In the financial services industry, your most effective marketing tools are your expertise and your experience. When clients are looking to hire a portfolio manager, investment banker, or other financial advisor, a nice website or video is helpful, but the decision to hire you ultimately is going to come down to: does the client trust that you have the expertise to assess the market and a track record of delivering results?
So how do you turn your ideas into white papers, blogs, e-books, and other marketing materials that convey your expertise – and help you generate new business? Unless you have a process for taking the ideas in your head and turning them into finished products, your thought-leadership marketing is limited to the number of people you personally can speak to in a day.
There are many aspects of an effective thought-leadership campaign: strategy, creation, design, distribution, measurement. Of these, most financial services firms find that creation is often the most challenging part. Many financial thought-leadership efforts get derailed in the creation phase. In fact, year after year, the Content Marketing Institute’s survey of B2B marketers has found that “producing engaging content” is the No. 1 challenge that marketers face.
And that’s why working with a ghostwriter can be so valuable.
Signs You May Need to Hire a Financial Ghostwriter
Do any of these scenarios sound familiar?
- You come up with a great idea for a white paper, but no one at your firm has time to write it.
- You worked with your team to develop an outline for a white paper, but that outline has been collecting dust in your to-do pile.
- You have a unique point of view on the market, and you’re great at explaining those viewpoints in one-on-one conversations. But the idea of having to sit down and turn those ideas into a blog post or white paper seems overwhelming.
- You assigned someone in your marketing department to write a draft of the article, but when you reviewed the draft, you realized that they don’t understand the subject matter well enough to convey your expertise.
- You’re a numbers person, and the idea of having to express your ideas in writing makes you shiver.
Working with an experienced ghostwriter or freelance writer who is fluent in the financial services industry is a great way to overcome these challenges. A ghostwriter can play different roles in your process, helping you create great content that taps into the value of your ideas.
The Process of Working With a Financial Ghostwriter
In an upcoming blog post, we’ll examine what it looks like to hire and work with a ghostwriter. Bottom line: a good ghostwriter can adapt to your style and to whatever stage you are at in the content creation process. Whether you’re at square one and need help determining what topic you should write about or you have a first draft that just needs some polishing, an experienced financial ghostwriter can help you get the project across the finish line.
White papers, blogs, e-books, and other forms of thought leadership can be powerful tools for conveying your unique expertise in a crowded marketplace. But in order to turn your thoughts into thought leadership, your firm needs a writer who understands your industry and your voice. That’s why working with a ghostwriter can be a great way to leverage your most valuable marketing asset: your ideas.
About the Author
Scott Wentworth is the founder and head writer of Wentworth Financial Communications. He has served as a ghostwriter for portfolio managers, investment bankers, attorneys, and other thought leaders across the financial services industry. It took all the willpower he could muster to not include “Who You Gonna Call?” in the title of this blog post.