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From the recent events BlueChip has held, the presentations we have shared, the tweets written and the blogs published, we hope you feel suitably educated on the term ‘content marketing’. At the very least, you should know what it means and also that your business could benefit from it. (For a refresher, please read our previous posts here.)
But now you need to think about the form it should take. Your content marketing campaign should reflect your business objectives, target key audiences and include key messages. Before you embark on your content marketing journey, why not consider what others have done and how they have done it. Here we look at three examples of financial services companies who successfully market their content in different forms.
In 2011 AmericanExpress launched OpenForum.com, a website targeting small businesses with engaging and relevant content that addresses the many aspects of running a business. OpenForum.com drafts much of the content on the website internally, but also hosts content produced by publishers and freelance writers. The website is AmericanExpress branded, but has the feel of a media company. Content Marketing Institute (CMI) presents OpenForum.com as a great example of how, with engaging and relevant content, you can become the trusted advisor and can host a community under your own website. In fact, OpenForum.com has been so successful it led AmericanExpress to launch a similar campaign in Australia called The Business Room.
At a recent BlueChip CEO breakfast, Joe Pulizzi from CMI provided us with another great example of a creative content marketing campaign used by a financial services business. Danish bank, Jyskebank, launched jyskebank.tv, an online channel targeting audiences through compelling content. Jyskebank.tv describes itself as “the only TV station in the world with its very own bank” – which goes to show that content is the number one priority in the business! Jyskebank.tv produces web TV every day, interviewing world leading business figures, popular figures, psychologists and of course finance experts. They focus on making their content ‘shareable’ and given 80% of the jyskebank.tv content is in fact viewed elsewhere other than the original website, it seems to be working! Jyskebank are called by media for comment, have attracted great journalists on staff; have been picked up by a national TV network; and won ‘Europe’s best web TV Channel 2011’. Through this content, Jyskebank has positioned itself as a thought leader for consumers across topics while staying true to the bank’s values.
The third example we found is potentially more accessible for those businesses with smaller budgets. Credit Suisse’s The Financialist is a website with the sole purpose of generating financial services and business focused content. This digital magazine employs a full time editor and a number of contributors to ensure the website has a wealth of legitimate financial news covering breaking news as well as insights into topical issues and feature stories. Unlike other ‘news’ websites held by many financial services companies, The Financialist is clearly guided by its purpose and does not try to be all things to all people. Unlike Jyskebank, Credit Suisse does not stray from its expertise and stays focused on financial services. It also markets its content and knowledge on their digital magazine and YouTube station.
There you have it, some practical examples of financial services brands that have opted to market their content in very different ways. Again, once you understand the importance of marketing your content to your target audience, you then need to decide just how you want to do that. Whether you want a blog or a TV channel can depend on resources, content and overall objectives you are looking to achieve. But it is important to remember that you are the expert in your sector and you should think like a media company when looking to market your content. There is no difference between your financial services business and a publisher, except you have more in-depth information on your specific topic. And you’re free to serve just one master – the customer.
Interested in taking the next step in content marketing for your business, but don’t know where to start? Drop us a line and we can talk to you about a free content readiness assessment.
