There is no such thing as a boring industry…

“There is no such thing as a boring industry. There are just bad writers who aren’t creative”. Neil Patel

Often considered the ‘trusted advisor’, the relationship between practitioner and client in the finance and accounting sector is anything but boring.

Having worked in new business roles for the financial and professional services industries for almost 9 years, it can, in fact, be profoundly intriguing. Knowing you’ve helped protect a business, or helped it succeed; well that’s pretty exciting, actually.

However, in the ‘Financial Times ‘Restoring Client Trust: 2014 Report’, we see trust is at an all time low:

• 47% of those surveyed gave their accountants an ‘excellent’ rating for technical competence
• Only 23% of financial advisers were given this same rating

Not so trusted after all, then…

This is where video content marketing has a key part to play when looking to build and maintain trust with new and existing business – with almost 70% of businesses in the sector already using video in their marketing, claiming it as the most effective content they use, it’s a great way to connect with your clients and prospects.

This sentiment is supported by Amanda Reierson, head of digital marketing for Farmers Insurance, who wrote…

“We know that the more engagement we have with our customer the easier it is to create a lasting relationship and an ongoing dialogue with them… We want to ensure that every time our customers interact with the Farmers brand, whether it be through an agent, an employee, or online, they come away feeling smarter about their insurance.”

(State of Content Marketing: Insurance – Contently, Jul 1st, 2015)

The key line here is that the customer comes away ‘feeling smarter’ about the product. Their understanding of what they’re getting into is more comprehensive, and so they feel more at ease when making the decision to proceed with a purchase/instruction/etc.

A barrier to producing this more ‘creative’ content is the inability to quantify ROI to key internal stakeholders. Often, appreciation of the benefits of creative is lacking, so communicating the impact on the bottom line, therefore, is key to pushing through these initiatives internally. In fact, in Dog’s white paper, on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being the lowest) 92% rated board engagement with creative content strategies at the 1-3 level. If you can’t engage your board, you can put your ideas in the dream drawer.

One other crucial influence on the sector’s approach (or hesitance thereof) to communicating their messages is the regulation that surrounds them. There are some tools out there, like Hootsuite’s enterprise package, which check your social communications are compliant, and your own internal compliance team will always be more than happy to tell you when you’re not playing by the rules!

Over the coming weeks and months I’ll be providing insights into how to overcome content marketing challenges – feel free to submit your own questions, which I will do my best to answer. If you have any personal success stories you’d like to share, feel free to get in touch. I’ll endeavour to include the best in my future content!

To speak with me direct, you can email me at mark.kershaw@spectrecom.co.uk or call me on 020 3096 2867.

You can also follow me on Twitter or connect with me on LinkedIn, where updates and insights will be more regular.