Promoting your financial services with video marketing

The financial services industry is just one that has embraced the possibilities and potential of video marketing

Video marketing has been a boon for numerous businesses in a slew of sectors, helping brands increase awareness, boost engagement and create greater avenues for ROI. The financial services industry is just one that has embraced the possibilities and potential of video marketing, with brands spending $1.8 billion on video in 2018, an increase of 13.1% on the year before.

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In this guide we examine the key trends, customer behaviours and new digital innovations which are shaping the future of the financial services (FS) sector.

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Video has quickly become one of the most effective forms of content for brands. Implementing video on your website and social channels is a fantastic way to harness your audience’s attention and keep them engaged.

Start by setting goals

Of course, before you rush to create a bunch of digital videos for content-hungry viewers, you must clearly define your goals and objectives. You also need to think about the steps you need to take in order for your marketing strategy to succeed.

This is fundamental, whether you are creating videos, writing blogs or ebooks, or running wholesale advertising campaigns on social media. Without a solid marketing plan that includes a bunch of tangible objectives, your operation will become quickly become vulnerable.

Goals might include a certain number of visitors to your website or landing page, a target benchmark for conversions or social followers: it really depends on your overall business goals.

Such is its influence in the modern digital landscape, video can play a major part in helping you smash your marketing goals. So how exactly can you promote your financial services business using this medium? And how can you ensure that your videos stand out in an increasingly hectic landscape?

In this blog post, I’m going to show you how to promote your financial services with video marketing.

Create videos that build trust

Promoting your financial services firm via video is a great idea, but given the nature of the business, one of the key things to get across is that you are both competent and trustworthy. Videos can be entertaining, fun and humorous but you should never lose sight of the fact that customers are judging your worthiness as a professional entity.

Your objectives may be manifold, but underpinning those very specific objectives is the need to instill trust. So which types of videos would inspire confidence?

Well, case studies are a wonderful place to start: videos featuring existing customers who couldn’t be happier with the service you provide. These will showcase authenticity and help to bolster your reputation, as would-be customers can put themselves in the shoes of the client in question. Such videos can also foster an emotional connection with the viewer much more quickly than a few paragraphs of well-written text. Standalone testimonials and interviews are terrific for re-sharing on social media, whether it’s on Instagram Stories, IGTV, Twitter or YouTube.

Educate your audience

Each video is an opportunity to captivate. It’s also a chance to educate and provide genuine value. Make videos that teach your followers something they didn’t know, whether it’s about your own business or the wider financial world. Become a thought leader and a trusted expert, simplifying complex financial issues that are of personal relevance to them.

One fine example of a financial firm using video to educate was Barclays’ Life Skills project, a public-service campaign that emphasized the importance of increasing young people’s basic problem-solving skills.

Whether your key clients are setting money aside for retirement, saving their pennies to purchase a home or seeking investment opportunities, they’ll want to be well-informed: and that’s where you come in. Draw up a list of educational topics and get creating.

Make in-app videos

Many modern financial services firms create their own apps, as consumers increasingly wish to access their portfolio or account wherever they are. In-app videos are a great way of communicating with your customers and putting a face and voice to your name.

Given the subject matter, there is no end of opportunities for video creation: you could create tutorials, dispense investment or savings advice, create videos updating users on the latest goings-on in the financial world (or in your business) or explaining what makes your business different. You might even shoot video of staff parties thrown by the office, to better forge a human connection with your followers. Before the video fades to black, it’s a good idea to append a message of thanks for the faithful support.

Take advantage of user-generated content

A worthwhile alternative to brand-created content is user-generated content (UGC), and such videos can help to facilitate genuinely authentic and engaging interactions. Customer-centric videos showcase your brand integrity and the realness of the footage – the fact that it involves normal people, incentivized only by a desire to tell their story – is what makes it so compelling.

You can encourage UGC by asking followers to use a hashtag you have pioneered, and offer to re-share their video on your feed. Perhaps you might tout a cash prize into the bargain. Publicizing user-created videos on your website or in your app makes sense, or you could spend more money and scale them up on digital billboards or on TV.

This method is an attractive alternative to commissioning pricey professional ad creative. UCG can showcase the rich experiences your customers have had with you and there’s a possibility of creating actionable touch points with clickable icons, compelling viewers to find out how they can also benefit.

One finance brand who leveraged UGC successfully is Santander, with their Prosperity campaign; the bank put together a touching video with short clips of their customers.

Get personal

With personalized video, you can go the extra mile to get customers on-side. You could achieve such a feat by referring to a recipient by name in a video embedded within an email or in your app, and you could also get brownie points for matching customers’ preferences and needs using data analysis from multiple sources.

NG Data is just one company that offers data-driven, personalized video solutions, wherein you can utilize everything you know about a customer to create highly bespoke videos. Craft unique clips for preferred customers and use dynamic fields to personalize copy; engage viewers at exactly the right moment, with the perfect message.

You can also optimize the format of each SmartVideo based on the channel and device used, in order to create a better UX. Naturally it is vital to ensure that personalization occurs within the first few seconds of footage, in order to hook the viewer and guarantee their continued attention.

Conclusion

With so many distractions in the digital world, it’s difficult for companies to hold their audience’s attention. But videos are your best chance of captivating clients as 55% of people watch online videos every day (MWP) while 65% watch more than three-quarters of any given clip (Syndacast).

By failing to create compelling videos that can be used across the entire marketing spectrum, you are doing both viewers and stakeholders a disservice and you’re leaving leads on the table. Work on creating intent-driven, educational, entertaining and personalized video content and build your brand one clip at a time. If done correctly, results will manifest themselves with impressive share rates, glowing feedback and improved organic reach. What are you waiting for?