Marketing Support

Marie Swift is Principal of Impact Communications, a full—service marketing communications firm serving a select group of independent financial advisors and allied institutions.

Impact Communications has two service lines – one for independent advisors and one for the institutions that support them.

Institutions such as Securities America, the Garrett Planning Network, Kinder Institute of Life Planning, Sudden Money Institute, Merit Retirement Advantage, Schwab Institutional and FocusPoint Solutions have partnered with Impact to create new and innovative programs for their representatives and affiliated advisors. Her firm has represented industry influentials such as Brent Hicks, George Kinder, Sheryl Garrett, Susan Bradley, Norman Boone and Julie Littlechild.

In 2008, the firm will unveil its Media Mastery Program, a virtual training and coaching service for groups of like—minded advisors. Advisors who are interested in establishing a private client relationship are encouraged to visit Impact's Web site for details on the firm's comprehensive marketing and PR service line.

Previous client engagements include work with best selling author Lee Eisenberg and publishing company Free Press, consulting and positioning strategy for budding speakers such as Ed Jacobson (creator of the Appreciative Financial Planning process), David Drucker (practice management guru and author of several books) and Susan Turnbull (creator of ethical will workbook The Wealth of Your Life), and a multi—year national publicity push for FocusPoint Solutions.

A popular speaker at industry events, including multiple appearances at FPA national and regional events, NAPFA and the NFL Players Association (Financial Advisor Program), Swift is the co—author of Just Give Me the Answer$: Expert Advisors Address Your Most Pressing Financial Questions (Dearborn 2004). She contributed the marketing chapter to Garrett's Guide to Financial Planning (National Underwriter Company, 2002 and 2007).

A columnist for Morningstar Advisor, Wealth Manager, Research and Financial Planning magazines, industry expert David Drucker calls her a PR consultant extraordinaire" and featured her firm in "Raising Perceptions",an article published by Research magazine about the benefits of public relations and credibility marketing. She has also served as a Coach and Subject Matter Expert for AdvisorMax, an online resource for financial advisors.

Hailed as "a marketing guru" by the editors at Investment Advisor magazine, she's been working with advisors and allied institutions, helping them make better marketing communications and business decisions since 1988. After observing her work for many years, Bob Veres, publisher of Inside Information, has said that Marie "is perhaps one of the best PR consultants in the business today."

“It was pretty common for me to have a client with an American funds account held directly at American funds, a brokerage account at my IBD, a variable annuity account at the Hartford, and a managed account at a third-party money manager. Now you’ve got four different sets of forms, four different websites, four different 800-numbers, four different statements coming in, and so on. So from a staff—and client—standpoint, to become familiar with all of that is just impossible.

We’ve now simplified everything. We have procedures and policies manuals in place, checklists, everything. And all we had to do it for was one custodian, so that was helpful. This all gives me peace of mind when I’m out of the office as well.”

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