Content Marketing: Technology Tools to Become a Better Writer
Increasing search engine rankings, lead generation, conversion rates, client retention, referrals, overall marketing ROI—the list goes on for reasons content marketing has undeniable benefits as part of an inbound marketing strategy.
Content marketing gets 3x more leads than paid search according to a study by Kapora and marketers who prioritize blogging are 13x more likely to see positive ROI according to Hubspot.
So, why aren’t more financial professionals making content marketing a core piece of their marketing plans? Unfortunately, there is no big red easy button to put these efforts on autopilot and truly be effective. Search engines and humans alike want to read original, compelling content of interest! That said, there are increasingly more services and technologies available to help simplify the process for you.
Step 1: Get Your Ideas Out
Many financial advisors we work with also tend to be great public speakers. If it is easier for you to speak through your thoughts than to sit down and write them, transcription may be the best tool to fuel your content marketing strategy. Utilizing your unique insights and professional knowledge as the foundation or outline for your content will give your marketing a huge advantage. Whether it’s a recorded seminar or dictation recording, inexpensive transcription services such as www.rev.com can be a quick and inexpensive solution to give a marketing staff member or a copywriter the material they need to work with.
ContentAssist
Sometimes the hardest part about writing is staring at a blank page or coming up with a topic. Twenty Over Ten is an innovative digital solutions company in the financial industry that has created a blogging platform known as ContentAssist as an option in their website designs. This tool is intended to serve as starter content for an advisor to customize and edit with their own voice, local personalization or other insights.
Step 2: Delegate
Once your ideas are extracted for your content, whether that’s a blog post, white paper or even a book, it is often time to turn over your project to someone with an ability for copywriting. This may be a member of your staff or a freelancer that you build a relationship with to learn your voice, preferences and other idiosyncrasies to become increasingly more efficient over time. Search for writers with some industry knowledge about products, concepts and compliance to help reduce the learning curve. Then provide a clear outline and direction for the initial project to avoid additional time and frustration for you both in the revision process. A few resources to find this talent include:
For more on the topic of delegating marketing tasks, check out our past blog, “When to Insource vs. Outsource Your Financial Marketing.”
Step 3: Polish
The writing process, particularly in the financial industry, tends to involve multiple rounds of revisions to include various staff member preferences as well as compliance feedback. Once you have reviewed a document too many times, it can be hard to see typos or otherwise obvious mistakes. A few tools you can utilize to help avoid embarrassing errors include:
Grammarly– This service is available both for free as well as a premium option that you can download on your computer to run similar to spellcheck in Microsoft Word, but to proof for grammar, punctuation, word choice, plagiarism and more. (Bonus: Once installed, it can run automatically to help proof emails and daily correspondence as well!)
Scribendi– For even more feedback, Scribendi is a great option to work with an editorial team to review based on specific criteria and priorities that you provide. Pricing is based on word count and the type of project at hand.
As technology continues to evolve, just remember, content is king. Have confidence in your voice and take advantage of the tools available to help tell your story.
Need help leveraging your unique ideas and content to be a thought leader in your community or the financial industry? Contact us today to discuss how we can be of help.
