Red Barn Consulting LLC

Yes, LinkedIn can be edgy

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Man, you are missing out if you haven’t tapped into this… I can’t tell you how many times a day I preach about the power of LinkedIn. If you do sales, are looking for a job, or need to expand your network of business peeps – LinkedIn is where the party is 24/7/365. It is by far the BEST place to prospect for B2B connections – yes, I said the BEST.

Oh…and if you HATE cold calling – like most of us, LinkedIn should be your BFF. I don’t cold call – never have, and never will. Sure it works, it’s a numbers game. You make enough phone calls and knock on enough doors eventually someone will say YES. That YES could take 100 phone calls – which is A LOT of time. Or you could make other people work for you and send you referrals. That’s what I do.

Those of you are still saying – yea, I’m not wasting time online when I could be picking up the phone…

  • 450 Million users are on LinkedIn as of this writing, and every second 2 new users sign up. It’s is the biggest “Chamber of Commerce Networking Party” in the world – sans the cheap wine.
  • It’s like a multi-level marketing company or a giant pyramid. You are at the top but the REAL power is in the base. It’s not who you are connected to – or Linked to – it’s who THEY are connected to
  • Six Degrees of Separation – If you use it correctly, one of your connections will know someone who can introduce you to your #1 prospect. WARM REFERRAL – far better than the COLD CALL

Tips:

  • Use the paid version if you are in Sales Beast Mode – such as LinkedIn Sales Navigator – it’s absolutely worth the money
  • If you own a business – Please, please, please have an active business page and post relevant stuff on there. People do look – they really do.
  • Your LinkedIn profile is by far the MOST important part of your personal digital brand.
  • LinkedIn isn’t a Ronco Rotisserie oven – you don’t set it and forget it. You need to nurture, spend time with, and embrace your LinkedIn account – DAILY.

Companies that get it on LinkedIn…

According to our pals at Hubspot – here are some of the top LinkedIn Pages out there – we tend to agree. (see the full list here)

Coca-Cola – With almost 1 million followers, Coca-Cola notes in the Hubspot article that they get great traffic from their LinkedIn Posts, more so than Facebook, and to some degree Twitter. Hmmmm….If I were a betting woman, I would have said that LinkedIn wouldn’t be as high a traffic driver for them – but they make it work. HOW?

They understand the audience – it’s professional, so they tie in professional business stories into their content for LinkedIn. Posts go back to their website Coca-Cola Journey – check it out! Interesting stuff! To some degree – edgy. The posts aren’t necessarily about soda at all – but about the audience and what they care about.

Hays – They claim to be the #1 Recruiting firm on LinkedIn and they aren’t afraid to shout it from their rooftops! Just like Coca-Cola – they post relevant content that drives traffic back to their blog. High engagement rates prove that what they are writing is exactly what their audience wants to read. It’s actually quite that simple!

We aren’t claiming it’s easy to be one of these top dogs. You have to understand your clients and your prospects before you can attempt to create & curate content that is relevant to them. (BTW – that’s what we help you figure out!)

LinkedIn, for companies, is more than just a place to find good employees, it’s a place to let your brand shine and to engage your clients and to woo your prospects.

Ready to get rolling?

Give us a buzz or use our contact form so we can make LinkedIn an addition to your digital marketing strategy.

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How to Get New Bank Customers with Beautiful Content like Blogging

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We all know that switching to a new bank can be…well, painful. The more accounts you have, and the more you automate the banking experience, the higher your retention rate. That’s great for your existing customers, but it doesn’t help when it comes to attracting new people to your business.

Most banks offer similar products and services, so creating a unique value proposition isn’t easy. What’s the secret sauce? How do some banks increase their retail numbers without putting lots of pressure on their service teams?

It’s all about telling a story and making it personal. Your customers and prospects want to feel like you’re speaking to them, that you “get them.” It all comes from your content – Understanding what you write and where you publish it are important, knowing WHO you are writing for is critical.

Let’s dive a little deeper…

Know your Target Client Profile (TCP) – What’s the demographic of your current customer base? Who are the potential customers you want to add? Where do they live? What is their socioeconomic background? Are they business customers? Retail? It’s critical to have a deep understanding of exactly who you want to reach – Their interests, aspirations, lifestyle choices, financial understanding and more.

Think like your TCP – Your content needs to be relevant to your TCP. What is most important to them? What’s going to grab their attention? How will it help? Will it answer their questions? Does it provide genuinely useful information? What will they read? How will they read it? When will they read it? A 20-year-old and an 80-year-old are going to have very different needs and ways of accessing content.

Create great thought leadership and product content – Thought leadership content is where your customers will get the most value. It’s about giving them insight, valuable information, and resources to help them understand and manage money better. When you combine that with information on your products and their benefits, you create a solid content strategy.

Share short, sweet, accessible, and relevant product information on your website – Your website is the place for your product information – make is easy to find and mobile friendly. Your bank’s website should also highlight your staff with pictures and bios. It helps your customers to relate to you, and people buy from others they know, like, and trust.

Blogging is the Grand Poohbah of content – Every bank should have a blog – It’s where your thought leadership and awesome content lives It’s where your staff can shine, and it’s what you will share on social media.

Keys to Blogging Success

  1. PLAN – Have an editorial calendar based on your TCP and your value proposition – Who are you going to write for, and what are your going to write about? Create five or six content areas where that you’ll develop. They might be: Your culture and team – Stories about your employees, what makes them tick, and what they bring to your business. Retail customer information – Speaking to your retail customers directly about the things that matter to them. Retirement planning, mortgages, insurance, loans, real estate, the economy, tips for protecting your home in winter, safety, etc. Financial education and guides – Creating guides, checklists, tools, and resources to help you customers get the most out of their money. Business customer information – Talking to business owners about what matters to them including business bank accounts, small business financing, insurance, etc. Community – The work you’re doing in the local community including sponsorship and other activities. Financial news – Talking about the economy, the stock market, and other interesting areas.
  2. SHARE – Build your brand and expand it through stories. The more people who see your name and your team, the quicker they will connect.
  3. CONNECT – People leave banks because they don’t feel the love. Intriguing content that speaks to them helps them feel connected, which makes them more likely to switch.
  4. REPEAT – For content to really hook your prospects, they need to see it over and over again. Be constant and consistent. Post regularly, share on social media, and get your name and brand out there.

Good examples of banking blog content

Here are some ideas on the type of content your retail audience would find useful:

  • Financial planning and budgeting — Financial planning in everyday life and making sure you’re saving enough. Budgeting for big life events.

• Dealing with loans and overdrafts — Responsibly managing credit and debt, including understanding interest, minimum payments, and credit limits.

• Investing — Ways to invest money including bonds, the stock exchange, index trackers, mutual funds, and other investment products.

• Retirement planning — How to plan for a good retirement including IRAs, 401Ks, and other pension plans.

When you can bring together great content with a good understanding of your audience and share your content in the right way, you’ll start to create momentum. You can capitalize on that, use it to win you new customers, and keep them happy.

If you need help writing your content or want to bounce some more ideas off us – give us a shout – that\’s what we\’re here for![/cs_text][/cs_column][/cs_row][/cs_section][/cs_content]

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Creating New Banking Customers – The Art of the Email Drip

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If you oversee the marketing or sales for a bank or credit union, you’ve probably placed your fair share of ads in local newspapers, had some promotions on the local radio show, and launched a fabulous Facebook page. Hopefully, you’ve gotten some feedback, adjusted your strategy, and carried on. One marketing avenue you might have overlooked is the quiet, simple, inexpensive, humble email.

It’s true that email marketing sometimes gets a bad rap – Many are afraid of clogging their client’s inbox, being lost in a sea of spam, or getting an “opt out” notification. Fortunately, there’s a solution – Send emails that aren’t all about selling. Instead, focus on building trust, showing expertise, enhancing reputation, sharing great information, and being useful to your customers. Sneak in a subtle call to action here and there by all means, and you’ll find it effective. That’s why “Email Drip Campaigns” work really well for banks, credit unions, and financial institutions.

Why email drip campaigns work

Email drip campaigns are more successful than standard email campaigns because they’re not directly selling something. People are put off by overly “salesy” messages, so drip campaigns avoid them. An email drip campaign will:

  • Share genuinely useful information with your customers and potential customers.
  • Reinforce the name and brand of your bank or credit union with your customers.
  • Show that you understand the needs of people who may require your services.
  • Alert people to news, information and other content that could be useful to them.
  1. A customer or potential customer provides you with their email address, and agrees to get emails from you.
  2. You create a strategy for sharing useful banking and financial information with email recipients and create a series of emails.
  3. You send out emails on a periodic basis according to your strategy and timetable.
  4. Customers and potential customers read these emails and choose to act on them.

We call these “drip campaigns” because they’re designed to work over time — A slow reinforcement of your bank’s brand, expertise, and authority showing how you can help out your personal and business customers.

The type of information your bank could share

Here are some examples of the type of content that does well in email drip campaigns:

  • Simple advice on household budgeting and how to make money go further.
  • Financial planning for vacations and special events, especially at seasonal times of the year.
  • Clear information on investments and how customers can start making their money work for them.
  • Information on the housing market in your local area and whether it’s a good time to buy or sell.
  • Explanations of good money management, including credit and debt.
  • Business centric articles on succession planning, the economy, company culture, and more.
  • Advising people on savings, insurance, and other key areas.

Of course, you can mention your products and services in these emails, but that’s not the point of sending them out. Instead, you’re providing genuinely useful, actionable information to help your customers make better decisions. As a result, they’ll trust you more, and people simply prefer doing business with organizations they trust.

The information you provide doesn’t need to be limited to your emails either. You could have a blog on your website that the email links through too, and where you expand on key information. That also has the benefit of “search engine optimization,” meaning the content could show when people search online.

If you want to learn how to create an affordable lead generating magnet for your bank or credit union – why not give us a call? It’s what we do – We’re lead generating machines here at the Red Barn.

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