Content Marketing For Financial Advisors

A good place to start is Google requirements for content that will be published on your blog site.

Let’s establish the goals for this content. You want the content to rank on page one of Google for keywords that your ideal types of clients use when they are seeking information and financial advisors on the Internet.

Therefore, understanding Google requirements is critical before you begin producing content that is designed to increase your online visibility in Google.

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First is Google’s requirements for original content. You cannot download content from a library and expect it to rank on Google. That’s because Google has already seen the content – perhaps thousands of times.

Second is the need for consistency.  If you want Google to regard you as an expert in your field, you have to produce a consistent flow of new content. This could be one new article per month or five as long as it is consistent.

Third is the need for readability. Your content has to be good enough that people actually read it. This makes sense. Why would Google give you SEO credit for content that nobody reads? Google’s goal is to be the source of your great information that it can monetize with advertising.

Fourth are the Google conventions that establish you as an expert. For example, content marketing starts with pillar pages that are published on your website. These pages tell Google you are an expert on particular financial topics. Then you write articles that are published on your blog site and linked to the pillar pages on your website.

Fifth is a bit controversial, but Google has a preference for longer articles – 750 to 1000 words or more. A lot of people can churn out 300-word articles, but it takes more knowledge to write longer, higher quality articles and Google knows this.

There is an easy answer to this question. The best use of your time is to focus on the activities that produce the most revenue for your firm. Examples of these activities include:

• Talking to prospective clients
• Producing financial plans
• Investing client assets
• Meeting with current clients

There is a good chance the highest and best use of your time is not writing the various types of content you need to create online visibility and market your services to prospective clients.

Even if you are good at writing or like to write, you will make more money by winning new clients and servicing current clients.

If you agree with this statement, then it makes sense to outsource the writing of content to a digital marketing agency that specializes in working with firms in your industry. 

Why use a digital marketing agency? This type of company can optimize your content for maximum visibility on the Internet: 

• Conduct keyword research
• Write all original content
• Add relevant graphics 

Outsourcing your content marketing strategy will free up your time to do what you do best – work with your current and future clients.

Read our blog article: How Do I know Digital Marketing Will Work For Financial Advisors?

Most financial advisors produce similar types of content that serve multiple purposes:

• Educate investors on financial topics
• Solve financial problems (investor pain points)
• Provide information about financial advisors (firms, professionals)

The key to producing effective marketing communications is to produce content that is based on the financial needs of your potential clients. For example, what are the financial issues and potential pain points of investors who are getting ready to retire? Perhaps they are rolling their assets from a 401k to an IRA and are hiring their first financial advisor. 

The best way to communicate? The way your audience wants!

The ideal content will address these financial issues in a way that will make you a credible, trustworthy financial expert who can expedite their transition from working to retirement years.

Find out how Google friendly your website is, get your free scorecard today:

One of the primary goals of your content marketing strategy (blog articles) is to raise your online visibility as a financial expert in a way that produces relevant traffic for your website. Relevant traffic is your ideal type(s) of clients. 

This creates a one-time opportunity for your website to convert these visitors into qualified prospects for your advice and services.

So what is more important? The content that brought them to your website or the content on your website that convinces visitors to give up their anonymity and contact you? The obvious answer is both. Websites do not produce their own traffic. Inbound marketing produces traffic that websites convert into prospects. 

This makes your website your most powerful sales tool. It is a delivery system for information about your firm. It is your opportunity to differentiate your firm from all of the other financial firms that investors can find on the Internet. It is your main source of future contacts.

Websites deliver the same categories of information:

• Who you are
• What you do
• Who you serve
• Bios of professionals
• Why select your firm
• Resources & Insights
• Case studies
• eBooks on financial pain points

The difference is the content that is produced for each category of information.

The ideal content will describe the features that define your firm and how investors benefit from those features. For example, your website says you are a financial fiduciary. What exactly does that mean and how does that benefit your clients?

Attaching a blog to your website is critical because it will:

• Increase your visibility on the Internet
• Promote your brand
• Enhance your credibility
• Produce traffic for your website

Blogging, aka content marketing, is a way to produce fresh content that is visible in the major search engines. The financial topics are based on what types of information investors are seeking when they input certain keywords in Google.  

Search engines thrive on fresh, new content that answers important questions and solves financial problems. This is the foundation of the service that enables search engines to monetize the value of your content. 

The more content you produce, the more visible you are in the major search engines. The more times you rank on page one for important keywords, the more visitors you will have on your blog/website. 

How important is page one visibility? 91.5% of Google users do not scroll to page two. Only 4.8% scroll to page two and 1.1% to page three. This is content marketing’s biggest challenge. There is a lot of competition and a limited amount of space.

Blogging is also a way to build your brand. What sets your firm apart from all of the others competing for the same clients in your market? What makes you special? Blogging is a way to share your firm’s philosophy, vision, and business practices through the articles you write. 

Your blog articles are an opportunity to establish you as an expert on a particular financial topic. This expertise is what will attract investors to your website. This is a great way to market because you are already an expert in the eyes of investors.

Read our blog articles:

How to do a realistic audit on your financial advisor blog content

5 Fresh Ideas to Get Subscribers to Your Financial Advisor Blog

The use of social media comes with compliance regulations. It is important to know what you can and cannot post. Here are a few tips to make sure you are compliant.

There are several different social media platforms that a financial advisor can use: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube. Once you have identified your target audiences, you will be able to choose which platform works best for each audience.

Creating original content or using curated content to post or tweet on a daily or weekly basis requires consistency and perseverance. That is why most financial advisors use the services of a social media expert. This can be a dedicated employee at your firm, or you can outsource this type of work to a digital marketing agency.

eBooks are a fantastic way to market your services. They establish you as an expert and they can promote the services of your firm. More importantly, access to eBooks can require online registration which creates marketing opportunities for your firm.

eBooks also have other marketing applications. For example, it is a free offer that is integrated into your drip email system or is the free offer for a webinar. The marketing applications are only limited by your imagination.

You should consider eBooks as an exchange of information. You provide free information in the eBook in exchange for the investors’ contact information. This should be a win-win for both parties. The investor is able to download a free eBook on a topic they want to read about, and you receive their contact information to follow-up with them.

The best eBooks solve financial problems by providing guides and how-to lists that investors can implement. Ideally, the guides and lists route them back to you for implementation.

Drip emails are a way to keep your name in front of contacts and prospects. They can even be used for marketing to current clients who can be a source of high-quality referrals.

As usual, the best drip emails will solve financial problems. They may not be the ideal way to distribute newsletters that contain generic financial information. You should assume most investors are already inundated with information so you need a strategy that causes them to read your emails and not unsubscribe from future emails. 

You should personalize the subject line of your drip emails to maximize your open rates. People want to feel that you are trying to connect with them on an individual basis and are not just sending them a mass email. Segmenting your email list using various data points and creating more thoughtful emails are a couple of best practices.

Read our blog articles:

How To Write A Financial Advisor Newsletter That Will Get Read!

5 Ways Video Improves Financial Advisor Email Results

White Papers are articles that appear on your website under a navigation aid titled Resources or Insights. Papers are a great way to showcase your knowledge and understanding of important financial topics and strategies.

By including these in-depth articles on your website you will be increasing your credibility with the investors that read them. This may be the incentive they need to initiate contact with your firm. 

White papers differ from the other content on your website. They can be comprehensive research articles that educate investors about your investment strategies and processes. 

The best white papers are like the best eBooks. They solve financial pain points for investors who are visiting your website. It is a proven fact that investors will read content that serves their purpose and they ignore generic content that has nothing to do with them or their situations.