Are you currently the recipient of a newsletter? If so, what is it that makes you keep subscribing and reading the content? Perhaps the design and offers in the newsletter are compelling. Yet the topics and quality of the writing are also likely to be important factors.
Many financial firms and IFAs want to run a successful client newsletter. Yet the copywriting is often when they struggle. This is not uncommon. After all, writing effectively is a skill that not everyone has. If this is you, then it can make sense to delegate the responsibility to a trusted financial marketing agency.
Alternatively, if you want at least some part in writing the newsletter content yourself, then it can help to explore ways to make your copywriting better. Even the best writers recognise that their skills can be honed, so what are some of the ways you can raise the content standard in your IFA newsletter?
Focus on “you” – rather than “we”
One of the traps which many IFA newsletters fall into is talking too much about themselves. Think about the conversations you enjoy in ordinary life. We tend to prefer those where genuine questions are asked of us – not those where the other person simply pontificates about themselves, their achievements and activities.
Yet this latter approach is often the one taken by financial firms in their client communications. The articles, for instance, simply comprise “company news” (which is terribly boring!) or “achievements” such as their latest investment management performance.
These things can have their place, of course. Yet a good IFA newsletter will get more engagement if the copywriting speaks directly to the subscriber/client, their needs and goals. This does not have to be hugely complicated. You could start, for instance, by simply including more personal questions to the reader within your newsletter articles:
- Have you checked your family’s financial protection policies lately?
- How confident are you that your investments reflect your appetite for risk?
- Could your pensions be more easily managed if they were all in one place?
Stay on topic
If you’re writing a 1,000-word article on pension transfers, it can be difficult to not let the content drift onto other, less relevant topics as you’re writing it. Here, it can help to simply draft a short content plan before you start writing.
For example, a 1,000-word article could be divided into a 100-word introduction, three 250-word sections and a 150-word conclusion. Each of the three sections could have one main purpose which fits into the wider theme of the article. For an article titled “a short guide to pension transfers”, for instance, the structure could look something like this:
- Section 1: Different types of pension transfer.
- Section 2: Reasons to consider a transfer.
- Section 3: Why a transfer might not be suitable.
Use stories, examples & analogies
Many IFAs think that their newsletter needs to be very “clever” and technical, leaving little room for human emotion or stories. This is a shame as it’s an incorrect assumption. It is possible to convey quality whilst including a human element – indeed, this is usually a more effective route to follow.
Think about the content that you are attracted to. On social media, people tend to share and consume posts which engage their emotions. Perhaps it’s a funny video involving pets, or it could be a human interest story which generates feelings of outrage. We also tend to spend time watching TV shows which engage our sense of scandal, horror and/or humour. A similar dynamic occurs in printed materials such as magazines and novels.
Why should this human instinct suddenly change when it comes to IFA newsletters? You do not need to include gossip pieces or anything like that. Yet stories, analogies and real-life examples (e.g. client case studies) can be hugely engaging in a newsletter.
People like to hear about others’ lives – we’re naturally nosy!
Keep sentences & paragraphs short
Some of your more academic readers might enjoy long prose. Yet most people in 2020 are suffering from shorter attention spans and can quickly feel overwhelmed by a wall of text! In light of this, consider sticking to brevity in your sentences.
A good principle to follow is to ask yourself: “How might another full stop look in the middle of this sentence?” Consider some of the copy we’ve written just here. Which of the two, below, reads more easily?
- “You do not need to include gossip pieces or anything like that, but stories, analogies and real-life examples (e.g. client case studies) can be hugely engaging in a newsletter since people like to hear about others’ lives – we’re naturally nosy!”
- “You do not need to include gossip pieces or anything like that. Yet stories, analogies and real-life examples (e.g. client case studies) can be hugely engaging in a newsletter. People like to hear about others’ lives – we’re naturally nosy!”
Also, try to use bullet points and paragraphs to break up the text in your IFA newsletter. It makes the copy look less intimidating and more digestible, thus making it more likely that the reader will consume it.
Conclusion
Financial copywriting has immense power to built trust, rapport and credibility with clients and newsletter subscribers. It’s important to not cut corners with the quality of your copywriting, therefore. In this guide, our financial copywriters hope that these insights and tips have been able to help.
If you’d like to discuss your own financial marketing or copywriting project with us, please get in touch to arrange a free consultation with a member of our team.
