By Katie Alteri
Did you know that 77% of internet users read blog posts? With the vast amount of content available online, consumers flock to blogs when they need answers to important questions.
Unfortunately, creating captivating content is easier said than done, especially if you work in the financial industry. You’re likely accountable for a myriad of business responsibilities, and writing content might not seem like a major priority. Still, you shouldn’t forgo content marketing, as it can generate sales for your business, educate your existing customer base, and make your company an industry-leading source of financial knowledge.
Before you abandon your content efforts, consider forming a plan that will enable you to produce high quality content quickly. There are numerous strategies for doing this, and we’ve compiled a list of ideas that are beneficial to the financial industry.
If you want to write quick content that resonates with your potential customers, here are some different approaches to try, along with quick tips.
Hire freelance writers.
If you want to create content that will attract customers, but don’t have the time or resources to make it happen, there’s a simple solution. Hire talented freelance writers to produce blog posts. This is a smart route to take if you prefer to pay writers per post, rather than hiring dedicated staff. Creating content doesn’t have to break the bank.
When recruiting, look for individuals who have knowledge of financial services and compliance issues. You want writers who can easily handle assignments so that you won’t waste any time explaining concepts to them. If you’re going to pay writers to write content for you, they should be able to produce content that is thorough, accurate, and requires very few edits. The value of working with a freelancer is the potential for professional-quality content with a quick turnaround.
Update old content.
Have you already started blogging, but your content isn’t as solid as it could be? Instead of starting from scratch with entirely new versions of this content, optimize the existing post. Using your current content as an outline, expand on areas that are vague or could use additional details. In addition, you might benefit from conducting keyword research, so that you can incorporate keywords that relate to your post. This way, you can produce content that ranks higher and is more relevant, so that your customers can find it.
Use free content creation tools.
If you’re committed to marketing your business through blog content, you can take advantage of tools that will help make the process fast and efficient. Below, you’ll find a list of free content creation tools that can make writing blog content fast and effective.
- CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer: Ensure that your blog post headlines will grab readers’ attention by utilizing CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer tool. Simply type in your headline ideas, and CoSchedule will provide an analysis with helpful suggestions.
- HubSpot Blog Topic Generator: Brainstorming interesting topic ideas can be challenging. If you find that you’ve hit a wall and are unable to come up with new ideas, turn to HubSpot’s Blog Topic Generator. All you have to do is type in keywords that you’d like to focus on, and the generator provides a list of potential post titles.
- Hemingway: If you struggle with writing succinct content, Hemingway will save the day. This free tool allows you to enter in your content and receive edits that will help cut down on any wordiness.
- Evernote: Stay organized during your content creation process by using the free version of Evernote. This notes application can give you a great place to organize your thoughts, jot down notes for future blog posts, and keep track of other important information related to your blogs.
Keep it simple.
You may be thinking that the point of creating concise content is so that you can save time. What you might not realize, is that your readers are short on time too. In fact, 43% of people say that they skim blog posts. This can work in your financial institution’s favor. You don’t have to write wordy, expansive blog posts to be helpful. As we mentioned previously, using tools like Hemingway can help you refine content so that it’s digestible. In addition, try to separate your posts with headlines for each section. That way, your readers can easily understand the angle of each post, and will be able to skim the content if they’d like.
Ask customers for topics.
Understandably, it can be time consuming to brainstorm blog post topics. Once you cover the obvious topics that relate to your banking business, it might be challenging to come up with new ideas. To combat this, turn to customer feedback. Perhaps you’ve received frequently asked questions about your products and services, or you’ve noticed that customers are facing the same challenges. By reviewing these questions, you can determine if any of them warrant a blog post, so that customers will have a resource to turn to.
Next steps.
If you want to expand your bank’s exposure to prospective customers, you need to pique their interest and show them that you understand their problems. Blogging is a great way to do that. Contrary to what many people believe, you can produce engaging content without putting in too much time or money. By following these tips, you can write blog posts that will help attract new customers and educate your existing ones.
Katie Alteri is the content marketing coordinator at Fora Financial, a company that provides small business loans to businesses across the U.S.
