When I was in third grade, everyone had a Trapper Keeper binder, and one day while at Zayres (New Hampshire’s version of Target in the 80s), I convinced my mom I needed one too. It had a palm tree and polka dots on it and I loved it, especially the sound the velcro made. A nice, slow, fuzzy-vs-rigid rip.
While most other third grade girls had a Lisa Frank unicorn Trapper Keeper, my eyes were set on something a little different. Because I was different. At nine years old in the tundra, I was obsessed with the achievable dream of living in the palm tree dotted world of LA (which I did accomplish!) I was less obsessed with the fantasy of riding a sparkly, mascara-laden unicorn like my classmates.
You might relate. Do you want to use video to help you achieve your dream of increasing your website conversion rate by 125%, for example? Or do you want to live in the fantasy that your video will make you a YouTube star who collects checks by the poolside so you no longer have to deal with clients?
If your aim is closer to the first idea, good. I can help you stand out with video. Let’s achieve this dream together!
Here are the top 5 ways financial advisors can stand out with video:
5. Have a Strategy for Video
For you, is video a “nice-to-have,” a box to check, something marketing people tell you is needed to succeed in the modern world? Or is it an essential business tool tied to specific anticipated outcomes that improve your business bottom line?
To achieve the latter, you need to work with a video strategist, not a person “who does video.”
One key difference in working with a video strategist is the strategist’s ability to walk through your goals with you in a whole-picture way, not just offer up a list of services on a pricing menu for you to pick and choose.
Your goal as a financial advisor is to meet with your clients and determine what their goals and values are, right? It would be weird if your marketing campaign included sending prospects a brochure in the mail with a list of life insurance policies and prices.
Yet I get asked all the time: “send me a list of services and pricing.” I’m not shaming anyone for that question, it’s (very) common and natural. But it’s not how strategy works.
Let’s do things differently. Let’s practice standing out.
Your clients look to you for expert guidance. If a new prospect walked into your office and immediately laid out the terms of the life insurance policy they think they need, you’d advise them with a process.
While they might be absolutely right in the end, you could provide value by helping them to take a step back and have a conversation about their broader objectives. (I hope!) A strategic process is applied to be sure the best decision in made to achieve their goals and in their best interests.
In the same way, a good video strategist won’t take a specific video order without understanding your unique business goals.
Having a full video strategy has several major advantages:
It engages your prospects more effectively throughout your sales process with compelling messaging.
It helps you resonate with your prospects more effectively by speaking to their specific needs at each sales touchpoint.
It makes your sales process more efficient while keeping your communication authentic and personal.
Making a purchase decision because everyone else has it or you like the sound of it, is not a business strategy. It’s more like a third grader fiddling with Velcro and pleading with their mom at Zayres. (It’s OK we’ve all been there!)
To stand out from your competitors (who often are hiring based on a pricing menu alone), approach video as a business owner purchasing a business tool: strategically.
4. Use Video to Reach Your Niche
Do you have a niche? Great. Don’t have a niche yet? Great! Make now the time to find yours! Either way, I super recommend chatting with Karin Haggård at K.HAGGÅRD DESIGN. (Start here with her free guide to help you find your niche–it’s a practical digital resource that feels like a luxury magazine.)
As a branding and design expert, Karin is a fantastic complement to the work we do at Authentic Advisor Video. Here’s what Karin has to say about using video strategy as part of your overall branding plan to reach your niche:
“You know the term, ‘A picture is worth a thousand words.’ Video does just that x 100 for defining your brand. Your viewers can learn everything about you quicker in a video than surfing your site simply because video helps display your personality + values all while being great for SEO!”
Once you have your niche, video is a powerful way to speak to your specific audience. There are a few really effective ways to do this with video. In all the examples that follow, having a niche will really help you stand out because you will not only be strategic about how your message is shared but you will know who should hear your message: your target market is your niche.
A successful video strategy will reach a specific audience with a message that resonates with them, delivered by the right messenger.
The right messenger might be you, your team, clients, or a combination of all of these people, depending on your strategy.
3. Use Video to Make It Personal
Video is a great way to let your prospective customers know who you are before they meet you. That personal connection inspires trust.
Reach your niche through a brand video that introduces your team. The primary question you’ll want to answer in your brand video is: why you? This is a key point for standing out.
If your niche is dentists and medical professionals, for example, why are you the advisor practice to choose? If your answer is because you saw a market opportunity to make a lot of money from them…that’s not the best story. Maybe choose a different niche or dig a little deeper to connect authentically.
You have to have passion and purpose to reach your niche effectively with video.
For example, the answer to why you may be in sharing the story that:
You were a dentist yourself before pivoting to a career as a financial advisor. OR
Your mother was a dentist and as you started to work with her finances, you realized you were developing specific expertise in this niche and you were really motivated to do it to help your own family. OR
You started to grow this niche because one dentist client referred you to others and it snowballed from there and now you find that you really love working with dentists and medical professionals because…[fill in the blank with your answer: why you?]
Whatever compelling reason you have for working with this niche, share that: make it personal.
Lest I be a hypocrite, why do I choose to apply my video strategy skills with advisors?
Check out my own brand video below and see if you can find the “why you?” story.
2. Have Your Clients Tell Your Story for You in Video
Another way to speak to your niche through video strategy is by letting your customers tell your story for you.
In the example above, you’ve identified your niche as dentists and medical professionals. A strategic approach to video for you might be to have clients who are dentists tell the story of why they trust you as their advisor.
One nice thing about this tactic is that if you are pivoting to this niche because you see potential and you like it–even if you have only one dentist client–you can engage this tactic. Get that dentist client on camera speaking about their experience working with you and start to gain traction in your niche.
Bonus Content: How to Ask for a Video Testimonial and Video Testimonial Questions: 8 Great Ones and Why They Work
Other dentists and medical professionals (or whoever your niche is) will naturally relate to and follow the lead of someone like them. It’s like holding up a mirror.
A Note on Compliance
It’s worth noting that (in the US), the SEC has loosened restrictions on client testimonial videos. (Yay!) Of course, that comes with many rules. If your broker-dealer has not yet adopted these rules, they are required to do so by November 2022.
Another advantage of approaching video strategically is that it helps avoid compliance issues that might come up if you put up less thoughtful video content. With many government and broker-dealer regulations to navigate, video is not exactly a casual thing to do for advisors. The good news is that the authentic, storytelling approach to video we’re talking about in this article is fundamentally aligned with compliance needs.
For more on this, check out the article I wrote for the Journal of Financial Planning: How to Create an Authentic Marketing Video Without a Compliance Headache.
Ah yes, speaking of sharing knowledge, the next way to stand out as a financial advisor with video is…
1. Educate Your Clients and Prospects with Video
This could take on many forms,
depending on the specific results you’re after.
For example, I created a short video based on this very blog. I do this because it’s part of my strategy and how I stand out from videographers.
That video may be what led you to this blog, in which case you’ve already seen it. Glad you’re here!
The goal of the video is to educate you as well as get you to the next step. In other words, pique your curiosity enough to read the blog post. If you got to this blog another way, you can watch that video below.
Another way to educate your clients and prospects while standing out is to share something that makes you different.
For example, like many advisors, our clients at Global Wealth Advisors have a specific (strategic!) approach to working with their clients. Along with a brand video and client testimonials, we determined that a philosophy video would be a solid strategy for them to stand out with video.
So we created this video for them, as an educational piece that is directly connected to their sales funnel:
The way you educate your clients and prospects–and how you use video to do it–will vary greatly depending on your unique team, approach, services, and client needs.
Educating your clients with the right message is key to demonstrating that you are an expert, which brings us back to the importance of having a niche!
You don’t need to be an expert in all things, just what matters to your niche.
Bonus (Yet Essential) to Stand Out: Keep It Real.
When you speak to your niche, with authority, about something that matters to you personally, it shows that you are not like any other advisor. You can be trusted, and you are the right advisor for your niche.
So, if you’re looking at your peers to decide what to do (whether they’re commenting on the markets or “fantasizing about riding unicorns”), do what they’re doing just enough to keep up, but not so much that you might as well be them in the eyes of your niche target market. Keep it real. Focus on achievable goals and get results with video strategy.
If you remember one thing from this article, please let it be this: you can move to Los Angeles even if you can’t ride unicorns.
TL;DNR Summary
You know you need to use video, because all your peers are doing it. However, following trends “just cuz” isn’t a great way to make business decisions.
Unlike your peers, you can do it in a way that stands out from the crowd. Here’s how:
Video is a business tool, not a “nice-to-have.” Approach it strategically.
Niche to reach a specific audience with a message that resonates with them, delivered by the right messenger.
Make it personal by answering the question: why you?
When your clients tell your story for you, your prospects naturally relate to them because they have similar needs.
You don’t need to be an expert or educate the whole world about all things financial. Just focus on what matters to your niche.
Just like your clients need you to walk them through their finances with a strategic approach, hiring a video strategist will set you up for future success and a better return on your investment in video.
Curious to see how video strategy could help you get specific results in your advisor practice? Book a call on my calendar here.
