9 Mistakes To Avoid In Content Marketing For Brands In Financial Services

When writing for financial service providers, avoid recycling old templates—regardless of how well they performed in other niches. The finance industry is fast-paced and competitive. Your target market regularly consumes dozens of financial services ads; publishing generic content won’t yield results. In all likelihood, they’ll overlook your client’s ads.

Finance writing demands authority. Remember: most consumers feel awkward discussing sensitive topics involving money. They won’t trust shady, no-name brands for credit repair, loan applications, estate planning, insurance management, and debt consolidation, among other pressing financial needs. 

So if you feel like your marketing campaigns aren’t converting, reassess your content first with social media analytics. We’ll discuss the most critical yet common mistakes that writers commit when promoting financial services brands. 

1. Making false promises

Marketing highlights benefits and features, but you should never resort to false claims. Don’t promise unguaranteed results. Bragging that your company yields XX% of profits, brings credit scores up by XX points, or eliminates debt will ultimately put you in hot water. 

The below photo shows exaggerated promises for a $70,000 one-day training program that supposedly grows your business exponentially.

Instead of making unrealistic promises, lay down data supporting your claims.

Catherine Schwartz, the finance Editor at Crediful, shares that her credit repair company thrives on honest marketing. While most rival credit repair companies make absurd claims about how they can clear debts within a ridiculously short period, Crediful only states facts.

She says, “Claiming that you can help readers increase their credit score by 100 points in a month is a quick, easy way to gain traction. However, it’s also dishonest. Credit repair varies case by case; no solution can guarantee universal results. If you persist in misleading clients, they will lose their trust in your brand, complain about your services online, and, in the worst case, sue you for false advertising.

The below photo shows how Crediful emphasizes its services without making unattainable promises:

2. Writing based purely on research

Although you can use reliable third-party finance sites for research, you shouldn’t write about topics to which you have limited knowledge or access. You might produce erroneous, invalid pieces.

It’s best to provide first-hand insights. For instance, when recommending an app, you should try it out before writing a review. Inject your unique, reliable advice. Readers won’t bother reading your articles that contain general information accessible anywhere else.

Kyle Zien, the director of growth marketing at Felix, also shares that companies like his can’t risk publishing inaccurate information because it deals with pressing matters. He says, “Consider your target market. A company that operates in serious industries like medicine or finance will put its clients at risk if it spreads misinformation. The consequences are grave. If you’re unsure about a topic, don’t consider writing about it until you’ve done adequate research.”

3. Using overly promotional or salesy language

The finance industry is swarming with scams. They involve a wide range of individuals, from shady marketers selling useless courses to thieving scammers robbing victims through non-existent services.

Although crooks use various methods, they often lure victims with unbelievable claims. So if you want to set your brand apart, tone down the sales talk when writing finance ads and blogs. Use sincere, conversational language. If you want to emphasize the benefits of your service, do so by laying down irrefutable data and facts.

Here’s what an overly promotional slogan might look like:

Personalized posts that resonate with your audience might get better reach and impressions than ones filled with senseless fluff and buzzwords. Just focus on providing value. 

The below photo demonstrates the ideal blend of sales-y and informative.

4. Inconsistently uploading content

Any effective brand strategy will require you to upload content consistently. Thousands of finance websites publish similar content every minute—readers have no reason to wait for those that follow inconsistent, unreliable content calendars. Your competitors can quickly take over your spot. 

To demonstrate authority and expertise in finance, write about relevant, interesting topics regularly. Maximize your presence across different platforms. Writing assistant can save your precious time by automating content writing and editing tasks. For instance, you can tweet helpful finance tips, post crucial announcements on Facebook, share original images on Instagram, and publish long-form content on your website.

If you have multiple social media profiles, consider scheduling your posts prior. You can use Keyhole’s Pubslishing feature to schedule unlimited posts at your optimal time to post for amplified reach.

Just don’t forget to calculate your engagement rates. Find out which topics your readers commonly engage with because Google grants the top SERP rankings to authoritative, highly engaged brands.

5. Neglecting target market research

The finance industry comprises diverse markets. Your ideal buyer persona will significantly vary based on the financial services that you’re promoting. Targeting generic demographics yields negligible results. Unless you perform extensive market research beforehand, your blogs and ads might not even reach the right prospects.

Jake Hill, the founder of DebtHammer, emphasizes that his marketing team invests big bucks in creating an accurate ideal buyer persona. It’s expensive, but it gives you a great return on your ad spend. 

He shares, “Understand your reader’s pain points—finance writing is very broad. Someone looking into debt relief has different priorities versus someone exploring how their insurance plans affect estate planning. Don’t scale your marketing campaigns until you find the right market. Increasing your budget without adjusting your audience metrics will ultimately hurt your return on ad spend.”

6. Deleting readers’ comments

Finance writers can’t wholly avoid negative comments. As a content marketer, you are constantly at risk of drawing flak. The finance industry has a massive reader base, and your blogs and ads won’t necessarily leave a positive impression on everyone.

You might feel tempted to delete negative comments but don’t. Most of them come from disgruntled customers who feel dissatisfied with your brand or services. 

Deleting them will hurt your image. You should constantly monitor third-party opinions using social listening, reassure readers of their worries, and analyze content that draws negative comments. Routinely assess your content. See what you can do to prevent recurring issues from arising moving forward.

Also, having zero negative reviews looks unusual. For instance, the below brand has excellent ratings on Google, but it draws predominantly negative comments on third-party platforms like Trustpilot.

Warning: Retain feedback from actual readers and customers, but filter your comment sections for hate speech.

7. Relying on stock images

Stock images are affordable alternatives to original images. You can freely add them to your ads, blogs, and social media posts if they’re free for commercial and editorial use. 

Sites like Unsplash, Pexels, and Pixabay carry thousands of free stock photos. If you need a wider range of images, you could explore paid sites like Shutterstock, Adobe Stock, and iStock.

Albeit accessible, you shouldn’t rely on them too much. Since millions of websites already use the same stock images, they tend to come off as generic and overused. Readers might even associate you with shady sites that use similar visuals.

To give your audience an accurate depiction of the financial services that your brand provides, produce original assets. Your visual content strategy won’t produce results if it comprises inauthentic graphics. Prospects would want to know the team behind a finance company before trusting or investing in them.

For instance, the below brand builds reputability by showing the faces behind it:

8. Ignoring consumer trends

It’s easy to write about dated, evergreen topics. For instance, you can write dozens of articles about saving money, debt-clearing methods, and popular books like Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki.

However, these topics are saturated. To gain top SERP spots in saturated, competitive niches, you’ll have to outperform well-established sites that have dominated them for decades.

Instead of going against these brands, try ranking for less-saturated yet relevant topics, like trends. Not all trends stay, but you can maximize their relevance to gain site visitors, build domain strength, and establish your authority. 

Jesse Hanson, the content manager at Online Solitaire, emphasizes the importance of publishing relevant content for his company. It operates in a competitive, saturated industry, after all. He says, “The only way to outperform industry veterans is to stay ahead of the game through trends. Talk about relevant matters that go viral. Once you establish authority and gain traffic, you can publish articles about less-trendy but evergreen topics.”

9. Avoid suggesting shady money-making strategies

Top-searched finance topics typically involve money-making strategies. Everyone needs money. Statistics show that one in three Americans have side hustles, most of which hunt for new jobs regularly.

However, not all opportunities are legit. Despite the gig economy’s boom, only 16% of U.S. adults have made money through online gig platforms. Some people have even lost money to scams.

For these reasons, finance writers can’t blindly recommend trending side hustles just to gain site traffic. Doing so is misleading. 

Jarret Austin, the owner of Bankruptcy Canada Inc., shares that his company is responsible for guiding distressed debtors properly. They can’t just give random advice. He says, “As a respected, trusted authority in finance, you must understand the power of your words. Many people trust your recommendations. Baseless advice and false claims will only put them in worse situations.”

The company goes above and beyond in guiding clients by providing free consultations. It doesn’t just present random promises.

Only talk about money-making opportunities that you’ve personally tried. If you can’t vouch for a gig, don’t recommend it to anyone, regardless of its popularity.

Use content marketing to boost your finance industry reach

Effective finance writing involves original, well-researched content that resonates with the needs of your target market. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution to finance writing. Instead of simply presenting your brand’s financial services, explain how readers will benefit from them.

Just note that obsessing over perfection impedes creativity. Not every ad or blog that you post will quickly give you a positive return on your investment, so don’t stress over poor-performing pieces. Focus on publishing quality work first. Once you have enough content, analyze your performance across platforms, compare different strategies, and see which ones yield results.

Are you sick of analyzing data manually? Instead of reading endless numbers on tedious, mind-numbing spreadsheets, switch to Keyhole. It collates data across various platforms. Sign up for a free trial account—see how your marketing team benefits from automated data analysis.

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