No matter how big or small your business is, it always needs a content marketing plan. To your target audience, you need to offer content that is not only useful but also impressive. The right content can help you:
- Generate awareness about your brand/ business
- Nurture your customer’s trust
- Increase the flow of organic traffic towards your business
Is content marketing different for Financial Services Professionals than other genres?
The world has changed in a post covid scenario. Companies realize the importance of content marketing and it is no different for the Financial Services industry. However, the story here is slightly different.
The Financial World is VERY different from the rest of the industry. Here, we talk about people’s money. As a responsible Financial Content Creators, we have a HUGE responsibility up our sleeves.
So, if you are looking for Financial Content for your company, you need to answer a few questions first:
- What is your company’s brand soul essence? As in, what is the message you wish to portray to your customers as a brand?
- How do you want to position yourself, and in which part of the customer’s financial journey?
- What is your marketing plan?
Once you know the answers to these, you need to understand what kind of content marketing strategy is best for your company, and why it’s important for you to continuously produce content throughout an online presence, especially considering how much competition you are up against in this business.
If you want to include the best types of financial content for their target audience, you also need to understand how to produce it and make it engaging enough. Content marketing serves to deliver messages that are useful or relevant to your target market. It is a strategic way of creating value for the consumers, which in turn drives increased traffic and sales.
A financial institution can benefit from content by engaging with its audience on financial-related topics, delivering information about financial products or services, or even raising overall financial literacy.
There are several types of financial content that financial institutions can use to reach their audiences. Understanding the different types of financial content is important because financial institutions have to strike a balance between providing useful information and promoting their financial products.
Before we take a look at the different types of financial content, let’s first understand who the target market for financial services is.
Target Audience for financial institutions:
- Everyone looking to protect themselves financially
- People who are interested in financial products and services (such as savings & investments)
Types of Content that are relevant for financial institutions:
We will now take a look at the different types of financial content.
- Product Content – Promoting specific financial products or financial services
The financial institution can publish educational content about financial products, services or financial terms. The financial institution may also encourage customers to take up specific financial products. - Informational Content – Providing helpful tips and insights
There are many situations that financial institutions will encounter where they can offer information. For example, unexpected job loss, financial scams and financial difficulties - News Content – Publishing financial news and updates
Financial institutions can publish financial news and announcements on their blog posts to share information with their audiences, such as interest rates, financial industry changes and financial regulation changes. - Education Content – Promoting financial literacy
The financial institution publishes content that helps financial consumers understand financial concepts, financial terms - Inspirational Content – Publishing stories of success through financial management
This type of financial content is aimed at inspiring its audience to take up financial matters in order to lead a more fulfilling life. This type of financial content can also help financial consumers learn how to avoid money mistakes. - Customer Testimonial Content – Sharing customer stories
This financial content is useful for financial institutions as it gives insights from customers about their financial products and financial services. Customers may also be encouraged to share these testimonials on the financial institution’s website, social media pages or article sites. - Newsjacking Content – Sponsoring financial news and topics
This financial content aims to promote financial services and products by capitalizing on current financial trends or events. For example, during the launch of a new financial product, financial institutions will publish blog posts about the benefits of the financial product. This way, it can gain increased market exposure as its articles may be shared among financial consumers.
Other financial content types
Financial institutions can use financial content in many different ways. The financial institution may also want to experiment with financial newsjacking, and audio or video financial content. They can also employ financial social media marketing to promote their brand. With so many options out there, financial institutions should choose the type of financial content that best suits their financial services, financial products and financial goals.
Top #5 Steps to your financial content journey:
In case you feel your business is staggering in the field of content marketing, you can make use of any of the following types of content and get maximum results:
Blog Posts or other Long Form Content
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Blogs are regarded to be one of the most effective ways to attract and sustain your clientele. When you publish blogs regularly, they can greatly help in generating an audience organically. Even if you are new to the field, or are on a budget, a blog post is a comparatively cheaper option to build a powerful marketing strategy.
Podcasts and Reels
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For most young people, podcasts have become a daily part of their lives. The content, though passive in nature, is very easy to consume. Through interviews and talks with financial experts, one can seek important information and thus gain expertise. If you stick to regular and scheduled podcasts and interesting bite-sized videos, prompting it can become easier.
E-Books and White Papers
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Though very similar to a blog post, an e-book is generally more detailed and thus, much longer. White papers offer information that is data-driven to the core, it can help the customer understand the issue as well as your company’s take on it. You can also use them as optional incentives and collect your prospect’s contact details.
Videos
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Many times financial content is perceived to be boring and too complicated. Holding the attention of the reader can be difficult unless the information is captivating.
71% of marketers feel that videos offer more engaging and user-friendly information. In such a situation, it is no surprise that visually attractive content can do wonders for your business. Videos along with images, charts and infographics make it easy for people to recover and recall a piece of information.
For a marketer, the world of finance can often be a tough place, and thus developing inspiring financial content that can not only explain but also build your brand, is often a tough nut to crack. When you combine a crucial strategy along with user-friendly designs you give your brand big possibilities to create high-impact financial content.
