The rapidly evolving digital landscape has fundamentally changed the way financial companies interact with their clients. Today, traditional marketing tactics are no longer enough. To bridge the gap with existing and potential clients, financial companies must have a sound content marketing strategy in place.
Creating a robust content marketing strategy isn’t just about promoting your services or products. It’s about providing meaningful content that resonates with your audience, builds trust, and positions your firm as an authority in the industry. However, formulating and executing an effective content marketing strategy can often prove daunting, even for well-established financial institutions.
This article will outline the crucial steps to creating an effective content marketing strategy for your financial company, highlighting common pitfalls and offering insights on how to avoid them.
But first, let’s address the most important question…
The Risks Facing Financial Companies that Don’t Invest in Content Marketing?
A financial industry company that doesn’t invest in content marketing is essentially locking itself into a future of expenses rather than returns.
Why, you may ask?
Because to get on top of Google’s search results, you will have to continuously invest in paid campaigns. And as you may (or may not) know, this is becoming an evermore expensive activity. Furthermore, financial industry ads “enjoy” some of the lowest click-through rates across all industries, with an average between 0.5% and 3.58%. At the same time, the banking industry pays the highest bids.
On the other hand, investing in an adequate content marketing strategy will ensure organic visibility and long-term growth. Alternatively – it is a gift that will keep on giving over time.
But the lack of investment in a proper content marketing strategy will affect you in significantly more ways than just your budget. In this fast-paced digital era, neglecting content marketing can result in a myriad of adverse consequences underpinned by research and data. Let’s dive into some of them:
Loss of Market Share
Without a robust content marketing strategy, financial firms can lose significant ground to their competitors. According to statistics, 86% of investors spend at least an hour researching. Furthermore, 47% of buyers review 3-5 pieces of content before engaging with a sales rep.
Ignoring this crucial marketing avenue thus risks ceding competitive advantage to rivals who embrace it, leading to an erosion of market share over time.
Furthermore, it will significantly reduce your chances to capture the millennial and Gen Z market. For example, 47% of millennials say they are more likely to trust a financial industry company if it generates useful content. Of course, there are tons of similar stats online to further confirm that, but you get the point. However, the essence is that content drives the brand loyalty of both millennials and Gen Z-rs. As this generation comes of age and becomes the new and dominant capital holder, financial firms that fail to leverage content marketing risk missing out on a burgeoning market segment.
Reduced Client Engagement
The engagement rate for financial content is a staggering 70% on average. Research shows that content marketing generates over three times as many leads as outbound marketing and costs over 62% less.
Furthermore, content marketing adoption rates have been rising year-over-year, with businesses using it reporting higher conversion rates and ROI.
Note that users spend an average of 1 minute and 51 seconds engaging with financial services content. This is more than enough time to convince them why you are their right partner. You have to make that time count.
By neglecting content marketing, financial companies forego potential revenue and growth opportunities, hindering their long-term sustainability and success. What’s more, they also miss out on an effective way to attract, engage, and retain clients. This could translate to fewer new clients and reduced loyalty among existing ones, inevitably impacting the bottom line.
Remaining Invisible in the Digital Realm
Organic search is the largest driver of web traffic for most sectors, and the financial industry is no exception. Search engines favour fresh, high-quality content, which means that companies lacking in content marketing have lower search visibility, leading to fewer website visits and reduced brand exposure.
Just ask yourself – would you trust a doctor that you can’t find any information about online? You know the answer, and it is the same for financial services.
So, don’t be that doctor.
Struggling to Instil Trust and Authority
A study by Demand Gen Report found that 96% of B2B buyers want content from industry thought leaders. Around 59% of decision-makers find thought leadership content the best way to evaluate a company.
Content marketing allows companies to establish themselves as experts in their field, fostering trust among clients. Without it, financial firms risk appearing out of touch or lacking authority, which can significantly damage their reputation and client relationships.
In a nutshell, there are considerable risks in not investing in content marketing if you are a financial industry company. Due to this, content marketing isn’t just an optional strategy; it’s a critical investment for future success.
Building a Content Marketing Strategy: A Blueprint For Financial Companies
Without further ado, now that you know what you are risking by giving up on content marketing, it is time to focus on the steps you can take to design a proper content marketing strategy.
1. Define Your Content Marketing Strategy Goals
The first step in any marketing strategy is defining clear, measurable objectives. A marketing strategy without defined goals is like a ship sailing with no destination.
Do you aim to generate leads, boost conversion rates, improve client retention, or enhance brand awareness? Knowing your goals will help guide the rest of your content marketing strategy.
Your objectives should be SMART—Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. In the financial industry, your goals might include increasing web traffic, reducing client acquisition costs, or boosting conversion rates.
This step is the most crucial one since it will guide every aspect of your content marketing strategy, from what you create to how you distribute it.
2. Understanding Your Audience
Every piece of content you produce should be tailored to the needs and interests of your audience. This means developing a comprehensive understanding of your clients – their demographics, their pain points, their financial goals, and the challenges they face.
To do that, conduct surveys, leverage analytics, and engage directly with clients to gather this data. Then, use it to create detailed buyer personas, which will inform your content creation efforts. Or, best, hire a content marketing expert to manage this entire process for you.
3. Conduct a Content Audit & Set-Up a Content Calendar
A content audit involves systematically reviewing all the content your company has produced. This process allows you to assess the effectiveness of each piece and see how it aligns with your overall strategy. Look at metrics like page views, social shares, and conversion rates to understand what type of content resonates with your audience. Your audit might reveal that certain topics or formats outperform others, providing a blueprint for future content creation.
If you are at the start of your content marketing journey, then the audit step might be unnecessary. Instead, focus on creating a well-defined content calendar. Planning is crucial for a successful content marketing strategy. A content calendar gives you an overview of what content will be published and when. This allows for consistent content delivery, which is critical for audience engagement and SEO. Your content calendar should factor in key dates, industry events, product launches, and seasonal trends that are relevant to your audience.
4. Start Producing Engaging Content
Creating valuable, engaging content is at the heart of content marketing. Your content should not merely promote your financial services but provide value to your readers. This might involve educating them on financial topics, providing actionable advice, or offering insights into market trends. Diversify your content formats – blogs, infographics, podcasts, webinars, etc. – to cater to different audience preferences.
However, note that creating great content is just the first step. You need to promote it to ensure it reaches your target audience. Leverage your company’s social media channels, email newsletters, and partnerships with other businesses to share your content. Additionally, consider using paid promotion for key pieces of content to maximize their reach.
Don’t forget to leverage the power of search engine optimization (SEO). This is a crucial aspect of increasing your online visibility. Research relevant keywords that your audience might use when searching for financial services or advice. Incorporate these keywords into your content, meta descriptions, and headers. Additionally, ensure your website is mobile-friendly and has quick load times to improve your search engine rankings.
5. Track & Optimize Your Content
Lastly, remember that content marketing is not a one-and-done process. It requires ongoing analysis and optimization. Use tools like Google Analytics to monitor key metrics such as bounce rate, time on page, and conversion rate. Based on these insights, tweak your content strategy and improve your content for better results.
Bonus Tip: Which Content Marketing Materials Produce the Best Results For Financial Companies?
Remember, your clients are bombarded with information every day. To cut through the noise, your content needs to be valuable, engaging, and client-centric. This requires a deep understanding of your audience, constant adaptation to their changing needs, and continuous refinement of your strategy based on analytics and feedback.
But not only this – you need to find the right mediums to reach your audience. Did you know that 52% of financial marketers identify reaching their target audience as one of the biggest challenges? What about the fact that 62% of financial marketers consider reaching the target audience as one of the top 3 benefits of content marketing?
Anyway, here are five types of content marketing collateral that you should consider adopting in your strategy:
- Thought Leadership Pieces: Becoming a thought leader in the financial industry can tremendously boost your brand reputation. Publish insightful articles, deliver keynote speeches, engage in meaningful discussions on social media platforms, and actively participate in industry forums. By sharing your expertise, you can build trust and credibility, fostering stronger relationships with your audience.
- Personalized & SEO-Enhanced Content: With the rise of big data and AI, personalization is no longer a luxury but a necessity. Don’t write generic stuff. Instead, find the balance of creating SEO-enhanced pieces that are tailored to cater to the individual needs of your clients. Personalized content enhances user experience, strengthens client relationships, and leads to higher engagement rates.
- Industry Partnership Pieces: Partnering with other reputable businesses or influencers in the financial industry can help you reach a broader audience and add credibility to your content. Guest blogging, co-hosting webinars, or joint research studies are some ways to leverage partnerships in your content marketing strategy.
- Employee Advocacy and User-Generated Content: Your employees are your brand ambassadors. Encourage them to share your content on their social media platforms. Not only does this improve your reach, but it also adds an element of authenticity and trust to your content. Furthermore, encourage your clients to share their experiences, testimonials, or reviews. User-generated content is authentic, relatable, and can significantly enhance your brand reputation.
- Podcasts: This medium needs no introduction – nowadays, everybody prefers consuming content through listening since it frees them to engage in other activities. Simply put – this is the most guaranteed way to reach your audience.
To Wrap Up: Why Having a Proper Content Marketing Strategy is Imperative For Financial Companies?
In conclusion, content marketing presents a unique opportunity for financial companies to connect with their clients on a deeper level, build trust, and drive business growth. A well-crafted content marketing strategy can dramatically enhance your reach, engagement, and conversions. By understanding your audience, consistently delivering value, and leveraging analytics for optimization, you can turn your content marketing efforts into a significant revenue driver. However, this requires a well-planned strategy and consistent execution.
Note that, even with a clear roadmap, financial companies often stumble in their content marketing efforts. Common mistakes include a lack of clear goals, poor understanding of the target audience, inconsistent content creation, neglecting SEO, and failure to track results. Other mistakes include over-promotion, producing low-quality content, neglecting mobile optimization, ignoring client feedback, and failing to adapt to changes in consumer behavior and technology are some mistakes that can derail your content marketing efforts.
Moreover, the financial industry is highly regulated, and any content missteps can lead to regulatory fines, reputational damage, and loss of client trust. Therefore, ensuring compliance with all relevant regulations is paramount in your content marketing strategy.
These mistakes can result in wasted resources, missed opportunities, and a lower ROI.
By adhering to the steps outlined in this article and continually learning, testing, and refining your strategy, you can avoid these missteps and fully harness the power of content marketing.
Note that a robust content marketing strategy is no longer optional for financial companies; it’s a critical business necessity. And remember, as the financial landscape continues to evolve, so too should your content marketing strategy.
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