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Top Advisor Podcast
#77 Using Video to Attract, Engage, and Retain Your Ideal Clients with Katie Braden, CFP®
00:41:09
Video marketing is a powerful tool for financial advisors to build trust, provide value, and create meaningful connections with clients. How can you effectively use video to attract clients and maintain strong client relationships? In this episode,
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- [00:04]
A
Welcome to the Top Advisor podcast, brought to you by Proudmouth's Pod Rocket Academy. I'm your host, Bill Cates, creator of the Cates Academy for Relationship Marketing. In each episode, I interview one of our industry's top performers, getting them to pass on their secrets to success to you so that you can impact more lives and generate more income. Now onto the show. Welcome. Welcome. Today's show is going to focus on your use of video. More specifically, how you can use video more effectively to win new clients and keep current clients engaged and loyal. We're not just going to tell you why using video is important for you to consider. We're going to get very tactical, including many examples of how advisors are currently using video to grow their already successful practices. But before we get going, I want to let you know about some free resources that I invite you to retrieve. After you've listened to today's interview, you'll find checklists, guides, videos and other tools. Simply go to referralcoach.com/forward/resources. Now write this down unless you're driving referralcoach.com forward/resources. It's also in the show notes. While you're there, make sure you sign up for our weekly tips. We're always sharing best practices and we'll notify you our newest podcast interviews as they go live. And while these are free to you, I think you'll find them quite valuable. Now on with today's show. When it comes to using video, I see advisors in maybe three main camps. Some have fully embraced the value of video and using on a regular basis. On the other end of the spectrum, many advisors are either unsure about the value and or don't give it any attention at all, probably afraid of it in some form or another. And in the middle, our advisors who want to use video, maybe they have one or two videos on their website, probably produced by their broker, dealer, home office, or some third of the third party. Where do you fit on the spectrum? Many of the top advisors I've interviewed for this podcast are using video in all sorts of ways. Al Fox, episode number eight. He fought his home office for over a year to be able to communicate to his clients with video. He's now putting out value added videos to his clients on a regular basis. And AL has grown to over 1 billion in assets under management, so it's certainly working for him. Tyson vines episode number 28 and Todd Gillingham episode number 39 use video to win new clients with their why story. And Alice Tang Episode number 58 uses video to attract Millionaire women through her women's Million dollar conversations. Now let's bring in the real expert. My featured guest for today's show is Katie Braden, cfp. Katie worked for a number of years in her mother's RIA. She has served on the CFP Board's Women's Initiative Council since 2014 and is a 2016 Investment News 40 under 40 alumna. Now. Katie Braden is founder and chief video Officer of Advisor Video Marketing, where she works with financial advisors to tap into the extraordinary power of of video marketing. On a personal note, Katie is a licensed private pilot and is the epitome of spontaneous adventure. She told me that she's a big believer in living life to the fullest today, not in some far off future with her like minded husband. She's ready to jump on a plane for an unplanned adventure at a moment's notice. Thanks, of course, to smart financial planning. So I guess being a guest on Top Advisor podcast qualifies for living life to the fullest. Katie Braden, zooming in from always sunny and very often hot Las Vegas, Nevada. Welcome to Top Advisor Podcast.
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B
Thanks, Bill. So I guess I can mark being a guest on the Top Advisor podcast off my bucket list now.
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A
Yep, it's right, right, right underneath jumping out of an airplane with a parachute, I suppose.
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B
And I've done that.
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A
I'm sure you have. I will never do that. My wife did it and she will never do it again. So why do you think video is such a powerful medium of communication for advisors? What's the why behind this conversation?
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B
So, Bill, quick question for you. Did you ever as a kid, like, lay in the backyard or when you'd go camping and look up at the clouds and like, look and be like, oh, there's a face, there's a turtle, there's a lion and see faces in the clouds?
- [04:39]
A
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
- [04:41]
B
Yeah. And that's because as humans, we are wired to see faces. We look in living objects and even in all those inanimate objects, we look in our toast to see faces. Right. Like, think about the totality of human history. That's how it's always been. It's just been human to human. You know, computers and everything have been a very, very tiny part of human history. So we're still wired to look and see. Okay. Fight or fly light. Do I trust you? Do I want to talk with you? Right. We make eye contact with people in the grocery store and kind of say, do I need to go the other way? So it's tapping into that human thing. Like, I need to see your eyes and I want to see, you know, your facial expressions and your body expressions and, you know, hear that tone of voice as well.
- [05:26]
A
So it's what you're saying, I think in, in short, is it's a trust builder. It's an important part of, of building trust. And if you can get that started, perhaps before you reach out to someone or before you meet with them, you're a little bit ahead of the game. Is that what I'm hearing?
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B
Yeah. So it's building trust. And it's also, look, Bill, not everybody's gonna like everybody, and that's okay. The world could be a very boring place if we all liked people. You know, some people will see me and be like, oh, no, I need to steer the other way perfectly fine. You know, so it's doing, you know, equal parts to like, build that trust, build that relationship. Especially like in a, you know, one to many video situation. I mean, think about celebrities. We all have this obsession celebrities. And, you know, we feel like we know them because we've seen them on video even though we don't. Right. We've got this parasocial relationship thing going on. So both, you know, builds that relationship and also tells people, hey, that, you know, that advisor isn't for me. That person isn't for me.
- [06:21]
A
Talk about seeing faces. There's a, a tile in my, in my bathroom that, you know, repeats itself. It's re. You know, all tiles kind of has the same design. And I swear in one corner there's a face and it's staring at me the whole time. But that's another topic for another time. So. All right, so with that, let's, let's keep going. You know, it's a powerful medium of communication. Obviously, it's not just auditory, it's visual. So talk, talk a little more about that.
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B
Yes. If we think like, I always go back to the beginning of the pandemic, right? So when, when that happened, and it's like every company in the world sent out an email that was like, oh, we're thinking of you and be safe. I mean, come on, Bill. That was just like, forgive me, but one of the most obnoxious, you know, PR checkbox exercises, you know, there was nothing personal in it. There was nothing relationship building. And so if we think about, you know, volatility in the market, things that happen, you know, advisors that work for big corporations, when the only thing that clients and prospects are receiving is kind of this like blanket, you know, corporate speak that isn't really Doing anything, right. It really is just checking a box to appease someone. And so that's where, you know, text isn't always that effective. And now with AI and everything, anybody could write it, even emails. Some people don't even know if your assistant is writing an email, you know, and then with video, we've got sort of both pieces. And then if you go to the other side with, you know, podcast as a podcast, podcast can be so great for building relationships, right? You've got that person like right in your ear, the people that are listening to us right now. But have you ever had a situation where like you had a phone call with somebody maybe before video was really big and you just, you pictured who they were in your head, right? Like, because you had this phone call all the time and then you'd meet them in person, you were like, whoa, that is not at all what I thought.
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A
Yeah, I get, I get a lot when people meet me in person. They go, oh, I recognize that voice. I've listened to your podcast and I heard you talking in the corner of the room and now I know who it is. This isn't on my list of questions they ask you, but I want to talk to you a little bit about. This is, I think applies to both video and audio. A lot of times when people create a video, they, they speak as if they're speaking to a lot of people, right? All the people visiting their website, or in my case here, all the people, all seven of you listening to this pod, actually about 1500. But anyway, listening to this podcast, but really it's a one to one medium, is it not? Because really it's one person listening or watching. So when we make video audio, we should really think, like you said, we're in the ear of that person or we're on the computer screen for that one person. Am I on track with that? Could you address that quickly?
- [09:10]
B
100 bill. And that is what I recommend to everyone. So even if you are hoping to go viral on social media or on YouTube, your video should always, always be speaking directly to one person. And, and with that. You know the thing that I always say that people don't love but it's true, is it really doesn't actually matter what you think about your video. Right? We'll talk about some of the barriers to advisors doing video. What you think about your video doesn't matter. The only thing that ever matters is how the person watching the video feels. And with that they should feel whether it is a one to one video, email or they're watching you on YouTube. They should feel like, oh my gosh, Bill is talking right to me. Bill gets me right.
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A
So you mentioned one to one video. YouTube. Let's, let's talk about the uses of video because I know we're not just talking about an educational video that an advisor might put on his or her website. I think we're also talking about online meetings using Zoom and other platforms. That's a video. We're talking about one to one video communication. As you mentioned, like Bombbomb is one of those tools. What are the many ways you've seen advisors use video to engage with and win new clients?
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B
Yeah, so Bill, you mentioned I worked for my mother's ria. I ended up running all of the day to day operations there. So like, I have a really strong operational background. I then left in 2013 and started one of the first completely virtual monthly subscription financial planning businesses. And I was using video and YouTube and my business in 2013, which feels like seven lifetimes ago. And so with both of those, you know, I came to realize a long time ago, Bill, that if you look at every single piece of a business from, you know, your website and your marketing, your client onboarding throughout the entire client journey, your employee onboarding, employee communications, client communications, every piece of your business video can and should sit in the center of that and touch all of those. And so that's what's so great about it, is there, there really isn't a place that video doesn't fit. And so that's when, you know, I work with advisors say, okay, you know, what is, you know, your biggest barrier right now or what's going on in your business where we can use video to ease that process, right? So if we think about the financial planning journey, right. Data gathering is a really painful part and that's where a lot of clients get stuck and you get this bottleneck. So I love seeing advisors, you know, have a video at that part in the process where again, it feels, even though it's the same video going to, everyone feels one to one with a little bit of empathy, right? And that's where if we think the difference of like if you, you know, have a text of, you know, yes, please fill this out and do it like, okay. People tend to gloss over that, but if they can actually see your voice and see your voice, see your face and hear your voice, right. With empathy, we understand, you know, this part of the process can be a little bit painful. That helps move people through, right. If it's, if people are Growing and they're in growth phase, then having, you know, video on the website to again build that relationship. And then as soon as a prospect books a meeting that Bill, I have so many firsthand success stories of advisors that have gone through my workshops that have landed clients and the clients have said the deciding factor was that the advisor sent just a really quick, casual, easy, authentic video right after that intro meeting, you know, and just said hey, it was great meeting with you. I think we'd be a good fit. Here are the next steps. Total, total differentiator. And I'm continually shocked that more advisors aren't doing this.
- [12:36]
A
Well. You know, I, I, you're making me think a little bit about and how it relates to some of the things I teach. I, I talk about client engagement, prospect engagement even. We need to connect on a value platform in a value way. We need to connect in a, in a personal, you know, personal way with folks. And one thing about video, even if we're using it to convey value because it's us doing the video, we're still connecting on a personal level in some form, aren't we? So it kind of hits, hits on both levels. I think that's a, that's a, you start out a big list. There's so many. I never thought about operations and onboarding new employees and you know, wherever we can, wherever we can do it. It sounds like it's a good idea. But I know there's a range of folks listening. So someone who's not using video now or barely, like I said, maybe they've got something the home office approved and it's, you know, slapped onto their website. What's a way to get started? What's, what's a simple way to dip their toes into this?
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B
So my favorite way to get started is to do one to one video emails. So these are super easy. They should honestly take you less than 60 to 90 seconds total using a tool like a lot of advisors use. Loom. Right. The background of Loom is really to help with how to videos. So brilliant for operations. If you're growing your team and you want to, you know, have step by step walkthroughs, definitely use Loom. And that can also be used for one to one videos and so you can open up your email, you're not going to other platforms, you're not copying and pasting things. Bill, I'm huge on making things as easy as possible. I don't like things that take eight steps. I'm like it takes eight steps, I want it done in two. So like it has to be easy or advisors won't do it. And so sending these one to one emails, you can send it, you know, if you have a center of influence that just referred you a client, send a video email to say thank you. Right. So much more powerful than just written language. If you have a client birthday, an anniversary, if you want to send something to a mentor, an old boss, a colleague, you know, so many uses. And think about all those times in our life where we stop, we're like, oh man, I haven't talked to Bill in a while. I wonder how he's doing, I should check in with him and. And then you forget and six more months passes. Like taking this as an opportunity to actually pause and just spontaneously reach out and just say, you know, no sales pitch, no anything. Hey Bill, I'm thinking about you. I just wanted you to know, right. That can, that can make somebody's day. When you talk about referrals and everything, it's those things that are so, so easy that they can have such a huge impact and again make you totally stand out. People are going to remember you and remember that video.
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A
I think it's important for folks to note kind of a technical issue. You can't actually host a video inside an email. It will be a link inside the email that then takes the person to another site where the video was hosted. I do have a pet peeve around these. I need to communicate to you and I'm curious your response. Sometimes I may ask somebody a question or, or they're answering or they're asking me something, whatever that could be done in one or two sentences and yet they use a video email. And so now I have to click and then click and then I have to listen and you know, it just, it's. I could have been done in one sentence.
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B
Yes.
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A
Right. So it's got to be a balance, right? Speak to that.
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B
Oh, I totally agree. And that that's like the perfect rule right there. If it only takes two sentences or you're responding to say yes. I confirmed Tuesday at 10am Work, not send that in a video because again that's, that's taking something that should have taken one step and taking it into taking three times longer and five steps, you know, that doesn't create a good experience for the person on the other side. So you really want video where it is going to be beneficial. Let's say you messed up something for a client, right. Or paperwork didn't get in and you want to say sorry, it's going to be so much more beneficial to hear and see. You say sorry. Right. Or again, if you're saying something celebratory, so much more effective to, you know, see and hear that than tech. So that's kind of a good little balance there.
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A
Yeah, I think it's maybe the ball of thumb when inflection matters, when tone of voice matters. Definitely. It's aided through. Through a video, without question. So what are some specific examples of advisors who either have you've coached or interviewed or using video effectively specifically related to increasing either increasing value to their clients or attracting and winning new clients? What are. Give us a two or three or whatever case studies or anecdotes.
- [17:22]
B
Yeah. So one thing is, you know, once you're good at these, I call them easy and authentic videos because again, I don't want you having to do scripts and doing a whole big setup. We'll talk about your setup. It should just always be there and ready to go. So one of the things, Bill. Right. Advisors, I find sometimes, and I don't think it's a conscious thing, but maybe don't always communicate so much because they're afraid that that will, you know, stir up emotions and clients and then they'll reach out and advisors will be inundated with, you know, all these calls and everything. So again, another great use of video. Let's look back to, you know, a year or so ago when, you know, the FDIC took over those banks over the weekend. Right. I had like all the advisors in my workshop at the time, Monday morning they were like, hey, I need to get a video out to my clients. Right. Perfect use of it. Where again, people might have been scared of like, oh my gosh, is my bank next? Right. People are talking to their friends and their family and their colleagues. So just quickly sen. Sending a 90 second video to say, hey, we see what's going on. We're watching it, we're watching your accounts. Great opportunity to highlight a lot of the things that advisors do behind the scenes that clients, you know, don't ever find out about. You know, and then that can stop all those calls because you're proactively communicating. And that's something I do not see enough advisors doing. You can also do that and have, you know, some of the next generation in a firm be the face of the video. And this has been one of the fascinating things, Bill, is how many people, right. Advisors that have been around for decades have maybe worked with clients for decades. And in the client's mind, it's still a mom and Pop shop, right? They had no idea that it's now a 30, 50, 60 person office. And so by having other faces on video, it's almost like a subconscious way of saying, hey, you know, we've got a succession plan. You're going to be taken care of, your kids will be taken care of, you know, and then when people come into the office, they're like, oh, hey, I already met you on video. You know, I feel like I know you.
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A
No, I've. To that end, I've a couple examples I want to share. Todd Gillingham, I mentioned earlier, mentioned earlier, episode 39. He uses video for his why, his, you know, why he believes in this value. But every advisor in his firm is like seven advisors. They all have a Y video. And on his homepage it's just scrolling all seven of them. And, and he said some of them were happy to do the video, some of them, he had to kind of drag them kicking and screaming into the video. But nonetheless, so it's, everyone is, is represented that way. And another gal, I forget her name, but I talked to her years ago, not only had her why and why she believes in the value in video, but all of her team members. So even her team members that didn't directly interface with the clients also had their why. In that case, it may be serving another team member. But I think that, that why you believe in your value and why, why you believe in the mission that your practice is on, et cetera, et cetera. Probably a great use of radio for that, right?
- [20:14]
B
Yeah, it's a, it's a really great use and this can come from, you know, so many different perspectives. But I always love hearing and I love working with teams that do that because it's also a great way of showing, you know, everybody on your team that they are a valued part of the team. You know, I think so often there are people that would be great on video that do want to expand their role in a firm. But sometimes, you know, you have the founders that think and it's understandable, they're like, oh no, it has to be me, right? It has to be my face. And so, you know, saying, no, everybody here is valued. We want to share that. And then really getting to that, that heart of the why, because that's what you're all asking your clients to share, right? What is their why? What life do they want to build? And so this is a really great way of building that rapport. And Bill, this is so often like these personal things, that's where so many of the relationships get built. Right. If you say I love cats, right. And then somebody calls and prospect meeting and you kick off a whole thing about cats or I'm a private pilot or I, you know, whatever it is, that's where you build rapport beyond the numbers and build relationships. Before diving into that technical side, actually.
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A
Made me think of a question around humor, the use of humor in the, in videos. I suppose that, you know, if you're not funny, you probably shouldn't force it. But I mean, do you think it's okay to have some humor? Is it okay to be a little folksy? Is it okay to have your dog on the video or whatever? What's, what's your take on that? What have you seen?
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B
Yes. So I think that animals should be included in like every commercial and every video. I think animals can make the world a better place.
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A
Sounds like you're specific bent on that one though.
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B
Maybe. But here's the thing. You should be on video exactly the same as you are when people meet you. So, you know, with that. Another question I always get is advisors say, oh, what should I be wearing on video? And I always say, what are you going to be wearing when the client meets you? Right. That's what it should be. So if you don't ever wear a suit and tie, it would be really strange if all your videos have a suit and tie and then they show up in person or virtually. So if you're a funny person, be funny. If you're an introvert and you're quiet spoken, be a quiet spoken introvert. It should be exactly you and, and Bill, that is the hardest part for everyone is kind of like accepting their true selves and letting that come through on video.
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A
Authentic. I have a lot of questions for you. Next one. What do you think holds advisors back from getting engaged with video?
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B
So there are two parts to this. There are the things that they say and tell themselves and then there's the reality.
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A
All right.
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B
So often they say, you know, compliance. They're like, oh, I can't do this because. And so they put up all these barriers, but really that's just their own internal barriers. Right. And you even talked about, you know, people that have been on your podcast, worked with home office, got things through. It can be done. It's being done every day. So it really does come back to that fear. And Bill, I've worked with people that are, you know, well known speakers in, you know, the industry circuit. Like, they're great on stage, people that can present really well. And when you get on video and you are, quite literally speaking, into a black hole. It is a completely different thing. And so our brains just break right again. Throughout human history, like, video has been a nanosecond. And so it takes a lot of practice. And it is. It's like any new skill. Nobody is good at things the first time. Unless you're my husband. He's one of those people who's great at everything the first time.
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A
Well, we'll make sure this recording gets to him.
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B
Oh, he knows it, but it's hard, right? And so it just takes practice. And that's where, you know, for a lot of advisors, you are smart, successful, competent, capable people that operate at a very high level. And it's really, really hard to start something that you're not great at in the beginning. And so it's just getting through that practice because, man, the benefits once you do and you realize, hey, I'm just showing up as me. I'm talking directly to one person. I can do this quickly, easily, and authentically. And the benefits that it provides. Brilliant.
- [24:35]
A
Yeah, I know that when I first got started with video many years ago, I. They wanted me to use a teleprompter. For those of you who don't know what a teleprompter is, it's what all the newscasters use. They're actually a lot of these anchor folks, these newscasters are really good readers. They're reading the script in front of them. Not exclusively that, but because that sounds very judgy, but they are good readers of the teleprompter. I was terrible. But then I practice and I practice and I practice and practice, and now I can read a script and nobody knows I'm reading the script. It's just. It's practice. Right. I'm looking right now as I'm talking to you, I'm looking at a camera. That's all I'm looking at is the little dot in the center, the lens of a camera. But I know I'm talking to you. I know there's a person on the other side, but I want to make eye contact with you. And the only way I make eye contact with you is looking at the camera, not looking at you on my screen. Right. So it's practice. It's knowing what to do. And we're going to get into a little bit of that. I got a few more really good questions, I believe, to ask you if any of our listeners. Yes. Yeah, interrupt, please. By all means.
- [25:44]
B
Can I share a few thoughts on. On what you just said? There because you made a couple of great points. So one of the things is around scripting, one of the things that we often don't realize is that we write very, very differently than we talk. And so for a lot of advisors, when they start and they're like, oh, I'm gonna have a script, they write out a script and then put it in a teleprompter app on their smartphone or on their computer. And they're like, that was terrible. And it's because even though it is you and it's all coming out of your brain, writing and speaking just operate very differently. So if you have to do a script for compliance or that's what's going to get you moving forward, doing video, speak it out loud as you're writing it, and you're going to catch all these little things and put in, you know, an ellipses. If you need to pause and trail off. Have spacing between paragraphs. Don't just have endless run on sentences there. And the second thing, Bill, is you mentioned that eye contact. So I am actually using a teleprompter and I am looking directly at you. And I use a teleprompter for eye contact because. So you were talking about teleprompters, right? It is traditionally for newscasters, but really the way you can use them is mirroring whatever's on your screen. So I mirror it onto my phone, which reflects into a teleprompter which sits in front of my camera lens.
- [27:02]
A
That's great. That's smart.
- [27:03]
B
Makes it so easy because that's one of the challenges. Advisors do video meetings all day long. They're like, do I look down? Do I look up? Where am I looking? And it's exhausting. And then you have bad posture because you're staring down all day long. And so I'm actually standing right now because standing is good for you. You naturally bring more energy when you're standing. I always recommend this when you're doing podcasts, video presentations, and then I am. I'm just looking directly at you. And so I see you. I see you right here on my teleprompter.
- [27:31]
A
That's a great tool. I've not heard about doing that. I think it's great. If any of our listeners are interested in learning more about how you help advisors implement video marketing and all the things that you do, where should they go? How they. How should they reach out to you?
- [27:47]
B
Yeah, main thing, head to my website, advisor vm.com so for advisor video marketing.com I'm adding a lot more resources. Bill I actually just took down all my old blogs because technology changes so often, so I've got them all queued up. I'm updating everything to release it out. I always love hearing from people like what their favorite part of a podcast was or questions we didn't answer. So you'll see a little Talk to me button in the bottom right. It'll pop up. It's a little video of me and you can reply by text, audio or I love it when advisors reply by video.
- [28:23]
A
I saw that. I think it's a great feature. So Advisor A D V I S o r v vm.com also in the show notes in about 90 seconds Katie I want to ask you about the mistakes that many advisers make using video and how they can easily correct these mistakes, along with some other discussion about the technical side of things. But first, let's take a brief pause to listen to a word from our sponsor, Pod Rocket Influence Academy, brought to you by Proudmouth. First, they make this podcast possible, and their core business is helping financial advisors like you accelerate their influence through marketing activities like podcasting. This podcast is sponsored by Proudmouth, the Influence Accelerators. Tired of chasing potential clients?
- [29:14]
B
We help you spend less time selling and more time advising by amplifying your.
- [29:19]
A
Influence over a growing audience of magnetically attracted fans who will chase you down instead. Visit proudmouth.com to learn more. Be your own Loud I'd be remiss if I didn't at least mention two of my books that are currently bringing a lot of value to financial professionals. My most recent book, the Language of Referrals, is your blueprint for the words and phrases that you can use to become more referable, more proactive without begging or pushing, and turn referrals into effective introductions. The Language of Referrals will take the friction out of your client acquisition process. Also, my book Radical Relevance has changed how many advisors look at and then communicate their value in a more compelling fashion. The subtitle of Radical Relevance really says it all. Sharpen your marketing message. Cut through the noise. Win more ideal clients. So to learn more about these books, go to language of referrals.com language of referrals.com and or radicalrelevancebook.com radicalrelevancebook.com now back to my conversation with my featured guest, Katie Braden, cfp, the Founder and Chief Video Officer, cf, CVO of Advisor Video Marketing, where she works with financial advisors to tap into the extraordinary power of video marketing. So Katie, as promised, I'd like You to talk about the mistakes that many folks make when it comes to using video, their setup, and other issues related to that.
- [30:58]
B
Yeah. So I'd say there are three key things, and I can get a little passionate about this, Bill. So I'm going to start with the first thing that drives me absolutely bonkers. All you fabulous advisors, please tilt your cameras down. We do not need to see your ceilings. So many people.
- [31:16]
A
Oh, man, that is so true. That is so true. They're looking up like this. Maybe they got a laptop and it's right. Yep, I get it.
- [31:24]
B
Yes. And so often, like, their head is at the very bottom, and it's just awkward because here's the thing, Bill. Our number one goal video. I love that you've got it spot on. Is we are trying to emulate what it feels like to be in person. So the easiest way to remember this is in the frame. You should always have more room below your chin than above your head, because think about if you're sitting across the table from someone, even if you're out to coffee, if you're at a desk. Right. You're gonna see your upper body if you're sitting there. And that's what we want showing on screen. So tilt that down so that we have more room below our chin. And please, please, please ditch those fake virtual zoom blur backgrounds.
- [32:11]
A
Oh, thank you. Thank you. Those are the worst. The only way those work well is if you actually really have a green screen behind you. A real green screen, which I have, that clips onto this chair that I occasionally use. And then those. Then those backgrounds can work. But otherwise. I remember during COVID you know, when people started using this, right away, they didn't know anything about this. Right. There was a gal I was talking to. She was in her garage. That was her office at the time. And she had a sheet hung up behind her in a garage so that all the junk in the garage didn't show. One guy was. Was doing it from his. His infant's bedroom. I said, is that a crib behind you? He says, yeah, it's my office right now.
- [32:56]
B
We were all there, right? Everybody was there.
- [32:58]
A
Exactly.
- [32:59]
B
Together. And we understand people are working from home. I have had beds in my background tons of different times, but, you know, we're talking about building trust and building relationships. That just does not do it. And if you're moving around and half of your head is missing and you only have two fingers when you normally have 10, it is so distracting.
- [33:19]
A
Yeah. Good, good, good. What? Anything. Anything. I know light is important. The Light right at you, not. Not behind you, window behind you. Bad. Unless you have a bright light in front of you. That kind of counterbalances, right?
- [33:33]
B
If it counterbalances, yes. But too often, right? The huge windows behind you, and again, we can't see you. Your camera lens is focusing outside, it's not focusing on you. And Bill, think about how much money and time and effort people have put into their offices over the years, right? They hired decorators, they buy all this fancy furniture, and we went virtual. And. And I understand we're forced to, but it's like everybody created all these really bad habits and then never paused to be like, maybe I should stop doing bad habits. So, like, put just a little bit of effort into, you know, that virtual setup because you want to make sure that you are coming across professionally and competent. And, you know, so many people are visual that if you have all these distractions, they can't see you. It's blurry. It's weird, right? It's really hard for people to be taking your advice and really staying engaged with that meeting, which does bring that third thing. So the first one, kind of that framing background, second, the lighting. Third thing, audio. Go spend $50 on a USB microphone, and it will make a world of difference. So often it's just like this echo chamber, and I'm like, what did you say? What's happening?
- [34:40]
A
You know, when I. I interview, interview a lot of advisors, practicing advisors for this podcast, and one of the first things I check is do they have a good external microphone? Some do. And the ones who don't, I mail them. I mean, it's my gift to them. This. I'm not using it right now, but it's this Samsung, it's about $70. It's my gift to my podcast guest to make sure that they have good audio. And kind of the rule of thumb is, you know, you want to have good video, obviously, but good audio is critical, right? Because if they can't understand if it's echoey or scratchy or too quiet, then they're not even going to bother with the video. So the audio is important. I get we're running a little thin on time, but I got two more things I want to cover. What's your take on the. The. There's so many services out there that provide advisors with, in quotes, compliance approved educational videos. These are canned videos. Sometimes they use the speed drawing effect, sometimes they're cartoon character style. Some are more straightforward, using clip art, usually of. Of, you know, other characters and actors and whatnot from Your perspective, are these types of can videos worth considering?
- [35:53]
B
Not. Not at all, Bill. They kind of make my heart sad to me. That's checkbox marketing. Right. They're literally just doing it to check a box. Same thing with, you know, social media content, that everybody has the same thing checking a box. And it's honestly as effective for those that go to the gym. And you see people on the stair master or on the treadmill at, like full, you know, angled up to 15 degrees and they're holding on the whole time.
- [36:18]
A
Yes, yes. Which is totally defeating the whole point of the angle completely.
- [36:22]
B
That's my thing about every time I see those videos of that, I'm like, you're getting nothing out of this.
- [36:28]
A
Yeah.
- [36:29]
B
Not doing it would be just as effective as what is being done.
- [36:33]
A
Wow. So I know a lot of folks are going, oh, but I want to. But I got a bunch of those on my website. All right, well, saying get rid of them, but slowly, over time, replace them with the real you. The last question, what do you think is the common denominator of advisors who are using videos successfully? Is there any one or two key elements or things that people should leave with, you know, that, that you've kind of seen that permeate all of these successful folks?
- [37:03]
B
Yeah, I'd say two. Two big things. One would be actually having a clear target audience. So so often I see advisors that have a huge heart. They're like, I just want to do educational content. And that's great. But that stuff already exists. That's not going to move your needle. It's not going to grow your business. It's not going to attract your ideal clients. So that's a lot of effort. That isn't going to go anywhere. So having a really clear ideal client and you're speaking directly to them. And then back to what I said in the beginning of no, you know, what are your key goals in your business? Right. Are you focused on operations right now? Are you focused on building your team? Are you focused on marketing? Right. Don't try to do all the things at once. Say, you know, where are my bottlenecks? What am I focused on? How can I leverage video?
- [37:45]
A
Enhance that? Probably with marketing videos, sales, marketing, prospecting type videos, you probably want to have a call to action at the end of the video. There should be a clear action that someone takes as a result of watching that video, correct?
- [38:02]
B
Yeah, there should. And it can be different in different videos. Right. You don't always want to be super salesy at the end. But again, if People are just doing educational videos, then it doesn't even trigger the viewer's brain of like, oh, this is actually a financial advisor that can work with me. So we do need to tell them, you know, hey, and we can help people exactly like you. You know, book a call or sign up here.
- [38:23]
A
The whole idea of being clear on, on the target. You may have two or three ideal clients. So I would recommend to make the. Because I wrote a book called Radical Relevance, all about having something radically relevant for someone if they're, if they're already retired, have a video that speaks to them. If they're a small business owner, have a video that speaks to them. If they're younger in their accumulation stage, have a video that speaks to them. Because then it's going to be more relevant and therefore have more impact with them. I suspect you'll agree.
- [38:59]
B
Oh, absolutely. Yep. Again, it's speaking directly to that target audience. So yeah, if you have multiple, that's great. But I usually tell advisors like, go deep in one, you know, whatever one you want to grow first or is most profitable, go deep in one and then expand to those other ones.
- [39:15]
A
Y, I, I do agree with that. It's a big part of what I, what I teach as well. So thank you. My featured guest on today's show has been Katie Braden. Katie, we could talk about video for a long time because I love it. I do a lot of it. Katie Braden's a cfp. She's the founder of chief and chief video officer of Advisor Video Marketing where she works with financial advisors to help in the extraordinary power of video marketing. Katie, thank you for all the value that you provided for our listeners on Top Advisor podcast.
- [39:48]
B
Bill, thank you for having me. And I love your setup, by the way.
- [39:52]
A
Oh, thank you. Appreciate that. To you, the listener of the podcast may ask a small favorite. If you like this episode or like the podcast in general, please leave a five star review on the platform you're listening to the show. Not all platforms have a place for reviews, but if yours does, I'd be grateful. Thank you. And if you haven't Already, there are three places you're going to want to visit. Languageofreferrals.com Language of referrals.com for my latest book, referralcoach.com forward/resources. Referralcoach.com forward/resources I mentioned at the top of the show for a bunch of guides, checklists, scripts and the katesacademy.com the katesacademy.Com for the most comprehensive referral and introduction training on the planet. This is Bill Cates reminding you that ideas do not make you more successful. Only acting on those ideas will bring you the success you desire. Thanks for stopping by. Thank you for listening to the Top Advisor podcast brought to you by Proud Mouse Pod Rocket Academy. I encourage you to Visit my website, referralcoach.com for links to my books, online courses and to register for the Cates Academy.