My New Normal: Zach McDonald from Three Crowns

Johnny Sandquist

Founder & CEO, Three Crowns Copywriting & Marketing

Aug 11, 2020

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Zach McDonald is the President and CMO of Three Crowns Copywriting & Marketing (super recently—we just announced it yesterday!)

Zach’s is the fourth interview in our “My New Normal” series—check out the other entries here.

In this series, I’m talking with financial advisors and the people who work with them to learn how COVID-19 has impacted their working environments, and how they think the wealth management industry will change as a result of an increase in remote, digital-first work.

Let’s start with something positive. What is one good thing that’s happened in your life since the COVID-19 lockdowns began?

My wife and I welcomed our third kid back in May — her name is Margo and she’s perfect, of course. With both of us home all day, it’s made the first few months with a new baby more manageable than it’s been in the past.

Sometimes I start feeling like Jack Nicholson in The Shining, but I think everyone probably has those moments.

Overall, the silver lining of this whole experience is that it’s created a lot of opportunities for growth for my wife and I, and our kids have been total champs.

How has your workday changed?

For a long time, I’ve considered myself to be in the “leave me alone and let me do my work” camp, but COVID has made me recognize how much I miss the social aspect of working in an office. At my last job, the marketing team all worked in close proximity, and I came to miss just meeting someone in the kitchen and chatting for a few minutes.

So nowadays I climb the stairs to the kitchen and chat with my three-year-old, Violet, about how her day is going. We’ll talk shop for a bit, vent to each other, and then get back to work — me down in my office, and her behind her dollhouse or in the sprinkler in the backyard.

Do you feel like you’ve been more efficient, less productive, or about the same?

I think I’ve become more efficient, but that’s not necessarily my ultimate goal when I work. My ultimate goal is to use the best ideas for every project, and that comes about largely through collaboration for me.

I’m finding ways to collaborate, but it’s not the same as just tossing ideas back and forth in the office.

Technology plays an important role in remote work. What piece of technology has been most helpful for you in working remotely?

I’m pretty much in love with Notion.

It does everything — I keep my task list, ideas, notes, blogs, calendars, etc. in there.

Do you think financial services is ready to be a fully digital profession? What needs to happen before that can take place, if not?

I don’t, but overall I’m not a huge fan of the digitization of the world. That might sound weird coming from someone in digital marketing, but digital marketing will never replace the value of the human touch. I’ve worked with advisors and marketing professionals before who want to automate/digitize everything, and I just don’t think it’s a lasting solution.

Sure, there are parts of any job that can and should be automated, but I am of the mindset that people will always prefer in-person to digital when it comes to something important like financial advice.

That being said, if you’re not open to Zoom calls, automated email drips and digital ad campaigns, you’re leaving a lot of money on the table.

What is the most important communication method for advisors to master in the new digital economy?

Writing will always be number one on my list.

Look at Josh Brown – I remember reading one blog post from him a few years ago and it just blew me away.

He’s built a huge following based almost exclusively on the fact that he communicates so well through writing — whether it’s on Twitter or his blog or elsewhere.