Thanks to the internet, companies can communicate directly to mass audiences via their website, social media channels or through audio or video format.

Content marketing refers to taking a strategic approach to creating and distributing
valuable, relevant and consistent content, targeted to a clearly defined audience to, ultimately, drive profitable customer action.

The trouble is, the financial service industry is bound by rules and compliance issues and as a result, industry leaders have been slow and hesitant to embrace this new marketing approach.

How does it benefit SMSF practices?

The key benefits of a successful content marketing strategy are increased customer engagement, trust in your brand, authority and more sales.

While bigger organisations can afford to employ entire teams, departments or agencies to take care of their content and social media strategies, new technology is levelling out the playing field, making it affordable and accessible for SMEs to incorporate digital content marketing into the mix.

Here are some digital content tactics that an SMSF practice might consider incorporating into the business:

1. Blogging

To expand your business’ digital reach and drive more visitors to your website, get blogging. Google and other search engines favour original, quality content. The more blogs you publish, the more chance that search engines will pick up your content. Develop a search engine optimisation (SEO) strategy with help from an SEO professional to boost your page rankings and acquire organic search traffic.

The secret to successful business blogging is to focus on solving your target market’s problems. Create blog posts which answer your audience’s most common problems, wants and needs and you will see your website’s traffic, customer engagement, trust and authority in your brand soar.

2. Podcasting

Your audience wants the freedom to consume content on their own terms, when it’s most convenient for them, which is why we are seeing the popularity of podcasts exploding. Audio also allows you to inject more personality into your brand’s content.

Why should small businesses create a podcast show?

• Talking is easier than writing
• Audio is consumable on the go for your busy audience: as more people spend more time in their cars, on public transport and we carry devices capable of storing and playing music, it makes sense to produce content to be consumed in this way.
• Audio can be transcribed and turned into a blog; blogging can be time consuming; so why not grab the audio, do a quick edit, and turn it around into a written piece?

3. Video content

Internet users want information in an instant. Video is a dynamic medium for informing, educating and entertaining your audience.

One way to do this might be to send a customised video message to each client following their first meeting. The video adds a personal touch to our client experience and is great for compliance. Unfortunately, we all must protect ourselves against litigation. A clear video message attached to a proposal highlighting your strategy, its risks and potential outcome is a great way to help de-risk your business.

Shooting a video for clients is simple. It can simply be recorded on an iPhone, uploaded and attached to an email.

Regularly creating video material for your business is great practice if you want to become a thought leader in your field and need to get comfortable with public speaking.

When working on your content marketing strategy, remember the purpose behind every piece of content must be to add value for the client.

Dressing up a sales pitch or constantly talking about how great your service/product is will only result in your audience losing interest and clicking away. Modern marketing is about “telling not selling”.

Where do I recommend you start? Blogging. It is the path of least resistance (for most of us busy professionals, resistance is time) and a way to find your own voice.

Drew Grosskreutz, chief executive, Otium Group