Q&A: How our video generates up to 8 leads a week

Independent financial adviser Jones Hill, based in Wiltshire, uses a simple yet powerful 2–minute video by Malthouse Films on its website, showing testimonials from five of its clients.

Together with Google ad words, the video is helping to create up to 8 new leads a week.

Here I chat to Brian Hill, principal adviser, to find out more about the strategy behind the video.

What made you start to use video?

We use video all the time ourselves. I’m a rower, so I actually started to use YouTube looking for techniques on how to improve, which I did pretty quickly. It shows that people are looking to video in order to find the answers to things, so if you’re not doing any of that, you’re missing out on that channel of communication.

And if you are doing it, it’s easy for you to stand out.

The big thing people miss is that marketing isn’t about qualifications and being professional, it’s about giving people an idea of who you are. When people come in to see you, they already feel as if they know you, they’re already warm, and know what to expect. Video is the best way to show that, if you do it properly.

What kind of video are you using?

The main video on our home page is a professional video, but we plan to develop that by combining it with in-house videos recorded on our iPhones. These will be 90-second bite-sized chunks for prospective clients.

How did the client video come about?

We decided to ask clients themselves what they would like to say – it would be way more powerful than asking them to stick to a script.

We made sure the questions were themed in the right way for it to give us the result we wanted.

We weren’t in the room at the time, and didn’t see video before the client did. We gave them completely free reign and it worked very fluidly.

How did you choose the clients?

We wanted a mixture of new and older clients. Our niche are the ex-military and education sectors – we wanted to play to that niche with the idea that people can see people like them.

How did you get their permission to use it?

We said up front ‘This is what it’ll look like’ and ‘This is what you’ll be asked to sign off’ so they had a clear idea from the beginning. We described where it would be, and how it would be found and they signed a release form saying that we could use it.

How do you promote the videos?

We use Twitter and LinkedIn. When they were first made we also drip-fed them to our existing clients, once every couple of weeks, highlighting each video individually through email.

How do you monitor engagement?

We check Google analytics on a daily basis.

Now we generate up to 8 new leads a week – a third to a half come through organic searches, so clearly the video is doing pretty well.

The success is down to the marketing mix – the right ad words, a professional video, in the right context.

What was the feedback from existing clients?

Very good. The video of Sarah Pinks, a divorced primary school teacher (main picture, left), is by far the most popular. What she says on her video actually gets repeated back to us by clients – which shows they watched them!

We’ve actually had clients offer to be in a video themselves. That’s partly why we’re in the process of filming another series.

We help them to do things they otherwise wouldn’t be able to do, we transform their lives, and they want to share that.

We’re very lucky to have an amazing group of clients – those are the ambassadors of the business, and fortunately for us, they want to help.

What’s the best lesson you’ve learnt from this?

Congruency and consistency – everything needs to line up – what you’re saying on the website needs to dovetail with what clients are talking about on video. Images and brand colours all need to be in line.

If you’re sitting at the other side of the desk with a completely different brand than the one you showed on your site, then there’s no point to it.

Watch the video here

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