A Complete Guide to Financial Copywriting Copywriting, guest posts and inbound marketing services by professionals

A Complete Guide to Financial Copywriting

June 20, 2019

Not all financial content is ‘created equal’. If your business is dependent on quality financial content or, at least, requires some form of written content, then you have to be certain that you’re doing it right. Daily Posts can help take your financial content from dry and dull to inspiring content that drives action. Our team of talented financial content writers are experienced in the art of financial copywriting and are always ready to help you maximise your ROI with quality content.

‘Financial copywriting’ may sound serious or even boring, but it doesn’t have to be. As much as money is a serious topic, financial copywriting doesn’t have to be dull. It can also be compliant without being too careful. If you’re communicating with an audience via written communication, you don’t want to put them to sleep or waste their time. Whether you’re writing for the layman or the financial professional, financial copywriting can be produced to stir the soul.

The financial industry will always need great writers who are skilled at creating quality content. From financial newsletters to blogs and reports, a good financial content writer can make all the difference between making more conversions and having readers glaze over your content.

Frequently asked questions about financial copywriting

For some of the questions you may have regarding financial copywriting and how Daily Posts can help, please read on.

How much do financial copywriters charge?

There’s no fixed rate for financial copywriters, however, there are a number of factors that can contribute to the price quote you get. These include research, the level of specialisation, the type of project, deadline and additional skills. The greater the amount of research needed, the higher the level of specialisation and the closer the deadline, the more you’ll have to pay.

At Daily Posts, our financial copywriters work with us on a full-time basis. Since we’re not a middleman between you and freelancers, there are no inflated prices. In fact, our financial copywriting services are among the most competitive on the market. We have a comprehensive pricing structure that lets you see what you’ll have to pay right from the start.

Our experienced writers produce high quality content fast. You won’t have to deal with hourly rates that can cost you thousands of dollars. Give us a deadline and we’ll deliver on time. Our plans range from $0.02 per word to $0.08 per word, so you can pick whichever plan is best suited to your needs

How can I find a good financial copywriter?

Right here at Daily Posts! Our financial content writers have the training and experience to deliver quality work on projects of any size. Whatever your niche, as long as it’s finance-related, we’ll be happy to jump on your new project.

We work with writers from around the world and that allows us to tap into a wider talent pool. Financial copy is most effective when it can reflect the financial realities of the specific audience, as it relates to their location. With us, you don’t have to go through the hassle of finding a financial copywriter that’s the right fit. We’ve already done the work.

Send us your brief and we’ll match your content with the best writer for the job. We’ll deliver your content on time, no delays, no stories.

What qualifications should a financial copywriter have?

Most careers in finance have strict rules regarding educational qualifications. However, a financial content writer doesn’t need to have a degree in Accounting or Economics to do a good job, neither do they need an MBA. Excellence as a financial content writer comes from a deep interest in the sector and years of experience writing copy in the industry. Some financial copywriters are even investors themselves.

The fact that there’s no academic qualification needed to be good at financial writing does not mean that there are no financial copywriters with business or finance-related degrees. That being said, many financial content writers do have degrees in digital media, journalism or business-related disciplines. However, they are not necessarily better than other finance writers without an industry-specific degree.

Regardless of what qualifications a writer may have, many have taken classes or some form of training to help develop their writing skills.

At Daily Posts, we have a talented team of financial content writers who are experienced in producing quality copy for various audiences. Whatever you need, as long as it involves great copywriting, you’ll get it.

What does a financial copywriter need from you?

To be able to deliver as needed on a project, a copywriter has to be attuned to your target audience and your business objectives. The amount of details we’ll need depends on the scope of the project. For a few blog posts, you could request specific topics if you wish. For other projects which would require some legwork, anything from company brochures to previously done work would help.

The aim is for us to learn as much as we can about what you do and about your audience. While we do our own in-depth research, it helps to get all the insights we can get from you.

Is my content protected?

Yes. Every piece of content our financial copywriters produce for you cannot be copied, sold or published after the project has been completed. Once we deliver your content, it remains your sole property for life. The copy that our financial content writers produce is also completely unique every time, so you can be certain that you alone have the copy we produce.

How do you optimise financial content for SEO?

It’s one thing to have good content on your website and it’s another to have your good content seen. Search engine optimization (SEO) allows your web pages to rank higher and improve your chances of attracting more visitors to your website.

The process of optimising for SEO begins with keyword research even before writing begins. We research the market and the competition to determine which keywords would be best suited for your website.

All our financial copywriters are well-grounded in good SEO practice, including long-tail keywords, reputable links, meta descriptions and attention-grabbing headlines to maximise SEO. Having written thousands of pages of SEO content, we have all the experience you need.

I need professionally written financial content immediately, can you help?

Our experienced writers are able to churn out quality content within a relatively short period of time. We can deliver expertly-written content to you in as little as 24 hours. Whether you need a one-off piece completed or need new content on a consistent basis, we can deliver it on a tight deadline.

Our financial content writers are able to work in high-pressure writing situations, with deadlines to meet and clients to please. We deliver when we say we will.

Can I provide specific instructions about my financial content?

Of course you can. When you know exactly what you want for your copy, you shouldn’t get anything less than that. From the exact number of words to the message and style you want for your copy, we’ll follow your instructions to the letter.

You can count on our finance content writers to produce content that aligns with your goals. We’ll get it right the first time, so you won’t have to keep sending it back to us for revision after revision.

Can you write in my brand’s voice?

Absolutely. That’s why we need to know as much about you as possible. When we know who you are and what your brand is about, we’ll be in a better position to speak to your audience in your own voice. Your audience deserves nothing less than your authentic brand voice and that’s what they’ll get when we write your copy.

Our professional financial copywriters are able to switch their tone and voice as needed to suit your copy. We don’t use a uniform tone or voice for every client. Instead, we strive to reflect your unique voice in every sentence.

Can you complete a trial assignment?

Sometimes, a couple of samples of previously written work may not be enough to convince a client that we can deliver on the project they have in mind. If you would like us to work on a sample, we can do so. This allows you to see how we can deliver on the rest of the project, while making any tweaks you deem necessary. From then on, it’ll be smooth sailing all the way to the end of the project.

Get financial content that converts audiences

It’s expected that you’ll want whatever content you put out there to make an impact. To do that, your copy will have to move the reader enough to take action. It doesn’t matter if you already have content on your website or need fresh content. We can replace your website copy with professionally-written financial content to help ensure that you get better results.

At Daily Posts, our experienced finance copywriters know when to keep it simple and when to leave in enough technicalities, depending on the target audience. Everything we do starts from research and the audience is a big part of that. You want to sell, and we produce copy that can help you do that.

We have created a simple system that lets you sign in and begin to get quality content in no time at all. Choose a plan you believe is best suited to your needs and set up an account to get started today. If you aren’t quite sure which plan will work best for you or you have any enquiries you’d like to make, please feel free to get in touch with us.

Other financial copywriting tips

Provide answers to the audience’s questions in a rational order

Whatever content you intend to put out there has to answer all the questions your audience may have, starting with the first questions they’re likely to think of. Then, move on to any follow-up questions they may have. If you’re creating a financial education series, for instance, you could start with a definition before moving on to features, benefits and so on.

Ditch the adjectives and use more verbs

Verbs are action words, unlike adjectives. Instead of describing your products or services with grand terms, focus on talking about what they do and how they can be of direct benefit to the consumer.

Be intentional about your headlines

Headlines and subheadings are important. If they are done well, they can keep the audience reading from beginning to end. They also make it easier to scan the content. As much as you want your headings to be descriptive, they also need to be inviting. If your heading is too dry, reword it to make it catchier.

Are you hiding behind compliance?

It’s true that financial copy has to be compliant with the regulations set out by the relevant regulatory authorities. However, this does not necessarily mean that your copy has to be too formal or uninspiring. Financial content writers know how to write compliant yet engaging financial copy without having to water down the marketing message or pack the copy with jargon.

Sometimes, all that’s needed is well-placed synonyms that convey meaning that’s easy to read and understand for most people.

Is your content easy to scan?

Financial copywriters, like other copywriters, don’t follow regular writing conventions. This is because of Jakob Nielsen’s study of how people read web content from 1997. He discovered that web users didn’t read the all the words from top to bottom. Rather, they scan the text and then zero in on specific chunks of information. Your content should be scannable if you want users to interact with it.

For your content to be easy to scan, it should use the inverted pyramid style of writing, restrict paragraphs to one idea, use bullet lists where needed, include useful subheadings and highlight keywords. These are only some of what can be done to improve your content. Having gained a great deal of experience writing for the web, a finance content writer is able to prepare copy that is properly formatted to allow for easy scanning.

Are your sentences short enough?

As mentioned earlier, shorter sentences are better for aiding comprehension. Now, the question is ‘how short should your sentences be?’ In the Readers’ Degree of Understanding study published by the American Press institute in 2009, thousands of articles were analysed. The goal was to compare reader comprehension and the number of words in a sentence.

The results were interesting. Readers achieved 100% comprehension of sentences made up of fewer than 8 words; 90% comprehension for sentences made up of 9 to 14 words; and 10% of sentences made up of 15 to 43 words. How long were your sentences in your last blog post or sales letter?

Instead of trying to convey too much in one sentence by stuffing it with points, it’s best to break it up into two or three. There’s no point writing a sentence that no one will understand anyway. Financial information can be complex. Shorter sentences can make a world of difference in ensuring that your audience can both read and understand what you’re trying to say.

Do you sound disingenuous?

It’s always idea for a financial brand to show empathy with consumers, but you risk coming across as disingenuous if you’re too friendly or empathetic. Often, businesses use the phrase “we understand” to show that they know what it’s like to be in the consumer’s shoes. However, in relation to fairly obvious statements, it can end up sounding redundant and patronising.

The key to avoid sounding disingenuous is to show and not tell. Consumers want to know that you truly understand, but they’ll need proof. Tangible proof can take the form of detailed testimonials that show how your services have helped make a difference to people’s lives.

You’ll find it more effective to go straight to the point and avoid colouring your copy too much. Outline your services and why consumers will benefit from them while cutting out false promises and fluffy language. That way, consumers are more likely to trust you.out.

Are you saying what you mean?

The overuse of buzzwords is one of the easiest ways to undercut your financial copywriting efforts. It can be tough to avoid these words in the financial space, but arbitrary and meaningless phrases won’t do you any good.

One of the most commonly-used words is ‘solutions’. Often, it is used to replace an organisation’s service or product in an attempt to impress. However, it’s so widely used in various sectors that it can take on a different meaning than what was intended if used carelessly. An experienced financial content writer knows how to communicate the exact meaning you have in mind to your audience using the right words.

Should financial content be in the passive voice?

The passive voice may be ideal for academic writing, but it has no place in financial content. At least, not when you’re trying to communicate with a group of people who aren’t financial experts and whom you want to sell to.

The active voice tells your audience that you the one behind the action. If you do something well, tell the readers that you did it well. Taking ownership comes with its own benefits. Don’t deny yourself of that. The active voice ensures that a message is clear where the passive voice can contribute to confusion at worst or do nothing to improve clarity at best.

Remember that the topic of finance can be scary or unattractive for many people. Therefore, financial services should aim to communicate with the audience in a way that’s lively, direct and easy to understand. Writing in the active voice allows you to do this.

You should be especially careful with how you word your About Us page. Using the passive voice more than the recommended levels can make your content unclear and overly convoluted. Instead of lengthy third-person sentences, use short and snappy first-person sentences.

The About Us page gives the reader a chance to learn who you are and what you do. It’s your chance to explain your services and the value you have to offer to your audience. If you’re not direct enough or end up with copy that’s too wordy, you could lose them.

Does your financial copy contain too much jargon?

Too often, financial content is loaded with needless jargon that ends up making the piece too complex and not reader-friendly. It can be difficult for a financial expert to prepare content that’s free of such jargon since that’s what they’re familiar with. However, it can seem like nothing but gibberish to the reader.

Financial content writers know how to convert buzzwords and jargon into plain English that the audience can easily understand. Your content can go from a technical manual that no one will ever read to a highly-informative and engaging piece that the audience derives value from.

Putting out content that’s too complex for anyone to read is like deliberately trying to confuse your audience. Jargon only hides a simple message behind too many words that could very well sound like an alien language to the reader.

Here’s why you’ll be better off with plain English

Interestingly, some financial brands think that their content will sound ‘dumb’ if they use simple words, but this isn’t true. Simple English is normal, and consumers are more likely to trust normal people because they’re easier to relate to. You can make your brand look and sound like a normal person is behind it by talking about your services and your brand in normal English.

Fancy words are not in any way going to make people trust you. There’s actually no reason for your audience to trust you if they can’t make sense of what you’re trying to say or have a hard time deciphering your message. You could also open yourself up to misinterpretations, which is never good for business.

Don’t get a headache trying to figure out whether your copy is plagued by unnecessary jargon. You might not be the best judge of clarity from the audience’s point of view. You’ll be better off working with a professional financial content writer who can tear down your verbose, overly=complicated copy and produce a final piece that has infrastructure and is easy to read.

Does your copy communicate financial concepts with clarity?

You know the major problem with a lot of the financial content out there? Unnecessarily complex language and convoluted sentences written in the passive voice. You may find even the highest-ranked websites have lower than expected standards of readability.

As a financial brand, if your messages are not clear to the audience, you’ll most likely struggle to gain their confidence. To gain their trust, consumers need to feel like you’re really speaking to them and they need to understand exactly what they can expect from you. You can judge the clarity of your financial content by determining if you have too much jargon in there.

What’s the right tone of voice for financial content?

Like everything else, delivering your message with the right voice depends on the audience and how well you’ve done your research. In financial copywriting, you’re most likely going to drift between selling a dream and painting a vivid nightmare. You want your audience to see how beautiful life can be when they have money in the bank and enough investments to ensure a comfortable retirement. You also want them to see how bad it can get if they lose control of their financial destiny.

Financial copywriting is powerful and can drive your revenue higher if done right. Sometimes, it’s about motivating the readers with the secure trust fund they can build for their children, the emergency fund that can be a lifesaver, or their dream of retiring early.

Essentially, your content should be able to play to the audience’s biggest ambitions and virtues at the right time while playing to their deepest fears.

Do you really know the audience?

Financial copywriting is a wide field, as there are several niches and each of these cater to a unique audience. The focus can range from cryptocurrency and investment opportunities to retirement finance and offshore investments. Even sales letters can target different groups of people.

Generally, the market for financial content may be career-minded middleclass individuals with sufficient disposable income to invest. However, not everyone can be lumped into the same class for every topic. That being said, remember to talk to the audience as the version of themselves that they aspire to be, not as though they are career-minded middleclass people.

An audience for financial content made up of extremes as well as a lot of people who are in between. Some are extremely pessimistic, some are highly optimistic, and others are somewhere in the middle. Many of your readers will have been subscribed to your newsletters for a long time and may have spent a considerable amount of money on subscriptions. Perhaps even more than they have spent actually investing.

What you need to do is focus heavily on addressing their scepticism. It may not be as necessary to go down this lane with a topic like cryptocurrency since it’s all the rave now, but, again, it depends on who you’re talking to. Some people will remain sceptical and not eager to jump on the bandwagon. Knowing your audience goes a long way towards determining how effective your message will be.

What should go into your financial content?

Knowing when a financial content writer is producing quality work can make a significant difference to how impactful your content is. Before embarking on a copywriting project or putting out any piece of financial content, you should ask:

Why this guide?

This guide is intended to show you what makes great financial content and what’s involved in great financial copywriting. By the time you’re done reading, you should be able to tell the difference between ‘okay’ financial copywriting and great financial copywriting. You’ll also find out everything you need to know about getting your financial copy done from start to finish.

What can a financial content writer do for you?

A financial copywriter is concerned with one primary goal: to drive your readers to take action. Financial copywriters can write articles spanning a wide range of financial topics. No matter what niche you’re in or what services you provide, a financial content writer will deliver, as long as you need online copy for a finance-related topic.

Financial writers can create market commentary and educational content for digital publications. We can also write blog posts, social media posts and commentary pieces to appear on your own website or as a guest post on another website.

An experienced finance content writer has good SEO knowledge and can produce copy that increases your chances of ranking higher in search engine result pages (SERPs). That could mean better conversions and more revenue as the copy we write is designed to move your audience to engage with you. Good copywriting is a worthwhile investment that will continue to produce results for a long time to come.

How is financial copywriting different from other copywriting?

Whether you’re selling a financial product or service, or giving your audience advice, the world of financial services is complex. Unlike most other areas of copywriting, finance is heavily regulated. Your content has to be easy to understand and meet the requirements of the law at the same time.

Every financial promotion you put out there has to meet the FCA’s (Financial Conduct Authority) requirements. The regulator is concerned with ensuring that any adverts are clear, fair and not misleading. Our finance content writers are aware of these regulations and can write compliant copy that passes the first time. We won’t make claims about your products or services that might be misunderstood or can’t be substantiated.

From product disclosure statements (PDS) to newsletters and website copy, your writing has to be clear and provide accurate information. With a great financial copywriter by your side, you won’t have any problems. You’ll have all the help you need, freeing you up to dedicate your time to your clients.audience, we’ll get the job done and done well.

What is financial copywriting?

Financial copywriting is a specialised skill that involves writing online copy for financial businesses and services. From sales copy to blog posts and landing pages, a financial content writer is qualified to produce content that sells your services. Financial copywriting, unlike news writing or editorial writing, is about leading the audience to take action. Depending on the nature of your business, that action may be to engage with a service, sign up for a subscription or buy a product or service.

Financial copywriters create content from scratch, but also do editing and proofreading. So, if you’re concerned your content has grammar or readability issues, a finance content writer can help. At Daily Posts, we can take your content from lacklustre and unreadable to inspiring copy that easily converts readers.