The spotlight shines brightly on video marketing content, hailed as a game-changer by an overwhelming 88% of marketers who deem it not just important but—crucial— to their strategies. An impressive 90% of these professionals also report that video content not only captivates but delivers a robust return on investment they were looking for.
Most humans are highly visual and are inundated with videos across their internet journeys. If you want to get their attention, there’s no easy way to say this. You can’t be afraid to make videos —even if you think you have a face that only radio could love.
As we dive into financial services video marketing, know that the stakes are high and the opportunities boundless.
Crafting videos that resonate with your audience isn’t just an option. It can make or break your overall marketing strategy. Whether you’re aiming to simplify the complex world of finance or inspire the next generation of investors, your journey to impactful video marketing begins here.
1. Get to Know Your Target Audience
Understanding your audience is the cornerstone of effective financial services videos. You wouldn’t discuss retirement plans with a toddler, right?
Similarly, knowing who your audience is, what they need, and how they consume media will significantly impact the effectiveness of your content.
- Conduct surveys and interviews to gather insights directly from your clients.
- Analyse data to identify common questions and concerns.
- Segment your audience to tailor content that speaks directly to their needs.
The better you know your audience, the more tailored and impactful your videos will be. It’s about speaking their language, whether that’s explaining stock options to a seasoned investor or breaking down basic savings tips for university students.
2. Set Clear Goals for Your Video Content
Before you hit ‘record’, setting clear, achievable goals for your financial services videos is crucial. These objectives will guide your content strategy, helping ensure that every video serves a purpose and moves you closer to your broader business objectives.
Consider what you want to achieve:
- Increase brand awareness: Videos can introduce your brand to a new audience.
- Educate your clients: Aim to clarify complex financial topics or introduce new services.
- Engage with potential customers: Use videos to answer common questions or address recent financial trends.
- Drive conversions: Encourage viewers to sign up for a webinar, download a guide, or schedule a consultation.
In financial services marketing, there is no such thing as a video without a goal. What a waste of time! If you find yourself wondering what types of finance videos to create or whether videos are delivering ROI, it’s almost certain you don’t have clear goals in mind.
Each video should have a specific goal tied to a measurable outcome, such as viewer engagement, website traffic, or lead generation. This focus ensures your content is not just informative and entertaining but also strategically aligned with your business goals.
By setting clear goals, you can tailor your financial services videos to be more than just content; they become tools that actively support your marketing strategy and business growth.
3. Choose the Right Platforms
Your platform choice can make or break the visibility and impact of your financial services videos. This isn’t about which platforms you prefer. Where is your audience?
If you’re trying to reach Gen Z, then don’t rule out TikTok or Instagram. If you want to reach older Millennials and Boomers, you need to be on Facebook. That said, there are no hard rules in marketing. Best practices only exist until data proves them otherwise.
Audience research may reveal the need for a different approach to reach your audience.
Each social media platform has its nuances, and understanding these can help you maximise your content’s reach.
YouTube
Pros:
- Widest reach: Ideal for in-depth explorations of topics like wealth management videos.
- SEO benefits: Videos are searchable both on YouTube and Google.
Cons:
- High competition: Standing out requires more effort and consistency.
- Creator fatigue: YouTube creator fatigue is no laughing matter. YouTube audiences are insatiable. They leave if fresh content is not uploaded regularly. Smart video content professionals have smart ways to meet this demand without breaking the bank, such as re-purposing, re-mixing, and refreshing content.
- Longer production time: High expectations for content quality.
- High engagement: Great for building a brand personality, especially if someone is the face of your brand. It’s easy to add quick updates and financial services video content tips that are visually stimulating with colours, charts, and faces of real people.
- Stories and Reels: Perfect for short, engaging snippets of information.
Cons:
- Limited video length: Not ideal for more complex financial explanations. But it’s perfect for creating a cohesive series.
- Younger audience: May not always align with financial services demographics.
TikTok
Pros:
- Viral potential: High chance of rapid spread and engagement.
- Creative freedom: Encourages innovative, fun approaches to content like Fintech videos.
Cons:
- Unpredictable reach: What goes viral can often be hit or miss.
- Perceived as less professional: Might not align with a serious financial brand image.
Choosing the right platforms for your financial services videos involves balancing where your audience is most active against the nature of the content you wish to deliver. Always align your platform choice with your video’s purpose—whether it’s to educate, engage, or inspire your viewers.
4. Start with a Strong Script
Now, let’s start creating.
Your video’s success hinges on its script. This isn’t just writing; it’s about crafting a narrative that resonates. Tailor your script to not only inform but also connect on an emotional level.
Remember, even those in need of financial services appreciate a good plot twist—as long as it doesn’t involve a disappearing act involving their money.
Video marketing in financial services isn’t about hard selling; it’s about storytelling. Ensure your script includes the following:
- Key points you want to cover
- Questions your audience may have
- Calls to action
There are plenty of script writing GPTs available to help kick-start your AI marketing strategy.
5. Focus on Quality Production
High-quality financial services video production does not necessarily mean Hollywood budgets. It’s about clear visuals and crisp sound, which are non-negotiable. A shaky video with poor sound can make your advice on investments seem dubious. You wouldn’t want shaky investments, would you?
To enhance production value:
- Use a good-quality camera or smartphone
- Don’t ignore the power of good lighting
- Invest in a decent microphone.
- Consider what the video background says about your brand.
Pro Tip: In professional videos, audio and video are always recorded by two different devices because the speed of light (visuals) is faster than the speed of sound (audio). That’s why lapel microphones exist. If you rely on one device for both, you’ll experience an audio delay and volume changes as your head moves forward and back normally. This is characteristic of low-budget videos and something you’ll want to avoid.
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6. Make It Relatable: Include Customer Testimonials
One effective way to build trust and relatability in your financial services videos is by including customer testimonials. Let real stories take the spotlight. It’s like having a friend recommend a good accountant, but you can replay it!
Including testimonials helps potential clients see the real-world impact of your services, making your offerings more tangible and trustworthy.
7. Keep It Short and Sweet
When it comes to video in financial services, time is money. Keep your videos concise. Aim for the sweet spot between 2-5 minutes. If you can’t explain it briefly, you might lose their interest faster than a stock market flash crash!
Tips for brevity:
- Prioritise information
- Use bullet points to structure content
- Edit ruthlessly
- Plan a series for more complex topics
8. Educate and Inform
The ultimate goal of creating video content is to sell something. You won’t lose sight of that. However, no one likes to be “sold to”—that includes you. Video content for financial professionals must put helpfulness first to win people over.
Creating educational content can set your financial services brand apart. Whether you’re explaining blockchain basics or the finer points of wealth management, educational videos can position your brand as an authority in the field.
9. Be Social
Know that social media is, above all, social. You exist within an ecosystem of other financial video creators. It’s best to play nice with others.
The best content creators recognise that they don’t have a captive audience. Those who view your financial content probably engage with other financial video creators.
So, find out who your audience follows. You can mention these creators, share their videos, comment on their content, and even collaborate to expand your reach and build stronger connections with future and current clients.
How about starting a series on the best personal finance YouTube channels? It’s a great way to keep the content and the good vibes flowing while your audience stays engaged.
10. Use Analytics to Improve
Harnessing the power of analytics is crucial in optimising your financial services videos for better performance and engagement. Here are some effective tools and methods to consider:
Analyse viewer engagement and feedback to refine future videos. In finance, as in life, the best lessons come from realising where you went wrong—except in this scenario, you can fix it in the next video, not the next fiscal year!
Let’s take a quick look at some video tracking tools.
Google Tag Manager (GTM)
Google Tag Manager allows you to manage and deploy marketing tags (snippets of code or tracking pixels) on your website without having to modify the code. In video analytics, here’s how you’ll use it:
- Set up video engagement triggers: Configure GTM to send data to Google Analytics when users start a video, reach the midpoint, or watch until the end. Then, use what you learn to improve the percentage of people who complete the video.
- Track conversions: Use GTM to track when a viewer takes action, like signing up for more information or scheduling an appointment, after watching a video.
SEO Analytics
SEO for videos is as crucial as for other content types, especially on platforms like YouTube, which doubles as a search engine. Here are a few ways to use SEO analytics:
- Keyword performance: Track which keywords are driving views and engagement to your videos. Free tools like Google’s Keyword Planner can help identify effective keywords for your video titles and descriptions.
- Google Trends: Analyse the search volume of your newly discovered keywords using the YouTube Search filter within Google Trends. Creating videos that target keywords with a growing search volume is a great way of delivering content that your audience demands.
- Engagement metrics: Monitor likes, shares, comments, and watch time to gauge content effectiveness and tweak SEO strategies accordingly.
Video Ad Analytics
If you’re investing in video advertising, analytics are vital to measure ROI and ensure your ads are hitting the mark:
- Impressions and views: These metrics help you understand how many people are seeing your ads and how compelling they are at first glance.
- Click-through rate (CTR): A high CTR indicates that your video ads are relevant and enticing to viewers.
- Conversion metrics: Track how many viewers are completing the desired actions, like downloading a resource or signing up for a consultation, directly from your ads.
Platform-Specific Tools
Most social media platforms provide built-in analytics that can be extremely insightful. These include but aren’t limited to:
- YouTube Analytics: Provides comprehensive data on viewer demographics, engagement rates, and more.
- Facebook Insights and Instagram Analytics: Offer metrics on reach, views, engagement, and audience demographics.
- TikTok Analytics: Focuses on video views, viewer trends, and engagement patterns.
Integrating Analytics into Strategy
To effectively use these tools:
- Regularly review data: Make analytics review a regular part of your marketing meetings.
- Set benchmarks: Know your average performance metrics and set targets for improvement.
- Test and iterate: Use analytics to test different types of content, titles, and calls to action. Keep refining based on what the data tells you.
The Secret to Better Financial Services Videos
In summary, to enhance the benefits of video marketing in financial services, focus on crafting engaging, high-quality, and educational content that resonates with your audience. Don’t forget to measure your success and adjust your strategy accordingly. Your brand’s narrative in financial services videos could be just what the investor ordered.
And remember, a well-planned video strategy is like a good financial plan: it should be clear, impactful, and with a focus on the future. Now, go forth and produce content that would even make the Warren Buffet hit the ‘like’ button!
Need helping getting started?
Contact JReece Digital for a free 30 minute chat to discuss your business, its objectives and a video marketing strategy tailored to your financial firm.