YouTube is home to more than just cat videos and vlogs. It’s also a thriving search engine for people looking for answers to a variety of questions. With financial advisors popping up on YouTube each day, this is one of the places to be when it comes to online marketing.

Hubspot’s research shows that customers are 4 times as likely to watch a video about a product than read about it. This makes sense since video is often easier to consume, especially for advanced financial topics.

Not only should video be something you use on your advisor website, but it’s also something to leverage as a long-term lead generation strategy. YouTube functions as a search engine more than a social media platform. It’s a place for people to search for information, just like Google. If you’re ready to take your marketing further, let’s talk about how to market your practice on YouTube.

Create educational video content

One of the best ways to get noticed on YouTube as a financial advisor is to create educational video content. This means making videos that answer questions, assist prospective clients, and build trust.

While written content is a great way to show your knowledge, it doesn’t always have the same charisma and personal touch as video. With video, your users can see you explaining concepts in person. It makes a stronger first impression.

What types of video content are effective for financial advisors?

• Educational questions – Your clients likely have a number of questions about their financial plans. Questions like “How do I start saving for my retirement?” or “What type of investment strategy works best for me?” While you can’t personalize your response, answering these questions simply and providing more information encourages these viewers to take action.
• Client tutorials – Your clients who already work with you might have questions as well. If you use a portal, dashboard, or other communication tools, showing how these work in video form makes it easy for them to get started.
• Client stories – Another powerful way to leverage video on YouTube is to share your clients’ success stories. Your positive impact on others’ financial situation is often a powerful way to attract leads. Having a few clients talk on camera about their experience working from you is an easy way to tell these stories.
• Behind the scenes – Let your users see behind the curtain to learn more about your process and how you work with clients. Again, this is a way to build trust in your process.

Best strategies for financial advisors on Youtube

Like any type of marketing tool, YouTube takes a bit of skill and planning. It’s not enough to upload videos and call it a day. If you want to convert leads through this platform, you need the right strategy. Try these tips below to ensure your financial advisor YouTube presence stands out.

Optimize your video titles

Since YouTube is a type of search engine, you should optimize your video titles just as you would your website. To make sure your videos have a strong search engine ranking on YouTube and Google, optimize your video titles, tags, and description.

To optimize effectively, make sure your title, tags, and description are captivating and relative to the content. Where are they along their customer journey?

If they’re only just starting to consider working with an advisor, they might search for questions like “What does a financial advisor do?” On the other hand, someone who’s already working with a professional might ask more complicated questions. Keep this in mind when creating your video.

Create custom thumbnails

You don’t need to be a skilled graphic designer to create the right thumbnails. The thumbnail is the image you see before clicking on the video, and it plays a large role in whether or not someone chooses to watch your content.

These don’t need to be complicated. Adding simple text over your video, an engaging image, or other branding elements makes your videos more professional looking. They’ll also be easier to recognize at first glance.

Include a call to action

Last but not least, don’t forget to include an engaging call to action. You don’t just want users to watch your videos. You want them to subscribe, sign up for your email list, or contact you. Whenever someone takes an action on your video, it lets YouTube know that this is content worth suggesting to other users.

Include your calls to action within the video, in your descriptions, and on social media. High-quality, valuable videos are inherently sharable.

Start on Youtube today

If you’re thinking of branching your online presence into new areas, YouTube is a great place to be. Particularly when it comes to millennials and younger prospects, YouTube is a powerful search tool for finding professionals and information.

In addition, it’s easy to upload your YouTube videos to other platforms like Vimeo, as well as social media (Instagram Stories, Facebook, etc.). This gives you more versatility when sharing your message online.

It’s time to change your thinking about your advisory marketing. By creating engaging, informative content, you built authentic trust with prospects. This is what it takes to stand out online today.