A Complete Guide to Content Distribution for Financial Services

Written by: Alicia Eu

We’ve been beating the content marketing drum for the financial services industry for some time now. The tune tells a story about using content to attract and acquire a target audience that eventually converts to customers or brand advocates.

The beat, which is often taken for granted, is that the distribution of your content needs to be undertaken strategically for it to deliver your objectives.

My favourite quote on the importance of content distribution comes from Jonathan Perelman, Buzzfeed :

“Content is king, but distribution is queen and she wears the pants. It’s not nearly enough to create a good piece of content.”

The reality for financial services organisations, even for quality content, is that it can be a struggle to get readership. As the content DJ, choosing the right format and channels to deliver your message is crucial and needs to be thought through from the outset. To get that perfect content marketing rhythm going, consider your objectives, the channels available to you and how you will slice and dice your content.

Getting started

Each brand has particular content distribution needs so when composing your strategy, consider the following:

Know what to want from your content marketing – decide your business goals and how your content will help you achieve them. That means considering what you want your brand to be known for and what you want your audience to do with the content (share, like, call, follow a call to action?)

Know what information your audience wants – help your content do the work by tailoring it to address your audience’s aspirations and pain points

Know how your audience gets its information – there's no point holding a concert no one will attend. Understanding how and where your audience is consuming information will help you identify the right channels for distribution

Compose it so they come

Knowing your audience is at the centre of every successful distribution plan. You will need to know which channels your audience goes to for information then think through the dimensions of different content (e.g. topics covered, type, and format) based on how your audience might think, their position in the buyer journey and what you’re trying to achieve.

This can be a mix of paid (ads, sponsored posts), earned (media coverage, building tribes on social media), and owned (using a combination of paid and earned to build organic search rankings to generate traffic to your brand’s website, social media, EDMs).

Slicing and dicing your content, better known as ‘atomising’, is the best way to maximise its value and ensure its longevity. This means identifying sections to repurpose into different formats to be delivered to your audiences based on their interests.

For example, BlueChip developed an eBook called ‘The ultimate social media guide for financial services CEOs’ . Parts of it were shared via several blog posts with the inclusion of links back to the website to drive traffic, as well as via social media posts. We also hosted an event for the CEOs of several financial services firms to pragmatically bring the eBook to life.

The role of PR as a useful content channel must not be forgotten either, as media coverage serves a range of purposes including:

Builds credibility and domain authority. As a media outlet, a third party presents your message for you. Digital media outlets also have high domain authority which will boost your search rankings

Reusable materials. Once content has been published, it can be reused on your website, in marketing letters or eDMs and shared in social media

Extended brand reach. Media coverage can help your brand reach a much larger audience than it would otherwise

The key message? March to the beat of a good distribution plan and you'll be well on the way to a sellout event!

We will be releasing ‘A Complete Guide to Content Distribution for Financial Services’ soon, so stay tuned!