Inbound 101: Why Content Is Your Sales Ally

Early this month I introduced our Inbound 101 series, where will be highlighting key principles of the Inbound Marketing Methodology and why it’s a no-brainier for Asset Managers looking to adapt their ability to market their firm and succeed in a digital age. We discussed how important it is to define a Buyer Persona, a semi-fictional representation of your ideal prospective Advisor, so you have the ability to meet and guide them through their Buyer’s Journey: where they’ll go from awareness, consideration, and finally make a decision on a potential product or service they need to meet a goal or solve a problem.

Now that we know our audience, what can we offer a Financial Advisor to keep them engaged and educated throughout their Buyers Journey with us to nurture our relationship with them? We want to cultivate a “like, know, and trust,” factor and position ourselves as a thought leader in our industry, so we stay front of mind with them and when they have a question they naturally turn to us for an answer. This can help us maximize our ability to communicate the value of our products and differentiate ourselves in a clear and compelling way from our competition. Seems like a tall order, doesn’t it? But in reality, it’s not. We can achieve all of this with one word: content.

But what is content? While there are multiple definitions: we like to think of it as any material (blog post, e-book, video, social media message, etc) that is educational, data-driven, and contextual that addresses your prospective advisor along each step of their Buyer’s Journey.

As they say, content is king! It’s also your best salesperson. Instead of relying solely on costly outbound methods of marketing, content can support an inbound methodology that can be a cost-effective and persuasive method of attracting Financial Advisors to sell your product. It doesn’t have to be a complete replacement for your current marketing and sales process, but a supplement that can enhance it. And as a result, make it more efficient.

How can we facilitate the use of content at our firm to attract Financial Advisors?

Firstly, let's start with dividing content into two categories: time-sensitive and evergreen. Time-sensitive content is topical and has a short shelf-life. It tells important snippets of information about your firm to your audience that may not otherwise fit into your regular publishing schedule. For example it could be a quick Instagram live that your team presents at a conference their attending. Offering a fun, informal behind the scenes look at your company’s culture. Evergreen content is always relevant to your audience and does not have a set expiration date for use. It can be consistently used and repurposed, which is why its called “Evergreen.”

Evergreen content addresses specific goals, aspirations or pain points that your audience may have. For example: for a Financial Advisor a common goal for them could be to grow their business. To address this, you can create content like a Webinar that offers an in-person, informative format for them to learn more about your firm, what makes you distinct, and how you can help them reach their goal.

There are dozens of formats for how you can deliver your content: an eBook, infographic, white paper, video, or blog post to name just a few. What you need to always be cognizant of when creating content for your prospective financial advisor is where they are in their Buyers Journey. This can allow you to guide them effectively through your funnel by providing them the right message at the right time through your content. Let’s look at some examples below:

Awareness Stage

Your prospective financial advisor is just becoming aware of their problem, goal or aspiration that they are trying to solve. Content Format for this stage includes quality educational content such as a checklist, ebook, blog post are all great options at this stage.

Consideration Stage

Your prospective financial advisor is fully aware of their goal, aspiration, or problem and is actively cultivating and evaluating services/products that will meet there needs. Content Format for this stage is more mid-funnel content like a webinar, portfolio manager video, or case study are all excellent options.

Conversion Stage

Your prospective financial advisor has thoroughly educated themselves on their options, they feel informed enough to make a decision (ready to be closed) and you have been there every step of the way to help them. Content Format includes Live Portfolio Manager Webinar, Online Resource Library - perfect ideas for a prospect that is ready to be closed.

Creating content can seem overwhelming at first but when you start with a solid Buyer Persona, have a fundamental understanding of their Buyer’s Journey you have the ability to create content that meets them at each stage. Keeping you in front of mind, positioning you as an expert in your field and their obvious first choice to solve their goal, aspiration or problem.

I hope you found today's post informative and if you're looking to find out more about adopting Inbound Marketing as an Asset Manager.