proof:

More than a logo on a website, media features are a good way to strengthen SEO, get your name out there, and share your expertise.

I like to think of them in two different ways:

• Building backlinks to your website
• Getting directly in front of your target audience

For example, you could aim to be quoted in big-name places like the New York Times, Forbes, CNBC - or you could niche down and aim for small media brands that your target audience engages with.

Either way, there should be a little bit of research done beforehand.

First ask yourself - where do you want to be featured?

If you go to any advisor's website, you'll probably see a section of "featured in" logos - you know those places take advisor quotes, so those could be a good place to start if you don't have a strong preference.

Then in your research, the biggest thing to consider is the website's domain authority. Domain authority signals how strong a website's SEO presence is and the stronger the rating, the better it is when they link to your website within the featured article.

Further reading: What is backlinking and how does it help with SEO?

For example, comparing my website to Kitces' industry website - his outranks mine by a lot, so getting featured there would be worth more SEO-wise:

• You can check domain authority with a tool like this

Some of the most common (and well-ranked) sites that actively take new advisor quotes are:

• InvestmentNews
• ThinkAdvisor
• Investor's Business Daily
• Financial Planning

To help, I want to share a few actual ways I've gotten my own media features:

XYPN Media Requests - as a member of XY Planning Network, you can get direct quote requests from industry publications. It's the closest thing to being served on a silver platter:

They ask for direct input and if you have a good, quick response, you have a decent chance of being featured in the article.

Twitter - almost every journalist/writer is on Twitter. Find publications that you want to be featured in, go to the website, find the personal finance authors, follow them, engage, and eventually reach out when it makes sense & you have value to provide.

Direct Outreach - similar to Twitter, but more direct. If you can find a writer's public email (typically in their author profile on the site), you can send full stories or let them know that you're available for expert sourcing.

Regularly Publish - if you can show that you're a good, knowledgeable writer or have unique perspectives in your own articles, the likelihood that someone comes across your work and wants to work with you is a lot higher than never putting anything out there.

When doing outreach of any manner, there are a few things journalists want to see and if included, will increase the chance of your response being featured.

First, there's no time for small talk.

They get unlimited emails every day so the more to the point, the better.

You also want to understand that more than likely, you'll be one or two sentences amongst a 1,000-word article.

So write your response in a way that can be pulled apart and used as a statement in itself.

Here's an example of the request & my response for my 3rd media feature:

The result?

A feature, and a quote in the article's headline:

I also learned that you want to include your basic contact info to reduce the amount of communication needed to get you included in the article.

🎡 Remember: Writers are people with a job, and likely a tight deadline. If you can make their life easier, you'll get rewarded.

So now anytime I'm communicating with someone about a media feature, I include:

• Name/designations
• Title/role
• Firm name
• Location
• Website URL

But what happens after you get featured?

Likely, nothing.

It's up to you to make the most of it.

You might get some random outreach if the article is read enough after publishing, but most of the "juice" will come from how you market the feature.

PR is the research, relationship building, and everything that goes into getting featured in the media.

Marketing is what you do with the feature.

Below are 3 different ways I shared a new media feature:

Then after you have a few features, you can include links to them in your future outreach emails to journalists—showing that you're already a trusted source and increasing the chance you get picked.

🎡 The Wrap Up // How to Get & Make the Most of Media Features

1) Determine your purpose & desired publications
2) Respond to requests or perform outreach
3) Concisely share your thoughts & author info
4) Share & leverage when achieved