Digital marketing is a crucial part of bank advertising and the management of online banking. One marketing strategy that can help banks attract and retain customers is blogging. If you’re thinking about adding a blog to your business’s marketing strategy, keep reading to learn more.
Reasons Why Banks Should Blog
If you’re still deciding whether or not a blog is worthwhile for your bank, we’re here to tell you that it is! These are just some of the reasons it could help your business.
Increase Site Traffic
A blog is an excellent place to input your keywords so that when potential customers go on the search bar, they can easily find your blog and eventually your website.
Cross-Promotion of Products and Services
As you come up with the content for your blog, it is the prime opportunity to boast about your bank! Blogs are like an open book to give you the free space to share about your bank’s brand and all the services that your customers will enjoy. You can also link your bank’s website and social media to the blog so that customers can visit them conveniently.
Staff Upgrade
Knowing your staff members and knowing how to use the skills and abilities they bring to the table is very important. If your staff has experience in writing, you could ask them to write for your blog. If they are good at promoting, they can be among the blog promoters to let people know about any new posts and encourage them to read and share reviews.
Boost Social Media Presence
Have you been wondering how to keep your subscribed followers on social media engaged? Blogging is a smart way of providing fresh, original content to entertain and sustain your customers on social media. As soon as a new post comes out, promote it wildly on all your social media accounts and encourage your customers to comment, like, and share. In this way, there is continuous activity on your social media pages.
Build Trustworthy and Loyal Relationships with Clients
Your clients get closer to your company through the content you upload on your blog. Through your blog, you should aim to provide the answers to the questions that your clients will be asking in a creative and engaging way. Find your company’s selling point and reach out to your target market consistently.
Bank Marketing Strategy
88% of customers research online before opening a bank account. Information is a resource that will always be in demand. Why is blog content important in bank digital marketing?
From Prospects to Customers
People are always searching online for financial answers. To become the bank that attracts many prospects and generates leads, it’s important to create relevant content that is easily accessible even to mobile users. Wouldn’t you want your customers to find answers on your blog or website rather than on a competitor’s blog or website?
Fulfill Your Mission
If your bank’s mission is to help your customers improve their financial well-being and manage their money well, then be true to your mission by creating educational content and uploading it to your blog. Consequently, your customers can have access to unlimited information anywhere, 24/7.
Increase Online Visibility
One article is a reflection of your company’s brand. Publishing relevant information on a regular basis allows new users to notice you and they will be interested in learning more about your bank. The ripple effect comes as more traffic brings more leads which enhances online visibility and potential sales.
Fueling Alternative Digital Marketing Strategies
Your content can be an open door to other forms of digital marketing such as social media marketing, high website rankings, and online advertising. When customers are pleased with your blog content, they would want to subscribe to your email newsletters to receive more updates. The more they click on your blog, the higher your company’s ranking on the search results.
Steps to Start a Blog for Your Bank
Now that you’re surely convinced to add a blog to your bank’s website, how do you go about starting it?
Identify Target Keywords
To increase the number of prospects who will click on your blog, it is important to find out what keywords they would use when searching for information from a bank. Incorporate these keywords in your blog as you create the content. To identify common keywords, consider using tools such as Google Trends and Keyword Explorer.
Create a Calendar Plan
Before writing, you need to have a clear outline and a thorough plan of what kind of content to include on the blog. You need to decide on the name of the blog, the title of the article, any references and also supporting media that will be included. Then, you should create a schedule for when your posts will go live.
Write Articles
To launch your blog, you will want to have some articles already ready to be published so that visitors can read them right away. Make sure you enrich the posts with pictures or other visuals. Do some research to see what topics customers want to learn about before coming up with the posts so that the topics will captivate your readers. Position your bank as a guide and resourceful company that will help them solve their needs.
Publish and Promote
Once your posts are all set and ready to go live, have your team of promoters ready to share the news on all platforms. More than coming up with a beautiful post, what is more important is having an audience who reads and reacts to it. In case you need help with blog management, you may hire blog writers who specialize in digital marketing.
Measure Effectiveness
Track the engagement with your blog by calculating the number of clicks and comments. Be sure to add your contact information to your blog so that your customers can reach out to you if they have any questions or would like more information regarding your services.
Most banks struggle with blogging because it is different from the usual direct marketing. In fact, research shows that 18% of all financial institutions started blogging but have not had any substantial gain from it. Quality drives quantity! The more relevant and helpful the topic, the greater the amount of organic traffic. Once you attach the link to your website on your blog, you are likely to connect more customers to your bank and generate more leads.
Local Bank Marketing
A study shows that 64% of customers go to a local bank at least once or twice a month. Why is local bank marketing so important? Here are a few reasons why:
Building a Sense of Community
Having your own local bank creates a sense of belonging and it is a source of reassurance to the local community that they have a bank service they can depend on. It binds together the community of households in the locality. The bank staff is often perceived as family and friends rather than strangers.
Emotional Connection
More than just having all the answers to their questions, customers want to feel valued. There is no better way to gain their trust than through connecting with their emotions successfully. Providing customer service that exudes empathy through body language, facial expressions and gestures helps keep a tighter bond with your customers and with the local community at large.
Brand Authenticity
By defining the mission and values of your bank, customers can have a better understanding of what you stand for and see if it aligns with their principles. Think of it as a way to showcase the image of your company for potential clients. Of course, what they see in the advertisement should be what they get from your services, or even exceed their expectations. Promote your brand on your blog, website, and social media to gain a good number of influencers and create a community where clients can interact and share their ideas and feedback.
Business Collaboration Opportunities
Marketing allows you to interact with other companies on the same playing field. You get to learn from other banks, how they attract customers, how they do their promotions, what services they offer, and their brand image. Once you collaborate with such companies, your reputation becomes better and better.
Benefits of Bank Content Marketing
One of the greatest advantages of bank content marketing is that it allows bank owners to know their audience better and improve their customer relations with them. Moreover, the consumer is better educated on how to take care of their finances. It also allows different banks to come together and share wisdom on running their companies. Financial education also entails making revenue, which helps the local economy.
If you’ve decided it’s time to start a blog for your bank and don’t know where to begin, it’s time to reach out to SEO Design Chicago. We have a content creation agency that works across the country, including in Houston, to help businesses plan their online content marketing strategies. Don’t hesitate to reach out to us today!
FAQ:
- Why should banks have a blog?
- How does a blog help you increase online visibility?
- How can I create an emotional connection with customers?
- Why should I create educational content for my blog?
- How do you identify keywords to use on your blog?
Contact Us Today!