How Accountants Can Use Video Marketing

Using video is the next best thing to being face-to-face with prospects. It allows your prospect to get to know you in a very unobtrusive way with no risk to the prospect. It also produces amazing results when it comes to search engine rankings. Video is definitely a marketing technique with rocket fuel behind it.

Video is also quite scary for accountants, which is why it remains so underutilized in accounting. Smart firm owners are realizing that there are many options to using video, and only a few require you to be a talking head.

Here are several examples of videos that are effective for marketing CPA firm and bookkeeping practices.

One of the most basic videos is to have a PowerPoint or set of graphics with a recorded audio script. These are cost-effective to produce and can be put together in about a week. The result is a high-quality clip with a great message at a low cost. Here are a few samples:

Five Star Accounting Promo Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXcFa6odifM
Profit Financial Services (mix of animation and graphics): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VU8XiZc9RfU
A-Z Business Services (done by the author’s company): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=760OHxxytqw

All you need to produce the above video is a one- to two-minute script, a reader with a professional voice, stock images and footage, and a video editor that can put the images together. Your budget will include fees to purchase the photography licenses, to pay the script writer and audio recorder, to pay the video editor, staff time, and to compensate the project manager.

You can go higher scale if you have a healthy budget. These next two examples were shot by a professional camera crew. The 6-minute video by KPMG had an extensive budget with numerous sets and actors. The film by Two Roads was also professionally shot at a couple of locations and the scenes were carefully edited to build the video.

KPMG Small Business Solution: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6q5g7jobRAc
Two Roads QB Firm of the Future: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fzzCt4HO5s

If you have no budget, then you can do it yourself. Some small businesses will like the transparency of a video that a solo business owner has put together. Just don’t scrimp on the sound.

EZAccounts using simple animation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiYEtZLIWGw
LeAnn Reed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnQ0H0-mlqs
Free My Cloud (short and sweet): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ke4eGHleowY

Interestingly, few of these videos shows a talking head. So don’t let that hold you back from using one of the more powerful marketing tools available today.

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Sandi Smith Leyva, CPA, CMA, MBA, and founder of Accountant’s Accelerator, has helped thousands of accountants earn more, work less, and serve their clients better through her innovative coaching and training services.

Sandi was named one of the 2015 Top 25 Most Powerful Women in Accounting by CPA Practice Advisor, one of the Top 25 Thought Leaders for 2016 by CPA Practice Advisor, one of the 2013 “Ones to Watch” of Accounting Today’s “Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting” and was a 2013 Community Choice Honoree of the Small Business Influencer Awards held by Small Business Trends. She won a 2013 Stevie Award for “Maverick of the Year,” and her work has also been noted by CBS News, PBS, Dallas Morning News, San Jose Mercury News, Accounting Today, Journal of Accountancy, Today’s CPA, and The Practical Accountant. She is a regular contributor to CPA Trendlines.

Sandi is one of a handful of women in the world who has co-piloted a tiny six-seat, single-engine airplane over the oceans and around the world. Her book, Following Amelia: A Modern Day ‘Round-the-World Flight, describes her death-defying adventure along with the two award-winning humanitarian trips she managed to fit in along the way.

Sandi has authored several books, CPE courses, and over 500 articles for clients such as Microsoft, Intuit, and the American Institute for CPAs. She writes BizBoost News, a client newsletter for accountants with strategic business content. Her latest books include Five Simple Steps to Get More Clients, More Profits and More Free Time for Accountants and QuickBooks ProAdvisors and P3: Pricing, Packaging and Positioning.

Sandi is a CPA and holds an MBA in IT from the University of Dallas. She also holds a MS in Applied Cognition and Neuroscience. In her spare time, she loves hiking, traveling to remote places, and empowering women from poverty to prosperity through her nonprofit.