Financial Video Production: A Complete Guide to Fintech and Financial Services Videos
FinTech is booming, and the Financial Services industry is brimming with innovative new business models. One of the best ways to market Financial Services is through creative video production.
Video Marketing for Financial Services and Fintech Companies
Financial Services are something most people need and use, but at the same time, many find the concepts involved a little hard to understand. And people don’t want to buy what they don’t understand.
This is one of the reasons video marketing is exceptionally well-suited for Financial Services and FinTech. While explaining financial concepts and products in writing requires the audience to sit down, focus and read; a video can do the job in a minute or two. And not only can a video do the job, but it also does it better!
Video allows brands to explain and visualize complex concepts in an easy-to-understand and entertaining way. Maintaining a reader’s attention is often challenging. But getting someone to watch a fun, informative 90-second explainer video or commercial is much easier.
And not only does video capture the viewers’ attention in a way no other format is capable of. Video also helps finance brands deliver their messages in a memorable way that sticks with the viewer. Videos can be used to strengthen your brand at a whole other level than text, and there’s a lot more room for getting creative and producing content that stands out in a saturated market.
Financial Video Production Builds Trust
Trust is critical in all kinds of sales, but in few other industries, is trust as crucial as in Financial Services. If people are going to trust a company with their hard-earned money, they need to trust that company completely.
Video production is an unparalleled marketing tool for building trust. With video, you can let happy customer share their success stories in a way that resonates with your target audience, and you can paint the picture of exactly what your customers get to experience and enjoy when using your products.
Another factor is how a well-produced video signals success, as video production is perceived as a high-cost means of communication. Integrating high-quality videos as part of your marketing and communication strategy can help show customers that your company is a stable and trustworthy player in your field.
The Best Type of Videos for Fintech and Finance
So, what videos are best suited for explaining and marketing financial services and products? There’s no cookie-cutter solution, and the answer depends on your business objectives, target group, brand, and Tone of Voice. When choosing what style of video to produce, it all comes down to what you want to achieve with it. Before pondering the style and format, it’s essential to answer the following questions:
Who will be watching this video?
Where will they be watching it?
What do we want them to feel and do after they’ve watched it?
Once you know your target audience, your channels for distribution, and your objectives and calls-to-action, it’s time to focus on what kind of video is best suited.
Related reading: 5 Calls-to-Action You Should Be Using In Your Videos
Examples of different types of financial video production:
- Customer interviews
- Explainer video
- Demo videos
- Live stream video
- User-generated videos
- Testimonial videos
- Internal comms videos
- CSR videos
- Staff training and safety videos
- Promotional films
- Product videos
- Investor relations and shareholder videos
- Market updates
- Executive proposal video
- Webinars
Animated Explainer Videos For Fintech and Financial Services Companies
Animated explainer videos are great for explaining how your product or services work, breaking down complex ideas, and making them easy to grasp. They’re also great for guiding customers through processes and how to use your product or services.
Related reading: SaaS Explainer Videos – Examples, Best Practices, and Why They Work
Live-action and Docu-Style Videos For Fintech and Financial Services Companies
When you want to tell the story of what it’s actually like to be your customer, live-action or docu-style videos will help you do that in a way that resonates with your audience. By letting actual customers share their testimonials, or by illustrating their experiences with live-action videos, you can connect with your viewers in a way that drives conversions.
Benefits of Financial Video Production
- Videos increase conversions and boost sales
- Videos help you build trust in your brand
- Videos increase brand awareness and brand affinity
- Videos can help you communicate complex concepts in a way that’s easy to understand
- Videos are popular on social media and more likely to go viral than other content formats
- Videos let your customers connect with your brand on an emotional level
What Makes a Good Financial Video?
Authentic and Transparent
As we’ve already touched upon, trust is essential when it comes to financial services and products. And to build trust, authenticity is vital. Authenticity is becoming increasingly important in branding and general, as the media landscape has changed and become more transparent. Information flows freely today, and it’s impossible to hide dysfunctional cultures or unsustainable approaches behind a glossy brand.
This instant access to information means authenticity is no longer a choice for brands; it’s a must. This means not making claims that can be backed up, not color-washing, and not trying to convey an image of perfection. Because remember, nobody expects brands to be perfect. Only not to lie and be deceitful. Video is an excellent tool for telling stories in a way that feels authentic and creates an emotional connection difficult to achieve with other content formats.
Other Things to Keep In Mind
Keep it short and sweet: The best financial videos are often under three minutes long. And the most successful ones can be even shorter than that, less than two minutes.
Use s clear call-to-action (CTA): It should be easy for the audience to understand what they are expected to do with the information they receive. A good financial video is clear about what action the viewer should take.
Focus on solving a problem: The best financial videos address a specific pain point their target audience is experiencing. Start by explaining the problem, and then offer and explain your solution.
The Best Financial Videos: Our Top 4 Picks
PNC – CSR Report 2019
Corporate Social Responsibility reports are an essential part of an organization’s documentation, as well as its brand, marketing, and internal and external communication. They present an opportunity to let customers and employees know of the good they have been doing in the world. But often, companies miss this opportunity and only produce uninspiring text reports that very few people actually read.
Working with PNC, we were asked to take this CSR report to another level by turning their beautiful images into living pictures. Working with our talented designers and motion artists, we were able to bring the PNC report to life through a quirky and fun video.
Dollar Bank – The Road of Life
We were asked to create Dollar Bank’s new TV & Social Media videos for their new “DO” campaign. This campaign targets millennials and centers around the theme of “What are you going to DO with your Life?”
The message is that whatever you desire, whatever you want to do, Dollar Bank will help you get there, whether you’re a small business, an individual, or a family. We produced 5 brand videos for this campaign using real small businesses, locations, and people. It was important to us to create something authentic that would resonate with the millennial audience, so we pushed for using real individuals that fit the demographic and are from the regions Dollar Bank is targeting.
The DO campaign has been widely seen and very well received in the three regions it has aired on TV and different social channels.
Pineapple Payments – A Fresh Approach
Pineapple Payments has a fresh approach to the old-school mentality of payment processing. We wanted their video to reflect that and stand out from the often very corporate-looking videos many of their competitors produce. So for this video production, we built on their mindset of being different from the legacy payments companies they are competing against and wanting to make a unique splash. That’s why we developed a personalized Account-Based video marketing campaign that created a buzz and got them strong leads.
ServiceLink – Exos
EXOS is a B2B service designed to extend and enhance every critical consumer touchpoint throughout the mortgage lending life cycle.
In this project, our client’s goal was to illustrate how they view the future of mortgage lending and how their technologies enable new ways of working. We took this to task by combining the idea of future tech with EXOS’s forward-thinking brand and services. We used high-end VFX coupled with live-action shooting to bring the viewer into the high-tech world and illustrate its potential.
5 Steps To Getting Started With Financial Video Production
Get clear on your goals and define your KPIs
You will not achieve much if you don’t know what you want to accomplish with your video. To create a video that helps you reach your business goals and objectives, those goals need to be very clear to communicate to everyone involved in the video production.
Define your target audience
Knowing who you’re targeting is essential. By creating a detailed ICP [Ideal Customer Profile), you will be able to communicate with your audience in a way that resonates with them. Knowing who you’re targeting will also help you understand where you should be distributing your videos, as different audiences prefer different channels and platforms.
Craft a compelling and memorable message
For your video production agency to get your message across, they need to understand your message and what is most important to convey. Stick to your core message, and keep it simple; the rest will only create unnecessary noise.
Set your video production budget
Before you launch production, you need to know what budget you are ready to invest in the project. Remember that price is not the same as the value. The ROI on video production investments is way higher than on other media formats.
Partner with a creative video production agency
Find a video production agency with an extensive portfolio of successful projects that can connect you with their current customers for reference. Don’t settle for just seeing a reel – ask about real-world references, awards, and any other things that can indicate the agency is competent and trustworthy.
Related reading: 5 Steps To Choosing The Right Corporate Video Production Company
An Award-Winning Financial Video Production Agency
Covalent is a creative video production company based in Pittsburgh. We help B2B, B2C, and D2C companies of all sizes and in many industries improve their communication and marketing with video production.
We’re known for creating some of the best financial videos on the market, combining experience and creativity with a strong marketing mindset. We can help you plan, shoot and produce everything from brand videos and TV commercials to explainer videos and docu-style shoots.
We’re with you from ideation through every step of execution. Combining extensive experience with cutting-edge creativity, our video productions have received numerous awards and accolades over the years.
Get in touch to discuss how we can help your brand get started with video marketing
production and build a more exciting and engaging corporate communication!