Inbound marketing has quickly become the done thing for ambitious businesses in the modern age as they tap into new buying habits.
This is not surprising. The techniques of inbound are extremely effective at bringing new life to a business through refreshing and helpful content marketing, something which can be especially effective across the financial services sector where the inbound approach can markedly change the company-customer relationship.
In short: it’s about education, simplification, and understanding. This is the path to customer retention in an increasingly saturated industry that, due to its complex nature, is difficult to approach as a consumer.
Overt selling is simply failing to connect with modern audiences, especially with products or services that are difficult to understand. Inbound marketing is an area where FinTechs have excelled, meeting the audience where they are with useful content and tools.
Financial services companies have a lot to offer. To maximise lead generation, it’s just a matter of knowing how to make your content work for you!
That’s where the magic of inbound marketing comes into play.
So…
How exactly will inbound marketing generate more leads for financial services?
There’s a broad range of businesses that fall into the category of financial services, yet, from client facing intermediaries to membership-based networks, the marketing challenges are essentially the same.
Following the inbound methodology, all financial services can gain traction by raising awareness through education and insight, bringing in and converting more organic leads, and ultimately generating new business from an untapped proportion of the financial marketplace through a modern approach to search engine optimisation.
In essence, the lead generation process runs in the following way…
Raise awareness through consistent blogging and social media output
- Through a consistent offering of insightful content, researched to target the search trends of your focus demographics, you’ll secure a strong position on search engines, and new visitors will flood in via organic searches.
A clear user journey, from CTAs, Landing pages and lead capture forms
- Once visitors arrive at your site, the journey needs to be simple, with clear direction, and with something to offer. Rather than giving long winded in-depth content away for free, which many financial corporates are prone to do, you can offer manageable chunks of content in exchange for contact information. This can be anything from just an email address to more specific information about where they work or what their interests are in the field. It’s all about knowing how much your content is worth and asking for a fair amount information in return.
Marketing automation to nurture prospects and inform members
- With the information you collected, you can then follow up with leads based on their specific levels of interest. Marketing automation platforms like HubSpot, make this process simple. You can create and maintain clearly defined lists for clearly defined lead stages, you can nurture prospects and inform current members with ease, offering new information as you progress through the buyer’s journey.
A scientific approach to data lets you monitor and measure success
- Taking a scientific approach to the lead activity data you collect will allow you to see immediately what is and isn’t working. And, with a platform like HubSpot in place, you’re able to instantly adapt your approach. This process will let you optimise your website and content plan so that you’re your content and distribution methods are always reaching the right search criteria for your audience, allowing you to generate more leads and engage the ones you already have on your side.
Ultimately…
The key to inbound is understanding your audience
Nowadays, the marketplace doesn’t want businesses who stand at arm’s length from their customers. People respond to businesses that go the extra mile to help them. That’s how inbound marketing works. You need to delight your target audience. Then they’ll always come to you.
For financial services to do this, they need to rethink content creation and distribution.
Currently, the concern in the industry is that the products and services involved are not interesting enough to be discussed regularly in blog posts, videos, or other online formats. Yet this isn’t necessarily true.
The information that financial companies have to offer is great content waiting to happen, it’s just a matter of finding the most engaging way to piece it together, and share it in exchange for lead information.
Think about it, finance is a subject that is central to everyone’s lives, yet many of us never really think about it. In many cases, we even try to avoid it.
This is the gap in social consciousness that needs to be bridged. And this is what FinTech is currently tapping into.
To key to generating more leads is bridging this gap with inbound marketing.
You need to create content that is informative, and optimised to the specific problems your audience is facing, so that when they search for answers, there you are!
To get this right, understanding your audience is vital. With inbound, you start by constructing detailed buyer personas to represent each key demographic you want to attract. These personas include a thorough understanding of search trends and buying habits, and allow you to optimise all your content and social media output accordingly, ensuring that you meet your audience where they’re looking, in a voice and tone they can connect and engage with.
To excel in this area, financial services need…
A new approach to content.
With eye-catching and memorable content, that makes a difficult subject palatable and approachable, you will get people talking and create a natural buzz around the services you offer.
You already have the solutions to their problems, you just need them to be aware of this. With inbound, you can meet them where they are as they search for the answers they want.
Plus…
An inbound website
You need to make sure your website is top of the list for searches made by your target audience.
This requires a content plan built around specific keywords, which are based on the buyer personas, and built into your blog posts and your website. The key then is to make your website work for you. By constructing a website that incorporates the inbound structure, it will constantly be at work for you, driving leads further down the buyer’s journey by offering relevant content and offers in accordance with their interest.
And that’s it…
Deliver insightful content around your keywords and drive traffic to your site. The more you do this, the better you will rank. And the more leads you will generate.
It’s not a walk in the park. Certain regulations in this industry change the terrain, meaning sales can be complex. But, with growing demand for financial services to modernise and meet the people where they are with more and more online tools, advice and offers to simplify the landscape, now is the time to put the techniques of inbound marketing to work, bringing the audience you want directly to your virtual door.