Have you taken a look at the great financial adviser video series by Ben Felix, on YouTube?
He’s a Canadian Portfolio Manager at PWL Capital in Ottowa, and his video channel is a fascinating case study for financial advisers seeking to leverage the power of video within their wider marketing strategy.
With over 103K subscribers to his channel, Felix is bound to be a well-known name amongst the Canadian financial planning sector. Some of his videos on investing in leading market indexes (e.g. “Investing in the S&P500“) have even exceeded 137k views, giving PWL Capital impressive brand exposure and website referral traffic.
Of course, not all financial planners are in a position to leverage video marketing in this way. Yet this case study is a great example of what is possible for this important UK financial sector. Where many firms are dismissing video and digital marketing at large, others have seen the open gap and opportunity this has left for them to step in and make their voice heard.
Here at CreativeAdviser, our creative agency is actively engaged in producing compelling, informative client videos for financial planners and advisers. What are some of the ways to create a great video, then, for your client base?
#1 Choose Great Topics
Why is Ben Felix’s YouTube channel so successful, compared with other financial planners whose videos and channels have barely reached 100 people across their lifespans? Part of the success lies in finding relevant, engaging topics to talk about.
For instance, one of Felix’s video is on “Advice from Warren Buffett“. Most people who have even a vague interest in investing are likely to have heard of Buffett, and will want to hear what he has to say. That makes it a great video candidate for a financial planner!
Or, at the time of writing, the world is facing huge stock market turmoil in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. Many people are worried about their investments and want financial advice about how to weather the storm. Another excellent opportunity for a video!
#2 Design
One of the reasons Felix’s videos are attractive to click on is because they are well presented, with nice graphics to support the “talking head” format. There is no ugly whiteboard behind a grumpy-looking financial planner as the thumbnail, for instance!
#3 Length
People like watching videos because they are easy to consume. It might take 10+ minutes to read an article about an important area of financial planning (e.g. pension transfers), and you’d need to be fairly alert to maintain your concentration throughout.
A video, however, can condense the same amount of information into a much shorter presentation. All the while, you can have lovely graphics, music, transitions and visual cues to maintain people’s attention.
The best financial videos, moreover, know when to draw the line and finish. Again, Ben Felix’s channel is an interesting case in point. He knows that most people are not looking for videos much longer than 10 minutes, so he confines each one to roughly this length.
This allows people to get a good amount of “depth” out of the topic, whilst allowing them to “binge” on other videos!
#4 Frequency
Releasing a new financial video every day is clearly going to be unrealistic for most financial planners, and probably unnecessary. However, the best financial videos are able to build momentum and a strong following through regular publication.
In the case of our financial videos here at CreativeAdviser, we tend to produce one animated video per month, so financial planners can use these within their monthly client newsletter. This allows plenty of regularly for clients without feeling “pushy”, and gives a good amount of space for production.
#5 Engagement
Take another look at Ben Felix’s financial planning videos, and you’ll notice that most of them are filled underneath with comments from viewers. Moreover, Felix (or his team) takes the time to respond to these users, creating brand engagement and a sense of community.
This takes financial videos a step beyond just producing a video, and releasing it to the internet without any further engagement. The best financial videos are able to generate a reaction and start a conversation. Remember, as long as people are talking to you, they have your attention and are forming some kind of opinion about you.
That’s a whole lot better than no client/prospect conversation, and no opinion at all!
#6 Adding value
Why would anyone watch a YouTube or other financial video in the first place? Mainly, people do it to solve a problem or to address a “pain point”. In other words, they are looking for value, not a sales pitch.
Many financial planners and advisers still fall into the trap of seeing video marketing as simply another opportunity to push their service/product. This is usually a mistake. Prospects want to know that you are trustworthy and capable before trusting you with their penson, life savings and investments.
This is where video marketing can be so powerful. It allows people to see your face, and hear your voice. It gives them the chance to “get to know you”, before even speaking to you in person. This, in turn, allows your prospects to qualify themselves, which can refine your lead generation efforts.
