Your company is full of leaders, with gripping stories and advice based on years of experience. Clients know they’re speaking with an expert when they meet in-person, but is that knowledge coming across in your financial content? It can with thought leadership articles.
These educational articles showcase the first-hand experience and expertise of your firm’s top executives and can help to humanize your brand. Here are some reasons why thought leadership should be a bigger part of your financial marketing.
Separate Your Company From the Crowd
In the competitive, crowded world of financial content, it’s hard to stand out with your financial marketing content. After all, so many companies are covering the same topics for blogs, newsletters, and social media.
However, thought leadership articles can give your experts the chance to show who they are and why they are the best in their field. By sharing specialized knowledge, opinions on industry trends, personal stories, and client problems they’ve solved, your experts can make a lasting impression on potential clients.
Potential clients may struggle to remember technical details, like estate planning exclusion limits or the Alternative Minimum Tax. But they will remember these personal stories from your leaders.
Close More Sales
A good thought leadership article feels like it’s speaking directly to the issues and needs of a reader. It’s no wonder these pieces can lead to more sales. 58% of decision makers said a thought leadership piece made them decide to close a deal, according to a 2019 study from Edelman. Yet only 26% of sellers believe these marketing materials are effective for closing more sales. This is a missed opportunity for them but a chance for your firm to take advantage.
Attract Media Attention
The financial media is on the lookout for personable, knowledgeable experts to deliver quotes. Thought leadership is a way to get on their radar. By building up the presence and brand of your in-house leaders, you can make them more compelling and interesting sources for the media. If you’re tired of submitting on HARO replies without any luck, thought leadership articles can get you to the front of the line.
Build Your Unique Brand
Clients struggle to tell the difference between various financial products and the companies representing them. But they can tell you the people they love to read: Dave Ramsey, Suze Orman, Richard Kiyosaki, and Ramit Sethi. Whatever you may think of these experts, they struck out their enviable positions in financial media by publishing regular, personalized content. Thought leadership pieces are a way for your experts to do the same.
Why Aren’t More Companies Using Thought Leadership?
In a word: time. Your experts have so much to do during their typical week, the goal of producing more content falls on the backburner. But creating more thought leadership content is some of the highest value work your experts can deliver.
The good news is they don’t have to do it all themselves. With the right systems, you can collect their expertise and publish content while taking up very little of each expert’s time. It starts at the idea phase.
Your experts likely have dozens of quality ideas in-mind ready to go, but they may need help putting them together. My idea extractor program only takes 90 minutes of an expert’s time. Together, we’ll put together 24 topics for thought leadership articles, enough to fill up an entire year’s calendar.
Prospects and clients aren’t looking for more financial facts. They’re looking for experts they can count on. By showcasing your top executives, you can establish your firm as a trusted industry source.
