Whether your bank has been in the community for a couple of years or for many generations, consumer habits are changing. Today’s banking customers expect services to be provided in the digital world. Previously, customers were more likely to come into their local branch to receive financial advice, products and services. Now, your customers will rely on the internet to research this information. As a result, you must reach your customers in this new medium. If not, they may be swooped up by the competition who are providing informational content online for consumers.
What is Content Marketing?
In simple terms, content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing information that is valuable and relevant to your target audience. Ultimately, this will drive to lead generation in the long term.
The important word here is “valuable.” This content should be educational and useful to your consumers. For example, as a community bank your customers look to you to be a leader in the finance industry and to guide them through their financial journey. This content can be shared via your website, social media, newsletters and more. Remember, that regardless of where your bank is posting content it should be valuable to the consumer.
In order to give you a 360-view of content marketing, I’ve asked for the input of five experts in the field to provide you with different insights and tips below.
Why Content Marketing is Important for Community Banks
Roger Hicks, President of Electrum Branding
Roger Hicks, President of Electrum Branding has extensive experience in providing stellar content marketing for financial institutions. He shares, “Today’s internet is full of information. Unfortunately, it’s not always accurate. Therefore, it is increasingly important that banks, whose customer relationships are built on trust, provide content that is trustworthy and dependable. We only share content from reliable third-party sources such as the FDIC, Consumer Credit Protection Bureau, Florida Bankers Association, American Bankers Association, and Independent Community Bankers of America.”
In a sea of some false and some true information, your bank should be a beacon of reliable resources that consumers can always turn to. Regardless of where your bank is posting content it should always be valuable to the consumer. With the use of content marketing, you can build a bridge of trust between your institution and your customers and begin to harvest a relationship where consumers look to you as a dependable source of information. This can result in new referrals, product signups, accounts, loans and more.
3 Tips for Creating Killer Content Marketing for Banks
Determine Which Platforms Is Right For You
Not all platforms are created equal. Let’s take into account social media, for example. Different social media platforms have different audiences, tones, posting schedules, and topics. And maybe you’d like to use your e-newsletter to share important information about the company and your website will be a place where all that content comes tied together.
Kevin Barquest, Owner of Insurance Alliance, LLC
Kevin Barquest, a digital marketing expert helping consumers achieve homeownership shared that, “Regardless of your content marketing strategy, not all channels are the correct place to share certain content. Remember, each social media channel has its niche; Twitter for frequent updates, Snapchat for personal conversation, and LinkedIn for authoritative articles and publications. Understand the social media channels and then create content for each.
Conduct Thorough Research
I know this might sound obvious but your content has to be relevant to your client base. What you as a marketer find to be important, your target audience might not. Because of this, you should conduct research on what your audience is and isn’t interested in.
Yanyn San Luis, Owner and Founder of The Win Woman
The Win Woman, Yanyn San Luis who helps forward-thinking companies maximize their revenue, impact, and strategies points out, “Financial Services organizations should write about what’s relevant to their client base. For most, small business owners are a primary target market. What’s relevant right now is preparing for 2022 and what type of access to capital is available. Killer content marketing should accomplish three goals for the reader:
- They can implement immediately
- Be concise
- Come in a shareable format”
Keep Design In Mind
What’s going to capture your audience’s attention is how your content is designed. Whether that be the graphics in your social media platforms and e-newsletters or how your blog copy is laid out on your website. You’ll want to make sure that the design is easy to read, eye-catching, and shows brand consistency.
Thomas LaBadia, VP and Creative Director of Electrum Branding
Thomas LaBadia, who is the master of all things related to design explains, “When it comes to sharing content, design is everything. Without the right design, viewers will either not be interested in your content or they might not find you to be reliable. By using effective design elements, your content will capture users’ attention and cause them to want to read it in its entirety.”
I am Now Content Savvy, What Next?
Now that you’ve been briefed on what content marketing is and what you need to do to be successful at it, you can now start developing your own content marketing strategy. By having a plan to make your website, social media, e-newsletters and other communication channels work together, you will not only build a positive reputation with your current customers but also potential ones.
Martina Rosenthal, Marketing Manager at Beurer North America
Marketing expert Martina Rosenthal, gave her insight for creating a content marketing plan: “When it comes to planning your marketing content you have to start off with a killer strategy. Gather data on what your target audience wants to see/read and do an analysis of what your competition is doing. Once you have this information you’ll be able to confidently plan out your content.”
You are now ready to start the process of creating your own content for your institution! Don’t be intimidated to start, just dive right in by planning what type of information you’ll share, where you’ll be sharing it, and what it will look like. You can then create a schedule for when that content will go out to your target audience.
The world of content marketing is a big piece of every institution’s marketing plan. It is the bread and butter of anything relating to sharing information with your customers. Once your process and schedule is organized you will then be able to frequently share content on your bank’s social media pages, e-newsletters, website, and any other platforms you may use to reach your target audience. You will not only connect with your current customers but also begin to reach new prospects and grow your brand.
If you’d like to learn more tips and tricks for how to market your financial institution, check out my other blog posts where I share insights for different marketing tactics and strategies.
