Content is king. It takes a lot of work to meet all of the search engine requirements. And, there is no substitute for it.
It may sound like a broken record, but it’s never been truer, especially when it comes to content marketing for financial advisors. As a financial advisor, you’re able to be a trusted part of a process that helps people achieve their financial goals by providing the information they need to make the right decisions.
That gives you the unique opportunity to be considered a thought leader when it comes to available options for planning someone’s financial future for themselves and their families. That said, knowing great content can lead to the future growth of your financial advisor firm’s AUM doesn’t make it any easier to create the content and distribute it in an effective manner.
Read on for ways you can use content marketing to generate leads for financial advisors.
While there are many types of content that can produce leads for financial advisors, following are some tips for using financial advisor content marketing to generate more leads for your firm.
Traditional forms of marketing such as radio, television, print, and direct mail are one-sided forms of communication. Digital marketing, including social media content, allows for 2-way communication between those who read your content and you.
For example, if you publish a blog post and ask for feedback – you may get responses right away. The same goes for social media, video, and almost all other forms of digital marketing. By taking advantage of the ability to communicate in real-time, you’ve engaged that potential client and put yourself in a position to create competitive advantage when they are ready to start interviewing financial advisors.
Content marketing – the name says it all. More than ever, consumers want to be informed and feel like they have all the available information on a given topic before making a decision. This is especially true when it comes to selecting financial advisors. By creating content such as white papers, eBooks, and informational videos as an example – you’re showing prospective clients that you are a great source of knowledge they can use to make better financial decisions. You are not just a thought leader. You are a fountain of specialized knowledge that helps large numbers of people achieve their financial goals. And, you do this with no strings attached.
And if you’re providing great insights and information to anyone reading a blog post, just imagine what you are able to provide for those who seek out your services and give you details about their finances and future financial plans.
With the 24-hour news cycle, there’s never a moment when news, or opinions masquerading as news, is not making its way around the world. From politics to finance, there is no shortage of content that provides minute to minute information about major news events that impact the financial well being of millions of people.
And with the events of 2020 and beyond, there’s no question that major news of any kind can have drastic and lasting effects on the financial well-being of the people you would like to add as new clients. As a financial advisor, it’s essential that you’re able to create content that shows your audience that you’re not only aware of current events, but also how they can affect people and their short and long-term financial plans.
When big news events happen, people tend to panic. By remaining a calm, insightful, and ever-present resource during these times of relative panic, you can establish your role as a trustworthy source of information that helps them make the right decisions.
Quality content isn’t always easy to produce. If it was, there would be a lot less low-quality financial advisor content making the rounds. If there are some pieces of content that resonate well with your audience and are relatively evergreen (meaning they aren’t tied to a current event or something likely to change soon) then there’s no reason not to repurpose the content from time to time - keep it fresh and relevant.
A great way to reuse content is across platforms. If a video performed well when shared on your website, consider creating social posts with clips to share across channels. The same goes for blog posts, whitepapers, eBooks, or any other content that resonates well with your audience. If you have multiple channels and audiences in your distribution arsenal, don’t be afraid to use them to get your content out there to generate financial advisor leads.
When using digital marketing channels, there’s no reason not to measure the results of your content marketing efforts. When producing and distributing content online, everything has a digital footprint and can therefore be measured.
Everything from blog post performance to social media engagement and video views can (and should) be tracked to find the optimal content to be shared at the optimal time to the optimal audience.
While this may sound a bit tedious, that’s because it should be! If you’re using digital marketing channels to distribute your content marketing but aren’t using those same channels to measure the performance, you’re missing out on opportunities to use the day to day metrics to tell the real story of how your content is performing.
Once you have an audience viewing your content, it might be tempting to go into full sales promotion mode. However, try to resist the temptation whenever possible. Today’s digital consumers are smarter than ever.
They almost always know when content is coming from a source that ultimately would like to sell them something. But oftentimes they are willing to have contact with that source in exchange for quality content. (i.e. “I know this whitepaper is sponsored by a financial advisor, but I really want this information so it’s worth it to complete the advisor’s registration process.”)
By educating consumers first, you’re making an even trade (contact information for fee offer) and can also make gains toward earning that potential client’s trust in the long term by not abusing their contact information with spam or cold calls.
While these are all valid ways to use content marketing as a tool for generating financial advisor leads, they’re only productive if you have the time and resources to produce and distribute the content. If you’re struggling with that piece of the puzzle, look for a digital marketing partner with content marketing knowledge in your industry to help you achieve your goals.