the case for video marketing

why your firm should explore these strategies.

by kelly schuknecht

many of us walked away from 2020 with a laundry list of new experiences, among those: how to appear on video for dozens of hours each week without doing anything (too) embarrassing.

more: communication isn’t about you | why your social media is a flop | the biggest seo secret of all |  turning client service into new revenue | what sets your firm apart … if anything? | do you ask the right questions to deepen client relationships? | eat that frog: asking for a prospect meeting | business development and sales aren’t scary | growing revenue through client service | five ways to get better clients | the six essential kpis for managing partners | google ads for new tax season clients | your marketing sucks: six reasons why

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video was already becoming a standard tool for businesses to communicate before 2020, but it’s undoubtedly proven its staying power.

despite the amount of time you might spend on video, your business should be using the form for more than just zoom calls and conferences.

how you market your business with videos is not always intuitive and getting it right may require a copious amount of practice. as a fully remote accounting firm since 2013, we came into video marketing almost naturally, but not without a plan.

here are some ideas on how an accounting firm can jumpstart its video marketing strategy to help develop authentic relationships with potential clients and generate solid leads.

create a plan for how to use video

treat video marketing the same way you treat any other type of marketing. sketch out a basic marketing plan that includes answers to these questions:

• why do you want to use video marketing versus other content marketing formats?
• who is your intended audience, and what value can you bring to them?
• where do you plan to market or publish your videos?
• when will you post content, and at what frequency?

consider why video is important

let’s get the obvious out of the way first. good marketing should ultimately help guide your prospects through the marketing funnel until they eventually convert into buyers or clients. that shouldn’t be your “why” for using video. instead, your “why” should be something with a more robust foundation for development.

regardless of where you decide to post your videos, the best content marketing is focused on educational material. we recommend this also be one of your reasons for using video marketing.

of course, you could (and possibly do) create educational content through blog posts. and you should. we don’t recommend you drop your blogging strategy. but it’s pretty difficult to differentiate your business through blog posts alone. everyone has a website and a blog writing strategy these days. video marketing, however, can help you stand out and give your content marketing an edge by bringing your personality to the forefront of the content.

meanwhile, because video content isn’t tracked by google the same way blog posts are, you can repurpose video content to help support the written content you use for the seo side of your marketing strategy. and once that video is active, it gives you strong material to send to prospects you’re already in communication with, especially if it helps provide some convincingly strong answers to questions you’ve already answered in a video explainer.

to summarize this one, we recommend video as an excellent medium for creating informative, educational content and building deeper relationships with your audience.

determine your ideal audience and your value proposition

now that you’ve established why you want to use video marketing, begin developing a marketing plan for what that content will look like. let’s assume you’ve dedicated yourself to creating educational content for your audience. what should that look like? we can’t tell you exactly, and that’s a good thing.

the value you bring could cover three areas:

• your company’s expertise (your niche area)
• the pain points that exist for customers utilizing services within your market
• the pain points for other businesses operating in your market

the first of these should be obvious enough. you want to establish yourself and your business as a leader within your industry. but there’s more to it than that. you also want to put a face and voice to your content in a way that builds your brand recognition. video is a great way to do that because people can connect the earnestness in the way you speak with your knowledge of the subject matter. additionally, while the research is mixed, there’s a good reason to believe that people remember faces better than names. getting your face (and voice!) out there can create better and more positive familiarity with your business.

the question, then, is how do you use that knowledge to impact your audience? there are two ways, both of which we operate. one is to create content that helps to demystify aspects of your business that can cause frustrations for potential customers or clients. for example, 401(k) audits are a large part of our business but can also be confusing for businesses. we offer an extensive library of content focused solely on educating businesses on how 401(k) audits work because we understand just how stressful the process can be.

but what about educating businesses within your industry? isn’t that counterintuitive? we don’t think so. indeed, business is a competitive environment. and while you aren’t going to give away all of your trade secrets, creating informational and educational content for others working in your industry can help establish your business as a leader while also sparking more confidence from potential customers or clients that you are an expert in your field.

choose the right network for sharing your content

we know you love your website, but you should look beyond your website for posting your content. this is not to say that you shouldn’t post your video content to your website at all. but your website traffic is likely primarily driven by seo, and videos aren’t a great seo driver for website content.

instead, we recommend you utilize linkedin and youtube.

at present, linkedin is the largest business-focused network in the world. and it also has a well-established user who emphasizes and rewards well-developed informational and educational content. what’s more, unlike facebook or twitter, it’s overwhelmingly free of the controversies that plague the other social media networks. it truly is the best option for sharing professional video content and building a brand around that. assuming you create videos that fit those criteria, your videos will likely be well received there.

linkedin is a much more influential network than you might think it is. according to stephen pope, founder, and ceo of sgp labs, video content gives you a chance to stand out within your network. “they’re going to see you differently too because you’re going to be one of the only people that’s doing this kind of innovative work,” he explained.

outside of linkedin, consider creating and publishing your videos on youtube. it’s a bit less “social” than other social networks like linkedin, twitter or facebook. but youtube is an excellent search engine for video content and can help connect you to people outside of your network who might be searching for the topics you’re covering in your videos.

create a publication schedule

consistency is crucial with marketing of any kind, especially video. before you start sweating bullets, don’t worry. we’re not suggesting you record and publish videos every day or even every week (although weekly is a good cadence). however, regularly creating and posting content has a few benefits.

it creates a reason for your audience to keep coming back: if your audience knows they can expect a new video from you on a specific date, they’ll pay attention to your channel or profile on that date or add you to their watch list.

it helps you improve the quality of your videos over time: pope has some wise words on this topic. “when you start going on video, there’s much personal growth you go through. you get better at articulating your points. you become more confident.” recording video content is a skill, just like any other. and even if linkedin falls out of fashion, you’ll still have that skill at confidently delivering expert and informative ideas to audiences.

you build relationships with your audience: once you have a well-established video marketing strategy, don’t be surprised if prospective clients contact you expressing how they feel they know you on a personal level. video marketing can do that far better than most other marketing formats. we like to think of video marketing not as lead generation but as relationship generation. your video content could impact many people in your audience, even if they never like, comment, or share that material.

time to get started

feeling overwhelmed? don’t panic. there is a lot to think about. let this outline be your first step toward a profitable and effective video marketing strategy that’ll change the way your firm looks at video.

posted on december 22, 2021