Content marketing is a hugely important way for financial firms to engage clients and attract new ones in 2021. This might take the form of downloadable PDF guides, blogs and client newsletters. The pinnacle of financial content creation, however, is video.
If you are looking to communicate a message to your audience in a clear, efficient and engaging way, then video will likely be your “go-to” for your marketing. This is not only due to the higher amount of information you can condense into a video without overwhelming your audience. It’s because video is the content which online audience increasingly expect to consume. By offering them video content, therefore, a financial services company can get ahead of the competition that relies on text-based content.
In this article, our marketing specialists at CreativeAdviser offer five reasons for financial planners and similar firms to consider video as part of their marketing mix in 2021. Before that, however, what exactly is video marketing?
What is video marketing for financial firms?
Content marketing for financial services, using video, is the process of making, publishing and distributing video presentations to your target audience to achieve specific marketing goals. These might include creating “talking head” videos of interviews with members of your team, to then place on your website (e.g. the homepage) so that new visitors can get a sense of the “faces behind the corporate image”. You may also consider animated “explainer videos” – e.g. 60 seconds long, featuring graphic design and good background music – to educate your client base about topics which are relevant and useful to them, such as a video on pension transfers.
Let’s now look at some of the tangible benefits of video marketing for financial firms.
#1 Videos are fantastic explaining tools
Financial planning and other niches in the wider financial sector often involve complex products, services and jargon which are difficult for customers and clients to understand. A great way to make these more accessible and easy to grasp is through the power of video.
For instance, suppose you want to educate your audience about pension consolidation. One option may be to write a 1,000 article on the subject and point people towards it. This can work very well if done right, yet an even better approach would be to create a 1-2 minute video on what it is, how it works and how clients can benefit from it. Charts, illustrations and statistics can be used throughout the presentation to get more information across, in less time and in a more engaging way.
#2 Videos provide good marketing ROI
Videos cost money. They take considerable time, skill and resources to produce well – even setting aside the marketing budget you need to then distribute them to your audience. Yet the costs can be more than worth it when put towards purposes which demonstrate good marketing return on investment (ROI). A good example is Google Ads, or Facebook Ads. Suppose you run a paid ads campaign featuring your video on either of these platforms, trying to gain sign-ups to your upcoming webinar. If 10 people sign up and attend, with 1 or 2 then becoming ongoing clients, your video(s) can show a strong ROI.
#3 Videos are versatile
Where might you end up using your financial video(s)? The great thing about these content resources is that have so much potential to be used in different contexts, on different platforms and for different purposes. A financial video could be used on a website homepage, on an advert for a paid search campaign or in a blog post. It could be posted on a range of social media platforms, featured in your latest client newsletter or used as a PR piece. Even if you cannot think of a good use for a financial video right now, it is overwhelmingly likely that it will be a marketing assets at some point in the future!
#4 Videos connect with people
Quite simply, most people would prefer to consume a video – if they can – compared to another type of content that requires more effort and concentration (e.g. a long PDF guide). This is one reason why the likes of YouTube are such popular platforms on the internet in 2021. By meeting your audience where they are at, by producing excellent financial videos which they can watch and gain value from, you can create strong brand touchpoints and build a more loyal audience. This trend – preferring video content – is not likely to slow down anytime soon. Consider including video content marketing into your wider strategy to ensure your financial firm is appropriately “future-proofed” to meet people’s content needs.
#5 Videos help with search
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is increasingly attractive to financial firms seeking to gain more online exposure to their target audience in 2021. The great thing about videos is that they can have a great SEO benefit, especially if you post them on a platform like YouTube. Just trying making a search on Google right now. Chances are, a range of videos appear in the results alongside the more traditional, web-based links. Quite often, these are displayed at the top of the search engine results and feature a snippet that can be watched right there – without needing to click through to a website. This suggests that video could dramatically change the nature of SEO in the coming years. By planning ahead and building up a strong set of video content resources now, you stand a better chance of occupying this kind of “search engine real estate” before your competitors do.
