Looking for a new way to generate clients? Content marketing as a financial adviser is something you need to explore. It’s one of the best ways to attract new clients, raise your profile and show the world just how much of a subject expert you are.
Content marketing is a more covert way of raising your business’s profile by publishing what the Content Marketing Institute calls “valuable, relevant and consistent” content. ‘Content’ can refer to a range of mediums, from blogs, social media posts and reports to videos and even quizzes.
The key difference between content marketing and sales-focused or spammy emails is that it’s genuinely interesting or useful. You’re giving nuggets of wisdom to your reader in return for their attention, which can be a highly effective way to raise awareness of your services or brand.
Content marketing can cover a wide range of topics but it’s most effective if you produce content that relates to your sector or specialism. You can use topical events or holidays as a springboard for ideas, but make sure you always bring your idea back to something that’s relevant to what you’re selling.
There are two broad categories of marketing activities: outbound, where you actively reach out to potential customers and overtly sell your services, and inbound, which draws customers towards you through more subtle tactics.
Consumers don’t like being bombarded by ads or overt marketing efforts. 91% of people believe that adverts are more intrusive today than they were just two or three years ago. Well-placed, amusing adverts have their place, as do communications with a clear sales focus, but they shouldn’t be the only way you engage with new and existing customers.
Content marketing is one of the mainstays of an effective inbound marketing strategy and when done well, it can be mutually beneficial. You share a little bit of what you know for free, which helps the reader with predicaments, and potentially gain new customers for your efforts.
Before you write a single word, you need to put together a content strategy. Without a high-level overview of what you’re going to be writing about and when, it’s easy for your content production to become sporadic and, eventually, to fall by the wayside. You could also miss out on opportunities to capitalise on relevant dates in the calendar, such as the end of the financial year or planning ahead for Christmas, without any advance scheduling.
Content without strategy is also likely to lack a clear focus that will drive commercial outcomes. It’s crucial to remember that your content’s ultimate goal is to send new customers your way, whilst also being genuinely informative and enjoyable to read.
Here are just some of the things your strategy should consider:
Topics – what would you like to talk about?
How often you can realistically produce and publish content
The form of your content – this can be anything from social media posts to blogs to short videos
Where you’re going to house the content – it’s best to have a specific section of your website so it’s easy to find
How you’re going to promote your content – we'll elaborate on this in a moment
If you’re completely new to the world of content marketing, it might be difficult to know where to start. Here are five of our top tips to help make your content marketing efforts as effective as possible.
Great content gives you an opportunity to show just how much you know about a certain topic. You can position yourself as a true subject matter expert and offer potential customers a bit of free advice at the same time. For example, if you’re a financial adviser who specialises in estate planning, you could publish content about how to prepare to hand your assets down to your children or how to minimise inheritance tax.
On the surface, giving away your knowledge for free sounds counterintuitive. But the truth is that not everyone has the budget or inclination to pay for all your services. By planting yourself in the reader’s mind as a subject matter expert with your helpful content, you’re likely to be the first company they think of when they need to pay for advice. Lots of matters require bespoke, expert input, meaning a blog with a broad focus will never replace a tailored consultation with you.
You could produce the most beautifully written content, but if it doesn’t feature those all-important keywords, it won’t reach as many eyes as it should. Search engine optimisation (SEO) is a crucial part of content marketing, helping to maximise how many people read your words.
Google (and other popular search engines) have made a number of adjustments to their algorithms over the years, meaning best practice has changed a lot. At the time of writing, content that is well written ranks higher than poor-quality content that’s stuffed with keywords. But mindfully including keywords within an article that’s genuinely interesting will get your content noticed.
There are lots of tools out there that can identify keywords, like GrowthBar, and help your content rank highly (i.e., appear on an earlier page of search engine results). Let’s say you’re producing an article about when to start planning for retirement. A keyword tool can show you how people are wording their queries and help you capture their attention.
A call to action, or CTA, is one of the most important elements of effective content. Its purpose is to encourage your reader to continue their journey with you while you’ve got their attention. The best CTAs are short, sweet and are clear about what they’d like the reader to do next.
Let’s say someone is reading your blog about investment advice for beginners. As the reader has gone out of their way to click on the article and read to the end, you know they’re invested and interested. Concluding with something along the lines of “If you’d like more investment advice, we’ve got experts who can help so click here to find out more.” will encourage them to take action while the topic’s fresh in their mind.
It takes time, effort and potentially money to produce content, so make sure it’s working as hard as possible for you. Don’t simply publish it and forget about it forever more. Share your content across your social media platforms, include it in email newsletters and reference back to it in future blogs to squeeze every drop of value out of it.
You can also return to blogs and update them to make sure they stay relevant. This is a great way to reduce your workload while ensuring you’ve always got fresh, up-to-date content to publish across your channels. Alternatively, you can use previous blog ideas to inspire future content series.
In the same way that your clients pay you for your financial expertise, you shouldn’t be afraid to pass your content requirements on to the experts. Poorly written content will do your business more harm than good; it could give out the false impression that you’re not intelligent or knowledgeable, when you’re just not great with words.
If your budget is tight, enlist the help of a freelance writer, editor or proofreader to either handle content for you or improve your first drafts. Got a little more budget to spare? A content marketing agency can handle everything from strategy to production to publishing, leaving you with more time to help your clients.
If you’re looking for help to grow your financial advisory business, Unbiased PRO can help. Our tools will help you find new clients that align with your business goals and raise your profile without you needing to lift a finger. See how Unbiased can benefit your business and increase your ROI.
Did you find this article helpful? Then you might find our article on marketing for accountants informative, too!
