Video marketing has become a crucial tool for accounting firms looking to engage their audience, build trust, and showcase expertise. While talking-head videos and webinars are common, B-roll footage—supplementary clips that enhance storytelling—can significantly improve video effectiveness.
According to a 2024 Wyzowl report, 89% of businesses use video as a marketing tool, and 93% of marketers say video marketing has given them a good ROI. If you want to remain competitive, leveraging video is key to creating engaging and professional content.
The Importance of B-Roll in Accounting Firm Videos
1. Enhances Storytelling and Engagement
A talking-head video alone can become monotonous. B-roll footage helps break up the content, making it visually engaging. It provides context to what is being discussed, ensuring the viewer remains engaged. But rather than a CPA talking about tax planning, show clips of staff working on financial reports, meeting with clients, or reviewing documents.
2. Builds Credibility and Professionalism
Video quality impacts how potential clients perceive an accounting firm. B-roll adds a polished and professional feel, making the firm appear more established and trustworthy. According to Forbes, “Video can be a great way to educate current clients and prospects, establishing you as an expert in your field.”
3. Improves Brand Perception
B-roll footage showcasing a firm’s workspace, team collaboration, and client interactions helps build an authentic brand image. This allows prospective clients to connect with the firm before speaking with an accountant. It also humanizes the brand, highlights the company culture, and reinforces expertise in a non-salesy way.
4. Supports Different Video Formats
Accounting firms that create various types of videos—FAQs, case studies, service overviews, and educational content—can make them more compelling with B-roll footage, for example using:
- Client testimonials: Show clips of happy clients shaking hands with an accountant.
- Explainer videos: Cut to visuals of tax forms, spreadsheets, or financial charts while discussing complex topics.
- Recruitment videos: Feature behind-the-scenes footage of the firm’s office and team activities.
5. Boosts Social Media Performance
Platforms like LinkedIn and Instagram favor high-quality, visually engaging content in their algorithms. According to HubSpot, of all the video formats, short-form has the highest ROI and is also number one driver for lead generation and engagement.
How to Source B-Roll Footage
Accounting firms can access B-roll in several ways:
- Filming in-house: Capture authentic clips of the team working, office walkthroughs, and client interactions.
- Stock footage: Use platforms like Pexels or Storyblocks for finance-related B-roll.
- Hiring a videographer: For firms investing in a high-end video strategy, a videographer can produce custom footage.
Hypothetical Example of B-Roll in Action for an Accounting Firm
Let’s say Smith & Partners CPAs, a mid-sized accounting firm specializing in construction clients, wants to create a LinkedIn video explaining how they help contractors maximize tax deductions.
Scenario: The firm’s managing partner, James, records a short, talking-head video discussing common tax write-offs for construction businesses. But instead of just showing James speaking the entire time, they integrate B-roll footage to make it visually engaging.
Intro Scene (B-roll): A slow-motion clip of a construction worker reviewing blueprints on-site, overlayed with the firm’s logo and tagline: “Helping Construction Businesses Build Stronger Finances.”
During Key Points:
- As James talks about equipment deductions, the screen shows a contractor using heavy machinery.
- When discussing business vehicle write-offs, the footage cuts to a pickup truck with company branding driving to a job site.
- While explaining bookkeeping best practices, the video shows a CPA reviewing financial reports on a tablet.
Closing Scene (B-roll): The video ends with a handshake between an accountant and a construction client at the firm’s office, reinforcing the firm’s expertise and personal approach.
Final Touch: A call-to-action overlay appears: “Need tax-saving strategies for your construction business? Schedule a consultation today!”
By integrating B-roll footage, Smith & Partners CPAs transform a standard talking-head video into a dynamic, engaging, and professional marketing asset—helping them stand out in the competitive accounting space.
B-Roll Video Footage Examples and Free Templates
Here are six b-roll video ideas from The Rise Media Agency:
- Staff member sipping a beverage from a branded mug.
- Point-of-view shot of your shoes or clothes in branded colors as you walk.
- Taking a client call on the phone. The sound doesn’t need to be on to help protect confidentiality.
- Close-up of you typing on a computer keyboard.
- Opening your laptop displaying your website on a computer screen while you write something down.
- Writing your to-do list or other notes on a piece of paper.
Download the free, Canva Instagram or Facebook and LinkedIn b-roll video templates for each of these examples. Then customize them for your own brand.
Enhance Storytelling. Build Credibility. Improve Engagement.
B-roll can be a marketing video game-changer for your firm. As video marketing continues to dominate the digital space, integrating well-planned B-roll footage ensures your firm’s content stands out and resonates with potential clients.
What type of b-roll footage will you use to up your video A-game?
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Becky Livingston is the owner and CEO of Penheel Marketing, a New Jersey-based firm specializing in social media and digital marketing for CPAs. With over 25 years of marketing and tech experience, she is the author of “SEO for CPAs – The Accountant’s SEO Handbook” and the “The Accountant’s Social Media Handbook.” In addition to being a practitioner, she is a dog lover, an active Association for Accounting Marketing’s (AAM) committee member, an adjunct professor, and HubSpot partner. Learn more about Becky and her firm at https://Penheel.com.
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Tags: Firm Management, Marketing, video
