Should Financial Professionals ditch newsletters for video?
Financial Planners are starting to ditch the traditionally written newsletter in favour of video newsletters. The question is if that is the right, or rather more appropriate solution? We are not convinced.
Newspaper, radio and television
These are three different forms of communication of which the newspaper is the oldest, then radio and then television. Yet, when newer technology was introduced, it did not replace the older technology. It just made information accessible to more people. In essence, these are written, audio and visual forms of communication. Different people prefer different ways of consuming content.
We experience this with our online courses, which is largely video-based. We have users asking for written versions of the content that they can read through, rather than watch. We also have users asking for audio-only so that they can listen to the content at any time and not have to watch or read anything.
Client preferences
Just like not every person reads your email newsletters, not every person will watch your video newsletter. And of those that watch, most of them will not watch to the end. And then there are some who will watch multiple videos.
You must find out what your clients prefer.
How can you do that? By asking them of course. You can ask as part of your client meetings, you can do a survey using Survey Monkey or Google Forms, and you can ask them using something like Whatsapp.
How do I cater to multiple preferences?
It is very easy to become overwhelmed. You are a Financial Professional, not a content creator. Right? Just thinking about creating content is enough to let you break out in a sweat.
When you have the data to support the types of format your clients prefer, then you can decide on a strategy.
The starting point is to always be clear on the message you want to deliver. For instance, you may want to communicate the recent volatility in the market to your clients, but the message is “you are in safe hands”, “you have a solid strategy”, and “to stick to the plan”. It is critical to distinguish between the information and the message.
Once you know the message, then you can decide on the best format, but keeping in mind what your clients prefer. Choose the format that will bring you the most benefit. What do we mean by that?
If you need to create video, audio and written content, then starting off with a video is the best course of action. Why? Once you produced the video, the script can be used for written content and the audio can be extracted from the video and published as audio-only content or a podcast.
It is not a question of which one is best
One form of content is not better than the other. They complement one another. You will have more clients consume your content if they have the option to do it in their prefered format.
It is not a question of “or” but rather a question of “and”. How can you do video and written newsletters.
If video (or television then) was better than the written word, then newspapers, magazines, flyers, posters and the like would have been long gone! Yet, they are not.
