We believe financial professionals deserve to focus on what they love. They don’t love marketing.
We do. We combine remarkable content and elegant technology in an inspired marketing suite.
Amazing Marketing. Simplified.
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A Word From Craig
Craig Faulkner, CEO of FMG Suite
For a few decades now, I’ve been a content creator. From my early days working at a printing press to running an online marketing suite, content has always been at the center of my professional life. And content has never let me down as a tool for helping myself and others build our business, communicate our goals and acquire new clients. Which is why I STILL find it so fascinating even after all this time. Great content is like electricity. It has the potential to create real change, even change the world. But without some structure to capture that energy, great content can become like lightening: a single flash that is gone before you know it. Viral videos are a great example. They have incredibly engaging content. They burst into the public consciousness, get a million views, and then they flash out and disappear. Their creator is never heard of again. While we might all enjoy them, they do little to direct our action or inspire us to change. What are they missing? They don’t inspire us to act. They don’t invite us to take part in a conversation. They don’t provide us with a path to learn more or become more involved. One of the most important ways to inspire action with your content is to include an invitation to act. Just as it takes two to tango, it takes two to form a connection. Your content reaches out to your audience, but your audience must reach back for a meaningful relationship to begin, even if it just through clicking a link or filling out a form. That is why every piece of your content should invite your audience to do something. And why I am now inviting you to enjoy this White Paper. Every page has something useful on it, and most of the pages have links to additional resources. I would also love to hear from anyone who reads this. Find me on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn and we can keep the conversation going together. Thanks, Craig Faulkner
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8 Simple Steps to Create Content That Inspires Action
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#1 Recognize Your Audience Use Our Content Persona Template to Identify Your Audience’s Questions
#2 Solve a Problem Use Insights to Establish Your Reputation and Create Value
#3 Create a Call to Action Spell Out a Path For Your Audience to Take Additional Steps
#4 Match Form to Purpose Understand the Different Types of Content and Which is Right For You
#5 Tailor to a Platform Look at The Platform You Will Publish and Make Sure You Use It Correctly
#6 Start a Conversation Use Social Media to Create Engagement Around Your Content
#7 Schedule for Success Use Our Content Calendar Template to Help You Post Consistently
#8 Review, Retarget, Relaunch Use Feedback Loops to Make Your Content Marketing Even More Inspiring
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Recognize Your Audience Use Marketing Personas to Determine Your Matters By focusing on Personas you will be better able to personalize your content to speak to those you are hoping to attract. There are any number of ways to choose how you want to segment your personas; just make sure it both reflects the reality of your clientele and prospects and gives your marketing team the direction they need to engage real clients with their content.
When You Create a Marketing Persona You Can Write About the Matters That Really Matter At FMG Suite we refer to our general topics of content as Matters. We think this term is a good fit for areas of content marketing, because it is both the topics we write andthe topics of concern for our clients. If it isn’t both, we don’t touch it.
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An example of a detailed persona based on an advisor’s client or prospect.
PERSONA CHECKLIST
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Find an expressive picture that isn’t someone you work with on a regular basis
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Give them a real name and real characteristics
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Think of their journey from prospect to client. What questions do they have along the way?
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Think about the language they would use in talking about your services.
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Where do they go to find new information? How do they share it with their friends and family?
Download Your FREE FMG Persona Template Now!
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Solve a Problem Establish Your Expertise by Providing Valuable Insights The most compelling kind of content offers a viable solution to a common problem. By solving a problem for your audience, you show that you really want to make their lives better. Your solutions might be tied to products or services or they may simply provide instructions to help people achieve a desired result.
An insight fundamentally changes the way someone sees a situation, either by pointing out a misunderstood cause or an unrecognized problem
What are the topics on which you are uniquely qualified to offer value? The questions on the next page are designed to help you identify the topics where you have the chance to create real value in the lives of your clients and prospects.
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What Questions Can You Answer For Prospects Considering Your Service?
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Before they heard of you
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When they were looking for services similar to yours
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After the first time they learned about you
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When they were considering whether to hire you
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After they had received your services
What is Your Unique Value Proposition?
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What is your most valuable service?
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What topic do you never tire of discussing?
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What knowledge do you feel you should charge for?
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What value can you provide a person searching for service?
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What are the big conversations you’d like to contriburte to?
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Create a Call to Action The Clearer the Path You Lay Out, The More It Will Be Followed Once you’ve provided prospects with a valuable insight, they are likely to want to take the next step. Make sure you have provided a clear path for them to follow through Call to Actions.
A Call to Action is half incentive and half invitation. If you’ve provided real value, prospects will be happy to follow you to the next location.
Possible Calls to Action Follow a link - Clicking on a link is simple, straightforward, almost second nature at this point. By linking your content you can pull clients deeper into your library and show a wide range of expertise in a single sitting. The more time your audience spends in your library, the more likely they are to make a connection with you at some point. But links, in and of themselves, are not reciprocal. They need to be paired with invitations that ask a client to give something in return. Like - Simply by clicking a button, audience members can show their support and share your content with their social network. Not only does your exposure increase, but their response to your content can be measured and analyzed. Comment - When an audience member provides feedback, both parties stand to benefit. By responding to comments and incorporating audience ideas into your products, you improve your offering and engender loyalty. Give a referral - A simple form on your website or a place to enter a name and email address can make spreading the word about you easy. Sign up for a newsletter - To me this is the holy grail of actions. It is easy (only an email address is required), it is effective (puts the individual on your mailing list and gives them a steady diet of your content), and the sacrifice of information is just right for most fledgling online relationships. ·
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Complete This Online Survey for A Chance to Win a Free Month of FMG Service!
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Match Form to Purpose Not All Content is Created Equal, Define Your Target Before You Start There are three main types of content:
Topical
Provide Commentary on Stories Everyone is Talking About • •
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Use an e-reader to share and comment that your audience are interested in Don’t hesitate to tag original authors in your topical posts. It often leads to conversations. Participate in groups and forums in ordfer to find the most interesting source material.
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Evergreen
Personal
Keyword Rich Content That Defines Your Niche
Don’t Be Afraid to Be a Person Online
Determine the topics that your ideal customers are most interested in. Write longer informative articles that won’t lose value over time. Create video that explains a difficult concept and offers real insight.
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Share your hobbies and interests, document them and share them with clients. Reply to social responses in a timely fashion. Speak directly to your clients about your ambitions and ideals.
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The rise of video content’s popularity is so prevalent that, by 2017, video is expected to account for 69% of all consumer Internet traffic.
Source: Cisco Visual Networking
Want to see a cool example of personal content? Check out Craig’s series: Cruisin’ With Craig: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrZotfUwjMg17xgZOK7
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Tailor to a Platform Knowing Where You Will Present Your Content Guides The Creation
Choosing where you will showcase your content will act as a guide as you create it.
There are a lot of platforms out there. With a virtually limitless number of platforms available today — and more constantly being brought to the market — choosing the right one for a particular piece of content may seem intimidating.
For those wading into the content creation realm for the first time, I advise you to ask yourself these three questions:
1. How complicated is your subject? 2. How important is it to you to get feedback from your audience? 3. How often do you want to showcase new content?
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Compare These Facts About the Top Platforms
Start a Conversation Engage With Your Audience
Your Initial Content Release is Only the First Step
The beauty of engagement is that both parties benefit exponentially. It is simultaneously customer and business-oriented. It opens the door for collaboration between you and potential customers, enabling a future in which both of you emerge better than you might otherwise have been. By engaging in open dialogue with your customers, your industry, and the world in general, you will be empowered to create the very best product and reach the most people possible.
Social Assets
Watch Craig’s presentation “How to Use Content to Create Leads Through LinkedIn”
The Best Times to Post in a Day
(4) Craig Faulkner
e, places and things
How to Find Your Social Analytics in the Big 3 Social Networks Craig Faulkner
Page
Messages
Twitter: To access your Tweet activity: on Daily data is recorded in the Pacific time zone. desktop, visit analytics.twitter.com and click on Tweets. on mobile, tap one of your Tweets to get to the Tweet detail, then tap View Tweet activity. Page and Tab Visits
The number of times each of your Page tabs was viewed.
Notifications
4
Insights
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Home
Publishing Tools
Facebook: LinkedIn click Insights at the top of your 1W 1M 1Q Page. From here, you can view Go to your Company Page and metrics about your Page by clicking Start: 12/14/2015 scroll down to the Other …. pages the sections on the left (ex: Likes, End: 1/11/2016 section on the right side of the page. Reach). To export your insights, Click the Showcase Page you’d like click Export in the top-right corner. to review. 1/11/2016 How you rank | L Keep in mind that insights are only Click the down arrow icon next to available after at least 30 people the blue Edit button in the top right. Advisor? - Make it dead simple for your clie like yourTimeline Page. Photos Tab Info Tab Select ViewFinancial Analytics from the list. BENCHMARK Search for people, jobs, companies, and more...
Home
Profile
My Network
Jobs
Interests
Compare your average performance Who's over time. viewed your profile
Who's viewed your po
Timeline Photos Tab Info Tab
You rank in the top 8% for profile v #8 out of 98
Your connections 2,721 members
7%
in the last 30 days
Your company 54 members
Professionals like you
External Referrers
1
Jum Bill Harris 2nd Speaker, Consultant, Author, Founder
Schedule for Consistency If You Plan to Fail to Post, You Plan to Fail to Post
By planning your social posts and scheduling them you will begin to turn your content effort into a content machine
Sporadic content marketing can almost be worse than no content marketing at all. If you set up a Twitter feed and only tweet every 3 months, you are not only wasting the small amount of time you dedicate to your tweets, but you’re also leaving a sloppy and unpredictable social footprint. It’s a bit like having spinach stuck between your teeth at a client meeting. Create a content marketing calendar that will allow you and your team to spell out expectations and track results for different content marketing efforts.
SAMPLE CALENDAR
NOTABLE HOLIDAYS
CALENDAR LEGEND Allows you to easily define your assets and visually display them on to your calendar.
Calendar Events
Plan for Your Next Month
List some of the important dates and events that occur weekly or monthly.
Pre-plan events that in the current month that will occur in the next month. Events that need to be completed the month prior.
DOWNLOAD CALENDAR TEMPLATE
Review, Retarget, Relaunch Use a Feedback Loop During Scheduled Reviews to Increase Your Content’s Power to Inspire
A “Feedback Loop” is any system that gives your information about your actions so you can recalibrate
1. Set an execution intention 2. Execute 3. Collect information on execution 4. Vary your technique and repeat
Schedule a Consultation With a Marketing Speialist to Create Your Own Content Creation System
It’s an All-In-One Marketing Solution
The Suite is a collection of marketing tools designed to increase referrals and leads for one low monthly price. •
Turn-key websites pre-loaded with great videos.
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Automated email and social media tools that drive traffic back to your website.
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A content marketing strategy that works.
Get in touch today and let’s get started! PH: 888.364.1260
Amazing Marketing. Simplified.