What do Mission: Impossible, Mount Everest, and supermarkets have in common?

They’ve all featured in blogs written by our very own content team, of course!
Confused? Rightly so. These probably aren’t the first topics that spring to mind when thinking about financial planning.

But that’s exactly the point.

The element of surprise can capture your reader’s attention

The primary objective of publishing informative content is to educate your audience and help them to understand what you can do for them. In doing so, your readers are much more likely to trust you and subsequently want to work with you.

But there’s one other vital ingredient to a successful content marketing campaign: it needs to capture your audience’s attention.

There are lots of different ways to do this, but one of our favourites is to include a reference or comparison to a relevant subject that’s perhaps a little unexpected. Done well, the element of surprise can help your content to stand out and stick in your reader’s mind long after they’ve finished reading the blog.

Consider some of the blogs we’ve published over the past few months.

• Abi’s blog transported you to the excitement of Silverstone to explore how to build an effective LinkedIn profile
• Jordan’s blog taught you how to nurture your website like a beloved pot plant
• Matt shared his secret to writing a winning award entry in the legend of the spider versus the wasp
• Kay enlisted the help of Jedi Master Yoda to learn more about mastering marketing for your firm.

That’s not to say that every blog needs to include a reference to something surprising to make it interesting – some subjects require a more formal approach. But every now and again, something a bit more novel can have a significant impact.

3 reasons an unexpected twist can make your content more effective

If you’re still not convinced, here are three important reasons why including an unexpected twist in your blog can help you to attract more of your ideal clients.

1. It makes the subject of your blog more relatable

Financial planning can be an overwhelming and complex world, particularly for those clients who have never worked with a planner before. This means that subjects like estate planning, investing, and setting up financial protection can feel a bit heavy. When things are hard to think about, it can feel easier to simply ignore them than to tackle them head on, which is the opposite of what you want your prospects to be doing.

By approaching these topics through the lens of something more familiar, you can soften the reader’s experience of thinking about these difficult subjects for the first time. Even better, it could add some humour to the mix and help the reader to visualise more clearly how your advice could help them with their specific challenge.

When this happens, financial planning might not seem so scary to your reader after all, particularly with a firm that clearly understands their challenges as well as their interests.

2. It appeals to your clients’ interests and hobbies

The quality of the relationship between a financial planner and their client is crucial for achieving great results. Being able to relate to one another is a great starting point, and what better way to do that than to use your content to demonstrate all the things you have in common with your reader?

You will likely already know the sorts of subjects that your ideal clients take an interest in. Whether it’s ABBA, knitting, or extreme sports, including mention of these things in your content could pique the interest of the person you’re trying to reach.

Think of it from your reader’s perspective: given the choice between two equally well-qualified financial planners, would you rather work with the one who shares your passion for rock climbing and Adam Sandler films, or the one who doesn’t seem to have any interests outside of financial planning?

When someone feels seen and heard in your marketing, they’re much more likely to look out for your next blog or email. Plus, it’ll put you at the front of their mind when they decide it’s time to reach out to a planner for help.

3. It makes your brand personable and approachable

It can be tough to find the right tone of voice for your content. On one hand, you want to maintain a professional, authoritative air that reassures clients that you know exactly what you’re talking about. But on the other hand, you want to make sure there’s personality and fun in the writing too, otherwise your brand can seem like a bit of a faceless entity.

Including references to sport, pop culture, or recent world events can help you to strike that balance. It demonstrates your firm’s values, sense of humour, and interests much more effectively than, say, a few lines in a welcome email.

With so many other financial planning firms out there, using your content to paint a picture of who you are and how you’re different from all the others is crucial.

Need some help standing out from the crowd?

If you’d like help creating and implementing a marketing strategy that attracts more of your ideal clients, we can help.

Drop us an email at hi@theyardstickagency.co.uk or call us on 0115 8965 300 to start the conversation.