Lights, Camera, Accounting: How Video Can Help You Connect with Clients

Video content is the undisputed king of online engagement. Studies indicate that users will retain 95% of a message watched on video vs. only 10% when reading it in text.For accountants, this is an incredible opportunity: a chance to simplify complex financial topics and build connections while using the content as a marketing tool. 

Accountants can make use of a wide range of marketing tools, like referrals, direct or email marketing, and in-person networking events to attract clients. While each of these methods carries its value, today’s audiences increasingly turn to the internet to research and evaluate professional services before reaching out to them. Whether it’s searching for “tax accountant near me” or watching a tutorial on filing small business taxes, clients expect accessible, engaging, and trustworthy content.

This blog will explore how accountants can use video marketing to educate clients, boost credibility, and enhance SEO. To ultimately grow their business. 

Why Video Marketing Matters for Accountants

Instead of paging through the Yellow Pages or asking friends for a recommendation, clients now Google their way through life. Video marketing helps accountants meet clients where they are at, providing answers and value in a format that’s both engaging and easily digestible.

Key benefits of video marketing for accountants include:

1. Building Trust and Authority

Explainer videos and tutorials present the firm as knowledgeable and approachable. This helps clients feel certain of your knowledge and expertise.

2. Improving Client Engagement

Video content keeps viewers' attention more effectively and longer than text content alone. Audiences are more likely to watch a short video than read an article. This means an opportunity to meet audiences where they're at.

3. Enhancing Brand Awareness

Videos are easily shareable across social media platforms. This is an easy way to build an even bigger reach, which, in turn, helps new clients discover your services.

By using video marketing, accountants can explain concepts like tax laws, compliance rules, or financial planning to the audience to make them easily understandable and put a face to the accounting firm. 

Types of Video Content for Accountants

There are several ways accountants can use video content to build a digital presence and engage clients: 

1. Explainer Videos

This is a short 2-3 minute video where you take one topic and break it down. An example is small business tax deductions, or benefits of tax planning. It’s aimed at a very specific audience. It’s an educational video to establish your firm as a knowledgeable entity.

2. Tutorials & How-To Guides

Step-by-step guides or tutorials unpack one topic at a time. Topics can include using ABC bookkeeping software, filing returns for a freelancer, or setting up payroll for a small business. This is extremely valuable to clients. Tutorials help position your firm as an educator, providing practical, relevant advice that clients can use.

3. Live Webinars

A format like an AMA (Ask Me Anything) provides an interactive platform for answering questions, discussing industry updates, or explaining new regulatory changes. AMAs are a more informal format that enables your viewers to connect with you directly. Webinars are also a lead generation tool, as attendees often provide contact information when signing up.

4. Case Study Videos

Showcasing how your firm helped a client save money, streamlined an accounting process, or navigated complex tax scenarios adds credibility. Case study videos are often longer, so make sure you plan the script of the video with, e.g., the five things you did for XYZ. Include measurable results.

You can use the video transcript to compile a written case study to add to your website or as part of email marketing. 

5. Short-Form Social Media Videos

These are quick, digestible clips for platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram, or TikTok. Its goal is to capture attention and drive traffic to your longer-form content. It can be as simple as a 30–60 second tip or update to build authority and grow your online reach.

SEO Benefits of Video Marketing

Video content works in two ways: firstly, it’s engaging, and secondly, it helps build your SEO strategy. Search engines prioritize content that keeps viewers engaged, and videos can help improve data like the time spent on the page and the click-through rate.

Three ways videos improve SEO:

• Time viewers spend on the page: Visitors spend more time on pages with embedded videos, and when the videos are helpful and authentic, this keeps viewers watching. This is an indication of value for search engines.
• Click-Through Rates (CTR): Videos with compelling thumbnails, catchy titles, and captions attract more clicks from search results.
• YouTube Optimization: YouTube is the second-largest search engine. Well-optimized videos on the platform can extend your reach to build new audiences beyond your website.

To maximize SEO benefits, accountants can:

• Include transcripts and captions. This makes videos accessible and helps with keyword optimization.
• Use descriptive titles, tags, and metadata.
• Embed videos in blog posts or landing pages to improve the time viewers spend on the page.

Platforms to Publish Your Video Content

Choosing the right platform is one step closer to reaching your audience:

• YouTube: Ideal for video content because it's the second most popular platform in the world. Here your videos are discoverable, and it can also be used as your online media library. This means, longer-term, your videos can still be seen even months after they were published.
• LinkedIn: Built to be the “professional” version of a social media platform, LinkedIn is suitable for B2B (business to business) engagement, sharing industry insights, and establishing professional credibility. Any content you produce, like videos, can be shared on LinkedIn.
• Instagram/TikTok/Facebook: Each of these is built around a specific goal: Instagram is better suited for images, whereas both TikTok and Facebook are suitable for short-form video content for awareness campaigns or snippets of webinars.

It’s worth remembering that TikTok is currently banned in the U.S. This is a developing story.

• Your Website: Embedding videos in blog posts or resource pages helps build SEO and keeps visitors engaged. Videos can be hosted on a platform like YouTube.

Each platform offers unique benefits, and a multi-channel approach can maximize reach and engagement. Starting with one and diversifying later on to combine more channels can be helpful when starting out.

Best Practices for Video Creation

Creating professional and effective video content doesn’t require a Hollywood studio, but it does require careful planning. Let’s unpack best practices to ensure your videos reach the audience:

• Plan the content: Make a list of videos, their specific topic, and what you’d need to produce each one. Think about 3-5 elements that need to be explained: is it a short or long video, when would you like to load the video, and what is the category of the video? Whether it's a webinar, a case study, an update, or an explainer video.
• Keep it concise: Shorter videos (2–5 minutes) are ideal for social media and explainer videos. Webinars can run longer, from 30 to 60 minutes, depending on the topic.

• Invest in quality: Good lighting, clear audio, and sharp visuals improve viewer experience and professionalism. If you’re doing the setup yourself, aim for a mic that can clip to your shirt.
• Include a call to action (CTA): Always include a CTA. A CTA prompts viewers to subscribe, download resources, or schedule consultations.
• Optimize metadata: Titles, descriptions, tags, and thumbnails help videos rank higher in search results.
• Repurpose content: Video content can be used in at least two different ways. A webinar can be cut into short clips, blog posts, or social media snippets to extend reach and reinforce messaging. This also means a longer shelf life for the content.

Video content is doable. Even starting small, with a tool like Loom for screen recordings or smartphone videos. All of these can build engagement.

Measuring the Outcome of Video Marketing

Tracking how your video content performs means understanding how the audience reacts to it. It helps guide next steps. Key metrics to measure include:

Views and Watch Time: How many people watched your videos and for how long?

• Engagement Rate: These are any engagements; likes, comments, shares, and clicks indicate interest and resonance.
• Click-Through Rate (CTR): How many viewers visited your website or landing page from the video?
• Leads and Conversions: How many webinar sign-ups or inquiries did one video generate?

Tools like Google Analytics, YouTube Analytics, and LinkedIn Insights are helpful and provide data on each post. This is helpful to refine and build a better content strategy over time.

Challenges and How to Overcome Them

While video marketing offers enormous potential, it is hard work. You may face any or all of the following hurdles:

• Time Constraints: Producing quality video content can be time-consuming. A possible solution might be to start with simple formats like a screen recording and plan ways to use that one video in different ways.
• Technical Skills: Not everyone is comfortable with video production or editing. Fortunately, there are tools available (all of these have a free version to start with), like Canva, Loom, or CapCut, to record and edit videos.
• Budget Limitations: Professional videos can be expensive. Start by focusing on doing easy short-form videos and AMA webinars. Neither of these requires extensive planning.

For the short-form video, you’ll need a tool like Loom and speak directly into the camera. Choose one topic, like a tax update for small businesses in {{state}} and write down three things you want to share about it. Write down a CTA. Then practice by standing in front of the mirror and explaining it. Ask someone else to listen to your practice run; the goal is to understand whether it makes sense. Then, record it. Be prepared to record the first video a couple of times.

The focus, especially at the start, is not to be perfect. It’s to produce helpful, accurate content that is regularly available. 

Final Takeaway

In today’s competitive accounting landscape, visibility isn’t just about keywords; it’s about building connections. Video marketing, whatever form it takes, lets accountants speak to complex financial systems and questions by sharing engaging, relatable insights to answer the target audience's questions. It’s two birds with one stone: videos that build trust and authority online while building connection. 

By making educational videos part of your SEO strategy, you can create authentic touchpoints with clients. Start small: a short explainer or AMA session can make your firm stand out in search results and in client minds.

Consistency is key: keep sharing to build a digital presence that reflects the value you deliver every day. Visibility drives growth, and video helps you be seen for what you do best!