Award-Winning Omnichannel Approach Drives Sales Leads
Client
Industry
Financial Services
A digital-first approach proves integrated content resonates across medium and channel.
115% increase in quarterly traffic
bounce rate that decreased from 38.33% to 9.26%, a historic and industry-leading low
increase to 38.9% of search traffic coming from organic search, up from 14.5%
The Background
TD Ameritrade Institutional (TDAI) sought to drive organic search traffic, establish deeper engagement with prospects and clients, cement its thought leadership and eventually drive sales leads in this niche space — financial advisers and those who aspire to be one. The company already had a magazine it believed in and knew resonated with its audience of registered investment advisers, as well as content living on a website. What leaders wanted was help bringing the entire program up to date with a best-in-class strategy that considered audience need, channel and delivery.
The Challenge
For a program with several components, the challenges were both broad and practical. How do you apply digital-first thinking to a print magazine published four times a year? How do you reconcile the desire for digital-first thinking — not to mention efficiency — with the understanding that your print and digital audiences aren’t always looking for the same things? And, perhaps most importantly: How do you differentiate yourself in a space where sophisticated content marketing is the norm?
The Solution
The program goes beyond mere audience-first thinking to a hyper-tailored, audience-focused approach. Digital content considers the needs and wants of prospects most likely to search. An award-winning podcast incorporates storytelling and emotional resonance, deepening relationships with the adviser community. The quarterly print magazine content takes a digital-first approach, using data to determine which online content earns editorial placement, but also considers the unique needs and wants of the clients who are consuming print pieces. The whole program is dynamic, responding to shifting needs in the marketplace with fast-moving, quickly delivered content produced and published in just days, when events demand.
The Result
The approach is efficient: Content isn’t siloed, but considered as part of the broader program objectives. The content is resonant: It meets the needs of a podcast listener differently than the needs of a magazine reader or web searcher. And finally, the program is award winning, earning accolades from the Content Marketing Institute for both the storytelling and emotional engagement found in the podcast as well as the overall program’s strategy of using performance data to inform print production.
The Details
When it comes to performance data analysis, as this program relies on, Imagination is informed by the data but aren’t beholden to it — something many of our experts have seen too frequently. Data isn’t the end of the road, but a directional sign on a journey. Imagination layers on top of the numbers the difference in our print readership versus digital readership, macro-level feedback on what readers like (e.g., certain topics they ask for over and over), business objectives and what it takes to create a compelling magazine experience — not just a haphazard collection of articles but a beautifully edited, well-rounded experience for our print reader. The human element is essential here: Someone who understands not just the program but also has a deep understanding of the audience needs to take a long, hard look at the data and layer that perspective on top of the results, given all of the contributors to performance.
Key Services Involved
- Landscape audit and competitive research
- Business marketing goals and objective assessment
- Content audits and content refreshes
- Program and project management
- Marketing integration
- Editorial calendar development
- Editorial management
- Content hubs
- Video and audio
- Podcast
- Visual storytelling and immersive experiences
- Print and digital design
- Digital development
- Program and channel strategic planning
- Print magazine production and mailing
- Measurement planning
