Marketers have traditionally been challenged to prove ROI from their marketing efforts. While this can sometimes be hard to define, financial advisor marketing can indeed convert prospects to clients and, moreover, create clients for life. The key to content marketing is delivering the right content to the right people at the right time, but how?
That’s the million-dollar question for financial advisors looking to grow their financial advisor client base through digital marketing efforts. While there’s no one simple answer, content marketing is a great place to focus your efforts. While content on any subject can be helpful (such as a how-to video), the professional services industry has the burden of not only attracting and retaining clients but educating them on what can be a complicated and sometimes intimidating topic to inexperienced investors.
Conversely, this “burden” can also be seen as an opportunity to become a trusted source of information to your prospects and eventually gain their business, turning them into your biggest advocates.
This article will cover:
- How to define your audience
- How to grab your audience's attention
- How to think beyond keywords
- How to use CTA (calls to action)
- How to deliver accurate information
- How to personalize your content
Your success level will be equally dependent on your efforts in applying the information here. It may be in your best interest to work with a digital marketing firm that specializes in working with financial advisors.
How to define your target audience and their needs
This is an important step that shouldn’t be skipped or rushed. This is where you can look at your financial advisor leads and decide who is the “ideal” client. You can then create a persona that will resemble that client in order to then craft content that will appeal to them.
An important note about your ideal client and niche: there could be more than one persona for ideal clients, depending on how varied both your current clientele and the audience you want to attract are. Your target audience may look quite different from each other, which means the content that appeals to each of them will look different.
While this may sound like more work (spoiler alert: it is), it’s crucial that financial advisor marketers understand that a one-size-fits-all approach won’t cut it.
How to grab your target market's attention right away
When it comes to search results, websites don’t have much time to get noticed. That’s why your financial advisor content needs to stand out in a way that makes the user want to click on your link more than others. This can be done with an interesting headline/description that is relevant to their search in a way that makes them think, “this is exactly what I was looking for!”
But how do you know exactly what they were looking for in the first place?
How to think beyond keywords
Admittedly, there are differing opinions in the marketing space when it comes to the traditional SEO keyword and its relevance compared to the days when it was the end all be all of SEO. That said, there’s no arguing that keywords and phrases are still a vital part of SEO.
However, the days of the single keyword dominating search queries are definitely over. Why? Because as technology has advanced and online searching has moved from exclusively on the desktop with a keyboard, so has the way people think about searching. Search engines, in their constant effort to deliver the most relevant and accurate result to any given search, are getting in their heads; not literally, but almost.
Semantic search has evolved as a way for search engines to infer a searcher’s intent based on other factors, not only the literal word or words they used. For marketers, this means rethinking your overall SEO strategy to not replace the keyword per se, but to include semantic search terms and phrases to keep up.
CTAs shouldn’t be an afterthought
One marketing mistake often made by financial advisors is not including enough CTAs (calls to action) when sharing financial advisor content. In most cases, one “learn more” or “click here” button isn’t enough. While there is such a thing as too many, you also don’t want to make your visitors work to find a way to get in touch or take the next step because, in most cases, if it’s not easy — they’ll move on.
How to give your target audience more of what they want to know
Once someone has accessed your financial advisor content and become part of your distribution list, you already know some important information about them, such as what they came to your financial advisor website looking for. By sending emails, or perhaps a series of emails along certain topics to that lead and anticipating their next question, you can surprise and delight them. More importantly, you can establish a rapport and show them how you’re already getting to know them before they’re even a client.
How to personalize your financial advisor content
In the past, it may have been violating or downright creepy for marketers to know so much about you, but times have changed. In fact, most consumers know that you have a lot of information about them and prefer that you use it to their advantage as well as yours.
Typically, marketers get it wrong by not using the data and making consumers feel like one of millions versus being seen as having unique needs and helping to fulfill those needs. It's the equivalent of a teenager getting targeted with retirement tips or a single adult with no children getting targeted for baby clothes. It makes the consumer very aware they are just another number.
Remember to keep it simple
Is the content relevant, helpful, and easily understood without using too much financial advisor lingo? As mentioned above, some prospects may be intimidated by the investing process. If your financial advisor content is too technical and not easily understood by an investing novice, it could be doing your financial advisor content marketing more harm than good.
Pro tip: Your content should educate and inform, not sell. In other words, don’t disguise a sales pitch as a piece of content. Consumers can spot a sales pitch a mile away.
Turn to the experts
If you’re struggling with your financial advisor content marketing and time is in short supply – it may be time to call for help. By seeking out content marketing professionals, you can get the marketing assistance you need while never losing sight of the most important part of your business: your clients.
Download our free eBook about converting your website visitors into qualified leads.