The world has changed in all kinds of ways over the last decade.

First, attention spans have shrunk dramatically.

Beyond this, most everyone is much more time pressed.

And third, the level of skepticism has spiked among existing and prospective clients alike.

As a result, what worked in terms of client communication as recently as five years ago doesn't work nearly as well today. As a result, you need to fundamentally change how you communicate with clients.

Getting written communication read

Lets be clear, clients still want to hear from you - in fact chances are they want to hear from you more often.

But they typically want each of those interactions to be shorter

So  for example getting something short once every month or two rather than a longer piece once a quarter.

Beyond this, clients are looking for communication that's tailored to their situation and that, given today's skeptical mood,  taps into credible third party support.

Suppose a client received one of two things.

One alternative is a quarterly, four page glossy newsletter from you or your firm talking about the outlook for the economy, interest rate forecasts, opportunities in global investing and tax savings strategies.

The other option is a monthly email with an article from Fortune, Forbes, Barrons or the New York Times, discussing one topic such as the dollar, prospects for the US economy or trends in global investing.

When asked, which do you think clients prefer?

The vast majority go for the monthly articles - they provide not just shorter and more frequent communication, but also tap into credible third party support.

All in all, monthly emails with those articles are much more closely aligned with what most clients actually want.

Identifying if material is well received

Note that in some cases there is still a role for those four colour quarterly newsletters.

First, some advisors won't send articles - and some communication is better than none.

Second, there may be branding benefits for the advisor or the firm.

Third, it's an opportunity to profile in house experts.

And finally, some clients prefer getting those newsletters in the mail rather than emails with articles - especially older clients.

We're all heard the expression "one size doesn't fit all" - what you need to do is to send the newsletters only to clients who want them.

To do that you need to ask clients, in a way that makes it easy to provide an honest response.

If you say to a client  "Do you find those quarterly newsletters I send you useful?", chances are they'll say "Sure", even if they never look at them.

Suppose instead you say:

 "We're taking a hard look at all of our communication to clients. Some clients tell me they're swamped by all the things they get to read. If you find the newsletter I send you helpful, I'll keep sending it to you, but if it's just one more piece of reading you don't have time to get to, I'm happy to take you off the list."

So now if clients do find it of value, they can say "No keep sending it."

But if they don't, they'll say "You know what, just take me off the list".

What's easy or what's effective?

Many advisors are happy with the generic newsletters that go out under their name or the quarterly communication that firms send out now -  after all, it's easy and doesn't take a lot of thought.

But going forward, understand that the standard for success isn't what's easy - it's what's effective.

And to communicate effectively, with more and more clients generic communication doesn't cut it -  if you want the things you send to be read, you have to think about building in the time to find a third party article from a credible source to send each month or two and then getting approval from compliance to email those articles.

Yes, it will take more time - but it will also be much more likely to be read and to be persuasive.

And  after all, isn't that what communication is all about?