Writing to an older audience can be a little tricky. The over-50 crowd still remembers a world that hadn’t yet been overrun with technology, and many are still skeptical of the legitimacy of doing business online.
However, the information age has made older people more tech-savvy. This creates an interesting conundrum for marketers, particularly in the financial markets. That meshing of healthy skepticism and genuine interest present an opportunity you might not immediately see.
You have the opportunity to be the person or company that wins their trust and their loyalty.
Another thing about younger boomers and older busters: They stick with brands they trust. Think about that for a minute. You also can make them stop searching for financial planning services and automatically turn to you for advice.
The answer to achieving this lies in your content. Good content creates an atmosphere of trust and gaining trust is crucial to your success in securing business with retirees. With that, here are five things you can start doing with your financial planning content to start building a good reputation with an older audience.
1. Speak Directly to the Pain Points
The sad truth of the matter is that many retirees and those approaching retirement age are in no position to simply retire without some kind of continual income. Worries surrounding this fact are a focal point of finance industry content. Don’t be alarmist or negative. Don’t confront.
Statements like, “You know you can’t retire on your 401k,” are far less effective than, “You’re thinking hard about your financial future,” for example. The pain points and your demonstrated understanding of them are half the battle won. The other half lies in demonstrating your ability to provide solutions.
Never leave an audience hanging with their financial future in the balance. In blogs, emails, sales pages, you know … everywhere … the pain points you cite must be followed up with either a detailed solution or a promise to provide one. Yes, you can use narrative writing styles and end emails with cliffhangers, but the final solution must be made clear in the end. I also recommend shorter sequences for this type of messaging. The idea is to address fears, not create them.
2. Use a Minimalist Approach to Visuals
Words matter to your readers. Keep in mind that many are old enough to remember a world without the internet. They remember reading the newspaper on actual paper (and many still do). Older demographics put greater stock in words and messaging than they do in the more visual content mediums. They’re actually more apt to read your copy than members of younger demos.
These people are thorough readers, but you still need to capture and keep their interest. You do that by attracting attention to the copy, not the pictures. Keep your visuals in the foreground and use visuals to reinforce the written message. Use short paragraphs and section headings like the ones in this article.
3. Make Those Words Stand Out
The likelihood that your readers will be paying particular attention to what you have to say leaves you with the primary responsibility of delivering well-written content. It has to be professionally presented and very well-worded. Now, you might be thinking, “Well, I know my business well. I can write this stuff myself.” Well, you may be right, but ask yourself a few questions before you decide to take on the task:
• Do I have the time in my schedule to maintain a blog, email campaigns, newsletters, social media posts, and all other manners of promotional content development?
• Am I a good writer?
• Do I know and understand enough about SEO?
That’s just for starters. Let’s examine all those questions in order. First, you probably don’t have the time to develop a sustainable content development strategy. You might pull it off for a month, but your consistency will soon begin to suffer. If you get nothing else out of this article, remember this: Inconsistent and sporadic content delivery can, and probably will, kill your brand reputation.
Next, how much writing experience do you have? At a minimum, you should pay someone to proofread and edit. However, you would be far better off working with an experienced financial planning copywriter.
Lastly, if you had to click the link to figure out what SEO is, the answer is probably no. If you can’t list at least 10 SEO practices that you use in your content strategy, you should be working with a professional finance copywriting service like Beez.
4. Include Offline Contact Information
It’s also crucial to provide older audiences with traditional avenues of contact. Including physical addresses and phone numbers in your copy is a terrific way to build trust. You can encourage using email and online resources, but make sure your readers feel welcome picking up the phone, too.
5. Be Visible and Consistent
This last point pertains to every aspect of content delivery and lead nurturing. Visibility, particularly in the areas of email and social media, is crucial to your success. It’s also important that your audience sees you and your brand as trustworthy.
Consistency in your messaging helps build that trust, as does being available and visible to your audience. That pertains primarily to social media and those traditional communications channels I mentioned earlier.
Final Takeaway
You might think you’re good at conveying complex concepts, but you might be surprised how much better your thoughts are conveyed when you allow someone else to manage your messaging. I would like to personally encourage you to contact us at Beez to discuss your current content strategy and, possibly, develop one around solid messaging and truly optimized written content.
