Financial Planning Week (24 November – 1 December) is almost here. This is the time of year when the IFP calls to all those involved across the Financial Planning spectrum to collaborate.
The idea is to co-ordinate our marketing initiatives to help consumers to understand what Financial Planning is all about and what they can do to kick start their own financial plans. Financial Planning Week is not about promoting the IFP, it's all about educating and empowering consumers to take more control of their lives as a result of financial planning. Through the campaign, the IFP also aims to point consumers to places where they can access qualified Financial Planning advice from CFPCM Professionals and Accredited Financial Planning Firms should they require it.
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To help get the messages out, the IFP is working with Holt PR and mounting a national PR campaign to cover financial and lifestyle media. The IFP will also be using Wayfinder, our new consumer brand, as a tool to encourage people at different life stages to take some simple steps to improve their financial "fitness". The dedicated URL www. FinancialPlanningWeek.org.uk will direct consumers to the IFP's website where they will find tips, tools and resources that they can use to help them make better decisions around money. The IFP is also working with Liontrust to carry out a survey of consumers' attitudes, finding out what people are thinking and doing when it comes to their own financial plans. The findings from the survey will create relevant statistics that can be used to highlight the plight of so many consumers who are feeling the pressure on their finances as inflation, pay freezes and low interest on savings accounts are just some of the ways that household budgets are coming under increasing pressure. Journalists have again proved keen to get involved and numerous features and news stories have already been commissioned.

Financial Planners can support the campaign in lots of different ways:

• Offer free financial surgeries to consumers in your area during the week
• Use the Financial Planning Week logo and branding on your website
• Write a blog or article, record a video or podcast for the FPW website or Facebook page - or even better – run a series of articles throughout the week.
• Send out a press release, or a series of releases, highlighting your support for the campaign and for Financial Planning
• Contact local radio or print journalists - or national journalists too if you have contacts with them - and put yourself forward as a Financial Planning expert available for commentary
• Use your communications tools, such as client newsletters, your website, social media channels and so on, to review their content and make sure they focus on core Financial Planning themes and align them with the campaign
• Establish connections with local schools to help students understand more about money education ahead of its integration into the National Curriculum in England from 2014
• Contact professional connections and offer to talk about Financial Planning during the week
• Support the media campaign - volunteer to write
• Explaining the benefits of good Financial Planning
• articles, provide case studies or comment when required
• Help with the "Ask a Planner" facility – open to CFPCM professionals only
• Support the IFP's Wayfinder facebook page – post useful tips and articles that will help consumers
• Join the Twitterati – Get tweeting about Financial Planning Week – and help us by retweeting other messages too – use the hashtag #FPWUK
• Engage in the Twitter " interview" on Friday 29 November and help the IFP to get the hashtag trending!

Building on the successes of our campaigns over the past five years, it's great to see that more and more firms are committing resources to help the IFP put Financial Planning on the map this autumn. Joining the long list of campaign supporters this year are Liontrust, Aviva, Alliance Trust and Savings, Defaqto, NS&I, Zurich, Jupiter, M&G, Prudential, Moneysucks and Henderson Global Investors, all of whom will be playing their part in helping the profession put Financial Planning in the spotlight for the week.
In mid November, we worked with Aviva to run a press briefing for the consumer media. It was particularly good to gain the support of former British Lion and England Rugby star Will Greenwood MBE. Will gave a powerful (and funny!) speech which highlighted why it is so important for people, whether they are professional sports people or not, to take Financial Planning seriously.
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Core to the success of the campaign is the involvement of Financial Planners and Financial Planning firms. Accredited Financial Planning firms, CFP Professionals as well as the broader IFP membership are getting involved. It's a great way to raise awareness, but it's also a great way for firms to build their brand with the media and show themselves as experts in real Financial Planning. Many are providing valuable support for media activities, writing blogs, providing commentary and supporting the IFP's online "Ask a Planner" facility where consumers can get feedback from CFP Professionals to their Financial Planning questions.
The power of social media is likely to play an even more significant part in the campaign this year. In previous Financial Planning Week campaigns, the IFP has used Facebook as a great way of sharing directly with consumers the articles, blogs, surgeries, information, events and other initiatives that are such a fundamental part of the campaign. Ryan Haylock, IFP marketing manager, said: "Facebook has really improved its functionality for business use and is establishing itself as the ideal way to connect with consumers online.
"It's so easy for people to pick up some of the ideas and tips that are so much a part of the campaign as they filter into timelines. We'd strongly encourage IFP members to take a good look at Facebook as a business tool. As part of Financial Planning Week, members can post their own tips, blog and ideas directly onto the Wayfinder Facebook page, both on the run up to the campaign and during the week itself. It's a
great way to help build your brand as well as promoting the excellence that this profession can deliver." In 2012, Twitter proved to be a powerful catalyst for change with talk of Financial Planning extending way beyond our expectations. The IFP will be harnessing its power again this year and IFP members are encouraged to do the same. We'll be using the hashtag #fpwuk so it's easy to link blogs, videos and tweets into the mainstream campaign as well as
keep up to date with everything else that's happening.
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Steve Gazzard CFPCM, IFP chief executive, said: "For me, getting involved with Financial Planning Week is a "no brainer" for Financial Planning firms. It's such an exciting time for us to reach out and work together to connect with consumers and the media, showing them that Financial Planning is about a whole lot more than just choosing a pension or an Isa.
"Not only does it have benefits for the profession but it's a great way for IFP members to boost their own business brand and hopefully pick up new clients too. With the RDR behind us, there's never been a better time to get on the front foot and show people the clear benefits that Financial Planning can bring. There's still time for members to get involved. Let's get out and show people why we are proud to call ourselves a profession!