What follows are three financial advisor blog content ideas and approaches advisors and other financial consultants can use to quickly generate content your target audience is actually interested in.
To build trust within your digital community, focus on writing highly personalized and hyper-targeted content.
Financial Advisor Blog Content Ideas
#1 — Involve Clients
As an advisor, managing financial matters comes naturally to you. However, this is not generally the case for your clients. There are questions on their minds that are nagging at them. The key is to ask them about information they’d like to know more about. Furthermore, only approach clients you want to replicate.
Consider this: If you approach just one client and she says, “I want to know more about how to start a nonprofit,” your initial reaction might be that it’s not your expertise. Yet you probably know an attorney who would be interested in writing a guest blog on the topic. Or, you could do the basic research yourself and write about it. Either way, you may not be an expert at starting a nonprofit, but the inner workings of operating one certainly involves your skill sets as well as your client’s finances and her lifetime goals.
Keep this in mind…
When you distribute the post or article, you’ll also send a personal email to your client making sure she received it. Upon reading it, you’ll have answered many of her questions, reinforcing your role as her advisor and ultimately increasing referrals.
Asking clients what they want to know more about is your richest source of content marketing ideas.
#2 — Name Your Audience
Many financial professionals resist picking a niche for fear of missing out on business. If you want to cost-effectively and quickly grow your practice from online leads, you MUST select a niche.
It’s the only way to prequalify leads as they enter your sales funnel, e.g., when they sign up for your monthly newsletter.
Therefore, when writing blog or social posts, name your audience in the headline so they know immediately that you work with people just like them, e.g., Small Biz Retirement Planning in 3 Easy Steps or Overcoming Income Dips From Maternity Leaves. In each example, the reader knows if your content applies to them or not. What’s more, they also know you work with people just like them.
This approach works in reverse too. If you write about 5 Ways To Save Money; Start by Cutting Back on Lattes, then you’ll attract these people into your sales funnel. Of course, if someone needs to cut back on their lattes, do they have enough investable assets to make managing their money worthy of your time? Only you can answer this.
The key question is: Are you writing about topics that draw the types of clients you want? I’d opt for two qualified newsletter sign-ups compared to 1000 people who sign up and never do business with me, or in your case, people who have no assets!
Save yourself time and money by cutting back on the clutter within your sales funnel. Easily accomplish this by writing focused content.
[Related Video] Example of Financial Advisor Niche Markets: In this video, I explain to financial advisors how to niche a niche.
#3 — Write About Sensitive Topics
These days, most financial subjects have probably already been covered. Should you still write it? Yes, absolutely, particularly given that you have your own personal insights, experiences and knowledge to share. I’ll add a caveat: If you write about retirement planning or a similar broad topic, then pick a niche subject within it. You’ll gain more traction with search engines by writing about a niche topic within a much broader category, such as, Should I convert my Traditional IRA to a Roth IRA?
Certainly, clients with substantial assets have financial management and tax concerns and you should address these issues in your blog, newsletter and other communications. Still, wealthy individuals as well as emerging affluent investors also have emotional and health challenges that spring up at any moment. It’s at this intersection of financial, emotional and health needs that you can bring deeper quality content to your target audience, ultimately filling your sales funnel with prequalified leads while holistically addressing the whole individual.
Few advisors, if any, use this approach—creating an opportunity for you.
Here are three sensitive topic headline examples:
#1 — Middle Age: Moving Beyond the Past & Into the Present
In her excellent book, Waking Up in Winter, In Search of What Really Matters at Midlife, personal development coach Cheryl Richardson writes: I want to stay connected to who I am today, not reflexively serve the person I’ve been in the past.
By now you may be thinking, Sharron, where are you going with this? Here’s the thing: It’s likely you have several middle-aged clients. Many are stuck emotionally. They may be doing well financially, but emotionally not-so-much. By blogging about middle age, goal setting, being present, questioning friendships and career choices, etc., you’ll reach these women emotionally, increasing the likelihood of referrals. Women like to feel understood. Therefore, if you’re blogging about what’s on her mind, it’s clear you understand her.
As an aside, one excellent event for your female clients is to host a book discussion. I suggest Waking Up in Winter. It’ll make for an intimate event and your clients will bring their dearest friends.
#2 — 3 Steps to Plan for Dementia
According to the Alzheimer’s Association, one in 10 people age 65 and older has Alzheimer’s dementia, and almost two-thirds of Americans with Alzheimer’s are women. Therefore, it’s clear that many of your clients will face some level of dementia. Who better to blog about it than you? Are you an Alzheimer’s expert? Probably not. Yet, you know inherently the financial and estate planning ramifications if not proactively managed.
#3 — Our Roles During a Friend’s Cancer Journey
According to Dana-Farber, the risk of getting cancer increases significantly after age 50. What’s more, half of all cancers occur at age 66. Therefore, it’s likely that one of your clients, key prospects or a respective loved one will be diagnosed with cancer. Who better to provide some helpful tips regarding this challenge than you? After all, cancer is a life milestone for many, unfortunately.
In Closing
Ultimately, the best content marketing approach for financial advisors is twofold:
- Answer the most common financial questions clients have.
- Offer advice to the most pressing life challenges clients have, beyond finances.
In either case, whatever advice you offer will ultimately complement your financial services. Why? Because money, health and emotions all go together. And when you address all three, your financial planning advice is far more holistic and all encompassing.
Searching for fresh and unique content marketing ideas? Check out my new special report: Financial Services 12-Month Annual Content Marketing Calendar, Blog & Social Media Content Ideas for Financial Advisors
Financial Services Writer
I enjoy writing about the emotional side of the financial planning process. Please contact me if you’re seeking to make a deeper connection with clients and prospects. Together, we can create an influx of customers who want what you offer.
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Thanks for reading, sharing and commenting.
Independently Yours,
Sharron