Want to know what the Content Marketing Trifecta is and why it is so effective…
Are you trying to work out how to start marketing your financial services business online? Whether you’ve been running your business for years but relied on networking, referrals, and offline marketing to attract and sign clients or you are new to business you are in the right place. In this blog post, I’ll be breaking down exactly what you should do to start marketing your financial services business online.
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HOW TO START MARKETING YOUR FINANCIAL SERVICES BUSINESS ONLINE
1. Set your marketing goals
It is easy when you decide to start marketing your business to quickly get a website made or create a LinkedIn page because that is what you see other businesses in your industry marketing their business online.
However, before you make any decisions about how you are going to market your business online you need to get clear on why you’ve decided to market your business online. There are many reasons why you might decide to start marketing your financial services business online such as:
- Sign more clients
- Sign ‘better’ clients
- Reduce dependency on referrals
- Position yourself as an authority
- Increase brand awareness
- Build an audience or community
- Attract better talent when hiring
- Reduce the buyer journey
- Improve your conversion rate
Once you are clear on why you’ve decided to start marketing your financial services business online you can then set some marketing goals. Your marketing goals should be SMART goals so that you can easily track your progress and know when you’ve achieved the goal.
2. Ensure you’ve got a clear brand
If you are new to business or you’ve been marketing predominately through one-to-one communications then you might not yet have a clear brand for your business. To be successful in online marketing you have to be able to communicate on a one-to-many basis and that means having a strong brand so that no matter how you decide to market your business you can create a cohesive experience.
3. Identify your ideal client
In the same way that to successfully communicate on a one-to-many basis you’ve got to have a brand and you’ve also got to have a clear ideal client. When you talk to everyone you talk to no one. The reality is no matter what type of financial service you provide you have a lot of competitors. And most financial services make marketing materials and assets that are vague and can appeal to the masses. This kind of works when you are a big business, but as a small business if you want to be able to successfully stand out online you’ve got to get clear on your brand and who you serve (aka your ideal client).
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4. Decide on your key messages
At this stage, you might find other marketing experts telling you to move onto choosing your marketing channels (aka the ways to market your business), but if you want to make marketing your business as easy and effective as possible then before you rush onto choosing your marketing channels you should create some key messages.
Think about what messages you need to put out into the world in order for people to buy your services. What do you want to ensure people know about your business and your services? Write these down in a document so you can easily refer back when making any type of marketing materials or assets.
5. Choose your marketing channels
Now that you’ve got your marketing foundations in place it is time to start having some (more) fun and choosing your marketing channels. There are many ways that you can market your financial services business online and new ways pop up all the time (at the time of writing Meta had just launched Threads a few weeks prior). So this list is not exhaustive but will help to start marketing your financial services business online.
A) Website
A website is a must-have. This is your online face for your business and will mean that 24/7 people are able to check your business out. I’m a big WordPress fan and that is what my website is built with, but if you are building your website yourself then you might find it easier to build your website with Squarespace.
B) Social Media Marketing
This is the most common way most business owners think about marketing their business online. There are numerous options including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Linkedin, TikTok and Threads. Each platform has a slightly different user base (but there are major overlaps) and different features. This will mean that depending on your ideal client and your strengths a certain platform might make more sense than another.
C) Email marketing
Another way to market your business is through email marketing. This is not to be confused with the emails you are already sending, usually on a one-to-one basis. This is where you use an email marketing software to build an email marketing list and then send emails on a one-to-many basis. This software will also enable you to see who opened your emails and who clicked on links in your emails. You can find out more about how to choose the best email marketing software for your business here.
D) Long-form content marketing
Content marketing, in this instance, is focused on long-form content that is audio (podcast), video (YouTube channel) or written (a blog). Long-form content is great for thought leadership, positioning yourself as an expert and providing value to your online audience or community.
If you would like to create long-form content, but aren’t sure whether to start a blog, podcast or YouTube channel check this blog post out – Blog vs Podcast vs YouTube.
E) Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
Earlier I mentioned that having a website is a must. However, many businesses have websites that gathers dust and hardly anyone visits. One way to ensure this doesn’t happen you have to be directing people to it, which is why having valuable long-form content on your website that you can direct people to super helpful. Another way to increase traffic is by optimising your site for search. When done well this means you’ll rank on search engines and people who may have never heard of your business before will be presented with your website and a percentage will visit
F) Digital advertising
Another option is digital advertising. You could run adverts on a search engine, such as Google, and these can work really well in combination with an SEO strategy. You can also run adverts on the majority of social media platforms. Again this works well in conjunction with an organic social media strategy. And then there is the option to run adverts on specific websites or you can sign up to run ads on a network where it will be placed across numerous websites (within certain parameters).
| WANT TO GET A MARKETING STRATEGY CREATED SPECIFICALLY FOR YOUR BUSINESS?
Without a solid marketing strategy, you can spend a lot of time and money marketing your business and see little results. The reality is you have a lot of choices and it can be hard to know what is best for you. I’m a Chartered Marketer, with over a decade of professional marketing experience and that specialises in helping financial services. In just one day I’ll work with you to create a marketing strategy that will support your business goals and that is manageable based on who will be responsible for your marketing. And because time is precious and I don’t want you to waste any more you could get your Strategy Day booked, delivered and marketing strategy in your inbox in just a fortnight. To find out more about my Strategy Days click here. Not sure what open is best for you? Book a free, non-obligation, introduction call here. |
6. Identify your resources
To market your business you are going to need some resources. This is a combination of money, people (time) and skills. Your budget will impact what you need to do in-house (whether yourself or a team member) or what can be outsourced. It might also be that based on a marketing channel you’ve selected you need a particular skill (for example if you choose TikTok then you’ll need someone with some basic editing skills).
It is also very important before putting your marketing timeline together to understand the amount of time that can be dedicated to marketing. If you are doing your own marketing and have 5-6 hours per week that you can dedicate to marketing that is going to impact the marketing you can do versus if you have a virtual assistant who has 15 hours per week dedicated to marketing.
7. Create your marketing timeline
At this stage, you’ve decided how you want to market your business and you’ve got a realistic understanding of the resources you have at your disposal so you can create an informed marketing timeline.
For some types of marketing it might be a one-off task (such as creating and launcing your website) versus some tasks that will be ongoing (such as publishing a new YouTube video every week).
If the thought of creating a timeline for your content marketing seems overwhelming don’t worry I’ve got your back. I have a content marketing plan workbook that will help you put a plan together for your email, social and content marketing. To grab your free copy put your details in the form below.
8. Start marketing your financial services business online
Once you’ve created your timeline it is time to start marketing your financial services business online. At this point you understand who you are marketing to, what you want them to know and where you’ll be marketing your business. Now it is time to start creating. You can get that website created, open social media profiles, start creating content, get your ads set up and so much more.
That’s it. You now know how to start marketing your financial services business online.
As you can see there are a few things you need to consider and make decisions about when marketing your financial services business online. Whilst you can just throw up a website and start posting on a social media platform if you follow these steps you’ll be marketing your business in a much more effective and efficient way.
I know you are a financial expert, not a marketing expert, so it can be a little bit overwhelming trying to work out what is best for your business. But don’t worry I’m here to help. I specialise in helping financial services businesses with their marketing so whether you want help just to get your first marketing strategy and plan in place or you want the plan and then training, support and accountability I’m here.
To find out more check out my current services here.
And if you would like to have a chat about your specific needs click here to book a non-obligation introduction call.
| WANT TO RUN A THRIVING FINANCIAL BUSINESS?
I’m a Business and Marketing Strategist that specialises in helping businesses in the financial space. I help my clients to strategically market, and grow, thriving financial businesses that change their live and the lives of others. To find out more about how we can work together check out my services here. And to discuss your precise needs book a free, no-obligation, introduction call to discuss your business here. |
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