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 A Content Marketing Plan for All Seasons
Content marketing involves creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience. Rather than pitching products and services, the goal is to deliver consistently relevant information to potential buyers, so they ultimately reward you with their business and loyalty.
Just as the baseball season demands stamina, patience, and execution, your content marketing strategy requires a well-rounded team of players, including:
- A Website That Does More Than Talk About You. Think of your website as your leadoff hitter. Whether you represent a small financial advisory firm or a brokerage industry behemoth, prospects are going to check out your website before they do business with you. But if your copy is stale, poorly written, or too self-centered, you may be losing an opportunity to impress potential new customers.
- Client Letters & Emails. Fans often overlook light-hitting infielders on the All-Star ballot, but their contributions are critical to their team's success. Similarly, simple, well-written letters and emails don't get the respect they deserve. When earthquakes, tsunamis, or Middle East revolutions rattle the financial markets, letters and emails to your customers, prospects, or retirement plan participants help build trust and reassurance.
- Newsletters & E-newsletters. While Twitter and Facebook are the rookie phenoms looking to make a splash in the big leagues, newsletters are your veteran sluggers with power to all fields. A thoughtful newsletter-written with an authentic human voice-is one of the most reliable and effective ways to engage your clients and prospects over time. To succeed, however, you need to commit to producing quality content and not just self-promotional pitches.
- Blogs. The term "blog"-short for web log-sounds more complex than it actually is. It's basically the same type of content you might include in a newsletter, but rather than "pushing" it out to your target audience, you try to "pull" people in. The trick is to write content that's highly targeted to the terms your target audience will use to search for information online. You can hit a lot of singles and doubles with good blog content, and that may eventually attract paying customers.
- White Papers & Case Studies. These are your relief specialists who charge out of the bullpen in the late innings to close the deal. In an age where people communicate in 140 character tweets and text messages, white papers and case studies demonstrate your in-depth expertise on a particular subject or tell a compelling story about how you help your customers.
- Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, etc. Social media sites are your hotshot rookies. Until regulators provide clearer guidance, however, social media will continue to pose unique compliance challenges. But that doesn't mean you can afford to stay on the sidelines forever. Social media can lead to social commerce, and the longer you ignore these channels, the longer it will take you to catch up. Consider starting small by creating a LinkedIn profile for your business (and yourself), or a Facebook page. But before you add these players to your major league roster, make sure you have the resources lined up to post new content on a regular basis.
Do you lack the in-house resources you need to create quality content that engages your customers and prospects? Email me or call 774-719-2324 and together we can build a communications strategy that will take you deep into the playoffs.
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