This was originally written for and published by Rethinking65.
The majority of financial advisors fall into one of two camps when it comes to their content marketing strategy:
- They have a marketing strategy — but it’s an overwhelming mess. Often, any one firm can have dozens of different components in their marketing funnel. They have a company blog, a lead advisor records a podcast, and their client service associate assists in social media management and email campaigns to new prospects and current clients. Even if all, or even a few, of these different marketing components seem to be getting some traction, it still feels frustrating that not all the oars are rowing in the same direction.
- They are comfortable creating only one type of content, and they stay in their comfort zone. This strategy often starts out strong. If an advisor is comfortable with blog writing, podcast recording, or another type of marketing, their content is typically very strong. They’re able to succinctly capture their brand voice, make key points, and offer an educational resource to their audience. Unfortunately, that’s where the benefits start and end. Strong content alone doesn’t make a strategy. You can have the most eloquently written blog post that perfectly showcases your expertise as an advisor, but if nobody sees it (or if your audience doesn’t enjoy written content), you’re not reaching anyone.
The truth is that creating content is tough work. When a firm is over-creating, they run the risk of burning out on content creation altogether, and their marketing will suffer. When a firm is under-creating, they run the risk of their content getting lost in the void. So, how can advisors repurpose their content to create a streamlined and sustainable strategy?
The 20% Theory
Whether you are creating an overwhelming amount of content or creating a small amount of content exceptionally well, you’re likely running into the same problem: You spend the majority of your efforts on content creation.
Instead, advisors can level up their efforts by only spending 20% of their allotted marketing time creating the content itself. The other 80% of your time should be spent repurposing and distributing that high-quality content.
The 20%
If 20% of your efforts are focused on content creation, it’s important to make sure you’re creating the right type of content for your firm. Typically, choosing what type of content to create relies on a few key factors:
- What do you enjoy creating? Every advisor is different! Whether you love to record informational videos, or you prefer writing long-form blog content, there is no wrong answer.
- What type of content does your audience prefer? For advisors who work with retirees and pre-retirees, this question is critical. Depending on who you work with, some types of content might not be relevant to your target audience. For example, busy medical professionals who are gearing up to sell their practice and retire may not be a fit for longer blog content that takes a while to read. Instead, they might benefit from videos or podcasts that are short but educational.
The 80%
Once you determine what type of foundational content your firm will be creating, you can focus on the many ways you can repurpose that cornerstone content to achieve your growth goals. There are countless ways you can repurpose foundational content, from creating social media posts from long-form blogs to using transcripts from a video to build out an email campaign.
The goal should be to find as many high-impact ways to repurpose or recycle your foundational content as possible. This has a few key benefits:
- You’re able to create additional touchpoints for current clients, generating more referrals.
- Prospective clients will be able to access your content and learn more about your firm on multiple platforms, expanding your reach.
- You can build out a more robust lead generation funnel by capturing people’s information and nurturing them in an ongoing way.
Let’s review five easy ways to repurpose your content to maximize your marketing strategy.
Idea 1: Social Media Posts as Lead Nurture
As a marketing consultant, I’ve worked with several advisors in the past who love being active on social media. They enjoy the short, pithy format and the ability to get brief but impactful information to their audience in a tweet or a post on Facebook or LinkedIn. One way to repurpose social media content is to compile your notable posts, or the ones that have the most engagement (likes, comments or shares), into another type of lead-generating content.
A short e-book of one-line financial tips or insights can be marketable as a free lead-generation tool for your firm. Alternatively, using those posts as the content for a long-running email nurture campaign for prospective clients can help you to stay top of mind for an extended period of time.
Idea 2: Blogs as Presentation Outlines
Do you enjoy writing educational blog content for your firm? Advisors can take the content from their blog posts and use it as the outline for a webinar or presentation. Let’s say you recently wrote a blog post (or a series of posts) on the ins and outs of Social Security for retirees, divorcees and survivors.
You could take the key points from each of those blogs and use them as the framework for a PowerPoint presentation and speaker notes. Then, once you write the PowerPoint and jot down your notes, you can send the slide deck to a designer to spruce up. Just like that, you have another form of content to leverage as part of your funnel. The presentation can be shopped out to local libraries or groups like the Rotary Club, or you can host a virtual webinar for clients and their friends to generate more leads.
Idea 3: Video Transcripts as Blog Content
When I speak with my clients, blog writing is often something they dread, but they’re afraid of missing out on the SEO (search engine optimization) and keyword value that blog or article writing can have. It’s true that having long-form, written content on your website can boost your site’s optimization. Additionally, including keywords in long-form blog content on your website can help you to rank for the terms that your ideal audience are searching for regularly.
Luckily, there’s a solution. If you prefer recording video over writing blog posts, you can run the video through a transcription service (like Otter.ai) to get a written transcription of your recording. The average three- to five-minute video is 400 to 800 words. By posting both the video and the transcript on your website as a “vlog” you’re able to get the keyword and SEO value from your efforts. This also gives your audience the option to both watch the video or read the transcript, whichever they prefer.
Idea 4: Lead Generation Ideas
Nearly all content can be repurposed into a lead generation piece for your firm. The most popular way of doing this is to take several written blog posts and combine them to create a longer guide, checklist, or free resource that’s available on your website. However, advisors can also use old video recordings as free eCourse content (through a platform like Teachable).
Idea 5: Supplementing Client Touch Points
Regardless of the type of content you prefer creating, it should always be used to create a scalable client experience. In a recent study, 44.4% of high-net-worth clients found their financial advisor through a referral. Additionally, 92% of advisors say their best clients come from referrals. So, how can advisors generate more referrals for their business without outright asking?
Repurposing and distributing cornerstone content to your clients, specifically, can help. It’s significantly easier for a client to forward a newsletter, send a friend the link to your blog, or share a social media post than it is for them to dig out your business card. Additionally, having content neatly packaged for your current clients offers another way to communicate with them and nurture those key relationships. Here are a few ideas for using content in client touch points:
- Include the link to your most recent blog, podcast or video in your email signature.
- Have a monthly, client-specific newsletter with updates about the firm, recent content pieces and a spotlight on any upcoming client events.
- Structure your content calendar so that new content relating to timely financial events is released prior to your standard meeting cycles. For example, a short video about Medicare Open Enrollment can be sent out to clients in October, prior to your Q4 meetings.
Make Your Content Work For You
The key with any content marketing strategy is to make sure that your content is working for you. Whether your firm is personally creating content, or you outsource content creation to a marketing firm, it’s important to think of ways that your content can be recycled to broaden your reach, nurture relationships and achieve your growth goals.
