Tap into your partners' content(NOTE: This is the third in a series of 5 posts focused on launching a content marketing effort as part of a financial services marketing program.)

Like you, your partners have very specific expertise to share.  Many times these experts have useful content that you can tap into for your financial services marketing efforts.  This includes whitepapers, research reports, and more.  These assets can become a key part of your content strategy.

Smart partners welcome the opportunity because they understand that it can deliver branded thought leadership to a highly-engaged audience.  For you, it’s a way to advance your content strategy by offering a broader range of expertise to clients and prospects.

For example, a law firm partner of yours may have a whitepaper covering the latest legal issues surrounding living trusts.  You may have a set of clients that would find that very valuable.  Leveraging that whitepaper may be as simple as calling the partner firm and asking permission to distribute the paper or to direct clients to the download page.

Create a blog post summarizing why it’s important to understand the latest living trust legal issues.  Then, link to the partner’s content.  Tweet with a link to the post.  Create a post on LinkedIn.  Mention it in your monthly client newsletter.  And more.  Be sure to track click-throughs from your post to your partner’s page.  It can give you a sense for the value of the content to your constituents.  And help you refine your master content strategy.

Of course, mind the compliance issues for financial services marketing.  Make sure there is not an implied recommendation that would run counter to the FINRA guidelines.  Additionally, make sure that the content is clearly attributed to your partner.  And, let your clients know that you have a trusted working relationship with that partner.

Tapping into this outside thought leadership helps you quickly bring new content to your clients and prospects.  It helps build your value as a source of expertise.  It helps advance your content strategy as part of your financial services marketing efforts.  And, can even strengthen the bond you share with your trusted partners.

For more insight on developing a content strategy and content marketing effort as part of your financial services marketing program, check out the previous posts: