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By Brian Thorp
When you hear the term content marketing as a financial advisor, the first
thing that likely comes to mind is writing and publishing articles on your
own website. But there’s so much more to content marketing and if writing
isn’t your cup of tea, don’t worry! We’ll share ideas to help you attract
your ideal clients whether or not you enjoy creating content.
Content marketing strategies rank among the most powerful and
cost-effective ways for financial advisors to build their brand and
increase traffic to their websites. But it’s important to note when you get
started with content marketing that many of these strategies involve
content published on other websites, not your own.
By going where the eyeballs and ears are (e.g. popular websites/blogs and
podcasts), you’ll gain opportunities to get in front of your target market,
build authority in your areas of specialization, strengthen your SEO
(Search Engine Optimization) of your website, and ultimately get more
visitors to your website from your ideal future clients.
Here are five powerful ways financial advisors can grow their business with
content marketing:
1. Get Featured on Popular
Websites
There are many reasons why it’s valuable for you to gain visibility on
websites other than your own. While your own website is a great place to
build a relationship once people find it, you’re much more likely to get
noticed and gain SEO benefits when you’re featured on reputable websites
popular with your target audience.
One way to get started is by submitting a guest post to a website or blog
whose audience will likely be interested in topics relevant to your area of
specialization. Beyond the potential of attracting new clients who read
your article, you’re gaining impactful SEO benefits as well. When websites
with high domain authority publish your content and include a link to your
own website, this helps search engines like Google determine that content
on your site is trustworthy and helps your site rank higher in search
results.
If you’d also like to have your guest post published on your own website,
too, you can do this by simply taking one extra step of not indexing the
article on your own website, or indicating the original article is the
guest post version. While this may sound complicated, it’s quite easy to do
and your website designer can help do this for you in just a few minutes.
If you would rather not spend time writing articles yourself and/or you
want to maximize your opportunities to grow your business with content
strategies, here are two ideas worth considering:
Hire Freelance Writers
Get to know personal finance freelance writers you can hire to write
ghostwritten articles. By preparing an outline or having a conversation to
help them understand what you’re looking to convey, you can build a library
of content that reflects your thoughts without the heavy lifting of
starting from scratch. And you’ll be able to personalize the final product
to ensure articles reflect your tone and voice.
Alternatively, there are also benefits to offering byline credit to the
writers you hire and quoting yourself within the articles they write. Since
many freelance writers hold professional designations themselves and/or
have established a strong reputation for their writing, they offer
credibility that demonstrates professionalism and can improve your SEO.
Subscribe to a Modern Digital Marketing Platform for Financial Advisors
Unlike traditional find-an-advisor websites that only offer you a profile
page listing in a directory of financial advisors, modern sites like
Wealthtender help consumers learn more about financial advisors by
publishing articles you can be featured in to gain visibility and boost
your SEO.
Instead of you having to write your own content, you’ll be featured in
articles and guides to help you gain recognition in your areas of
specialization, for professional designations you’ve earned (e.g. Certified
Financial Planner), and ongoing opportunities to be quoted in articles
published on wealthtender.com as well as other publications popular with
consumers.
By joining Wealthtender, you also gain access to a growing community of
financial professionals and educators, including hundreds of personal
finance blog and podcast owners who may be interested in helping their
readers and listeners get to know you, especially if your niche aligns with
their interests.
2. Write and Publish Articles on Your Own Website
While guest posting and being featured on other websites builds awareness
for your professional brand and strengthens your SEO, publishing articles
on your own website is an important content marketing strategy to increase
engagement and convert more visitors into clients.
If you’re not sure where to begin, a smart approach to decide which topics
you should write about on your website is by thinking about the types of
questions you most often hear when speaking with prospects and your current
clients.
This is also a good time to think about what your ideal future clients are
searching for on Google when they’re preparing to hire a financial advisor.
By writing articles that center on the topics and keywords popular among
your target audience, your website can become a popular destination for
education in the areas most important to you and your ideal clients.
As we discussed previously if you’d prefer not to write articles yourself
or want to complement your own writing, hiring freelance writers can be an
affordable and worthwhile investment.
There are also a growing number of service providers who offer access to
content libraries you can publish on your website. While these articles are
usually not written exclusively for you, this can be a cost-effective way
to complement original content on your website with educational articles on
a wide range of topics.
It’s also easy to build out an FAQ page on your website with answers to
questions related to your areas of specialization. As you develop
standalone articles that dive deeper into topics addressed on your FAQ
page, you’ll be able to link to them which can further improve your
engagement with visitors to your website and help your SEO.
3. Create Lead Magnets with “Gated Content”
You’ll want most of the content on your website to be easily accessible to
visitors and indexable by search engines. But you’ll also benefit by
publishing some content that is ‘gated’ and only available after you
collect an email address from someone who wants to view the content. Often
referred to as ‘lead magnets’ and frequently delivered as downloadable PDF
files, gated content can be a great way to get more subscribers for your
newsletter and learn who among your site visitors could turn into warm
leads.
The best types of content to turn into lead magnets can vary, but often
include resources like case studies and more in-depth tips or ideas you can
share related to your areas of specialization. For example, if you
specialize in serving couples who are nearing retirement, what guidance can
you offer in an article that demonstrates your knowledge and previews the
types of insights they can expect to receive when they hire you? Or if you
specialize in a niche like alternative investments, what information can
you provide to help them understand the opportunities and risks associated
with alternative investments?
4. Become a Podcast Guest
While launching your own podcast can be an effective way to grow your
practice and many service providers now make it easier than ever to get
started, most advisors can achieve considerable success growing their
business by being interviewed as a guest on podcasts.
Being a podcast guest is an effective way to reach new audiences who may be
interested in working with you. And listeners who hear your podcast may
also tell their friends and family about you if they think you’re a good
fit for their needs.
During the interview, you’ll gain opportunities to highlight your expertise
and gain recognition in your areas of specialization. And because listeners
are getting to know you as a person, an emotional connection is established
that warms up cold prospects making them more likely to set up an
introductory call.
You’ll likely also enjoy SEO benefits with a link back to your website. And
you’ll gain a closer relationship with the podcast host who will keep you
in mind for their listeners’ needs. When you promote the podcast episode
you’re featured to your clients and prospects, the podcast host gains new
listeners, too. Everybody wins!
When you’re ready to find podcasts you would like to be interviewed on, you
can turn to general services like PodMatch that connect podcast hosts with
people interested in becoming a guest, or advisor marketing platforms like
Wealthtender for introductions to owners of financial podcasts in their
community.
5. Get Quoted on Popular Websites and Media Outlets
Another effective way to build authority, strengthen your online reputation
and boost your SEO is to get quoted in articles relevant to your areas of
specialization and media outlets popular with consumers. Effectively, this
content marketing strategy is piggybacking on someone else’s content and
you’re along for the ride.
Callout quotes build authority and generate interest with SEO benefits that
help you rank higher in search results. Once you’ve been quoted in an
article, there are several ways you can turn your feature into a powerful
marketing opportunity, including:
• Creating social media posts highlighting your callout quote
• Previewing the article in your newsletter sent to clients and prospects
• Adding the article to your ‘media mentions’ page on your website
• Syndicating (republishing) the article on your own website (ask
permission first)
• Sharing the article with COIs in your niche and local reporters
Finding opportunities to get quoted does require a degree of effort, but
today it’s easier than ever to uncover opportunities to become a source for
articles through services available to advisors and subject matter experts.
For example, financial advisors who sign up for Wealthtender gain
opportunities each month to be quoted in articles that strengthen their
authority and build their professional brand. Or you can sign up for
services like Help A Reporter Out (HARO) or Qwoted to receive emails daily
with opportunities to be quoted in articles relevant to your niche or areas
of experience.
And when it comes to engaging with the media and local reporters, keep
these tips in mind for your strategy to be most effective:
• Be persistent in sending emails to journalists and reporters you want to
connect with; Ensure your emails convey your areas of knowledge and
specialization where you can offer useful insights their readers will
appreciate. Have a contrarian point of view? Express it!
• Many reporters read (or at least skim) every email they receive, so even
if they don’t respond, continue to keep in front of them with timely
insights, offer your views on recent stories in the news, etc.
• Follow the social media accounts of the reporters you’d like to get to
know; Like and respond to their posts; Engage and add to the conversation;
Great opportunity to showcase your knowledge
• Remember, reporters, are people, too. Get to know them. Offer to take them
out for dinner or drinks so you can get to know each other.
• Reporters are tasked with answering the question “why will my readers
care about this?” when writing articles. When reaching out to reporters,
think about how you can offer value that addresses this need.
Promoting Your Content
Once your written content is published or a podcast episode featuring you
is released, promoting your content proactively is a best practice to
ensure your content gets noticed. Whether the content is on your own website
or published elsewhere, there are many ways you can improve its visibility
and maximize its impact.
For example, creating posts across your social media accounts with links to
the content can drive traffic when it’s first published. Think about
relevant LinkedIn groups where the content may be valuable to share and
Twitter hashtags that could drive additional engagement and sharing.
It’s also valuable to use social media scheduling tools to periodically
recycle your social media posts or set reminders to create new posts
linking to your content. This can help keep traffic flowing to older
articles and can benefit your SEO, too.
Content Marketing Offers Many Benefits for Financial Advisors
No matter which content marketing strategies you decide are best for you,
you’re establishing trust with consumers and showcasing your knowledge and
ability to help them achieve their financial goals. Unlike traditional
sales tactics like cold-calling or knocking on doors, content marketing is
a powerful form of inbound marketing, inviting consumers to learn more
about you in a very approachable manner.
The world has changed and the way people search for financial advisors has
evolved with it. As searching online becomes the leading way that consumers
find and research financial advisors, content marketing should become a key
part of your overall marketing plan to strengthen your online reputation
and boost your SEO.
About the Author
Brian Thorp
Brian is CEO and founder of Wealthtender. He and his wife live in Texas,
enjoying the diversity of Houston and the vibrancy of Austin. With over 25
years in the financial services industry, Brian is applying his experience
and passion at Wealthtender to help more people enjoy life with less money
stress.
Connect with Brian on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/briancthorp/
check out WealthTender
here https://wealthtender.com/financial-advisor-marketing/
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