AmeriFirst increased sales 5% by marrying content marketing with their traditional relationship strategies. 

Ireland's Pearse Trust increased web traffic by 13x and achieved a 30% conversion rate on landing pages.

LenCred increased leads 10x in their first year and earned $1MM in incremental funding through their content marketing efforts.
Source: HubSpot

With customers now more in charge of their personal sales process (thanks to the power of Google and the internet), marketers are learning that they need to adjust to the new way of buying - and are increasingly implementing content marketing strategies as a key component in their marketing mix.  By creating and sharing informative content designed to appeal to their customer segments, they are attracting more qualified leads for their sales teams and establishing a more targeted, relevant and personalized customer and sales experience. It truly sounds like the ideal marketing solution!

Yet, for a number of reasons, marketers at many banks and financial institutions have difficulty adopting the content marketing philospophy. They hear concerns from their IT departments, have questions about customer data from compliance, and get push-back from sales people who just don't understand it. But as the AmeriFirst, Pearse Trust and LenCred examples above show, it works! 

So how can you prove the value of implementing a content marketing program at your bank or financial institution?

Here are 5 simple facts:

Content marketing is 100% measurable and 100% justifiable:

One of a marketer’s largest challenges in traditional (or outbound) marketing and advertising is measuring a program’s success and ROI. With inbound marketing however, you can quantify the direct results of your actions within your programs. Create and promote more content, the more visitors you will get to your site. Track which content is pointing your most qualified visitors to you and create more targeted programs around that subject matter. And track your success every step of the way. If you aren't getting the results you hoped for, change something! 

It’s where your best prospects are:

In this world of Google and YouTube, smartphones and 24/7 connectivity, the first place your customers go when looking for information is online. Whether they have questions on how to get a mortgage, the best place to open a checking account, or where to best invest their money, they’re looking for answers (advice, not a sales pitch) through internet searches.  If you think about it, most of the sales and decision making process falls in the hands of your the prospect.  Google searches, online reviews, message boards, social media, and blogs (shameless!) are where people go for these types of answers before even engaging with a company.  Shouldn’t your bank be the expert that provides the advice?

It’s an incredible way to differentiate your institution from your competitors:

Content and inbound marketing is still fairly new for most financial institutions, but your banking customers are online looking for answers. Establishing your program while the playing field is still fairly limited will give you a huge leg up over your competition.

Contnet marketing will save you money.

Let’s face it, there is no such thing as a marketing budget that is too large. You need to make every penny count. On average, organizations with established inbound marketing programs report that the cost per lead is 61% lower than in outbound marketing*.

Content marketing delivers higher quality leads that are usually "sales-ready": 

So what’s stopping you?