Navigating the world of B2B marketing for financial service companies can be quite the challenge. Why? Because it takes more than just a hodgepodge of tools; it demands strategies that adapt to innovation and a cohesive system where all components work in sync to achieve success. In plain terms – everything from your website, social media posts, emails, and blogs must form a unified marketing strategy.
But don’t worry – we’re breaking down the system, component by component, to help you create a cohesive strategy (and we’re even including a downloadable content calendar… you’re welcome). Let’s dive in!
Website: The Core
Your website serves as the central hub where potential clients can learn about your financial services and the value you bring to the table. A user-friendly, informative website is essential for attracting and engaging your target audience.
Website Tips:
Optimize User Experience (UX): Ensure easy navigation, appealing design, and responsiveness across devices for an engaging user experience.
Clear Value Proposition: Communicate unique benefits concisely using visuals to address client challenges.
High-Quality Content: Feature informative blogs, whitepapers, and case studies to establish credibility and address audience pain points.
Strategic CTAs: Guide visitors with well-placed CTAs for actions like subscribing, consulting, or resource downloading.
Lead Capture: Use forms for valuable resources in exchange for contact details to build your email list.
Testimonials and Case Studies: Display client stories for trust and showcasing successful outcomes.
SEO Optimization: Improve visibility with keyword-optimized content for organic traffic. (but more on this later!)
Fast Loading Speed: Ensure quick loading by compressing images, minimizing plugins, and optimizing code.
Security Measures: Prioritize SSL certificates and regular updates for visitor confidence.
Analytics and Tracking: Implement Google Analytics to refine your strategy based on data.
What is the Best Platform for Websites? We Vote WordPress
WordPress is the ultimate choice for websites, catering to diverse needs from simple blogs to complex e-commerce setups. With clean code, SEO enhancement, robust community support, and easy scalability, it empowers you to create a responsive, budget-friendly, and user-centric online presence.
Social Media
Your social media presence is a powerful tool in your marketing arsenal. It serves a dual purpose: supporting your brand’s message and driving valuable traffic back to your website.
Platforms for Brand Awareness
Your profile, posts, and visuals should reflect your brand’s essence, forming a recognizable and memorable digital footprint.
Engaging Strategies
Your audience should not only pause to admire your posts but also feel compelled to interact, share, and engage. How do you achieve this? By tapping into their preferences, addressing their pain points, and crafting content that resonates on a personal level. Whether it’s a thought-provoking question that ignites discussions or a visually captivating infographic that simplifies complex concepts – your strategies should serve as a bridge that leads them from a casual scroll to a click that lands them on your website.
Effective Post Types
Let’s get practical. Here’s what works:
Informative Infographics: Decode financial jargon with visuals – you’re making complexity a breeze.
Expert Insights: Share nuggets of financial wisdom, from investing insights to tax tips.
Real Success Stories: Showcase your knack for turning financial challenges into triumphs.
Interactive Polls: Engage by asking their thoughts on financial trends – their opinions matter.
Quick Trivia: Sprinkle in interesting financial facts to keep things engaging.
Behind-the-Scenes: Offer a glimpse into your world – it humanizes your brand.
Remember, it’s a mix of entertainment and education. Make your social media a space where followers can learn, engage, and find value.
Emails: Campaigns, Engaging Subject Lines, and More
Referral Partner Campaigns:
Staying top of mind with the people who refer you business is probably the fastest way to see increased revenue. Your referral partners effectively walk you into deals with a 5star recommendation. Make sure you share updates, insights and new offerings with this demographic regularly. Share your one-pager, share your new-business wins and share team highlights to stay connected.
Client Nurture & Upsell:
Client nurture & upsell emails are a powerful tool to strengthen your relationships with existing clients. These emails focus on providing existing clients with a deeper look into all the services you provide. You would be amazed that your clients don’t know that you can offer services beyond the scope of work they receive. A strong client workflow ensures your existing clients do go elsewhere for a service you could provide them.
Prospect Emails:
Prospect emails are a tough vertical to master. These are the emails that get deleted, overlooked, and ignored in your own inbox. Finding strategies to get in the door through email marketing is the holy grail for marketers. Think about what your clients struggle with. What is the “inciting incident” in the drama of their lives that brought them to you? What problem can you solve for them? Now, be very clear on your subject lines. Let tehm know what value they’ll get by reading your email. Then be sure to add calls to action that will help you determine whether or not your message is resonating. Give something before you ask for something. Download this free forecaster template/ checklist for tax season/ how to walkthrough. Do not sell them something, give them something.
Former Clients – Stay in Touch:
While former clients may not be actively using your services at the moment, keeping them engaged ensures that your brand remains fresh in their minds. This opens the door to potential future opportunities, referrals, or even repeat business. A simple “hello” or periodic updates can go a long way in maintaining a positive relationship with your former clients. We like to put them on a newsletter list.
Newsletters: Connect, Educate, Inspire:
Oh, the dreaded newsletter. What will we say? Will they read it? Who has time for this? We like to say a newsletter should connect, inspire and educate. Here’s how:
Connect: Highlight your team, a client, an event or a case study. Connection is a human to human interaction. Share something that’s either fun or meaningful, not just your LI CV.
Inspire: Do you volunteer as a company? Sponsor a charity? Do you have a favorite quote or a book or podcast? Inspire people to see you as more than a vendor.
Educate: If you’re writing blogs that inform and solve problems, this part is easy! Pick a blog: highlight the major point it makes and add a link and teaser to the email.
Your monthly social posts highlighting the team, your website case studies, and your blog posts combined will give you all the content you could possibly need for your newsletter, making it easy to put together!
How to Write a Good Subject Line for Partners, Clients and Prospects
Crafting compelling email subject lines is essential for engaging partners, clients, and prospects. A well-crafted subject line can make the difference between your email being opened or ignored. Here are some tips for writing effective subject lines for each audience:
For Partners:
Personalize It: Use the partner’s name or company name to create a personalized touch.
Example: “Can you help us refer better clients to you, [Partner Name]?”
Highlight what YOU can do for THEM. You’re giving before asking and that’s important.
Example: “How would you like us to refer clients to you?”
Time-Sensitive Emails: Create urgency with time-bound opportunities.
Example: “Hi [Partner Name] did you get our invitation?” ← this strategy really only works if you are hosting an event.
For Clients:
Acknowledge Their Needs: Address their pain points or challenges directly.
Example: “When interest rates rise, here are 3 steps you can take to address your rising debt costs”
Results-Oriented: Highlight the outcomes or results they can expect from your services.
Example: “Profitability hacks – 2 easy steps”
Personal Touch: Mention any recent interactions or previous discussions to add a personal touch.
Example: “Great Meeting Last Week, [Client Name]! Here’s an overview of what we discussed”
For Prospects:
Curiosity-Piquing: Spark curiosity to encourage them to open the email.
Example: “Discover the Key to Financial Success…”
Benefit-Driven: Clearly state the value they will gain from opening the email.
Example: “How [Your Service] Can Transform Your Financial Future”
Beyond Words: Why Blogs are Important and How to Use AI to Help You Write Them
Blogs play a pivotal role in the success of your B2B financial services marketing strategy. Their multifaceted benefits encompass more than just providing information. For example, blogs can help your company:
Showcase Industry Authority (You Get to Prove That You Know What You’re Talking About!): In the world of financial services, establishing yourself as a trusted authority is paramount. Blogs create a space for you to demonstrate your industry expertise. This not only fosters credibility but also positions you as a go-to resource for valuable information.
Enhance Search Engine Visibility: Regular, high-quality blog posts with SEO-friendly keywords can significantly boost your website’s search engine ranking. As search engines recognize your website as a hub of relevant information, your online visibility improves, driving organic traffic and increasing the chances of lead generation.
Nurture and Engage Leads: Blogs are a versatile tool for lead nurturing. You can utilize AI-generated analytics to gain insights into which topics resonate most with your audience. This data-driven approach enables you to refine your content strategy, focusing on subjects that hold the greatest appeal and relevance.
Stay Current and Relevant (We’ll be real: No one Wants Your Last Blog Post to be Two Years Ago): The financial sector is in a constant state of evolution. Blogs allow you to stay abreast of industry shifts, regulatory updates, and emerging trends. By consistently delivering timely and insightful content, you position your brand as a thought leader that clients can rely on for up-to-date information.
Humanize Your Brand:. Sharing anecdotes, real-life experiences, and unique insights humanizes your brand, making it relatable and fostering stronger connections with your audience.
How to Use AI for Advanced Blog Writing
Incorporating AI technology into your blog writing process can help you to be more efficient, creative and precise. The danger of course with AI is – it’s a machine – it sounds like a machine, it thinks like a machine… So you have to help it… a lot. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to effectively utilize AI in your blog writing strategy:
Videos turned into blogs:
Video is a powerful tool and, until the advent of ChatGPT, turning a transcript of a video into a well-written blog was a time-intensive task. If you’re making videos you’ll have 4 – 6 ready to go at a time. Once you’ve added subtitles and gotten a transcript that’s where AI can really help. ADd your transcript with very specific direction on tone, main ideas, and structure, and let the machine do the heavy listing for you. THe result: A good first draft with structure and main ideas that is unique to YOUR company because YOU made the video.
Topic Generation and Research:
AI-powered tools can assist in generating relevant and trending topics within the financial services industry. By analyzing data from various sources, these tools can identify popular subjects, emerging trends, and key keywords that resonate with your target audience.
Content Outline and Structure:
Begin by creating an outline for your blog using AI. These tools can help organize your thoughts and ensure a logical flow of ideas. By structuring your content beforehand, you’ll have a solid foundation to build upon.
Draft Creation:
AI-generated drafts are a powerful starting point. These drafts are based on language patterns and can mimic your writing style. Just remember to have a human edit and add content before you hit publish!
Grammar and Style Enhancement:
AI-powered grammar and style checkers can help refine your content. These tools identify grammatical errors, suggest sentence improvements, and ensure your writing is consistent with your brand’s voice and tone.
Keyword Optimization for SEO:
AI can suggest relevant keywords, analyze keyword density, and provide recommendations to improve your blog’s search engine visibility and ranking.
Combining These Components: How to Create a Content Calendar
Set Clear Objectives
Begin by defining your content calendar’s objectives, aligning them with your broader marketing goals. Determine how your content contributes to brand awareness, lead generation, or other key outcomes.
Establish Consistency
Consistency is king. Set a predictable content schedule—whether it’s daily, weekly, or monthly—to engage your audience and reinforce your brand presence.
Brainstorm and Plan
Gather your team for a focused brainstorming session. Generate content ideas that resonate with your target audience and are tailored to your company’s services.
Allocate Resources
Ensure your team is equipped to execute your plan. Assign tasks and responsibilities for each content piece.
Monitor, Analyze, and Adapt
Regularly review performance metrics, analyzing engagement rates and conversions. Use insights to refine your content strategy and focus on what works.
Free Template Download
To kick-start your content calendar, download our template:
Download Free Content Calendar Template
How Components Collaborate
Now that we’ve discussed each component, let’s break down how they all work together to create a successful strategy.
Blogs Fuel Social Engagement:
Blogs are the cornerstone of your content strategy, offering rich insights into financial topics. Extracting key points, you craft compelling social media posts. This entices curiosity, drives traffic, and elevates your brand’s stature.
Emails Amplify Blogs:
Emails nurture relationships and deliver value. Capitalize on new blogs by sending newsletters to subscribers. This maintains engagement, drives website visits, and fosters lasting trust.
Blogs Click Together for Ultimate Guides:
Over time, your blogs coalesce into comprehensive guides. Expertly curated, these guides become trusted references, showcasing your financial expertise and attracting organic traffic.
Unlocking Synergy: How Sales and Marketing Drive Success in Financial Services
Sales and Marketing: a Match Made in Heaven
We can’t talk about marketing without talking about sales. Why? An effective sales process can significantly benefit marketing efforts in several ways. Here are some key ways in which sales and marketing can work together to enhance overall business success:
Better Targeting: An organized sales process provides valuable feedback to marketing teams. Salespeople can convey information about the characteristics and behaviors of the most profitable customers. This data helps marketers refine their target audience and create more precise, personalized marketing campaigns.
Content Creation: A well-defined sales process highlights the key stages that prospects go through before making a purchase. Marketing teams can use this information to create content that aligns with each stage of the buyer’s journey. This ensures that prospects receive relevant content that addresses their needs and concerns at every step.
Lead Nurturing: Marketing generates leads, but not all leads are immediately ready to buy. An effective sales process includes lead nurturing strategies that keep potential customers engaged until they are ready to make a purchase. Marketing teams can develop and deliver nurturing content (e.g., email campaigns, webinars) in alignment with the sales process.
Message Consistency: A well-structured sales process helps ensure that the messaging used by sales and marketing teams is consistent. When marketing and sales are aligned on the key value propositions, benefits, and messaging, it creates a seamless customer experience and reinforces the company’s brand image.
Data and Analytics: Sales processes generate valuable data on customer interactions, conversion rates, and sales pipeline progression. Marketing teams can use this data to measure the effectiveness of their campaigns and strategies, allowing for data-driven decision-making and continuous improvement.
Feedback Loop: Regular communication between sales and marketing teams fosters a feedback loop. Sales teams can provide insights into which marketing materials and leads are most effective in converting prospects. This feedback informs marketing teams about what is working and what needs adjustments.
Customer Insights: Sales teams are on the front lines and gather firsthand insights into customer pain points, objections, and preferences. This information is invaluable for marketing teams to refine their messaging, product development, and overall strategy to better address customer needs.
Shortened Sales Cycles: An effective sales process can help identify and prioritize high-quality leads, reducing the time it takes to convert prospects into customers. This efficiency benefits marketing efforts by allowing them to focus on generating more leads and nurturing existing ones.
Improved ROI: By aligning sales and marketing efforts and optimizing the sales process, companies can ultimately improve their return on investment (ROI) for marketing initiatives. Marketing resources are better utilized, and sales efforts become more productive.
Scalability: When both sales and marketing teams are aligned and have a clear process in place, it becomes easier to scale operations. As the business grows, the synergy between sales and marketing allows for a smoother expansion into new markets or the introduction of new products and services.
Design: Why Brand Consistency Matters
Your brand is the ambassador for your company. How consistent is your look and feel from conference setups to social posts. Do you have old logos on PDFs? Does your sparkly new website match your business cards?
Design consistency can seem like gilding the lily to those who are not thinking holistically about brand presence but, trust us, it’s very important. Here are some rules to live by for your company’s branding from a visual perspective. Adhere to these to ensure you are perceived as being just as professional and expert as you actually are:
Color Pallette:
- Make sure to check the brand colors so they match the original template (save correct hex #’s in your brand kit in Canva)
- Don’t use more than 3 brand colors per page. (2 primary, 1 can be an accent color) This is not a circus.
Fonts:
- Double check fonts from original templates to make sure you’re using the correct fonts
- Don’t use more than two fonts per page. See #circus above
Photography Style:
- Align photography with the website for the overall brand look/ feel (lighter, darker, overlaid, bright, landscape, people, etc. in images)
- Use iStock for image consistency, create a “board” of photos.
- Choose photos that have blank space or areas where text can live – don’t pick super busy images, clutter is hard on the end viewer.
Design Elements:
- Pay attention to what branding elements are used ( circles, squares etc) and be consistent – not raised beveled buttons on a clean square post or design asset.
- Don’t pick random icons, pay attention to line weight, style and color usage.
Typesetting –
- Widows and orphans – Never leave a single word at the bottom of a paragraph if possible. (adjust font size/ box width to fix this).
- Line Spacing – The gaps between sentences can be adjusted. 1.4 is the most comfortable space but can be shrunk to 1.2 or expanded to 1.8 to better fill space. (this can be adjusted depending on how much type there is)
- Character Spacing – The space between letters can also be adjusted. (all caps should be spread out (tracking))
Layout / Spacing –
- Negative Space – Leave room between elements so the page doesn’t look cluttered. Use boxes to measure distances between items to keep the spacing evenly distributed.
- Padding – Make sure the padding / spacing is the same on all sides of the text box. 30PX is a good standard.
- Hierarchy– The most important piece of information needs to be larger / bolded / higher up, to simplify the concept. These should be set online and referenced on all assets by H1, H2, H3 classes.
Logo Placement / Usage
- Make sure the logo is always on the top most layer.
- If using a dark overlay / use the white version of the logo for best contrast.
- Pay attention to padding around the logo, there is designated safe space (usually one Capital letter’s width) around the logo to keep it readable.
- Do not overlay the logo over a busy image, over a line or intersected with a text box.
Other B2B Marketing Tips for the Financial Services Industry:
Address Clients’ Challenges:
Focus on clients’ needs by adopting an educational approach. Listen, understand pain points, and offer valuable insights to aid informed decisions.
Ensure Communication Accuracy:
Prioritize accuracy. Research thoroughly, fact-check, and cite reputable sources. Build trust through credible and data-driven communication.
Utilize SEO Research:
Conduct SEO research for deeper client understanding. Identify keywords, explore common queries, and tailor content accordingly.
Consistency is Vital:
Maintain consistent content schedules across blogs, videos, and social media to foster client engagement and loyalty.
Harness Video Content:
Videos connect powerfully. Explain complex concepts, showcase services, and personalize messages for effective client resonance.
Smart Search Ad Strategy:
Prioritize organic ranking through SEO before heavy investments in search ads. Establish authority for sustainable results.
Consider YouTube Ads:
Cost-effective YouTube ads can broaden your audience reach, particularly for video-friendly content.
Equip for Quality Videos:
Invest in top-notch equipment for higher video production quality, enhancing brand perception.
Incorporate Captions:
Boost engagement by adding captions to videos, catering to diverse audiences including those without sound.
Track Calls with Precision:
Use call tracking software like CallRail to analyze campaign effectiveness and understand client preferences.
Share Expertise Freely:
Transparency pays off. Offer insights and tips openly to establish trust and position your brand as a credible authority.
Any Questions?
Download our Ultimate Guide to B2B Marketing for Financial Services Companies here (yes, you’ll want to check this out).
The goal of an outsourced digital marketing agency is to understand your business and your brand voice to then let the world know how awesome you are.
We start every engagement with a Brand Storytelling Session where we identify your unique brand voice. Then, our team uses bi-weekly client calls, and shared content calendars to make sure you know what’s happening.
We’ll bring you fresh ideas from our kick-a** creative team from a relationship built on trust. Because that’s the beauty of digital marketing.
For those who are interested in learning more about the difference between outsourced marketing and in-house marketing, read on here.
