Financial services professionals are used to dealing with data. Numbers and analytics are at the center of everything you do. Whether you’re a portfolio manager discussing the latest consumer confidence or housing starts numbers in a quarterly investor letter, or a financial advisor educating clients about valuations in various asset classes, data is going to play a central role in your message.
But using data in white papers, blogs, and other forms of thought-leadership content comes with several important caveats. Scott Wentworth, the founder and head financial writer at Wentworth Financial Communications, recently appeared on the Salesforce Marketing Cloudcast to discuss some of them. (A link to the full podcast episode is listed below.)
If you don’t have time to listen to the podcast, here is a rundown of five specific things financial marketers should consider when incorporating data in their content.
- Data isn’t the story.
Thanks to the amount of data we have at our fingertips, it is easy to fall into the trap of putting data at the front and center of every piece of thought leadership you write. But it’s important to remember that, in most cases, data is there in support of a larger story. In other words, the numbers help you illustrate and explain a trend, but the numbers alone aren’t the trend. It’s your job as a thought leader to address the bigger picture and not become overly focused on the numbers themselves.
- Focus on the larger “why?”
Getting back to the example of housing starts, simply showing how building activity compares to historical norms isn’t enough. As a thought leader, it is important for you to address the larger group of factors propelling whatever you’re writing about. What are the underlying forces that are driving changes in home building? Do you expect these trends to accelerate or decline? And most importantly, what do these trends mean for the investors in your target audience?
- Don’t overuse data.
Because we in the financial services industry have access to so much data, it’s easy to get into the habit of wanting to use as much as possible when we’re writing a white paper or blog post. Don’t fall into this trap. Less is more when it comes to data. By being selective in which points you chose to include, you draw more attention to those numbers. Don’t overwhelm the reader with too many data points.
- Focus on your audience’s problem.
When incorporating data in thought-leadership content, it’s important to keep your audience’s problem front and center. This isn’t an opportunity to show how smart you are by unleashing a trove of data points and complex equations. It is an opportunity to show that you understand your client’s problem and have experience helping others solve the same problem. Keeping this in mind will restrain you from overusing data and keep your writing focused on the most important elements.
- Don’t bury the lead with data.
Finally, don’t fall into the trap of thinking a data point itself is the most important part of the story. It often isn’t. What’s most important is what a data point or set of data points means for your audience. Make sure that meaning isn’t buried in the middle or near the end of your piece. It needs to be at the beginning.
Data is an essential part of financial thought leadership, but it must be used strategically. Remember, as a writer, your goal is to tell a compelling story that makes sense of the numbers and explains what they mean. If all your audience cared about was the data itself, they could just look at the Bloomberg terminal.
About the Author
Frank Kalman is the chief marketing officer at Wentworth Financial Communications. Frank and the team of writers and editors at WFC help professionals across the financial services industry build their brands by creating investment-grade white papers, bylined articles, newsletters, blogs, social media posts, and other forms of content marketing.