How To Use Your Website For Effective Fund Marketing

Your website is the most important marketing platform you have. Anyone who wants more information on your fund or your firm is likely to head there first.

And effective website marketing is more important than ever, as the new generation of digitally-connected millennial investors are providing their own financial advice by accessing online content.

So, it stands to reason that you should put a great deal of time and effort into making sure your site creates the best possible image of your firm and your fund. Yet so many companies fail to do this and rely on websites that are outdated, confusing and say little of any use.

Don’t let it happen to you – by putting some thought and hard work into your website marketing, you can create a website that both entices potential investors and reassures those who are already with you that their money is in safe hands.

Read on for the ProFundCom guide to effective website marketing…

How To Write Your Content

The most important aspect of website marketing is what is actually written on your site. So, it’s wise to put a lot of time and effort into planning your content.

Here are some key points to consider:

Nobody cares about you

The most important thing to remember about website marketing is that people are only visiting your site to find information that is valuable to them.

So, when you come to write content for your site, you need to put yourself in the shoes of the people who will be reading what you produce – your potential investors. Don’t think about what you want to tell them – think about what they want to know about, which are normally two very different things.

In short, you must create content from the point of view of the reader. And when you do that you’ll find that you come up with things that are genuinely helpful. That’s good, as when you help someone they are much more likely to trust you – and trust is vital in any kind of marketing, but especially when it comes to finance. No-one is going to give their money to a company they don’t trust.

Also, you need to both explain what you do and, crucially, how it can benefit people. What does your fund offer that others don’t? How does your service set you apart? What is your attitude to risk? These are the sort of questions people are asking themselves and which you must answer.

You should keep this client-led approach in mind as you write all the pages on your site. Think carefully about what you write and ask yourself if it has a role to play in persuading people to act. If it doesn’t, cut it out.

You also need to think about proof. Claims must be qualified and that means that you need to provide some proof as to why a potential investor should use you over a competitor. One of the most important ways of doing this is by including testimonials from previous customers. You can also talk about awards, performance, experience, and qualifications.

Mind your jargon

Nothing harms a piece of writing more, particularly when its intention is to sell, than jargon and overcomplicated language. If you complicate your message and stuff it full of words people don’t know, then you make it difficult to read and difficult to understand.

That is a dangerous game as the people reading it, your potential clients, don’t have to read it. If it doesn’t make sense they will quickly look for something more interesting to do.

In general, you should try and avoid too much complicated financial language, as not everyone will understand it and you risk alienating those that don’t. Having said that, if you’re likely to attract a very financially savvy audience, then you can afford to use a healthy smattering of jargon – as pretty much everyone will understand what you’re talking about and it underlines your authority on the subject.

Mix it up

Introducing video, audio and infographics will give people other ways to consume your content, so you will connect with a greater number of prospective investors. You can also mix in thought leadership pieces – either through an onsite blog page, or via links to external content – as this underlines your authority in the sector and encourages people to trust you.

Make it easy to get in touch

The prime aim of your website marketing is to entice prospects to invest with you. But web content will never do the whole selling job for you – and potential investors need one-to-one contact at some point, so they can ask questions and try and allay any concerns they may have. So, it is vital to have your contact details displayed prominently on your site.

Also, remember that you have no control over where visitors will enter or exit your site, thus it’s important to include both contact details and an instruction to use them on every page. Try and make it stand out by using bold text, or putting the copy in a box.

Write for readers first, search engines second

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) may well be at the forefront of your mind as you write web copy. And that seems logical, as ranking well on Google could bring in a lot of business.

And the most obvious way of optimising your site is through keywords – phrases and single words that you anticipate your ideal investors using when searching the web.

Putting in keywords is fine, but they must work as an integral and natural part of the copy. A page that’s just full of randomly placed keywords is not easy to read. It could be great for Google rankings, but not for your human visitors, and there is no point driving people to your site if the content is poor.

Also, remember that only the top two or three results on Google are going to get much return, as studies show people don’t look much further than that. It’s not easy or cheap to get and retain these top spots, so you need to think very carefully before you invest time and money into chasing search rankings.

Provide A Complete Experience

When people come to your website they are often looking for information, so clear, simple and easily understandable content is vital.

But, equally, the overall experience of visiting your website is important – and that’s down to more than just content.

These are the other factors you must address:

Think about UX

The term UX, which is often bandied about when it comes to websites, stands for user experience. And this is vital, as a visitor is more likely to watch and read your content if your website is easy and simple to navigate and use.

So, you must think about how to make your website user-friendly. Design is a big part of this – the colours, fonts and typefaces should make it easy to read your content. There is a risk of choosing style over substance, but anything that makes it hard to read your content is going to be bad for business.

You must also think about navigation – make it easy and intuitive to move around your site, so that visitors can quickly find what they are looking for.

Make it interactive

To be a success, your website has to go beyond simple information provision and offer an interactive experience. It should be a resource where potential and existing investors can quickly find information about a certain fund or product through a user-friendly interface.

You must include an easy to use search facility, particularly if your site is large and complex, so visitors don’t have to wade through reams and reams of text to find what they are looking for. Instead, make it simple and intuitive for people to find exactly what they need.

This is how a modern website – in any sector – should be, as web-users are increasingly used to these fast, integrated and interactive sites. The web presence of major companies like Amazon and John Lewis, for example, are like this and there is no reason why financial sites should be any different. If you design an interactive site, packed with up to date, helpful content, where it’s quick and easy for people to find exactly what they need, then you will reap the rewards.

Harness The Power Of AI

Quick and effective communication is a key factor in persuading prospects to invest with you. And you can deploy Artificial Intelligence to great effect in this regard

Perhaps the most obvious way of using AI on a website is through a live chat facility, also known as a chatbot.

Potential customers will come to your website looking for answers, but they won’t always find the information they need – or may not have the patience to read through everything. The risk is they simply leave your site and look elsewhere.

But a chatbot can be used to offer information and answer simple questions, potentially encouraging someone to stay on the site.

By doing this, you harness the power of AI to enable initial communication with a potential investor, which could be the difference between someone choosing to find out more about your fund – or moving onto one of your competitors’ sites.

A chatbot is never going to replace the personal communication from your sales team, which is when actual buying decisions are made, but it can add real value to your website marketing efforts. And, although chatbot technology is still in its infancy, it is rapidly improving and will soon be able to answer a much broader and more intricate range of questions.

Conclusion

 Every company needs a website – it’s your digital shop window, where potential investors go to look at what you’re offering, and where existing investors access helpful information.

But too many firms let themselves down by putting boring, predictable and self-serving content on their site – and then compound the problem by making it non-interactive and difficult to navigate and use.

Don’t make this mistake. By putting thought and effort into your website marketing you can create a digital presence that both attracts and holds the attention, encourages people to read what you have to say and, ultimately, persuades them to invest with you.