Working in the financial services industry, marketing is not always on the top of your mind. You like the accuracy and definiteness of finances, and marketing is more of an art – not really something you love to do.
That being said, you hear over and over stories of companies marketing their services so well that they have too many leads to handle. That sounds like a problem your financial service firm wouldn’t mind having, right? You probably already know the basics of marketing, and you may have tried out a few channels in your past, but it feels like you are just short of getting that avalanche of leads.
For many companies, they are just one step away. Online marketing for financial services is only successful if you do it right. Many companies, unfortunately, do what they deem as “enough”. They will send out a newsletter but have no call-to-action. They will start a social media channel, but post on it just one every few weeks. Companies like these are doing all the right things, but they just have to take that one last step.
Here are a few things that, if applied wholeheartedly, can be that final push towards the leads you have worked so hard for.
Modernize Your Web-Presence
Today’s day in age, a website is a must. If you don’t have a quality website, you are fighting your competitors with both hands tied behind your back. It’s that simple. Most financial service companies have done that. Unfortunately, they did the bare minimum, and have some stock site that looks like it was created in 30 minutes, flat. If this is you, then you are throwing potential customers right to your competitor’s door.
A website has evolved to be more than simply an online brochure for your business. Nowadays, it is a conversion funnel, a resource provider, an introduction, and, in some cases, a website is even the business itself.
Not only should you have a website, but you need to have a modern website that reflects well upon your business. It needs to make a great first impression. If your company is trustworthy, experienced, and responsive, then your site needs to make that message clear in just a few seconds. Include testimonials, case studies, and anything else to make your message crystal clear.
That is just the first step. Now comes the hard part: the lead funnel. The goal of most websites in the financial service industry is to make sales. If you never get a sale from the website, then what’s the point? Set up a marketing funnel (just like a sales funnel) that starts with the visitors to your site, and ends with a percentage of them handing you a signed check.
Now that your website is a converting machine, it’s time to fuel it.
When marketing for online services, use any technique you can think of to increase traffic to your site. One of the best ways to do this would be to provide valuable content.
Provide Valuable Content
The biggest mistake people make when doing online marketing for financial services is focusing on quantity over quality when it comes to content. They try to start it off with two blog posts every week, then after two weeks realize this takes a ton of work if you are doing it right.
The quantity of posts is secondary to quality. If you can only get one post out a month, but that post is fantastic and provides a plethora of value to the client, then that is great! One great post will be more effective than 5 mediocre ones.
Luckily, if you create great content, then it will spread itself and start bringing more visitors to your site, right? If it were only that easy. Creating good content is only about half the job.
While there are many differing opinions on the exact percentages, try spending about 20% of your time strategizing and planning your content, 50% of your time writing it, and 30% promoting it. Some even say you should spend just as much time promoting your content as you did creating it. No matter how you split your time, make sure to spend time promoting it.
If no one hears about that revolutionary post you made, then no one will read it.
One last tip when it comes to content: talk about things your persona wants to hear, not what you want to hear. Don’t tell them about a minor tax change. Instead, tell them about a new budgeting trick to help companies reach their goals easier. Give them useful, educational, and actionable information they can use to better themselves or their businesses.
Offer Useful Tools and Resources
Blogs are generally the first type of content used in content campaigns, but in the financial industry there are many different types of content you can use. Things like calculators, reports, resources, and guides can be very useful to visitors. A mortgage calculator can be built relatively quickly, and it can provide far more value than a short blog post. Test out different types of material and see what your audience prefers.
Next Steps
At the end of the day, if you are putting in effort marketing to customers, then you are doing than most of your competitors. The financial industry puts far too little effort in marketing, so even if you are just doing periodic blog posts and tool creation then you are a step above the rest.
Modernize your web-presence and provide valuable content, and you will be on your way to getting that lead funnel filled. That being said, all this can be nuanced and complicated to do correctly – and that is what it takes to get truly great results.
If you want some guidance getting your online marketing up-and-running, give New North a call and we’ll work with you to create a strategy that will finally start driving the results you’ve always wanted.
