Is Your Bank’s Content Working? 8 Questions to Ask Yourself

The need for your bank to have valuable content is great. But between keeping up with technology, compliance pressures, security challenges, and marketplace shifts, finding the resources to allocate to content can be difficult. To make it easier for you to focus on what’s essential when it comes to creating high-quality content, we’ve put together a list of questions to ask yourself. Use these to evaluate and improve your current content and to build out a strong content strategy going forward.

1. Is your content serving your audience?
   Think about what really matters to your customers. Make sure your content shows that you understand what is important to them, whether you are speaking to a new college grad, first-time homebuyer, or savvy investor on the brink of retirement.
2. Does your content eliminate barriers to conversion?
   Consider how your content could make it easier for your users to open an account, apply for a loan, download a banking app, find a branch, or perform another action. Does your content clearly explain what they need to do?  While technology needs to be in place to establish a seamless digital experience, engaging and informative content with appropriate calls to action can support it and help move the user along the customer journey.
3. Are you incorporating keywords?
   Content that is optimized for the search engines can attract your intended audience. Include keywords in your headings, subheads, and body copy where they make sense.
4. Have you done competitive research?
   Analyze what your competitors are doing. See what topics they are addressing in their content and what keywords they are ranking for. Can you take advantage of any content gaps?
5. Are you using a variety of content?
   Financial content doesn’t have to be dry. Mix it up and get creative. Engage and connect with your audience with a variety of content.
6. Are you being strategic?
   Keep in mind quality over quantity. If you create content solely for content’s sake, there’s a good chance it will be ineffective. Be strategic. Content should be relevant for the audience, the topic, the format, and the ultimate goal (brand awareness, account opening, etc.). Effective content will be an extension of your brand and align with your vision and mission.
7. Is your messaging consistent?
   Reinforce your credibility by ensuring that your bank’s brand and messaging are consistent across channels including your website, social, email, etc.
8. Are you addressing all stages of the buyer’s journey?
   Not every piece of content needs to be a hard sell.  Take advantage of the opportunity to attract and nurture users at different stages of the buyer’s journey. Create content for the awareness stage (e.g., a money market vs. savings account infographic), the consideration stage (e.g., a first-time homebuyer’s guide), the purchase stage, (e.g., a blog promoting your “get $100 when you open a checking account” offer), and post-purchase stage (e.g., a moving checklist).

By auditing your existing content and answering these questions, you’ll be able to identify areas for improvement. Does your content need minor tweaks? Have you discovered it may be time for a complete content overhaul? If so, Wpromote can help. Whether you require some quick wins or a long-term plan, our team can put together a comprehensive content marketing strategy that can support your goals, highlight your competitive products and services, and deliver measurable success.