Being a successful financial broker in the digital age requires a lot more than core brokerage services. With the bonus party well and truly over, brokers are focusing on their multi-media platforms, education and unique analysis where traders can trade, learn and stay current with the financial markets.
These multiple, overlapping segments all serve one objective: to make your brokerage the number one place to do business.
While many online forex brokers have prioritised premium service offerings, they’ve only recently begun to develop custom content. Brokers rely on traffic to expand their business, gain new leads and boost retention and in 2017 and beyond, content is king! In this article, Contentworks a leading content marketing agency working with the finance sector, looks at why you need unique analysis for your finance brand.
Content Matters
There’s a reason why so many businesses are cranking up their effort to produce more custom content. Put simply, Google ranks websites better based on the original content they produce. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is no longer just about how many keywords you can cram on the page, but the story those keywords tell. This is especially true for the financial markets, where traders are basing their investment decisions on news and custom analysis.
And don’t think that copying content will do the trick. Google will rank your site very badly by ripping content from someone else’s platform. Linking back to other webpages is perfectly acceptable, but the content you produce needs to be unique to your site.
Once you commit to a content strategy, you need to stick to it. Consistency is another thing Google looks for in ranking websites (and thus generates more traffic to your brand). This is also important for SEO purposes, especially if your site is competing in saturated keyword markets like EUR/USD or WTI Oil.
The Limits on In-House Capacity
Original and compliant friendly content is a must right now and with the new rules from MiFID and CySEC underway, the demand for experienced writers is higher than ever. It’s clear that many of the bigger brokers are beefing up their in-house capacity to begin producing more content; But as many of these brokers have realised, hiring top-notch financial writers locally is easier said than done.
That’s why many HR managers flood freelance websites in the hope of finding a writer who is a financial market expert, understands the brokerage industry and has a sound grasp of compliance issues. This trifecta is extremely difficult to find locally. If you do, expect to pay top dollar for their services.
While most brokers retain talented copywriters, they may not be ideally suited to write financial analysis and market news pieces. For this type of content, you need active traders, economists, financial market analysts or a combination thereof.
Let’s also not forget to mention the time crunch internal staff already face. Adding time-sensitive news and analysis articles on top of their workload only complicates the process.
Oh, and the financial markets operate 24 hours per day, five days a week. How many financial writers do you know who are willing to work at 3:30 am to cover U.S. nonfarm payrolls halfway around the world?!
Staying Compliant
We’ve said it before, but MiFID II is coming. Like the sequel to your favourite horror movie, it promises even more scares than the original.
The Markets in Financial Instruments Directive – the legal framework governing brokers in the European Union – is about to get a lot tougher on 3 January. MiFID II is going after non-compliance more aggressively than ever before. This means monitoring financial content for any false promises about guaranteed riches or hot trade ideas.
When it comes to producing financial content for the European market, writers must be very careful not to mislead their audience. This means disclosing all relevant facts pertaining to the subject, avoiding testimonials and offering no recommendations. Writers must also refrain from making any guarantees.
When writing under such strict guidelines, it helps to have a writer who understands the market and the regulatory framework that guides it. Any slip up can lead to bad press and cost you a lot of money in fines.
Contentworks provides unique analysis tailored to your brand’s specific needs, tone and industry. Whether your focus is forex, commodities, stocks or all the above, our experienced analysis savvy writers can deliver custom insights and late-breaking news directly to your inbox. Our custom-written analysis is perfect for daily articles, newsletters, education and push notifications.
With a head office in Cyprus, Contentworks has analysis writers and satellite offices working in the North American, Asian and European time zones. Get in touch here to chat about unique analysis for your brand.
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