After weeks of dominating the headlines, the UK’s general election has concluded with Labour securing a historic victory. The column inches dedicated to delving into manifestos and air time given to dissecting the debates, demonstrates the power words have.

Next time you’re putting together content for your business, considering the effect your words may have and how they might support your goals could improve the outcome. Your approach might have more in common with that of politicians than you think.

For instance, when writing content or preparing speeches, politicians might want to:

• Persuade the audience that they’re the right person for the job
• Establish that they have the necessary experience and skills
• Show that they’ll be acting in the voters’ best interests
• Demonstrate they’re a safe, reliable pair of hands.

As a financial planner, these aims are likely to be similar to yours when you’re writing content to attract new clients or strengthen relationships with existing ones.

So, there could be effective political strategies that you could benefit from utilising too. Read on to discover five lessons you could learn from general elections.

1. Set out a clear vision

During the general election campaign, all political parties will publish a manifesto that clearly states what their vision is and why they believe people should vote for them.

You can use a similar approach when creating a content strategy as a financial planner too. What’s your vision, how will your actions help clients, and what sets you apart from competitors?

As well as looking at how you want to portray your firm to prospects, you might also want to include your content commitments. For example, how often will you aim to publish new content, or what steps will you take to improve the odds of the right people reading it?

You’ll often notice that political parties will use their slogan or key phrases repeatedly, whether in written content or speeches. It’s a simple tactic that could emphasise what you’re focused on or what sets you apart. Having a clear vision could be a useful way to identify your key points and allow you to prioritise them when creating content.

2. Define who your target audience is

While a political party might want to attract votes from everyone, they know that there will be people and groups who don’t agree with their politics or approach. So, they focus on those with values that align with theirs and tailor content for them.

In business it’s similar – there are few products or services that are universally attractive.

So, by defining who your ideal client is, you’re in a better position to craft content that will be interesting and useful for them. It could help you convert more leads into clients.

3. Consider how to boost your credibility

Now the dust has settled on the general election results, attention is turning to how Keir Starmer and the Labour Party will meet the commitments they made in their manifesto.

Earning the trust of voters is an important part of the election campaign – a party making huge promises about tax cuts and increased public service spending might not prove attractive if the general population don’t believe they can deliver. It’s an important reminder about why credibility matters.

Regularly publishing articles and interesting animations will only get you so far. You’ll often need to establish trust with a potential prospect to give them the nudge they need to get in touch with you.

As a financial planner, there are lots of ways you can do this. A blog that provides practical information and is easy to understand could help build a relationship with a prospect before you’re even aware of them. Or using social proof on your website, such as showcasing the results of client videos, could be a powerful tool that boosts your credibility.

4. Leverage social media to help your content reach your target audience

Creating content that you post to your website can be a great way to connect with existing clients and prospects. However, if you want to reach a new audience, you’ll often need a different strategy, and social media could play an important role.

Indeed, journalist Matthew McGregor noted in the Guardian that Labour was “dominating the online general election campaign” in part thanks to its engaging social media content, especially its TikTok account that reached younger audiences.

That doesn’t mean you need to create a TikTok account right away. In fact, considering what platforms your target audience uses and tailoring your content to those could be more valuable than posting on every social media site.

So, if you work with business owners and professionals, you might want to consider refreshing your LinkedIn profile and regularly posting interesting content. If you specialise in supporting those nearing retirement, Facebook could prove a better option – according to Statista, 72% of Brits aged 56 or older use the platform, compared to the 2% who use TikTok.

5. Use a mix of written and visual content

While words are powerful, sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words, and it’s something many successful political campaigns have utilised.

Indeed, the “Labour isn’t working” campaign run by the Conservative Party in 1978, which was created by the advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi, was named Best Poster of the Century by global business magazine Campaign.

It’s not just UK parties that utilise graphics either. When Barack Obama was running for president in 2008, his campaign became synonymous with a stylised portrait with one-word messages, such as “hope” or “progress”.

Like political parties, you can use visual content to capture the attention of your audience too. It could be as simple as inserting a chart or graph into your blog to break up the text. Or you could get creative and use infographics, animations and more to help your words stand out.

Get in touch to talk about your content strategy

Politicians know the importance of working with the right people too. Rarely is a speech, press release, or other piece of content issued without a whole team being involved. It means politicians benefit from experts in different fields.

Whether you’d like the support of our team of talented copywriters or would like to discuss how to expand your blog’s reach through social media, we’re experts in financial marketing and could help you. Get in touch to talk about your content strategy by emailing hi@theyardstickagency.co.uk or calling 0115 8965 300.