How do local financial services businesses use video to market themselves?
This is a question which was recently put to us by a boutique asset management business who were looking for alternate strategies to engage current and new clients. While many marketing agencies might be rubbing their hands at the prospect of this brief, we identified a couple of factors that should be taken into consideration before clients jump in and make this investment.
In this piece, we unpack some considerations that financial services businesses should keep in mind before jumping into video in their marketing strategy.
Why video should form part of your marketing strategy as a financial services business in South Africa
Earlier this year, our Emma Montocchio wrote a piece on Building YouTube into a modern communications strategy and she highlighted:
“Today, YouTube has become a core communications channel. It is increasingly where people go to understand complex issues. Not to skim headlines or scroll soundbites, but to properly understand what is happening, why it matters and how to think about it.”
There are 3 other considerations when it comes to why video should be in your marketing mix:
- There is a well-documented shift away from written and read content to video – particularly short-form
- In South Africa alone, YouTube represents an audience of around 25 million. On top of this, you can integrate paid-spend which allows you to
- “Shorter” form video (under 15 minutes) can be uploaded into Linkedin, Facebook, Instagram and easily shared on WhatsApp.
** “Shorter” is a broad term here – referencing content under 15 minutes in duration.
The challenges that video presents for financial services businesses
While there is no question that video can be a key marketing tool for asset managers, stockbrokers and financial advisory businesses, there are a couple of reasons why you need to think carefully about how you commit to this strategy.
- Production costs can escalate quickly: Even in the age of AI, video production costs are a very real expense
- Production isn’t the only cost: When it comes to video, there is often a perception that leveraging off the YouTube platform will ensure visibility. The reality is that many businesses invest significant amounts of energy into production, only for their videos to generate less than 100 views. When costing your videos, you need to factor in that you will need to also plan for some distribution or paid spend to increase visibility.
- What is the purpose of your video content?: We touch on this a bit more in the next paragraph, but it is important to be clear about what the purpose of your video content is. The larger financial services businesses often have their video strategies driven by the agencies looking to clever / award-winning content – this might look great, but perhaps should be seen through the lens of serving aspirational marketing versus client acquisition.
Forward-looking versus backward-looking content
One of the key talking points we had around video content for an asset manager is around the purpose of the video content. Is the purpose to capture things like historical movements (currencies, commodities, share prices etc.) or is it intended to be more forward-looking in nature?
The natural tendency is to look backwards and report on the past, but often the best value comes from establishing thought leadership with forward-looking content.
Innovation around fund fact sheets for asset managers
One area where we believe asset managers and financial planners have room to innovate is around fund fact sheets and investor report backs.
We saw an interesting innovation from one of the financial planners who uses AI to develop a monthly podcast / vodcast which he shares over WhatsApp detailing some developments in the market and how specific funds had performed. He found this particularly useful ahead of a client meeting or review.
This feels like quite a clever use of content and sets the scene nicely ahead of any meeting.
Video contribution to equity research in South Africa
Another area that we believe that video content could be sweated harder is around equity research.
South Africa has a very under-developed equity research market – particularly in the small and mid-cap segments. Of the 280-odd listed businesses, analysts are providing coverage for around 30.
The team behind “Unlock the Stock” have experimented with various video formats and built up a subscriber base of just over 1000. The format they have experimented with is longer-form interviews – typically an hour – where there can be live engagement with management teams.
The team from EasyEquities have also successfully used video. Most recently they hosted a 90-minute “Junior Mining Showcase” where they featured the likes of Southern Palladium, Orion Minerals and Kore Potash and had leveraged its 44000 subscribers.
Our own “Meet The Management” series has also experimented with shorter-form content for some of the small-caps listed on the JSE.
Do you need an Investor Communications and Design Agency?
If you are a South African financial services business looking to enhance your communications strategies, we would love to work with you.
Whether it is video content for your asset management or stockbroking firm, a contribution to the South African equity research ecosystem or you’re looking to position your executives as thought leaders in the market – we have an experienced team of professionals on hand to support you.
If you would like to setup a meeting, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Frequently asked questions on this topic:
Why is the South African equity research market so under-developed?
There are a couple of reasons for this. Structurally, much of the JSE is focused on the Top 40 stocks which dominates trade. While there are some gems on the bourse, the small and mid-cap market receives very limited attention with many of the shares very illiquid. For context, there are approximately 1700 unit trusts registered in South Africa, but only 10 – 15 focus on the small and mid-cap market.
Has the shrinking South African business media landscape hurt coverage of small and mid-cap shares on the JSE?
Yes and no. On one hand, newsrooms across South Africa have been under enormous pressure for many years now and there are fewer and fewer journalists covering JSE-listed equities. This leaves less resources to cover the small and mid-cap market.
At the same time, we have seen innovators trying to step into the gap to offer coverage and help these smaller companies raise their profile.
Who pays for equity research in South Africa?
In some respects, this is the crux of the problem. Typically research is delivered from investment banks, stockbrokers and asset managers. Better quality research should in theory drive trade in the shares – unfortunately the lack of liquidity, makes this unprofitable business if it is solely focused on South Africa.
Some of the listed businesses have undertaken their own commissioned research – utilising services including BlueGem Research for example. The challenge remains around showing an ROI on this investment and whether it materially drives trade in the shares.
Does South Africa have a retail investor culture?
For a long time, South Africa saw a lot of its investment driven through financial planners and a handful of large asset managers. The arrival of EasyEquities over the last decade has seen more than 2.8m retail investors open accounts with them. The EasyEquities team report that the average account size sits at around R36 000 in 2026. Extrapolated, this translates into R100bn in investor funds which on paper sounds like a lot of money but when measured against the JSE market capitalisation of R25 trillion (June 2026), this represents just 0.4%.