The main purpose of a financial advisor’s initial meeting with a prospect, as it’s currently conducted, is to gather facts and information that will help the advisor create a financial plan for that high net worth prospect, Ari Galper writes in Advisor Perspectives,.  Problem is, Galper points out, in any sales context, until the prospect feels in their gut that this advisor is the one for them — that there’s something more to the process than just “running the numbers”, nothing is likely to happen. That’s because, Galper asserts, being cross-examined is the opposite of trust-building. What’s more, he says, contrary to what many marketing gurus teach, prospects’ ultimate decisions are not driven by information but by emotion.

This insight translates into content marketing in two important ways: 

1. Offering little-known explanations and citing statistics that explode common myths is a good way to engage online readers’ attention, offering business owners and professional practitioners the chance to showcase their own knowledge and expertise in interesting ways. The fly in the proverbial “ointment” is that people don’t like to be proven wrong. The skill lies in engaging interest, but not in an “I’m-the-expert-and-you’re-not” fashion. Allow for the fact that anyone might reasonably have come to an incorrect conclusion before becoming aware of the facts you’ve now provided.

2. While Galper stresses that in a financial advisory setting, trust-building questions need to precede fact-finding queries, when it comes to online content marketing, the process is reversed. The “fact-finding”, accomplished by having content writers gain an understanding of the target audience, comes first.  Only then can the content in an article, newsletter, email, or social media post result in a “meeting” of business owner and reader “prospect”. In content marketing, you have have to know your target audience before asking them to take action. Consider age, gender, nationality, where your target readers “hangs out”, what they read and watch, and what they’re saying on social media, in interviews and in focus group.  What causes do they support?

For financial advisors at an initial interview with a prospect, putting fact-finding first can break, not make for, trust. For content marketers, fact-finding before-the-fact allow the creation of the “right stuff” for the “right readers”. 

 

More than two million Tesla vehicles are being recalled because of font size??  

It’s true. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Association, a recent safety compliance audit revealed that on a number of 2012-2023 models, the brake, park, and antilock brake warning lights have too small a font, making critical safety information simply too hard for drivers to read.

In any text, typography  helps users to  understand the organization and importance of content,  Ashish Kumar Tiwari explains in elearningindustry.com. The font is just one element we use in communicating information effectively so as to enhance the user experience, Tiwari adds. While the size of the font is important, spacing, line length, and alignment also play a part.

The goal, of course, in all printed or online material is to ensure that the content is easily readable and accessible to users, preventing eye strain and enabling effortless reading.  That involves using:

• legible typefaces
• appropriate font sizes
• suitable spacing
• hierarchy (bolded headings, for example, allow users to understand the organization of the content)

As a content marketer, I particularly appreciate the author’s emphasis on “ensuring sufficient color contrast between text and background”.

“Fonts play a crucial role in establishing an online brand’s visual identity,” Romain Juillet reminds business owners.  “In a highly competitive online market, the following cannot be repeated enough: first impressions really do matter.” Juillet explains the two main categories of font:

In serif fonts, the letters have extra strokes on the ends, are are considered to evoke a more formal, classic mood; sans serif fonts have no strokes, and are viewed as more casual and minimalist. (This Say It For You blog has always used the Arial sans serif font, which many consider ideal for digital content.)

Brands often use different fonts for different products. Coca-Cola, I learned years ago, chose different fonts for its Coca-Cola, Diet Coke and Coke Zero products. For us content writers for hire, the font we use should match the image projected on the client’s website. If the site is more traditional, we may want to use a more traditional serif font. If the client seems to project a more hip, modern look, the online content might be best presented in a sans serif font.

Serif or sans serif, Font size counts in cars and content marketing!