The passage of SECURE 2.0 means big changes for retirement plans and planning, 403(b)s included. It’s a great time to get more involved — or involved at all — in the space, leading to more revenue for advisors and, importantly, better outcomes for plan participants.
So what’s happening with National Tax-Deferred Savings Association’s (NTSA) Membership Engagement Committee, and how are they planning to capitalize?
“We’re trying to get engagement up with the current members and with new people, letting them know about NTSA, what it provides, and the value and the benefit of joining,” Erika DeBlasi, the committee’s current Chair, explained at the organization’s 2023 Summit in Tampa on Monday. “With existing members, a lot of them are signed up through their firm, so maybe they don’t know they’re a member, or they know they’re a member, but they don’t know everything that’s available.”
And there is a lot that’s available, DeBlasi, President of Advisor Expressions, a marketing and design company for advisors and small broker-dealers throughout the country, added.
The list she ticked off includes the following:
- A library of articles and content that’s about to launch
- Certified Retirement Education Specialist (CRES) designation
- Webcasts
- Events (like the 2023 NTSA Summit)
- Volunteer opportunities
- White papers
- Research
“I feel like most people don’t know all that is available to them,” she said. “Not to mention CRES resources. We’ve been working on ways to let people know and communicate better about all those different things.”
Noting the “atrocious” state of NTSA’s social media presence when she joined the committee in 2019, she claimed they’ve significantly increased online engagement and more consistent messaging.
“In my mind, it’s not perfect, but it’s so much better than it was. I got them to approve a small budget because I explained that just posting stuff isn’t enough. We have to have a tiny little budget, so we have a $30-a-month budget. But I was like, give me whatever you can, and I’ll show you how much we can increase our engagement and how many people we reach.”
She’s stretching the resources and the ability to do a lot with a little. Email communications and fixing bounce-back rates from major strategic wirehouse partners is another area of focus.
“There’s a lot of excellent content in the e-newsletter, but they’re either not engaging with it, and their filters are putting it into junk, or it’s getting blocked,” DeBlasi said. “We’re working with the firms on instructions on how to whitelist us to try to get our content through. We were just brainstorming this morning about other ideas and ways to get the content to them.”
One idea was an “old school mailing,” a postcard with a QR code to link to upcoming events or all the benefits provided.
“We also talked about maybe doing a communication package to the strategic partners because I know they’re sensitive to how much they’re emailing out to advisers,” she concluded. “If we go to them and say, ‘Hey, send them these NTSA emails, they’re going to be like, ‘Not a chance.’ But is there some kind of more palatable way where we could have a kit or a packet or something? Or ask them to include a video or a link to a page where we have a video. We’re going to work on that. I think it will be one of our initiatives to improve that communication through the strategic partners to their members.”
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