Category Archives: Financial Adviser Marketing

5 Call to Action Tips for the Finance Industry

Calls to action or CTAs are a deceptively powerful tool that many often overlook. To capitalize on your blogging efforts, your CTA should be the first thing to take into account. A solid call to action on any post or page will help you convert your readers from mere prospects into quantifiable leads.

 

As you probably already know, CTA is the part of a copy that prompts a user to take an immediate action or lead a reader to the next step. Hence, the more details you can provide in the CTA, the better you would engage your target audience.

 

To help you leverage your financial marketing efforts, here are five valuable tactics on how to craft an engaging and clear call to action for your campaign.

 

1 – Avoid being overly promotional.

 

Too often, you will see a call to action button at the end of an article or web page which has very little appeal, and in most cases, these buttons or graphics even appear overly promotional. These kinds of calls to action are fairly common in financial websites and blogs, however, they can sometimes come across as off-putting.

 

The goal of your call to action should not be to promote your service, but rather to provide something that is relevant to the post or topic with a promise of offering more useful information. What the readers want to know is how the CTA will improve their finances and make life easier.

 

The best performing calls to action are those that add value and continue to educate the readers. After all, they are most likely visiting your blog to read about their financial concerns, learn how to solve them or find insight on a topic of interest; not to purchase your services.

 

GoToMeeting has done a seamless job with highlighting their new product in the CTA without appearing too promotional as seen in the image below.

 

GoTo Meeting

 

2 – Experiment with different kinds of CTAs.

 

One kind of CTA won’t appeal to everyone so do not give your audience the same content. Because all sorts of people visit your website or blog, you have to create variety in your calls to actions.

 

While certain CTAs work for some readers, other users may respond better to a CTA with different graphics and wording. Thus, it is important to vary the CTAs throughout your websites and experiment with different kinds so the users won’t block them out. There are several kinds of CTAs, from sidebar calls to action and blog subscriptions to comment, in-line, and slide-in CTAs.

 

If the standard bottom-of-the-post CTA is not driving enough leads, experiment with an in-line call to action that may involve a link to a previous blog post or the social media. Calls to action do not have to be grand, neither does it have to stand out at the end of a post. It could be as simple as linking the copy to a previous blog post or adding a tweet button at the end of a sentence or paragraph.

 

Image from HubSpot

 

Image from HubSpot.com

 

You could also deliver your calls to action in a manner of question. Ask your readers about their thoughts on the topic to encourage comments and feedback.

 

3 – Address your personas’ challenges and needs in your CTAs

 

Who are your client personas and what are their challenges or pain points?

 

Calls to action direct traffic to landing pages. If the CTA you created does not attract your target audience, you won’t gain increased conversions, let alone improved traffic. To be able to engage your readers and encourage them to take the next step (subscribe to your mailing list, comment on your post, or download your eBook), your CTA should be able to introduce their needs and challenges and include a promise to offer solutions to their problems upon clicking it.

 

LinkedIN

 

Create a smart CTA that talks about the benefits of your offer rather than its features. “GIVE before you ASK them to take action,” as Joe Simonds of Advisor Internet Marketing noted in an article.

 

4 – Use Strong Command Verbs to Convey Urgency

 

An effective call to action should accomplish two things—one, it should clearly tell a reader exactly what they are getting once they click on it; and two, it should give a sense of immediacy and urgency.

 

“It’s all about being clear and concise with your CTA. You don’t have a ton of space in your ad to get your point across, with the character limit set at 35 characters per description line, so it is important to get straight to the point,” wrote Billy McCaffrey of Word Stream.

 

Steer clear from vague languages and make certain to use active vocabulary like download, subscribe, talk, get started, see, join, or visit and then combine it with words such as today, now, and the like to convey action and urgency. This entices your audience to act quickly.

 

Sign Up

 

Similarly, you can create a less urgent call to action (“Talk to an Expert,” “See How It Works,” “Learn More,” etc.) if it would work better on the newsletter or overall design of your website. Ultimately, it is ideal that you start with a verb.

 

5 – Align your messaging.

 

Not aligning the CTA with its landing page is one of the most frequent mistakes people make. Beyond creating alignment between the call to action and the reader’s behavior, it is important to write CTAs based on your messaging. Bear the different stages of the sales cycle in mind and create multiple calls to action around them. Keep in mind, the messaging in the awareness stage should be different from the messaging in the education stage.

 

Tailor it in a way that it speaks to the reader based on their buying cycle stage, such as the below CTAs from HubSpot.

 

For the visitor:

 

SEO Myths

 

For the lead:

 

For The Lead

 

For the customer:

 

For The Customer

 

Many factors influence the rate of conversion of a call to action button, so make certain to pay close attention to the above-mentioned factors in order to prompt your audience to take action and make your financial marketing campaign more effective.

6 Email Tips for The Finance Industry

Over the last decade, email has been a useful marketing tool finance advisers use to widen their reach. In spite of social media’s rise, email remains to be a primary marketing channel. In fact, 66 out of 100 consumers made a purchase as a result of an email marketing message, topping channels such as direct mail, text messaging, and even social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

 

This only proves that email can be a high-return marketing channel. But as more and more businesses gravitate towards email marketing ( in the form of mailing list, newsletters, or advertising), making yours stand out can be difficult. Thus, you have to work harder and smarter to up your email marketing game.

Here are 6 email marketing tips for finance professionals like you.

 

Tip #1 – Run an opt-in newsletter.

Email lists are the traditional marketing’s ally. Opt-in email forms, on the contrary, is one of modern inbound marketing’s most powerful weapons.

 

An opt-in newsletter is a simple communication tool that offers several advantages to professionals that take advantage of using it. According to SRS Coaching and Consulting, an effective newsletter can improve a financial adviser’s word of mouth marketing, boost reputation building, and increase the chance of traffic conversion.

 

coucou1

 

Image Source: socialmediaexaminer.com

 

Opt-in forms also enable you to gather important data about your prospects that you could later on use when writing your newsletter.

To amplify your reach even more and grow your email list while limiting unwanted subscribers, a blog from WPNewsman suggests using the double opt-in method. “To protect yourself from invalid and unwanted subscriptions, ask users to confirm their subscription,” the article states.

 

Tip #2 – Keep track of your metrics and test, test, test!

The sheer volume of data available today can be really daunting even for the savviest of email marketers. As a financial adviser, you need to understand that paying attention to your newsletter metrics can make a huge difference in your email marketing initiatives.

 

coucou2

Image Source: writtent.com

 

Kyle O’Riley of Writtent has enumerated a number of metric tools that can be used to track the success of the newsletters you send out. One metric marketers use is the Spam Complaint Rate, which allows you to see how many of your newsletters were marked as spam.

Being able to keep track of your newsletters will help you determine what messages are resonating to your readers and what does not. From there, you can improve your copy, focus on topics that your readers prefer, and test which ones resonate best.

 

Tip #3 – Maintain your lists.

Each year, you could lose a third of your subscribers from bounces, address changes, and unsubscribes. If you are not keeping an eye on your list and replacing passive addresses with active ones, you could lose all your subscribers anytime soon.

Carly Stec of Impact Branding & Design says making use of segmentation will help you build, maintain, and grow a strong email subscriber list. “The key to successful email communication is careful, and strategic list segmentation, as it eliminates your company’s chance of coming off as spam-y,” she reveals.

Instead of blasting a generic newsletter out to your commercial and residential subscribers, Stec suggests that you segment a list for your residential email subscribers and a separate list for your commercial email subscribers. This way, you’ll get a better picture of your buyer persona, allowing you to send emails out the right people.

According to the Lyris Annual Email Optimizer Report, 28 percent of marketers who utilised this approach experienced lower unsubscribe rates, and 24 percent reportedly had greater revenue and better deliverability.

 

Tip #4 – Use email to leverage other parts of your inbound marketing.

 

coucou3

Image source

 

 

Organic search is a great source for conversions. But, you can’t depend upon it solely. In a study, email marketing has been found to have the highest conversation rates among other areas of inbound marketing, particularly search and social. By using email to leverage your other marketing initiatives, you increase your chance for better visibility, brand awareness, and lead conversions.

 

Tip #5 – Use personalisation.

Since newsletters are typically shared with dozens or even hundreds of people, many financial advisers take a detached tone when writing them. In reality, though, no one really wants to read messages composed this way.

When composing newsletters, use a personal approach. Personalised emails were found to produce 500 percent more conversions than generic emails, according to an Experian Marketing Services study. Despite this, however, 70 in 100 businesses fail to maximise this approach.

Don’t join the majority. Instead, make your messages sound conversational and use layman’s terms for a more personal tone. If there’s anything that could drive your prospects away, it’s financial jargon and complex terminology.

 

coucou4

A newsletter that uses second pronouns | Image Source: e-cbd.com

 

 

Also, addressing your subscribers by their name and using first and second pronouns may make your readers feel genuinely connected with you. Use their first names as a starter, but do not mention it too often in the body. Just use it as if you are directly conversing to your subscribers, so that you don’t come across as a used automobile salesman.

If you don’t have your reader’s profile, adjust your opt-in newsletter forms, so that you can collect vital information from your potential clients. But be sure to go easy on the required fields. The longer it takes for them to fill up the subscribe form, the more likely that they won’t. Keep it simple and easy.

 

Tip #6 – Be strategic.

Avoid the trap of sending self-promotional messages. Instead, focus your efforts on writing a newsletter with value, relevance, and humor. Pay close attention to the message you are trying to get across, determine your buyer persona, include a call to action, and practice segmenting readers into different subscriber baskets.

No matter how competitive your niche is, a well thought out email marketing can certainly be beneficial. With a strategic email marketing, you can drive traffic back to your website continuously and increase your chance for higher conversions.

 

5 Digital Marketing Ideas For Financial Advisers (Infographic)

When one thinks of getting into financial adviser digital marketing, one would usually think of doing self-promotion (defining their goals, enumerating their achievements, laying out their services–that sort of thing). While it’s not entirely wrong, it’s not the most effective way to go it either.

 

To build trust and develop a stronger relationship, clients need to know how you can help them. They want to know what steps they could take to make the process quicker and leisurely monitor the results along the way.

 

One study by Hearts and Wallets found that four in five investors have trust issues with their financial adviser. If you want to build strong and meaningful relationships with your clients, Hub Spot advises that you need to refocus your marketing approach.

 

To better communicate your trustworthiness, here are five financial adviser marketing ideas that centers around your client’s needs.

 

5 Digital Marketing Ideas for Financial Advisers HD

 

Download this infographic.

Embed Our Infographic On Your Site!

5 Social Media Tips For The Finance Industry

5 Social Media Tips for The Finance Industry

The financial services industry has been slow in entering the realm of social media mostly due to all the various communication regulations they face. It was not until a media hoax in 2013 that the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) became more wary of the risks online rumors entail, leading local regulators to sharpen their policies and regulations on social media use.

 

This was a pivotal moment for all organizations in the local finance industry. As stringent social media restrictions are put in place, financial services companies find ways to go around them while also transforming their social media efforts into a weapon for good customer service, effective crisis mitigation, and efficient brand management.

 

In order to reap the benefits of social, financial institutions must intelligently embrace the world of social media, following the best social practices. To make sure that your strategy stays within the regulations, here are five social media tips to follow.

 

Avoid Being Over Promotional

 

In a blog post, Hub Spot recommends talking more about your clients and their interests than about your company and the services or products you offer.

 

“One of the golden rules of social media is not to use it for purely self-promotional material. This is especially true if you’re bound by the regulated social media policies.” – HubSpot.com

 

National Australian Bank

 

National Australian Bank is fond of tweeting about non-promotional topics for their followers.

 

People on social media look for “a real face and a real voice.” They want the human behind the brand, so aim to be educational, helpful and social, not “salesy” as Hub Spot would put it.

 

Devise Social Media Guidelines

 

Your social strategy contributes to customer loyalty, and business revenue, ultimately affecting the company’s return on investment or ROI. Advisor Websites notes that there is no “simple one-to-one correlation between social media activity and dollars in the bank,” but these activities do contribute to conversions.

 

Hence, it is imperative to devise strict guidelines. Employees have to know what they can and cannot do over social media. But to be able to develop efficient guidelines, you first need to define the goals the company wishes to achieve via social media. Once your social media voice and identity are clearly established, spell out the organization’s social media policy (eg. editorial guidelines for publishing content, tone of voice, and description of responsibilities). Social media guidelines should also lay out the regulations the company has to work with.

 

Make sure these guidelines are easily accessible and used in employee training.

 

Develop a Crisis Plan

 

Financial services is in the “time is money” industry, so you need to have a plan for everything — from data breaches and lawsuits to executive scandals. You do not want to wait for a crisis to turn up before establishing a solid plan. The pressure to act fast is already intense at this point, what more if you need to think compliantly? This is a brewing recipe for costly errors.

 

Preparation, on the contrary, enables you to consider scenarios that might never have occurred to you had you get caught by surprise. “Crisis planning is essential. Every business should have a minute-by-minute strategy for how it will deal a service shut down or public relations disaster,” as noted in a Huffington Post article.

 

Having a plan of contingency in place also allows you to run drills or simulations of real-life financial crises so your employees become equipped to handle a tight situation when they least expect it.

 

Utilise LinkedIn Pulse

 

LinkedIn Pulse

 

LinkedIn Pulse

 

Pulse is LinkedIn’s publishing platform. You can use this to keep track of the news and trends regarding the financial services industry. This section allows you to browse through popular content, trending articles, and even posts published by the people you follow. It can also be tailored to your interests so Your News tab only displays content from specific publishers, contributors, and influencers.

 

Apart from keeping track of industry news, Pamela Vaughan of Hub Spot suggests experimenting with publishing your own content on the platform.

 

“Experiment with how this feature can support your marketing goals by creating content for the platform and promoting it via your Company Page. For example, you could experiment with syndicating content from your business blog to LinkedIn Pulse and using it to promote subscription to your full blog.”

 

Follow the 10-4-1 Rule

 

Formulated by Kipp Bodnar and Jeffrey Cohen, the 10-4-1 rule is basically a way of using a mix of content to post across different social media channels. The ratio, according to Contender Content, “allows you to grow your social and blog network efficiently by sharing other people’s content, your own content, and your own landing pages.”

 

Here’s the breakdown.

 

10: 10 out of 15 posts should be sourced from a third-party to offer valuable information to your audience, thus increasing your “reputation as a trusted and open industry leader.” Some companies struggle with this idea, thinking that using someone else’s content might mean losing their brand persona. However, Contender Content assures that curating content from other blogs and businesses can and will increase your social media engagement.

 

4: 4 out of 15 posts should be your own. Blogging is an absolute necessity for any social media strategy. In fact, company websites gain 55 percent more visitors when they have a blog according to Hub Spot, so publish relevant and interesting information, and then get them out to your social networking platforms. A truly engaging content and effective promotion should secure your company a following and a good amount of shares, likes, and comments.

 

Commonwealth Bank of Australia

 

Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s blog tackles a variety of topics and interests.

 

1: 1 out of 15 posts should be a landing page. You can provide a webinar, a whitepaper, a sales brochure, an eBook, or even a video. This gives you the opportunity to sell the benefits of your products and services to your audience, without spamming them with promotions.

 

Whitepaper from Telstra

 

An example of a whitepaper from Telstra.

Wrap up

Creating the right mix of content is essential to building engagement. With the 10-4-1 rule, you’ll not only have a structured and measurable approach to what type of content you publish, you also earn the chance of growing your audience base and building authority in the financial services industry.

Top 5 SEO Strategies For Financial Advisers Website

Developing a successful SEO campaign is like building a successful financial plan — both require similar principles — which probably explains why there is a growing awareness about search engine optimization among financial advisers.

 

Now, the question is: What can financial advisers do to leverage SEO?

 

There are several elements that go into creating an SEO campaign and implementing them requires a great deal of effort and knowledge. Fortunately for financial advisers, the internet has made it simple for them to kick start a campaign and reach large and targeted demographics.

 

For starters, here are five effective SEO strategies that take advantage of search engine dynamics to entice visitors and generate more actionable leads.

 

Top 5 SEO Strategies For Financial Advisers Website

 

Download this infographic.

Embed Our Infographic On Your Site!

6 blogging tips for the finance industry

6 Blogging Tips For The Finance Industry

There has been a definite growth in blogging across the finance industry. According to HubSpot, blogs help businesses generate 97 percent more inbound links and 67 percent more leads, making blogging an imperative aspect of organic internet marketing.

 

Think of it as gasoline is to a vehicle; your marketing efforts will not work without it. But while it is certainly every financial professional’s crucial piece to the ever-complex content marketing puzzle, no one seems to be writing or talking about how to do it the right way.

 

Blogging may sound simple, but once you get your hands on it, you’ll realize how creating content can actually be really difficult. Hence, we present this list of effective blogging tips to help you jump start your blog content creation.

 

Tip #1: Spend time researching your buyer personas.

 

Before you even begin the writing part, you first need to be familiar with the buyer persona aspect of blogging. By Hub Spot’s definition, “a buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer based on market research and real data about your existing customers.”

 

In order to create a blog content that your audience will engage with, it is important to study your target market and understand your buyer personas inside and out. What are their problems or challenges? Where do they come from? What kind of service or product do they seek?

 

Once you know your ideal customer’s goals, pain points, aspirations, backgrounds, and challenges, as well as how your product or service can benefit them, you’ll be able to produce content relevant enough to capture their attention.

 

Remember: your blog posts are only as good as your audience says they are, so make sure your words are connecting well with your readers.

 

Tip #2: Create a content calendar, but remain flexible.

 

Like buyer personas, having a long-term framework and a theme for your content is vital to blogging. You need to come up with a plan and schedule for your blogs earlier on. At the same time, it is important to keep the calendar “flexible so you can ‘news-jack’” an emerging trend, news story, or current event.

 

A good way to keep tab on the latest news in your industry is bysubscribing to leading online financial publications. Make it a habit to read up on and learn something new about the finance industry every day. Doing so will enable you to write newsworthy pieces that your audience will take an interest in. Hub Spot also recommends signing up for Google Alerts and selecting finance-targeted keywords.

Tip #3: Avoid financial jargon.

 

Using financial jargon is one of the major blogging blunders many financial marketers make. As marketers, it is easy for us to cope with the constant use of general marketing jargon and technology abbreviations. But for people outside of the industry, jargon can be really intimidating. Plus, it confuses the broader audience and gets readers lose interest in your blog. It is never fun to have to rely on Google to understand every other complex term in a post.

 

However, steering clear of jargon is neither a pass so you don’t have to explain basic financial terms nor, is it an excuse for a sloppy write-up. Be sure to make your points clear and simple while also maintaining well-structured sentences and paragraphs.

 

Take Movoto’s blog posts, for example. Because they are in the real estate business, you would expect to see their pages to be filled with graphs, numbers, computations and all those other boring stuff. But lo and behold, Movoto has offered a whole new perspective on financial blogging by focusing their efforts on creating easy-to-understand and entertaining articles for the broader community, upping their monthly site visits to 18 million from a mere 2,000.

 

Tip #4: Cite credible sources.

 

Always refer back to credible sources, most especially if you are talking about industry trends, percentages, acts, legislation, and any topic that requires facts.

 

At the same time, aim to write the blog so that other people may use it as a reliable reference. Gregory Ciotti of Help Scout told Buffer App that research is important as it gives a writer great idea and findings. But he notes that you should not rely on research alone. Instead, make sure that “each post has an original lesson or actionable item, making it ‘citable’ on the web.”

 

Goldcore, an established gold broker in Ireland, have countless blog posts that are worth referencing. Their blog is widely read by financial journalists, and often quoted and regularly featured on finance, gold, and investment blogs, as well as in Reuters and Bloomberg.

Tip #5: Tap into in-house knowledge.

 

Financial marketers do not always have the knowledge or data pertaining to the technicalities that could back up a blog content. It is, therefore, imperative to leverage the expertise of the people within your company. Ask individuals under different departments “who have a wealth of knowledge about the industry, clients, thought leaders, trends, and insights” and see if they can provide insights or write a short blog post for the company.

 

Just as you will tap into your in-house resources for data, speaking with people in specific niches can help you fill the knowledge gap.

 

Tip #6: Interview people.

6S3KLA57YU

 

Beyond connecting and engaging with your audience, blogging is an effective way to drive more traffic to your website, solidify your presence, and establish yourself as one of the leaders in the finance industry. Hence, there is no doubt that blogging in the financial service sector will continue to be on the rise.

 

What other blogging tips would you recommend? Share them in the comments!

 

 

5 Ways to Leverage Social Media for Financial Advisors

5 Ways to Leverage Social Media for Financial Advisors

Social media has made its way to the industry of financial advising. And if used properly, it can be a powerful marketing tool.

It is an extraordinary platform for content distribution, offering financial advisors the ability to exhibit thought leadership and compelling content. Social media also leads the way to promoting and ‘humanizing’ corporate and personal brands. By learning how to make use of various social media facets like Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, and spreading unique content across the varied forms, you are able to make it work for you, rather than the other way around.

How can one leverage its use? If you have began utilizing social media for brand promotion, then you are already in the right track. But while promoting content is easy, selling it through social media can often be the challenging part. Here are a couple of ways to leverage social media use for your profession.

1. Use a Different Approach to Each Social Media Platform

Form different strategies for each program you will use so that you are able to balance education, self-promotion, and sharing other useful content. You should also have a good understanding of what forms of media are popular to your audience. Some may prefer Twitter and Instagram, others may fair better using Facebook, and so on.

–  Facebook – For a personal account, aim to educate your network in general. Share personal philosophies, feelings or beliefs, and impart thought-provoking quotes but do not target any specific group. Conversely, post activities, events, writings, and thoughts publicly on your business page.

–  Twitter – Twitter is mostly a hub to industry-specific audiences. Majority of your followers may be in the same industry as you are so post squibs related to it. You may also want to communicate and follow journalists and other known financial advisors to up your brand recognition.

–  LinkedIn – Make use of this platform to create a bigger client base and wider connections. Network with various targeted groups like advisors, attorneys, teacher associations, and such to build lower-asset clients.

No two platforms are exactly alike. Once you realize this and understand their differences, you will know how to appeal to your audience with the same content regardless of how diverse they are.

2. Take Advantage of LinkedIn Features

LinkedIn is more than just a digital resume. Today, it has become one of the most powerful social media platforms. In fact, 70% of buyers are likely to list LinkedIn as a reliable source for gathering information regarding service providers, so use at as much as you can.

Groups Feature – This platform is home to many relevant groups and forums, which offers a great way for you to connect with consumers and prospective clients to boost your brand awareness. Joining groups is one of the robust ways to earn prospects through LinkedIn. It allows you to engage with like-minded people, and participate in significant conversation that could help you cultivate potential clients.

Advanced Search Tool – Though LinkedIn constantly upgrades and adds features to their site, they continue to center around the use of keywords. With their advanced search tool, you can find professionals in a specific geographic location, individuals within a certain profession, or even alumni you attended university with.

LinkedIn Publisher – Position yourself as an industry expert by publishing content directly on your profile.

“Who Viewed My Profile” – This section can be useful when tracking down keywords users typically search for. These keywords may be used to find out where these individuals are located. If you think they are good prospects, get in touch with them.

Analytics on Business Pages – It gauges your social media efforts and help you determine what works and what does not. It also helps you see which followers are the most active, allowing you to target similar individuals.

3. Support Your Investment Advice with Social Media

Building trust and rapport between your brand and consumers is a good use of key social websites like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. After posting a recommendation, push more links to independent sources, and more information regarding it to your client’s device. Then, give them ample time to think it through. Customers and prospective clients seek advisors that are able to make a recommendation and take some time to explain it to them. Otherwise, it erodes their trust.

4. Offer Conversion Opportunities

When it comes to making decisions, people are often lazy, particularly in today’s fast paced digital world. They always seem to want to receive information as effortlessly and quickly as possible, so avoid making your prospects work for the data they need. Instead, provide them conversion opportunities directly through your social media channels.

Incorporate free downloads, email subscription sign ups, and simple purchasing features in your pages. But do not go overboard. Pushing your products or services too hard may overwhelm your prospects. As a result you lose followers. Just make conversions easy and fun for them. Promote your services or products by offering sales or special deals, and encourage your followers to interact with it. For instance, let them share the content to their networks for a chance of receiving discounts and freebies.

5. Be Authentic

One way to display your authenticity is through blogs. Producing original content gives you the opportunity to show what your brand is like, so it helps consumers get to know you.

Sharing blogs in Facebook and other personal social media channels is a powerful strategy, at the same time, risky because these sites allow people to see your life. However, the amount of transparency you build online adds to the consumers’ trust and confidence in your brand. The more authentic content you post, the more trust you build and the more findable you become.

As a brand, it is crucial that you utilize the right combination of social media platforms to produce best results. Keep in mind, an effective and strategic social media plan alone can create a flow of prospects in a short period of time.

Image for Pixabay

Is content Marketing Usefull for Financial Advisors?

Financial advisers needs content marketing more than ever. Informative content is valuable and it is up to you to produce it through an effective content marketing plan. But first…

What is Content Marketing?

An evolving view of content channel and formats.
The Content Marketing Ensemble

Content marketing is thought to be one of the most economical and effective forms of marketing today. What sets it apart from traditional marketing is the difference between simply saying that your company is valuable, and actually showing that your company is valuable.

This form of marketing encompasses the creation of content, dissemination of information, and all other marketing efforts that will lure and engage current and potential consumers in the form of blogs, magazines, white papers, online and print newsletters, videos, websites, emails, interactive media, and webinars or webcasts. Whatever form it takes, your content needs to be what the audience wants to see and share.

Through content marketing, you will be able to establish yourself as a top-quality, reliable expert in your field. In the financial industry, content marketing involves showing value to prospective consumers even before getting acquainted with their personal finances. Instead of creating a monologue regarding yourself and what makes you different from other financial gurus, the conversation and content should instead be based around the consumers and their needs.

The goal of this strategy is not to proclaim your services and products’ virtues, but rather to share your expertise by producing content that is essential to your target audience. The content must be relevant enough for them that it is able to strike a chord and inspire them to subscribe and share the information you created, as well as refer back to your various content platforms. With value, comes trust. And if your audience trust you, it’s likely that they will be loyal consumers of your products and services.

How Can Financial Advisors Marketing can be useful for your practise?

Content marketing is a useful strategy for financial advisers for 6 good reasons:

1. It helps with brand recognition

To put it simply, creating relevant, quality content will allow people to discover your website. And the more consumer visits you get, the more recognition your brand receives.

2. It offers value to your audience

Let’s face it, personal finance is probably the least exciting subject for a lot of people to talk about. So what can you do to make it interesting for them? How can you spark curiosity out of your audience? Visual content is your answer. Creating visual content is far more likely to engage potential consumers than using traditional marketing strategies like printed materials, which usually goes unread.
Finance is a complicated subject involving dynamic market pricing that only interactive and engaging forms of content such as videos and infographics are able to explain in a matter that would be easily understood by the vast majority of consumers.
If you can educate them on the fundamentals, it is likely that they would recognize the value of your work. Consumers put a lot of weight on the value they receive from firms they do business with. If you provide quality, simple-to-understand content, it shows your audience that you are more than willing to go the extra mile to give them value without the high-pressure sales tactics and marketing ploys.

3. It expands your consumer base

With a strategic content marketing plan, you’ll be able to generate leads and do business with people from across the globe more efficiently. The world wide web is a treasure chest of undiscovered gems. By creating easy-to-find, quality content, you are able to tap into other markets or areas you did not have access to before.

4. It builds consumer trust and loyalty

Everyone who has been or is in the financial business knows that the industry has had some fair share of issues around trust. Even the 2015 Edelman Trust Barometer agrees that the financial world is the least trusted industry throughout the globe.
Consumers have become more keen and skeptical than ever to make certain that they receive great value for their money. A 2014 survey reveals that 76 percent of financial marketers believed content marketing is the key to rebuilding client trust. By creating quality content, financial advisers are able to grab their attention, reassure them, and keep them hooked for more.

5. It boosts search engine rankings

Smart consumers do not buy on impulse. They typically go online to research for future purchases. While having a website is okay, a website alone won’t suffice as it is not enough to drive traffic. You will need content–relevant and quality content–so your target consumers can distinguish you from your competition.
Producing infographics, videos, blog posts and other forms of content will not only offer your clients helpful information, it will also strengthen your online presence, and increase your site’s lead generation, thus boosting your rankings in search engines particularly in Google.

6. It demonstrates your expertise and authority

Aside from gaining consumer trust, demonstrating authority among competitors is a challenge every financial advisor faces. What makes you and your services different? Rather than just saying that you are knowledgeable, highly experienced and so on, it would be far more persuasive to demonstrate your industry expertise through strategic content marketing.

To wrap it up

When it comes to improving your online presence, and building your brand, content marketing can provide you real boost. Whether your content comes out in a form of a blog, podcast, video, case study, infographic, photo, or webinar, keep in mind that quantity is not a vital factor to consider. Instead, focus on producing quality materials and the rest will follow.

Image for Pixabay