Carrie Chandler: Connecting with Borrowers, Prospects and Employees Through Video

Carrie Chandler is a Digital Marketing Manager for Genworth Mortgage Insurance, Raleigh, N.C.. She is a two-time Marketo Certified Expert and is responsible for managing various marketing technologies, including video platforms, with a focus on optimizing marketing programs and sales reach; marketing automation operations; and program management for internal business leaders. The statements provided are the opinions of Carrie Chandler and do not reflect the views of Genworth or its management.

Over the past few years, institutions of all kinds have been looking for ways to make their marketing campaigns more engaging, eye-catching and memorable. This effort has undoubtedly been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, as companies are searching for digital ways to engage with borrowers and prospects while still maintaining strong, personalized relationships, even without face-to-face interaction.

In a world where digital marketing reigns supreme as a critical medium to communicate products and services while building and maintaining relationships, marketers are looking to successful influencers to help inform their own strategies, increase interest, and grow their social following by incorporating video into their initiatives. However, many companies struggle with understanding how and where to start when it comes to incorporating video into their marketing or sales strategies.

Recognize the Value of Video

Video is one of the most common communication channels today, likely due to its ease of use and entertainment qualities. Most everyone coming into contact with your organization is likely to watch TV, stream movies or scroll through YouTube or Facebook videos on a near daily basis. Using video helps meet borrowers and prospects where they are in a form that is familiar, accessible and easy to digest. Especially in a time where consumers are busier than ever before, it is much easier to obtain information from a two-minute video than it is to search and read through an entire document or pamphlet.

Regularly engaging borrowers through video content also helps organizations gather valuable data about how their customers respond to video as a communication channel as well as specific video topics, which helps inform future video content and even other forms of marketing. Having the analytical insight into how long viewers watch a given video, the type of content that resonates well, and what topics garner the most views is invaluable information to have at your fingertips when optimizing your video and marketing strategies.

When used strategically, video can help support broader campaigns throughout your organization. Instead of simply using video for one-off social media posts or emails, consider how the company can use video to tie into broader initiatives or overarching messages. Beyond your day-to-day marketing efforts, training videos and webinars are valuable ways to leverage video to create a better customer experience across all areas of the organization.

This could include a video series for first-time homebuyers explaining what to expect or how different steps of the homebuying process work. Alternatively, using video might be the easiest medium with which to explain a complex topic or process to borrowers in a way they can easily understand.

If your company has already realized the value of video, it’s likely that someone at the table has asked at least one of the following questions:

• Is video production manageable in-house or does it require hiring professionals?
• How long should our videos be?
• What type of content performs well in video format?
• What are some overall best practices?

These questions are common and to get you started, here are a few tips on making the most of your company’s video marketing initiatives.

Use the right technology. When you’re getting started with video, it’s important to research which tools and platforms will best help you create, host, and deliver these videos. What was once a medium reserved for specialized video professionals has shifted into an industry that is now largely self-serve. Find tools that are easy to use and able to scale with the organization as it grows its video marketing practice. Some options are free (such as social sites like Facebook and YouTube), while others come with a nominal cost. Any video hosting platform that helps track engagement is a plus for improving marketing efforts down the road, and these platforms also can help personalize the video marketing approach for different groups of borrowers.

Create polished and professional video templates for decentralized video creation. Depending on which platform(s) you use, some offer the ability to use templates and scripts. If you’re using a decentralized model where many individuals can create and share videos, this is especially helpful. Sharing these templates with your team can streamline the production process and make even the simplest videos appear polished and professional. The template can be something as simple as a quick intro and outro with the company logo, but ensure that the images are of high resolution in order to maintain visual clarity.

Keep videos short and sweet. Most of the time, getting a message across only will take around one minute. If a video is too long, it might discourage borrowers from watching all the way through, which means they may miss the intended information. On the other hand, it’s also important to be mindful of how short the video is. If it is less than 20 seconds, it might be simpler to write the message out in a few sentences as an email. The key here is to make sure each video has a clear purpose and is useful to the viewer. Too many videos without a clear purpose might hurt the success of your overall video efforts.

Use a call-to-action. To ensure each video is purposeful, take some time to think about what the video is trying to accomplish and what the viewer should do after watching. Include a call-to-action toward the end of the video to keep your message clear and guide viewers toward the appropriate next steps.

No one expects you to be Spielberg. Do not feel pressured to make each video look like a Hollywood production. The temptation is to have professional lighting and the perfect background with the highest quality camera equipment for each and every video, but the price tag of each of those elements can add up fast. Video does not always require a lot of money or a team of professional videographers. With the right approach, video can be affordable, easy and successfully executed by anyone on the team.

Build excitement among customer-facing employees

Getting employees on board with creating and participating in video is crucial to the success of an organization’s video marketing efforts. Especially for those in customer-facing roles like Sales, their ability to make and use video is crucial to the success of the organization’s overall video marketing efforts. When everyone creates content, shares ideas and pitches in, the videos will be much more effective than if the entire burden were on one or two people.

Showcase your personality

To get employees started, it is important to encourage individuals to put their personalities front and center. They do not need to try to be anyone else but themselves. Each individual personality is a tool to make each video unique and interesting. Whether it’s filmed in an interesting location or involves someone’s favorite activity, videos can showcase who the people that make up an organization really are and help create more authentic relationships with viewers.

It also is important that the organization empowers employees to be leaders in the video space. Seek out team members who are doing well and allow them to help lead others by sharing ideas and serving as examples. The more people on the team who create videos, the stronger the support system will be. When everyone understands and can participate in the video process, employees will be able to support and lead each other.

Location, location, location

If you decide to film in a fun location, make sure you are mindful of your surroundings. Whatever is happening in the background might distract from the purpose of the video. Make sure each creator is aware of how their location, surrounding activity, noise levels and even what they wear can diminish the quality and effectiveness of their video if there are too many distractions. Remind users to assess their environment before they start filming to ensure a polished result.

Power to the people

Reinforce that practice makes perfect. Not everyone will be a pro on their first try. When anyone starts with video, motivate them to push past the challenges of getting started and to keep creating. In the beginning, individuals might notice they are not happy with themselves on camera for one reason or another. The best way to combat this is simply by creating more. Encourage team members to keep going – eventually they will find the video approach that works best for them.

Now, You’re Camera Ready

Getting started can be challenging and feel overwhelming, but the benefits of using video in marketing is worth it, especially during times where in-person meetings are considered a thing of the past. Keep going, keep trying, and watch each video improve. Additionally, take notes on some of the videos that interest you and see if there are skills you pick up on that might best fit your institution. It’s also a good idea to get some guidelines for your team from your Legal organization, especially to ensure compliance with privacy laws. Video marketing will help create and build relationships unlike any other marketing tool in your organization’s arsenal.

With its growing importance among consumers, the time to start with video is right now. It does not take anything fancy – just a good strategy and a willingness to learn.

(Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect policy of the Mortgage Bankers Association, nor do they connote an MBA endorsement of a specific company, product or service. MBA NewsLink welcomes your submissions. Inquiries can be sent to Mike Sorohan, editor, at msorohan@mba.org; or Michael Tucker, editorial manager, at mtucker@mba.org.)