The perils of relying solely on your content

Content marketing is all the rage nowadays — and for good reason! One survey found that 88% of content marketing leaders believe that their owned media (i.e., branded content) has increased audience trust. Another study found that 47% of Millennials are more likely to trust a financial services company if it creates useful content.

Clearly, content marketing is essential for establishing credibility, as well as making your brand more visible. The question is: Should you rely on your firm’s own content exclusively?

Relying only on your own content will be your downfall

There are several potential problems with a marketing and sales strategy that only incorporates content developed within your own firm. For example:

• Lack of resources. An effective content strategy is really an ongoing process that encompasses many different phases: the development of buyer personas, the creation of a content delivery schedule, handing out assignments, performing research, and (finally) writing the content. It’s no wonder that many companies have neither the time nor budget to consistently create their own content.
• Lack of skill. It’s likely that content creation is not one of the core competencies for your firm. More importantly, it is unrealistic to expect your team to function as professional copywriters. 
• Lack of credibility. Finally, even if you have a skilled team of in-house content creators along with the resources to support them, distributing your own productions to the exclusion of third-party content may actually detract from your credibility. For instance, one 2014 study found that consumers actually trust third-party content more than branded content.

Curated content, used in combination with your in-house development process, can offer several unique advantages to your marketing strategy.

 

The benefits of using curated content

If exclusive reliance on your own content could backfire, then where can you turn to build trust and maintain consistency? This is where curated content comes into the picture.

Curated content, used in combination with your in-house development process, can offer several unique advantages to your marketing strategy. 

Three key benefits for businesses in the financial services industry include:

• Saving resources. Using curated content allows you to bypass the expenditure of time, money, and energy needed to create truly valuable pieces of content for your prospective clients.
• Developing a consistent “content engine.” Having curated pieces of content in your “back pocket” will enable you to fill any gaps in your publication schedule, and thus maintain a consistent posting process – which, in turn, will enhance your brand’s credibility.
• Establishing thought leadership. By associating your brand with content from trusted sources, and even adding an extra layer of value to those curated pieces, you’ll establish your credentials as a thought leader in the financial services sector.

Of course, there are also a few common pitfalls associated with the use of curated content. If you’d like to learn what these are, and how to avoid them, be sure to read our free guide: “Not Getting Enough? How to Leverage Curated Content to Spark Client Engagement.” It discusses the many benefits of curated content in more detail and gets into the “nuts and bolts” of incorporating curated content into your marketing strategy.