So you’ve read our latest issue of PRognosis and decided your financial services company needs a content marketing strategy. Great decision. But before you get carried away drafting a new whitepaper, setting up a Twitter account and email blasting your client database, here are six vital questions you need to answer before you can build an effective content marketing strategy – and some tools to help you along the way.
1. What is your ‘fame agenda’?
What do you want your business to be known for? Another way to think about this is to define the three (or five) search terms you want to own on Google.
2. When all is said and done, what business results do you want to achieve from all your hard work?
It may seem obvious but your why needs to lead your what and how. Why are you developing a content marketing strategy in the first place? Are you looking to generate leads? Improve client loyalty? Drive direct sales? All of the above?
3. What content does your business already have?
Good news: when it comes to content there's no need to reinvent the wheel. Your business may well already have extensive content that you have never considered using outside its defined ‘context’. Quarterly market updates? A monthly client newsletter? A thorough content audit will help you determine what content you already have – and can in turn form the starting point for your content plan.
Here is a helpful template for a content audit: http://maadmob.com.au/resources/content_inventory
4. Who are you trying to reach?
Define your target audience in detail. Look at occupation, age, demographics (gender, education, family, cultural background etc)? What are the common pain points? What challenges or opportunities face them right now in their business? What information are they consuming and looking for? Who or what influences them?
This website guides you through the creation of a detailed ‘persona’: http://www.mltcreative.com/up-close-and-persona/
5. What is your content gap?
This is simply the difference between the content needs of your target audience and the content you have. Once you have identified this gap you can construct a strategy for the acquisition/creation or curation, production, maintenance, and overarching governance for your content marketing initiative.
6. How will you know if your strategy is working?
Define the key metrics or outcomes that will measure the success and areas for improvement in your content marketing. Content Marketing Institute has a great e-book on content marketing metrics: http://www.slideshare.net/CMI/a-field-guide-to-the-four-types-of-content-marketing-metrics
Much of this blog post is indebted to Content Marketing Institute’s How-To Guide for content marketing. Check out the CMI blog for more tips and news on content marketing.
For more on content marketing for financial services organisations, read the recent interview Carden Calder conducted with Content Marketing Institute’s Joe Pulizzi, here.
