A financial copywriter researches and publishes written material about the products, services or role of a financial organisation.
What is the process of transferring my pensions? How much do I need to retire? What is the best way to create an investment strategy? Can I get a mortgage if I’m self-employed?
There will be many pressing questions your clients (or prospects) will have, depending on your niche in the industry.
The best way to give them the answers they’re looking for and provide continuous added value, while engaging a brand new audience, is to share great financial content.
Here at Opulent Media Group, we have an internal team of financial copywriters. They are committed to writing the highest quality financial specialist content for our clients.
‘What we do have are a very particular set of skills. Skills we have acquired over a long career’…
OK, hands up, we may have watched the movie ‘Taken’ a few too many times and mastered this Liam Nelson quote. But between us, we also have over 30 years of experience in the financial industry, meaning we talk your language.
Today we discuss how you can provide great content to your audience, and why you should invest in financial copywriting as an essential component of your marketing strategy.
What is a financial copywriter?
A financial copywriter simply writes content specifically for the financial industry.
The content is often intended to inform, inspire, and occasionally entertain the reader.
We believe that the ultimate goal of a financial copywriter should be to build trust between firms and their clients or prospects by providing great value in the material written.
Furthermore, content should also encourage readers to make contact and be used as a lead generation tool.
What makes financial copywriters unique?
Writing financial industry content requires a lot of skill, knowledge and specialist experience.
Generalist copywriters may struggle to understand the jargon. This is why it’s common for such writers to find themselves on a steep learning curve if thrown in the deep end of financial copywriting for financial advisers.
A financial copywriter must find a balance within their writing.
This is because the content should be rich in detail and communicate complex financial information to the reader.
Although the reality is that this technical content can become tedious and boring. A financial copywriter must communicate complex topics clearly and enthusiastically, with an overall goal of keeping the reader engaged and well informed.
A copywriter can achieve this by incorporating relatable and compelling stores into the content.
Recent client testimonials or brief case studies can be used to illustrate the point. This allows the reader to take a break from more complicated content and gives them the chance to digest the topic in real terms.
What does a financial copywriter do?
A financial copywriter will spend a lot of time writing, obviously. Although there are other important skills that the role includes:
Research
This includes primary research (e.g. conducting client surveys) and secondary research (e.g. using news articles).
We also conduct weekly SEO research for our clients, ensuring that we are writing about relevant topics that support your overarching SEO strategy and performance.
Interviewing
We regularly interview our clients to obtain useful information.
Nobody knows your business better than you, but secondly, it should be us!
Proofreading
An experienced financial copywriter will spend time going through each article to check for grammar, spelling and fact checks.
This is not only relevant for new content. We also review older content to ensure it is still factually correct, relevant, and has no broken links.
Image sourcing
Articles written by financial copywriters are more effective, with at least one featured image. We must also ensure that these images are correctly labelled for SEO purposes.
Project management
It is not as simple as writing and posting.
The financial copywriting team must work closely with the rest of the agency, including our SEO specialists, Marketing Managers and Creative.
Every piece of content is a joint and coordinated effort.
The team has organisational and management skills to ensure that every piece of content reaches the right team in time to have the perfected version with the client on time.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
Many financial companies want their content to appear higher in search engine results. An SEO-savvy financial copywriter should understand the basics of SEO and write effectively for this purpose.
What does a financial copywriter write about?
Financial copywriters write different forms of content for different contexts. These include:
Blogs
Financial blogs usually contain between 1000-2,500 words. Written to answer a question or topic that prospects/clients want explained.
While we recommend at least 1000 words, Hubspot data shows the ideal blog post length should be 2,100-2,400 words for best SEO results. Long form content has a real importance.
Guides / Fact Sheets / White Papers
Usually longer than blog posts, and typically in a PDF format. These pieces of content provide value-adding detailed exploration of a particular financial topic. Wonderful to be used as lead magnets for lead generation.
Email campaigns
Email copywriting can include newsletters, updates, sales collateral and guest posts. They may also include snippets from articles that the financial copywriter produced for the month.
Over half of emails are now opened on mobile devices, so this is always in the back of our content writers’ minds.
Social media posts
Financial firms are becoming more active on social media to stay “in front” of clients and lead the way in thought leadership.
However, managing financial social media accounts and writing posts can be time-consuming.
This is where a copywriter comes in, to take that daily stress away. Our content writers typically produce monthly social media plans for clients to approve a month in advance.
Industry reports
An industry report, like a white paper, is usually longer than a blog post.
It will focus on a particular aspect of the financial industry, which covers a wide landscape of a subject over a certain period.
Website copy
Financial website content should be regularly updated. This is important for both relevancy and SEO purposes.
Our team offers both website content overhauls and bespoke website content from scratch.
Here at Opulent Media, our copywriters are fully immersed in all things financial.
We can build on your brand presence, giving you exposure, recognition, and ultimately generating your quality leads.
Consistent content will boost the authority of your website, meaning extra traffic and more conversions.
Want some help with your financial content? Get in touch.
