The Benefits of Webinars for the Financial Services Industry

6, Sep 2024 | Finance, SEO

Reading Time: 7 minutes

Digital tools power the modern finance industry.

In fact, 80% of global financial businesses state that improving the quality of their digital experiences for customers is a crucial strategy. This is alongside another 80% of banks that are looking to accelerate their technological capabilities, signalling widespread uptake.

The key takeaway? The digital revolution has already begun, and it’s up to businesses to keep up.

One area that financial brands should be looking at in particular is digital communication, and how webinars for the financial services industry could better connect them to customers.

From generating new leads to enhancing brand authority, these remote seminars have simplified global reach.

Want to know more? We’ve got you. In this article, we’ll take a look at why webinars are so relevant within the finance industry and how SEO can help you get the most out of your online events.

What Are Webinars?

Webinars are basically the online version of seminars. A group of people come together using a digital platform (like Zoom, for example) to listen to a speaker – or speakers – discuss a specific topic.

In the world of finance, for example, you might host a B2B webinar on recent corporation tax changes or a B2C webinar discussing the relevance of cryptocurrencies in contemporary finance. Those are just a couple of off-the-bat ideas.

Rather than simply reading from a presentation in an hours-long monologue, financial services industry webinars focus on interactivity. Not only is it possible to see the host’s computer screen and follow their research or presentation, but there are also frequently:

- Question and answer sections
- Interactive polls
- An area to chat with other attendees

This dynamic way of sharing information makes webinars ideal for the finance industry, where clear communication is key.

When discussing complex topics, like legal regulations or tax, the ability to interact ensures the audience keeps up with the conversation, can pose questions, and stay engaged throughout. It also gives the host more feedback on whether all attendees have understood a certain topic, or whether a little more time is needed to explain the subject in further detail.

Webinars are an effective medium for educating clients, showing your thought leadership, and converting leads into paying customers by establishing clear competence in your field.

What Are the Benefits of Webinars for the Financial Services Industry?

Okay, so you know what a webinar is, but why is it important for financial businesses? We’ve dipped our toe into a few of the benefits already, but let’s take a look at what exactly you can gain from financial service industry webinars in closer detail.

Client Engagement and Education

If you’re looking to engage an intrigued audience, webinars are the way to go. You can use a variety of mediums to keep your leads hooked, from pre-prepared videos and presentations to interactive Q&As.

This isn’t just relevant to the topic at hand, either. By fully engaging your audience, you begin to nurture your leads, building relationships based on interactive discussions and a mutual interest in finance (be it from the business or the customer’s perspective). This strengthens trust, gives insights into your brand, and sows the seed that you’re a reliable business to work with.

Converting Leads into Clients

For attendees who have spent some time in your marketing funnel and are on the cusp of converting, webinars provide the perfect final digital touchpoint. You put a face to the business and give your leads a chance to talk with you directly.

You also have the chance to offer additional resources, talk about how you can help individual leads, and impress with your financial knowledge. Through these techniques, you clearly display your business capabilities and prove why you’re the right team for their financial needs.

Cost-Effectiveness and Reach

As an effective way of nurturing and converting leads, webinars are incredibly cost-effective. The fees and logistics associated with hosting a webinar are minute compared to in-person seminars and conferences.

You don’t have to rent a space, kit it out with branded goods, and provide catering for your attendees. Instead, a webinar can be as simple as members of your team on Zoom, with pre-prepared resources made by your business, making it simpler to organise and a whole lot cheaper.

The online nature of webinars also allows you to reach a global audience with ease. There are no issues around location and travel, making your event instantly more successful through the simple power of convenience.

The SEO Benefits of Financial Services Industry Webinars

At Woya Digital, we’re financial services SEO experts. So – of course – we’re going to look at webinars from an SEO perspective, analysing both their benefits for your existing SEO strategy and how SEO can boost your webinar’s reach.

First of all, let’s talk about the SEO benefits of webinars for the financial services industry.

Creation of Valuable Content

Webinars are classed as valuable content, meaning that they bring rich, in-depth information to your target audience.

You can then repurpose the information in your webinar in the form of transcripts, blog posts, and infographics. These are wonderful for showing off your relevance to specific topics and boosting your domain authority (DA), pushing you up the search engine results pages (SERPs) for greater visibility.

Increase Average Visit Time and Increase Engagement Time

By including your webinar on one of your web pages, you can keep them on your site longer whilst they watch your discussion. This should drastically increase your website’s average visit time, showing search engines that your audience finds what they’re looking for on your site.

You could potentially see this increase in engagement rates (fall in bounce rate – the number of users who click off your website without engaging), which is a well-known ranking factor.

Generate Valuable Backlinks

Link building (the strategy of securing links to your website from other websites) is a key aspect of SEO.

By publishing your webinars on your website after they’ve finished – alongside content generated to compliment your event – you create a valuable resource. This makes third parties more likely to link to your site or to share the content on social media, generating high-quality backlinks that pinpoint your financial business as authoritative and reputable.

Utilising Long-Tail Keywords

Long-tail keywords are more specific than short-tail alternatives, honing in on your niche target audience.

For example, a short-tail keyword might be ‘SEO services’. A long-tail keyword could be ‘SEO services for finance businesses’, which would have a lower search volume but be less competitive and far more targeted towards potential customers.

Your webinar content provides the perfect opportunity to utilise long-tail keywords relevant to the topic you’re discussing. This could see your site move up the SERPs, reaching a specific segment of your audience who are highly interested in what you have to offer.

Understand What Makes Your Audience Tick

The wonderful interactivity made possible through financial services industry webinars bridges the gap between you and your target audience. Why is this so important for SEO? Because it helps you learn what your leads are interested in.

By keeping an eye on the conversations going on between guests, the questions asked, and poll results, you gain a deeper understanding of the topics your audience wants to know more about.

Use this to guide future content (including blogs, social media posts, and podcasts) to boost the number of clicks and keep your leads hooked. The more interest your content generates, the higher up the SERPs you’ll go.

Compliance and Security Considerations

In the financial services industry, webinars must meet compliance and security requirements.

This includes data security. By using encrypted communication tools and following GDPR and The Data Protection Act (UK relevant), you can maintain privacy among your attendees. For example, if you’re storing any guest data, it’s important to protect it with firewalls and get rid of the information when it’s no longer relevant to your business.

It’s also smart to implement restricted access controls for your webinar, ensuring only authorised guests can join the discussion. Security measures like password protection and two-factor authentication can also boost safety.

Any financial data shared during webinars for the financial services industry should be compliant with UK laws and financial regulations. Knowingly promoting scams, misleading attendees, or sharing false financial information is a criminal offence under UK law.

Optimising Financial Webinars for SEO

If you’re hosting a financial services webinar, you’ll want to see the maximum number of people attending or visit on-demand. That’s where SEO and digital marketing comes in.

By using the same techniques that push your website up the SERPs, you can also better advertise your webinar and reach a wider, interested audience of potential attendees, which is especially good for on-demand webinars, as-live webinars or even basic reruns.

To help boost your numbers, here are some top SEO tips to help webinars for the financial services industry stand out:

Choosing the Right Topics

Your webinar needs to address a topic that resonates with your audience. You can pinpoint exactly what your leads want to hear about through:

- Analysing frequently asked questions
- Surveying your audience
- Looking at content that’s performed well for you in the past
- Keeping updated on industry changes

It’s also crucial that you research keywords as part of your topic creation. Understanding what your target market is actively searching for will guide the focus of your webinars.

On-Page SEO Strategies

Give your marketing material the best chance in the SERPs with on-page SEO. This includes:

- Optimising titles, descriptions, and metadata with keywords
- Sharing links to your content on social media
- Using press releases to gain social proof traction and essential backlinks

These strategies should be used for any content on your website that advertises your webinar, including blog posts and videos.

Post-Webinar SEO Strategies

We’ve already mentioned publishing your webinar once it’s taken place, but this is a point that’s worth repeating. Recorded webinars make wonderful evergreen content that can bring plenty of SEO value to your website, including boosting engagement analytics and providing opportunities for plenty of keywords.

Using specialist software to maximise the potential return with on-demand reruns can be amazingly effective with the least input. As-live webinars are particularly popular and allow you the opportunity to spread your ROI over multiple sessions.

Create additional content to support your financial services webinar SEO before and after it’s taken place. Blog posts, eBooks, and infographics are all wonderful ways to bolster the success of your webinars.

Tracking and Measuring Success

A crucial aspect of a successful SEO strategy is measuring your results. Track the analytics available for your webinar and related content, analysing:

- Attendees
- Engagement of your content
- Website traffic fluctuations
- Conversion rates

Understanding your data informs your next move, showing you what content caught the attention of your audience and how you can streamline your next webinar to align your business goals with what your potential clients are looking for.

Support With SEO for Financial Services Industry Webinars

Webinars for the financial services industry are an excellent way of bolstering your digital-first strategy, enabling communication with a wide reach. But, a webinar only works if you secure attendees.

Make sure your webinar marketing stands out with the help of our team at Woya. We have years of experience working on both long-term and standalone financial SEO campaigns, and pushing businesses up the search engine results pages.

From keyword research and optimised blog content to digital PR and Google Ads, we offer full-service financial SEO to put your webinar in the spotlight. Get in touch with our team and we’ll be happy to answer any questions or kickstart your webinar SEO.

Leveraging LinkedIn Personal Branding: Growth Tactics in the Finance Sector

19, Aug 2024 | Digital Marketing, Finance

Reading Time: 7 minutes

In the highly competitive finance sector, establishing a strong personal brand from LinkedIn personal branding, writing guest posts and articles has become a professional necessity for those wanting to stand out and grow their business. As digital marketing evolves, finance professionals need to leverage online presence to their advantage to build credibility, social proof and start to drive significant business growth.

At Woya Digital we always want to understand more and research what works in our specialist sectors. We asked 12 finance industry thought leaders questions about the benefits of a professional personal brand and how utilising LinkedIn personal branding can achieve business goals. From sharing expert insights and blogs about financial topics to participating in groups and publishing authoritative content, these strategies could help you position yourself as a trusted expert, attract new clients, and ultimately propel your overall finance business to new heights.

Read the LinkedIn Personal Branding insights from the finance industry experts who we asked the question: “Can you explain how building your personal brand online has supported your business growth within the finance sector?”

Establish Credibility Through Insight Sharing

Building my personal brand online has significantly contributed to my business growth in the finance sector. By sharing insights and expertise through various platforms, I’ve established credibility and trust with my audience. Engaging in discussions about market trends and innovative strategies has attracted potential clients and collaborators who resonate with my vision.

This visibility allows me to connect with industry leaders, opening doors for partnerships and networking opportunities. My brand embodies my commitment to transparency and education, which appeals to customers seeking reliable information. A strong personal brand has transformed my online presence into a powerful asset that drives both engagement and revenue.

Ace Zhuo, Business Development Director (Sales and Marketing)
Tech & Finance Expert, TradingFXVPS

Expand Business by Blogging Financial Topics

Building an online personal brand has been crucial for expanding my business. By regularly blogging about financial-planning topics and sharing insights on LinkedIn, I’ve increased my visibility and established expertise. Traffic to my website has grown over 50% this year, leading to numerous new clients.

Early on, I struggled to attract high-net-worth clients. To overcome this, I began writing extensively about issues important to business owners and executives, like tax planning and succession planning. Publishing this content built credibility and trust, allowing me to reach key decision-makers.

Connecting with other thought leaders has amplified my messaging. Appearing on podcasts like Sharkpreneur and co-authoring articles with attorneys and CPAs has expanded my network and referral base. Collaborating with complementary professionals is a win-win, raising awareness for all parties involved. While time-consuming, building a personal brand through education and community involvement has been integral to scaling my business.

For those looking to grow, start by identifying your key audience, develop relevant content and expertise, then find ways to distribute that knowledge to the people who need it most.

David Blain, CFA, Chief Executive Officer,
BlueSky Wealth Advisors

Enhance Reputation with Financial Tips

Building my personal brand online has been crucial for growing Leverage in the finance sector. By sharing useful financial tips and updates on LinkedIn and our blog, I’ve connected with more people and built trust.

For instance, posting weekly financial advice on LinkedIn sparked great conversations and boosted my visibility. This has attracted new clients looking for reliable guidance.

Engaging with followers by answering questions and joining discussions has created a community around Leverage. Clients feel more connected and confident in our services.

Hosting webinars and online workshops has also helped us reach a wider audience and showcase our expertise. These sessions often lead to new business inquiries.

Overall, building my personal brand online has enhanced our reputation, expanded our client base, and supported Leverage’s growth.

Rhett Stubbendeck, CEO & Co-Founder,
Leverage Planning

Develop Personal Brand for Market Authority

In the early days of any business, developing a personal brand allows your target market to put a face to your business. It enables you to establish domain authority and credibility with your prospective customers. I had a stated goal of publishing on LinkedIn daily in 2022—this was around the same time I was launching my business.

In that first year of posting consistently, I was able to develop a personal brand that became synonymous with the business I am building. It’s been helpful for the market to attribute value to the business based on the thought leadership that is developed on the personal side. The next step in the equation is to segment personal brand from business brand in order to reduce the marketing dependency on me, the founder.

Roman Villard, Founder,
Full Send Finance

Roman Villard - Featured

Boost Visibility Through Forum Participation

I boosted my professional presence by actively participating in online forums and discussion groups. By consistently providing valuable insights and practical advice, I positioned myself as a knowledgeable and reliable expert in my field. This proactive engagement improved my visibility and credibility, leading to meaningful connections with potential clients impressed by my expertise.

Focus on joining relevant industry forums and groups, addressing common issues with well-researched content, and engaging thoughtfully with members. This strategy will elevate your reputation, broaden your network, and attract clients who value your expertise and are more likely to seek your services.

Sacha Ferrandi, Founder & Principal,
Source Capital

Sacha Ferrandi - Featured

Share Industry Information for Business Growth

As a tech CEO in the finance sector, building an online personal brand has been like growing a robust digital portfolio. By consistently sharing relevant industry information and our company’s advancements, I’ve made our brand a standout in the finance realm. Potential clients and industry partners have a clear picture of our expertise and dedication, and this clarity drives them toward us. Essentially, my online personal brand has significantly expanded our reach and accelerated our business growth.

Abid Salahi, Co-founder & CEO,
FinlyWealth

Become Thought Leader in Finance Sector

By regularly sharing my insights and expertise on bridging loans, commercial mortgages, development finance, and business loans, I’ve been able to establish myself as a thought leader in the industry. This visibility has helped me reach a wider audience, connecting with potential clients and industry peers who might not have come across my services otherwise.

Maintaining an active online presence has allowed me to stay current with industry trends and shifts, ensuring that my knowledge and strategies are always up-to-date. Engaging with my audience through social media and other online platforms has also fostered a sense of community and trust, which is crucial in finance. This direct line of communication has enabled me to respond to enquiries quickly and provide personalised advice, further strengthening client relationships and driving business growth.

Gary Hemming, Commercial Lending Director,
ABC Finance Limited

Showcase Expertise in Publications

I work in the B2C finance sector (secondary mortgage market). When private mortgage holders consider selling a note, trust and authority are big factors. As the public face of my company, it’s not just the company’s brand that matters, but also my personal brand. Being featured in publications like GoBankingRates, Yahoo Finance, or Realtor.com helps tremendously in showcasing the expertise. Unfortunately, there are some black sheep in the industry, but people are getting smarter in vetting them out.

Abby Shemesh, Chief Acquisitions Officer,
Amerinote Xchange

Build Trust Through LinkedIn Insights

In finance, everything is based on trust. Building my personal brand online has had to do with establishing credibility and showing experience. Sharing insights on LinkedIn and speaking at industry events have been ways to help establish me as an intellectual leader in the business community and drive business opportunities from people who value my different perspective. My online presence has become a magnet for business growth, allowing me to forge real connections and create a reputation that speaks for itself.

Chris Yang, Co-founder,
Coins Value

Chris Yang - Featured

Attract Clients with Credible Content

By sharing insightful content and engaging with industry trends, I’ve established credibility and attracted a loyal audience. This visibility has led to increased client trust and opportunities, positioning me as a thought leader and driving business expansion.

Alan Noblitt, President,
Seascape Capital, LLC

Connect Broadly with Authentic Content

Building my personal brand online has been a game-changer for my business growth. It all started with consistent and authentic content. Sharing my insights and experiences helped me connect with a broader audience. People began to see me as a trustworthy source of information in legal funding. I made it a point to respond to comments and messages on LinkedIn, which built a sense of community. This interaction helped me better understand my audience’s needs, allowing me to tailor my services to meet those needs more effectively.

Jared Stern, Owner and Marketing Manager,
LawsuitLoans.io

Create Relatable and Engaging Digital Presence

Building my personal brand online has really supported my business growth in the finance sector. Our firm encourages advisors to develop personal brands and sees it as a great perk for employees. With the firm’s support, we now create content in a more relaxed and genuine way, which helps us stand out and build authority in our field.

When you’re recognised as an expert, it’s easier to connect with people and form valuable partnerships, which can benefit both parties’ businesses. A strong personal brand attracts higher-quality investors and clients because people prefer experts to solve their problems. Plus, being established as an authority allows you to charge premium prices because clients are willing to pay more for trusted experts.

For me, creating a personal brand means making finance relatable and straightforward. I keep my digital presence engaging and accessible, from LinkedIn profiles to website bios. I also make sure to engage with clients actively on social media, avoiding a one-way interaction. This way, I build trust and credibility, positioning myself as an authoritative figure in financial planning and wealth management.

Eric Croak, CFP, President,
Croak Capital

Ready to give your personal brand an online boost? Get in touch with our financial services SEO team today and let’s discuss how Woya Digital can support your personal finance brand, LinkedIn personal branding and digital PR campaign.