6 Tips for Blogging in the Financial Industry
Blogging. It’s the hot topic these days no matter what industry you’re in, and rightfully so. Based on 2015 data from the inbound marketing platform Hubspot, companies that blog attract 55% more visitors, and get 67% more leads than those that don’t. While data suggests that publishing over 16 blog posts per month can increase web traffic by 3.5 times, even posting 1-2 blogs per week can boost traffic by up to 50%.
In the financial industry, there are plenty of topics to blog about. From savings to investment trends to information on pensions, people are looking for information you have, and your blog is the perfect place to share your knowledge.
It can sometimes be difficult to know exactly what to write about for your next blog post. So to help you create a blog that draws in more traffic and, hopefully, more customers, here are some tips to blogging in the financial industry.
1). Spend time researching your buyer personas
Knowing exactly who is buying your services is key to establishing a successful blog. Without knowing who your ideal customers are, it’s very difficult to create content that attracts more of those people. By researching your customers and speaking to front-line employees, you can learn a lot about who your business is servicing.
2). Create a content calendar, but stay flexible
It’s important to plan your content in advance, but it is equally important to remain flexible and news-jack a story or trend. Knowing exactly what will be going out in the future allows your brand and blog to remain consistent online, but can give you the opportunity to strike gold with simple tweets talking about trending events or topics.
3). Avoid industry-specific jargon
Jargon scares people, mainly because they get confused and it’s off-putting and often dry. This does not mean to use slang or sloppy English, but write accessibly in a way that anyone can easily understand.
4). Cite credible sources
Citing credible sources when referring to information like legislation, new trends, and more will add weight to what you are saying. In other words, it lets people know you know what you’re talking about.
5). Tap into in-house knowledge
Take advantage of people in different departments within your company. These employees have plenty of untapped knowledge about the industry, clients, trends, thought leaders, and insights. Many times there is not much data to back up information in a blog post, and using these in-house resources can effectively fill the knowledge gap.
6). Interview people
People want to hear what experts have to say, especially in the financial industry. If getting an actual interview within your organization is hard, schedule an interview so they don’t have to write. Turning this into a blog post may provide you with some of the most valuable information in your blog.
