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For financial institutions, trust is key. People want to work with companies that can keep their money safe while not charging a ton of extra fees. Content marketing for financial services helps establish this trust by appealing to a customer’s emotions and communicating expertise.
Financial services providers can use content to showcase their expertise and communicate their dedication to regulatory compliance. Learn how to create impactful, audience-focused content that will speak to your target audience.
The Importance of Content Marketing in Financial Services
The financial sector has experienced its share of bad press. From Ponzi schemes to economic collapse, bad news within the sector sours people on financial services. Although people are starting to believe in banks again, trust is still only at 64% globally.
Competition is another challenge for financial services marketers. The market is always shifting, with mergers happening constantly and new providers popping up everywhere. Add in the regulatory challenges, and marketing becomes tricky. In financial services, you have to stick to truth in advertising rules, comply with data privacy laws, and consider other regulatory agencies or risk fines.
Content marketing helps you sift through the competition and educate your audience to establish yourself as an expert in the industry. It also helps you connect with the younger generation, which is crucial as legacy customers age.
Key Content Marketing Strategies for Financial Institutions
Banks, credit unions, investment firms, and insurers can still stay compliant with advertising regulations while building a trusting relationship with potential customers through content. Most people have a complicated relationship with money, and your content can help them address their challenges, which makes your brand memorable. Consider these types of content.
Building Trust Through Educational Content
According to the World Economic Forum, people in the United States are clueless when it comes to money. The organization reports that only 50% of U.S. adults demonstrate financial literacy. This refers to your ability to make informed decisions about your money.
Americans are also facing student loan debt, credit card debt, and other challenges that make managing finances difficult. You can post educational content that fills in gaps in financial literacy and makes life easier for your prospective clients.
Banks such as Bank of America regularly post videos aimed at improving financial literacy. The company’s Better Money Habits campaign offers simple tips and tricks you can use to get out of debt faster, understand your credit score, and save for the future.
This kind of content helps people feel more confident in their financial skills and helps them connect your brand with their financial skills.
Leveraging Interactive Tools and Calculators
Interactive financial planning tools are engaging for anyone who happens on your website. The United States Securities and Exchanges Commission offers compound interest calculators and other tools that help people envision their retirement and plan for it.
An investment bank can use these tools to drum up excitement for different portfolio options. Potential customers can enter a monthly savings amount into your calculator and see how much they can earn if they maintain their account for 20 years.
Interactive tools can keep people on your website longer than standard content as they explore various scenarios. Use them as lead-generation tools by having customers sign up for your mailing list to access enhanced features. An online builder tool will help you create a lead-generation magnet that's fun for your audience.
Storytelling Through Customer Success and Case Studies
Showcasing customer success stories helps people see themselves in your brand. It can also inspire people to use your brand to fund their own ambitions. Wells Fargo’s YouTube channel features multiple videos showcasing its successful customers.
One video highlights veterans-turned-entrepreneurs who used the company’s resources to launch their dream businesses. The video itself features a wide range of people, from health care entrepreneurs to consultants. It also shows the resources available to entrepreneurs such as skills classes and networking opportunities.
By allowing potential entrepreneurs to see themselves in the video through existing customers, Wells Fargo taps into potential customers who would also like to start a business.
Tailoring Content for Different Financial Audiences
Financial services is a big umbrella, covering a wide range of products and services. The person applying for their first car loan won’t be intrigued by the same content as the person approaching retirement.
Your customer base isn’t a monolith, either. A credit union, for example, may have a lot of individual customers alongside small and medium-sized businesses. These customers have different needs and respond to different types of content.
Content for Retail Banking Customers
Personalization is crucial for connecting with individuals. A recent study showed that 71% of customers expect businesses to personalize interactions with them. Segment your audience by demographics such as age, gender, and location to create highly targeted content that matters to them. Use keyword research to determine what your customers want to hear.
For example, if you’re targeting small families in a neighborhood with a lot of young professionals who rent, run content about saving for a down payment on a house or ways to start saving for college without breaking the budget. Produce videos featuring the successes of customers who fit these demographic profiles.
Content for Business and Institutional Clients
Your business and institutional customers have different pain points. A new small business owner may want to know how to build their creditworthiness or look for a provider that offers other services, such as payroll management or credit card processing.
A large business may want its own dedicated team to help with complex transactions, particularly if they have a lot of cash at the end of the business day. These companies also scrutinize your fee structures and services to see where they can save money. Showcase these benefits in a technical white paper and have people sign up for your email list to receive it.
Content marketing to small businesses and CFOs is all about understanding their pain points and communicating how you can solve them. These customers also value trust. Podcasts, videos, e-books, and partnered posts with industry leaders help you establish your authority and build trust with business owners, CFOs, and other commercial clients. Use subject matter expert reviews to demonstrate your credibility.
Measuring Success: Metrics That Matter in Financial Content Marketing
To understand whether your content efforts are successful, you need to crunch the numbers. Measure content marketing metrics such as:
- Engagement rates
- Click-through rates
- New qualified leads
- Referral websites
Track individual campaigns with unique landing pages and offer codes. Monitor your website content and offsite content for compliance with regulations by partnering with specialists.
Evolving Your Financial Content Marketing Strategy
Financial marketing is complicated. You’re selling products and services that people don’t always understand clearly. You also have to comply with rules and regulations around what you can say and how you can say it.
Your success in this industry rests on building a reputation as a trustworthy provider who can meet your clients’ financial needs. Content marketing is a great way to connect with your audience and help them explain what you sell and how it can benefit them. Educational content, success stories, and other types of content boost your credibility while helping your clients improve their own financial well-being.
If you’re ready to enhance your financial services content marketing, Compose.ly can help. Our network of writers includes financial services experts who understand how to create relevant, optimized content for you. Make your brand more visible online while enhancing your customer network.
Contact us today to get started.
