Financial advisers are increasingly keen to make use of videos. Indeed, one study suggests that 87% of marketing professionals utilise videos as a marketing tool, and 54% of consumers want to see more video content from a brand or business they support.
Whilst many factors influence a prospect’s decision to work with a financial planner, these days they are more likely to do so based on the quality and messaging of their video marketing. Financial adviser videos are hugely relevant in 2022, and will almost certainly become more so in the years ahead.
In this guide, our video animation team at CreativeAdviser shares some of the advantages of using video in the financial advice and planning space, how to incorporate it into a marketing strategy and how to ensure your videos are the best they can be.
Get in touch if you’d like to discuss your own financial video project with a member of our team, via a free online consultation.
The benefits of financial adviser videos
Financial adviser videos are great to use because they deliver strong marketing results.
First of all, they can be a great internal motivation tool. If your staff has access to high-quality videos showing the good work that the business is doing, the difference the team makes and why the company exists, then this greatly helps with engagement and retention.
Secondly, videos can be a great source of website traffic. YouTube, for instance, is the world’s second-largest search engine and offers financial advisers the chance to build an online audience there. Subscribers can engage with the business via the comments section, and you can include links to your blogs and other website content within your video descriptions.
As such, financial adviser videos can be a great tool within a financial SEO strategy. Some financial planners have pulled this off to great effect. For examples, see these channels: Meaningful Money and Ben Felix.
Finally, videos are a great way to set yourself apart from competitors – many of whom are unlikely to be using videos at all, or to their full effect. Anything to help your brand stand head-and-shoulders above rivals is a great way to gain (and retain) new clients.
Integrating videos into marketing
How should a financial adviser use videos with a wider marketing strategy? Which channels are appropriate to use them on?
Here, you have a range of options – allowing you to be highly creative and innovative with how you use your videos. One idea is to post them on your social media channels. This is a great way to build a community around your brand and establish yourself as a thought leader.
For a good example of this, we suggest checking out Pension Craft‘s videos, led by Ramin Nakisa.
If you want to go down this road, of course, you need to consider the work involved. Creating regular YouTube videos is a lot of work. So is coming up with the topics, editing the videos and responding to users’ comments.
Assuming you can commit to this, great. However, do not expect quick results. It can take years to build up a strong channel and maintain it. For many, this will be too much work and you will need to consider other strategy options for your videos.
One good idea is to post a monthly video on your website (e.g. embedding it within a blog post). This can be a good way to keep clients up to date on new market developments, for instance.
This frequency probably won’t help you much with building up a YouTube following, as this typically requires far more regular posting. However, it’s a good way for clients to hear from you regularly. Also, prospects can hear your voice, see your face and get an idea of the people behind the company, when considering who to work with.
You may also want to feature a link to your financial adviser videos within your client newsletter. This can help ensure that clients are notified when you release a new video, and they may even share it with friends, family and colleagues who might be interested.
Tips to create great financial videos
Many financial planners want to know how to make their own videos. If you are keen to do this, then we suggest finding a good video maker app (without too big a financial commitment) to “test the waters”.
Here, you need to be careful to not make your financial videos too long. 1-2 minutes is usually plenty. Also, if you are making multiple videos, be careful to keep the design and imagery consistent. Make sure the sound quality is excellent, as poor audio is highly off-putting.
If you want to do on-site filming (e.g. of the team and of clients), then make sure you have good lighting. Consider having 3 or 4 good filming locations that you can rotate across your different videos, to provide a bit of healthy variety to your videos.
Try to refrain from simply feature a financial adviser talking directly at the camera for 1/2 minutes. Try and add some interesting visual features to the presentation, such as infographics to represent the points being made. Captions can also be a good idea.
Make sure you give enough valuable content away to make the viewer feel like the video was worth their time. However, be careful not to “over-stuff” it with too much information, or jargon, which is likely to leave the viewer confused and frustrated.
Craft your scripts carefully and keep the message of each video on-point. Avoid waffling or wandering off-topic. Be clear about the main things you want to get across to the audience, and what you want them to remember.
Finally, make sure you know the purpose of your videos. Are you offering “explainer” videos to help educate the audience (e.g. about pension transfers). Or, are you creating a set of video ads for digital marketing campaigns, to target new potential clients?
