Data-Centric Digital Media & Email Marketing

What Banks Should Know About Content Marketing in 2019

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It has been about a decade since content marketing was first recognized as a viable marketing strategy of its own. During this time, content marketing has grown from a curiosity to an integral marketing strategy for many businesses, including banks. Most importantly, content marketing is widely viewed as a success by marketers who have already implemented the strategy.

In the recent B2B Content Marketing Trends Report released by the Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs, seven out of ten content marketers said their content marketing programs were more successful this year than last year. On top of that, 25% of them said the overall impact of their content marketing initiatives was “extremely” or “very” successful.

Why Banks Are Uniquely Positioned to Benefit

Banks are in a unique position to reap the benefits of content marketing. Many consumers are hungry for information about money management and personal finances, so banks have an opportunity to reach a receptive audience for their content. Banks also possess vast knowledge about customer demographics and buying patterns, which enables them to craft content their customers want to see.

What’s more, banks can target their content to niche audiences. For example, content about paying off student loan debt or buying a first home can be targeted to a younger audience, while content about estate planning and managing finances in retirement can be targeted to middle-age and older clientele.

Content marketing can help banks strengthen relationships and build trust with customers and prospects. This is especially important when you consider that the financial services industry was ranked as the least trusted industry in the 2018 Edelman Global Trust Barometer.

Content Marketing Trends to Watch

The B2B Content Marketing Trends Report lists a number of current trends with regard to content marketing in 2019. Here are five content marketing trends marketers in the banking and financial services field should start considering this year.

1. Connecting with customers is key.

Content marketers have long struggled with finding the right balance between producing non-promotional, value-added content and more sales-oriented material promoting the business and its products and services. Nine out of ten top-performing content marketers in the report said providing valuable information is more important than sales and promotional messages. According to the report, connecting with audiences will be more important than ever to content marketing success. It stressed the importance of using empathy to relate better to audiences as individuals. While the natural tendency for many businesses (including banks) is to talk about themselves and how great they are, banks are usually better served by shifting their focus to meeting customers’ needs.

2. Measurement of ROI is critical.

The most successful marketers make sure they’re spending their money wisely by using the latest technology to gauge the return on investment of their content marketing initiatives. For example, many of today’s more sophisticated marketing automation platforms allow marketers to tie individual customer touch points, and thus new customer acquisitions, back to specific content marketing programs.

3. Content segmentation is becoming more important.

In the study, marketers were asked how effective different types of content are at each stage of the purchasing cycle. Blogs were rated most effective for raising awareness and interest during the early stages. Meanwhile, white papers are best for building consideration during the middle stages and case studies find the most success for consumer evaluation leading to purchases in the late stages. When it comes to generating leads, webinars and long-form pieces like white papers and e-books tend to be the best type of content. However, these are less effective in converting prospects to customers. Email drip campaigns are top performers in moving prospects through the sales funnel to the next stage of the purchasing cycle.

4. Personas can be used to develop the right content.

Personas are representations of ideal customers based on real customer data, but only four out of ten marketers in the study said they talk with their customers to get a feel for their content wants and needs. The majority (nearly three-quarters) rely on website analytics and feedback from salespeople to find this out. One strategy is to appoint a senior marketer as the “chief storyteller” who is responsible for crafting a content calendar based on the information needs of identified personas. This helps ensure content is focused on customer needs instead of bank products and services.

5. More content isn’t always better.

How much content is too much? The answer will vary from one business and industry to the next, but there seems to be a general consensus among consumers that they are being bombarded with content. Often, the best solution isn’t to produce more content, but to do a better job of promoting existing content.

A Powerful Marketing Opportunity

Content marketing represents a powerful opportunity for banks to boost brand awareness and strengthen relationships with customers and prospects. Keep these five trends top of mind as you devise your bank’s content marketing plans and strategies for the year.