What *is* content marketing?
Content marketing is still a relatively new field, leaving many firms to wonder: what am I supposed to do, exactly?
At its core, “content” encompasses articles, videos, infographics… basically any material that you share with your clients or potential clients that isn’t blatant advertising. Your website is a form of content marketing.
The goal is to get people interested in you: your point of view, your products, your services, your brand. This can extend far beyond websites and blogposts to podcasts, social media, and more.
While content marketing *can* talk about products or services directly, it doesn’t have to. (Here’s Nike talking about how to work out in a face mask… with only a subtle mention of their training app at the end.)
In fact, some of the most effective content marketing doesn’t mention a product at all. Consider the below video. It’s one of my favorite things. I’ve watched it at least a dozen times, sometimes just to make me smile if I’m sad. And guess what? It’s sponsored by Budweiser. Not only is it content marketing, it’s maybe the best content marketing I’ve ever seen.
Education or entertainment
When I started in this field, I learned a cardinal rule: make content that educates, or make content that entertains. The video above entertains. For financial firms, the goal is almost always education. Ideally, you can make the content entertaining, too. But if you have to choose between the two, I recommend financial firms stick with education. It’s critical that firms who handle client money maintain their trustworthiness.
For financial advisors, content needs to educate (prospective) clients about broader financial concepts and money trends. Why? It highlights your value. People need to have a basic understanding of how investing works in order to appreciate how you can help manage those investments. It empowers your clients while highlighting your value (and justifying your fee). A win-win.
In order for content to truly highlight your value, though, it needs to be yours. That means custom content that highlights your personal perspective—the things only you can offer. That’s why I’m so opposed to boiler plate content that covers current events. Your clients can go to CNBC, the Wall Street Journal or even their local paper for headlines. You’ll get further by explaining what the Fed does than you will notifying clients that the Fed kept rates unchanged.
Writing content to showcase your point of view s is almost always going to be more engaging to your clients than a cookie cutter take written by someone else.
That’s why my content is built the way it is. I know that content works best when it’s custom, but not every advisor has the time to write content from scratch. And many advisors don’t like writing. So I created templates that work as-is, but pack a much bigger punch when customized. (And I created a mad-lib style guide to make customization easy… or you can have Content 151 do it for you.) The goal was and is to give you an affordable way to highlight your point of view, and your value, to clients.
Before you go…
For what it’s worth, this article is an example of content marketing. Yes, there’s a plug for my product at the end, but it’s in the context of education. For any firm to see the value of what Content 151 does, they need to understand the value of content marketing.
The goal was to educate you on content marketing and share my specific point of view on what makes good content. By the end, you understand the value of my product more, because you appreciate the basics of great content. Ideally, you were entertained a little bit, too, courtesy of the Cubs and Budweiser.
So you tell me: did it work? Did this article get you more interested in Content 151 and what we do? Comment below.