To most consumers, financial services companies are a bit like cars — we want them to work but we don’t want to know too much about what’s happening under the hood. Just as almost no one reads the manual that comes with the car unless something goes wrong, we definitely don’t want to spend a lot of time reading dense, dry copy about how a bank manages its cash, the vagaries of the bond market, or the technical side of financial instruments. Unfortunately, marketing content in financial services has, for the most part, reinforced the interpretation that the industry is staid and a bit boring, a necessary evil. To be a little hipper and thus a little more engaging to the consumer, most financial services companies could benefit from a content revolution of educational and relevant content targeted to the consumer’s needs and interest level in an appealing format. To connect with customers, there are a few truisms of content marketing that are even truer for financial services companies: Use...

One of the best ways to market to consumers is with educational content. In the business to consumer (B2C) market, there is a lot of information that can be shared with customers and prospects. One option for sharing those resources is to create a portal — an organized place for consumers to find information or links to information. As content marketing grows in importance, more B2C companies are adopting this model. If you are not making content available through an easily reached portal, or if your information is not updated on a regular basis, you may wonder if it is worth the investment of time and resources. But a content portal can really make a difference for your customers, and here’s why: Continue reading

During his presentation at Content Marketing World today, Compendium CEO Chris Baggott stressed that companies need to consider establishing a blog as their hub for content development. What’s more, Chris also discussed how content marketers can mine for “hidden information” that can help them generate plenty of engaging and compelling content. Continue reading

Podcasting can be a very effective way to connect with your audience. If you are new to podcasting, you may be looking for advice on how to hit the ground running. Even if you have been podcasting for a while, you may wonder if things are getting tired, or you may be looking for a way to energize your content to keep things fresh. Continue reading

Content marketers create and accumulate a lot of industry information. But one of the challenges they face is how to present all of this information in a way that helps users find the content they want, when they want it. One option is to create an online resource center or a resources page — a well-organized list of basic information and helpful links that your users can turn to whenever they have a specific content need. Continue reading

Writing white papers is not rocket science most of the time. But it does take time, skill, and a few dedicated resources to produce a paper valuable for your customers and prospects. It also takes planning, often more than you expect and sometimes more than you want to devote. Yet the lack of planning is, in my experience, the primary cause of trouble in most white paper projects. Continue reading

Sometimes the ideas and words we tap to produce quality content flow mightier than the Mississippi River. Other times, the ideas and words dry up like a long summer’s drought. Fortunately, there are ways to rinse, sort and recycle content by poring over our content libraries for new angles, hooks or slants to continue to meet the demand for quality content that will engage our clients and prospects. Here’s an A-Z recycling content guide that will give you ideas to recharge your creative content batteries. Continue reading

You’ve probably used demographics or psychographics to identify and understand your customers and your market. But have you ever thought of using these data to create content? This post shows you how to: Limit the data you collect to extract the best ideas for content for your industry, product or service Identify the best data for your marketContinue reading

When it comes to finding ideas for your marketing content, you can easily run into a wall. To fill the pipeline, you need a constant source of relevant and usable ideas. You created an editorial calendar tied to company milestones, you found a way to repurpose existing content, you have a thought leader in your midst who likes to expound on big ideas, and you have identified relevant outside content to curate and publish. If you’re still asking yourself these questions: How can I find topical ideas for my content? What can I do to keep the content fresh and exciting? How can I engage the audience more?   it might be a good time to look outside your organization and industry for inspiration. To find ideas in the press and in the blogosphere, you need to think like a journalist. Here are five ways to start mining the media: News   Find a way to change the scope of a news item and make it relevant to your audience. Perhaps you narrow a national story or expand a local one. Or you...

There are times when you need information from experts for your content. Subject matter experts are critical when creating compelling content. These are the people writers and marketers rely on to provide the background information or technical details that give your content authenticity and credibility and help build a foundation for relevant and engaging content. Here are some thoughts to keep in mind as you approach subject matter experts, whether they are inside or outside your organization. Continue reading