Exploring the Value of Custom Content

To connect with your existing clients – and to reinforce your brand, communicate your value as an investment management firm and create new opportunities – it’s high time that you craft tailored content specifically for them. We’re talking about custom content.

A lot of your custom content will focus on answers to your clients’ questions – that’s what makes it useful. Producing content like this sets your firm apart as a helpful, authoritative resource. Even better, custom content has a direct impact on fund sales and conversion rates. Let’s explore.

Your clients are looking for content

A study from AOL & Neilson captured how people spend their time on the web. It breaks down like this:

53% reading published content

23% on social media

7% checking email

But here’s the stat we really want to share: 23% of all social media messages included links to published content. How much does that add-up to? Well, people share 27 million pieces of content every day on social media.

People share 27 million pieces of content each day on social media.

Content levels

Your firm is probably sharing content in one form or another. So, where does custom content fit into your broader content initiatives? This is how we break down content:

Curated, published content from reputable sources. For us financial services marketers, large North American news outlets, such as The Globe and Mail or The Wall Street Journal , are prime sources.

Firm-based content. This often includes product information, campaigns (e.g., RRSPs and RESPs) and portfolio manager perspectives.

Custom content. This is all about sharing your insights and expertise to a specific target audience (e.g., through infographics, videos, articles and blog posts).

When you put these three types of content together, you dramatically increase your chances of engaging your clients.

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Custom content builds relationships

Why bother spending the extra time and money producing custom content? Because it provides a solid return on investment. Consider the following four data points when putting together your pitch for custom content:

68% of consumers like custom content because it’s tailored to their interests (Source: The Content Council )

55% of consumers said they would be more apt to buy another product from a company that provides them with custom content (Source: The Content Council )

70% of individuals want to learn about products through content rather than traditional advertising (Source: NewsCred )

Clients invest and refer 2 times more often when they report feeling engaged by their advisor (Source: Vanguard )

Developing custom content

Knowing about custom content is one thing, producing it is another. Here are six ideas for launching a new custom content initiative at your firm:

Blogs – e.g., write a series of posts helping millennials save and invest better

Articles – e.g., create an advertorial highlighting the relevance of a new investment solution

Videos – e.g., produce videos that show how investing can make life better

Infographics – e.g., find an engaging way to share stats around retirement savings

Whitepapers – e.g., write a whitepaper explaining the shifting role of the advisor

Newsletters – e.g., craft print and digital newsletters focused on investor education

An interesting thing about these ideas is that they all cross-pollinate. That is, you can put videos in blogs, infographics in whitepapers, blogs in newsletters, and more. This exponentially improves your odds of engaging your clients.