Only Fee-Only
This podcast interviews fee-only financial planners to learn about how they are helping their clients and serving their specific niches.
Only Fee-Only
#123 - Stop Sucking on Video: Authentic Marketing for Financial Advisors with Katie Braden, CFP®
Struggling to connect with clients through video?
Katie Braden, founder of Advisor Video Marketing, says most advisors are overthinking it. With a background in photography and as a CFP, she’s helped advisors use simple, authentic videos to build real connections.
Forget fancy production. Katie once shot a quick 42-second iPhone video in the dark and wind—and it got over 167,000 views. Why? Because people connect with real, not perfect.
She recommends short, personal videos—like 45-60 seconds for follow-ups, birthday messages, or thank-yous. It’s an easy way to show you care.
Katie gets the challenges advisors face and has built a system that uses video throughout the client journey—marketing, onboarding, service, even internal updates. Her 12-week workshop helps you set up, create content, and get confident on camera.
The big takeaway? Video isn’t just about marketing—it’s about building trust. A short, thoughtful video can make a big impression.
Katie's Social:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/katieabraden/
x: @KatieABraden
Music in this episode was obtained from Bensound.
How's it going? Everyone, welcome back. This is the Only Fee Only podcast and, for everyone listening, we appreciate you being here and for all the continued support. Today we're talking to Katie Braden, which a lot of you have probably heard of. She is the founder and chief video officer at Advisor Video Marketing and she is helping, in her own words, financial advisors stop sucking on video. So it was a really good conversation. I followed Katie and have been for quite some time now, and just the authenticity and the way that she talks about content is something that I really think is cool. And also her saying you don't really have to make everything perfect, right? Sometimes, if a thought comes to your mind and you're on a walk, just whip out your video camera or your phone and just make the video and come off as authentic, because that's what you're being. So enjoy this podcast with Katie Braden on the Only Fee Only podcast.
Speaker 2:How's it going, everyone? Welcome to another episode of the Only Fee Only podcast. How's it going, everyone? Welcome to another episode of the Only Fee Only podcast. I'm Peter Travalo. I'm here with my co-host, brock Buckles, and today we're very excited to have Katie Braden on. She's the chief video officer and founder of Advisor Video Marketing. I'm sure everyone has seen her face around on social media, but so excited to have her on today and share her story. So, katie, welcome to the show, thanks for having me, guys.
Speaker 3:This is awesome.
Speaker 2:Likewise, I know you're coming fresh off a trip from Asia and we just saw you at XYPN. But for those who don't know who you are, do you want to give a quick background of who you are before we dive into things?
Speaker 3:Yep. Quick story in a nutshell. Born and raised in Seattle, decided I didn't like the weather there, went as far away as I could. So I moved to Melbourne, australia Literally as far away as you can get. I got my degree in photography there. I wanted to travel the world. I was going to get my permanent residency.
Speaker 3:Government changed, the rules kicked me out and my mother was like you need a job. So she owned a successful RIA in Seattle. She was like come back, work for me. So I went from world traveling photographer to working for my mom at a fabulous RIA. But, guys, this is in January of 2006. Her business was virtual then. So that is the only thing I have ever known. I was her succession plan. And then I was like, hey, I'm being handed this amazing business, why not just walk away and do something that's never been done? And so I started one of the first, the only virtual monthly subscription financial planning businesses in early 2013. So I had a winding career path. Then I worked with financial planners in 35 countries, getting back to my traveling roots. Then, ultimately, I wanted to get back to my creative side. So I now combine my passion for the profession with that creative side. Spent all my time working with awesome financial advisors and financial planners, helping them to stop sucking on video.
Speaker 1:Well, it's cool. I think it's really neat, though, because, like you can speak their language and when you can speak their language you grew up with that Like you know what it's all about. You're like, not only can I coach you not to suck on video, I can also show you, like I also know, what you should be talking about and the points you should be hitting on and the ways to resonate in this particular field, right?
Speaker 3:So it is, it's a, it's a unique skillset, right that's. I was like, okay, this is kind of a funny little thing to do. But I was like you know, there aren't many people out there. I am a CFP professional, had my own financial planning business, worked in other businesses, got the creative sides. I was like why not just do something that I just have fun with all day?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so why do people suck on video? Let's start there.
Speaker 3:Let's start there. I don't know why, but it is easy to fix. You know, honestly, I think COVID hit so quickly and everybody was not prepared for it that they just developed a whole lot of bad habits and now, like five years later, have still not paused and gone. You know, maybe I should fix this, spend like 250 bucks, level up my setup Because it's important, right? Everybody's doing virtual meetings, like, even if you still like in-person, you're doing virtual meetings and people need to just be showing up a little bit better. Think about all the time and effort people put into their in-person offices, right? They hire designers and get you know all this fancy furniture, and I was like people just put just a little bit of effort into your virtual setups.
Speaker 1:Yeah, try just a little bit harder.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're more focused on the background and putting in new. You know, built in shelves. Yeah, you know, we're all so human. And now, you know, with COVID, everyone's seen a bed in the background or children running through the background or whatever it might be. But video is just such a great way to, you know, relay your message to clients, build trust, build rapport. I mean in 2006,. Like, what was it like being virtual then when it first started? I mean there wasn't Zoom, there wasn't GoToMeeting. So like what was it at its core in the beginning? And like what are some of those key traits that you still see today?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so there was actually. I believe it was in 1998, the Seattle Times did an article on my mom because she was paperless in 98. And I was there helping her scan everything. So it's literally the only thing I've ever known. And so you're right, there wasn't video meeting, everything was done by phone. And if a client had ever walked into the office I wouldn't know. I didn't know what they looked like. So it was really interesting getting to build the business that way, again, paperless from the late 90s, really leveraging technology, leveraging efficiency. So that's also a lot of my background is I'm obsessed with running a really efficient business and so, even though I talk with advisors about video, if the rest of their business is inefficient, they're never going to have time to do marketing or grow or, you know, create a really consistent client experience. So we ended up talking about all that stuff too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's interesting to me that, like I mean, 26 years ago your mom was paid. But that's crazy. First, 26 years ago she was paid. Years ago your mom was paper. That's crazy. First, 26 years ago she was, but that kudos to her.
Speaker 1:So, like a lot of people they don't, like they think maybe I'm not good at video, right, and like we've had people in the podcast that help with video as well, like everybody has a different take on it. Obviously, get a good setup. I think that's like rule number one is like you need to be able to be seen. Your camera needs to be decent. Honestly, you can do it on an iPhone, but if your audio is terrible, like it doesn't matter how good what you have to say is, no one's listening to it. Like, let's just get that out of the way, that's a fact, right. But when it comes to okay, like say that we have the setup, maybe we have an iPhone, maybe we have like a USB C mic that plugs directly into your camera or directly into your computer, but what about now? Like, what about the content that we're putting in? Like, do you recommend firing from the hip? Do you recommend having a script? What are your thoughts on that stuff?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So I try to be as agnostic as possible because, like anything else, there is no one size fits all. Right, you have to figure out. Some people are like they're never going to do a video unless they have a script that they can follow, because they're just going to go on too many tangents and not make any sense. Great, you have to, like, practice it and figure out. If that's you, other people are never going to work well with a script. They're never going to not sound awkward and robotic, so they just need to kind of practice.
Speaker 3:I always tell people just start with like one-to-one video emails, right, with your clients, with your prospects. As soon as a prospect books an intro call, shoot them a 45 second personal video. That's like hey Brock, really looking forward to our call on Tuesday. You know, I'm looking forward to learning more about you. Remember, this is virtual. If you didn't get the link, let me know and I'll send it to you. You know, just come with a couple of questions, I'll ask you questions. We'll just get to know each other. Right, like in 30 seconds, you can really put people's mind at ease and build a relationship before you, potentially even no-transcript my lavalier microphone and my selfie stick and lights, but I will intentionally go out with nothing other than my iPhone. So I'm outside, it's dark, so the quality wasn't that good. It was windy, so I'm outside, it's dark, so the quality wasn't that good. It was windy, so the audio wasn't perfect, but you could still hear me and I kid you not, I got like 167,000 views on that video.
Speaker 1:Wow, I'm doing it wrong.
Speaker 2:We're going to take a business trip to Japan, that's right.
Speaker 3:That's right. It was a quick video and I think it was 42 seconds and all I said was like get out from behind your desk, right, it was like we don't want to join your Zoom meeting. You know, get out and about, add some value to your target client and be in a different situation. That tells us a little bit about your personality without you having to say anything, right, but just short and sweet, and that's the other thing is, if you're starting on social media or YouTube, go short. I talk with advisors all the time. They're like I'm mapping out this 22 minute video and I was like nobody wants to see your 22 minute video.
Speaker 1:Yeah, nice, no one's going to watch it. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure it's organic to you to create content. But maybe how about for those who you know they're scared of even just getting on there and posting? Like, what would my schedule be like? Do I post personal items? Do I post too much business things? Because there's a very happy medium of both and not to get too caught up in the impressions too.
Speaker 3:Yeah, the impressions don't actually matter, right? I can. I've had like weeks where I get you know a million impressions on videos and I'm like cool, but if nobody calls me or is interested in working with me, that doesn't matter, right? So people say all the time they're like I want to get a thousand, you know, subscriptions on my YouTube or subscribers on my YouTube, and I was like, but if you do and you get no clients, that that doesn't matter. So that is always the metric. The metric should always be are you getting your ideal clients calling you? Right? Because that's the other thing to look at.
Speaker 3:Is, you know, I think, advisors, there's still this like, oh, how many intro calls are you booking? And it's like, who cares If you book 20 intro calls and none of them are your ideal client, that was a terrible use of your time. So that's where it always has to start. Is like actually truly having the ideal client? And goodness I know, and you guys know truly having the ideal client, and goodness I know and you guys know, advisors resist that like children at bedtime.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's so true. So I mean, like you, it's it's important to give in front of the right people. What about, like platform usage? Like, are you one of those people that are, like, you know, spread out, spread it out because it might perform really well in this one? Like me myself, I'm like I don't know anybody for me that lives on TikTok. Like I'm trying to meet financial planners and I think that's really good for the B2C stuff. Like, hey, here's how you should create a budget. But it's like if I'm going on there and I'm like, hey, if you're only financial planners and then a bunch of teenagers dancing around, see that video, that's not really going to help me get in front of the people I want to get in front of.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm across the board with everything, every marketing thing, every business thing. Less is more, and I am constantly coaching advisors like do less, do less, better, right? So if you're like, I just don't like Facebook, I have no desire to go on Facebook. So even if people were like, hey, katie, but advisors are on Facebook, honestly I don't care. I don't want to spend my time on Facebook, right? So that's the biggest thing to think about is I don't care if a marketing person is telling you that's where you need to be. If you don't enjoy doing it, don't do it, because you're not going to be successful, right? It's going to be a thing that you resent doing. So you're going to come up with every excuse to not do it, so just don't try to do it.
Speaker 1:So don't. So why are you doing it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, don't make it a chore. So I mean my, you know, even just in our own process, my wheels are turning. Like hey, you know, moment someone comes in, send a quick 3045 second loom video or zoom or whatever to use to record it. What are maybe some other like triggers throughout the process that are like really good, like value adds, like hey, you know what, if you're not doing this right now, you should really consider adding a video into the process at this point or this point.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so think about, um, really little things. If somebody refers you business, right, say it's like a center of influence refers you business, even if it's just an intro call, send that person a video and just say you know, hey, pete, thanks so much for sending that person to me. You know, really appreciate that you were thinking of me with their needs. It means a lot. You know, I look forward to more collaboration with you, right, Because it's the videos that always stick out in people's minds more than a text message ever will, or you know language, so look for those opportunities.
Speaker 3:If you mess something up with a client, right, things go wrong. Maybe you missed a trade or you missed a deadline. Send a 45 second video so they can, you know, see your eyes, see your facial expression, hear your tone of voice and just say, hey, I'm really sorry, we messed that up. Like. I want to acknowledge that. I want to let you know we take this seriously. That was absolutely a mistake on our part. We're fixing it, you know. So all those things where having that personal connection is going to matter, even silly things like a happy birthday, if you, for some reason maybe it's through social media happen to know, you know when a prospect's birthday is, shoot them a quick happy birthday video. Do you know how often I do that and people respond they're like this was the only message I replied to today, right, because?
Speaker 2:everyone else just sends the static.
Speaker 3:you know. Linkedin is like here, you can just do it and you're like that is worthless, right? I'm like. You just wasted my time on my birthday having to click through all these, you know, automated messages. Somebody sends a happy birthday and they use your name. That's the thing. Any of these personal videos always use the person's name.
Speaker 1:Yeah, otherwise you're like you're just sending that to everybody, aren't you? I know you are yeah, so is it? I mean that's such a good point and when I think about it, like there are ridiculous things on linkedin, like people actually use the videos right, like people will be like rock. I could 10x your business, check out this video I personally made for you and like I don't like it. But, transparently, sometimes I check it out just because they made a video for me. You know what I? And it's just like little stuff like that, where it's like usually I watch them, like oh, that was corny, but maybe I'll at least be like well, thanks for the video. You know what I mean, because it's just you're going, you are going a step above, just like those automated to communicate, and it doesn't feel phony, it feels authentic and, unless it's completely generic, people are going to always appreciate it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Like I said, it's just a great way to stand out. So just think of those short things, right, Don't send a video. And, yes, there's opportunities for using Loom for client reviews and whatnot. But just look for all those little things under 60 seconds right, Short and sweet, Send those out. And here's the biggest thing why I love these is once you get that feedback of people being like I love that. That made my day. I really appreciated that that kind of becomes like a self-fulfilling prophecy and you start to realize you're like, oh, video is valuable.
Speaker 2:Oh.
Speaker 3:I should keep doing this. Oh hey, maybe maybe my hair wasn't perfect that day or I just got back from a run Nobody cares Right and that just almost subconsciously helps build the confidence in you to be like, okay, I can do this and then take it out further.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, that's true. Would you give us some, um, give us like a success story? Like maybe there's somebody, when they met with you, they're like Katie, this is never going to work. Like, if you can fix me, I'll be eternally grateful. Tell me how to do it, I'll do anything that you say. And then, like, they started implementing some of these things that you're talking about and now it's really like helped them come a long way.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, okay, so, even even a fun one. So a guy who's a 40 year veteran in the industry right, so he's not in his twenties and he was like I'm not good with technology, like I'm kind of overwhelmed in my business, I don't even know what to do, he's like, but I feel like I should do video. And we did struggle with a number of technology things, but I told him, like I tell him, I'm like just start with these one-to-one videos. I was like either before a prospect meeting, after a prospect meeting, and so he sent a video after meeting with prospects, you know, just saying hey, really appreciate it, I really think we can work well together. These are the next steps. This is how I can help you. I kid you not. They responded and he knew they were interviewing other advisors. And they responded and said we chose you because of that video, because it shows us that you're tech savvy.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, that is incredible. He was probably like no way.
Speaker 3:Yeah, he called me and he was like oh no, what do I do now?
Speaker 1:He's like they want me to use more technology. I don't know. That's amazing. That's really. That's amazing. That's really cool. Though that's really cool, pete, did you have something? I saw you were you gonna say something yeah, no, I was gonna ask.
Speaker 2:I mean, I know you're known for video, but you also mentioned, how you like, just simplifying businesses and automating things like what are some other tidbits maybe that go along with the video? That also will make it more efficient, because I'm also probably guessing that with sending more short video you're doing less meeting times, less pointless meetings. So what are your thoughts around stuff outside of video?
Speaker 3:Well. So if I can still pause the video for just a second, so I call it like. If we think about marketing, I try to teach like a video first. Marketing strategy, right, if advisors are taking the time to do video, then one challenge is I don't want them to have like a hope and pray strategy. Right, like, oh, I put it on YouTube, now it's all going to be perfect. That doesn't work, right. So leveraging AI, so like Descript, is my favorite tool for like how much they've added AI on it, right? So like taking that video and then it can create a blog post Great. So now that blog post goes on your website for SEO, embed that YouTube video and then take a clip from it, put it on social so you're driving traffic back, and then make sure you have your newsletter going out to clients, right, saying like, hey, here's another video. And it's always a great way of saying if you know anyone else that's interested in this topic, please feel free to share it with them.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Right, so great way to kind of get in front of other people. And so we look at stuff like that of like hey, anything you're doing, how can you leverage the effort? In an easy way that isn't going to take a ton of time. You know be super painful.
Speaker 1:Yeah, record once and then make a million things come out of it, right, like there's no sense in just sitting there and having your will spin all the time. So all right Back to your. Back to your efficiency question, peter. So other things that you see as far as efficiency goes.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So even little things, like I can't believe how many advisors still aren't using something like Calendly, which is crazy. Or they are using Calendly but they're not using it effectively. Right, so you can have an email go out with an embedded video, even if that is a one to many, just a, you know, not using the person's name, maybe. Hey, looking forward to this meeting, right, something a little more generic, but it still has that. Right.
Speaker 3:As an advisor, you are going to stand up. I've been talking about this for over 10 years. I was using video. I had a YouTube channel in my financial planning business in 2013,. Right, I think I'm going to be having the same conversations 10 years from now. So if advisors are like, yeah, but enough people are doing it, they are not you will stand out. You will absolutely differentiate. Anywhere you can be using video in your business Loom, right. That is another. I know it is video, but it is still efficiency, right. If you are changing software providers, if you're changing how you deliver documents right, little things like that. Communicating in a one-to-many way is really effective, and I still talk with a lot of advisors that have the white glove mentality of like, no, we want to talk one-on-one with each of our clients. I'm like you know your clients are busy people. Meeting with you in the middle of a workday is not convenient, right? So I'm like, how can you make it easy for yourself in a way that's actually adding more touch points for your clients and prospects?
Speaker 1:Yeah, 100%. Honest question, Katie Are you and your family time travelers? Because it seems like you guys are doing everything 10 years before everybody else catches on to them.
Speaker 3:It's genetic, apparently, because, yeah, that's how my mom, was.
Speaker 1:That's super cool. Ok, serious question now. So for people that do want to work with you, they're like hey, I love what Katie had to say on the Only Fee Only podcast. This seems like something I need to learn more about. Had to say on the Only Fee Only podcast. This seems like something I need to learn more about. What is your process of meeting with people, potentially working with them, helping them through some of the things that they should be doing? How long does the engagement look like? Does it just depend?
Speaker 3:Walk us through a little bit of that, yeah. So I really try to practice what I preach, because otherwise what are we all doing? So I am big on less is more. So I kind of have one key way to work with me. I run 12-week workshops three times a year. So it kicks off in January, may and September and in those 12-week workshops we cover everything. So we walk through eye contact, smiling, getting comfortable, your whole tech setup. I give individual advice. These are really small cohorts because the whole point is it's a workshop, it's not listening to me talk the whole time.
Speaker 3:We're actively doing your setup, having you practice things, building content right, figuring out do you work well with a script or not, do you work better standing or sitting inside or outside, right, all those little things. And then at the end of those 12 weeks you get two professionally edited videos. We do your custom YouTube banner, custom YouTube thumbnails. So the goal is that. You know, for most advisors they're in growth mode, right, they do want to kind of get out there, but in that we are touching on. You know, video can and should touch every part of your business. It should touch your operations, your client experience, your internal team communications, client communications right. So we touch on all of that as well. Looking through the client journey of where can you add video and efficiencies yeah, that's phenomenal.
Speaker 2:Absolutely love it. Any other golden nuggets or like something that you're gonna really try to implement in 2025 or get the message out about?
Speaker 3:So with that I mean, if you notice, I start right 12-week workshop starting in January, may and September. So I'm taking April, august and December off of work. So I think that's a big part of you know. I've long looked at successful advisors and kind of what they do and I've always been jealous when they're like I take a week off, a month or a month off a year or whatever it is. And I've realized right on the trip to Japan recently, it's like pulling away is kind of the best thing you can do for your business, right, and that's when you get clarity on what are you doing. Otherwise we get stuck in the grind. I want to be traveling where I can create more videos, right, interesting videos in different places. So you know, again, really trying to focus with advisors on if you're working too much, you're working too hard. That's not a recipe for long-term success or health, healthy success.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely Well, Katie, thank you so much. It's always great to be able to talk to you and see you in person. Um, for those, for those out there that want to follow along with what you're doing or get in touch with you, what's the best way to do that?
Speaker 3:Um head to advisorvmadvisorvm for videomarketingcom. There's a little talk to me button in the bottom right. You can send me a text, audio or a video message. So I always love hearing from people after podcasts when they're like this was my favorite part or I wish you answered this question, so shoot those to me. I'll share any of those that I get with you guys. So you kind of know, but that's also a fun way for people to just test out and a good thing for advisors to see. Hey, you can have this on your website too.
Speaker 2:Very cool. Katie, thank you so much for your time and expertise today.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I look forward to dancing the night away with you guys at the next conference.
Speaker 1:We'll be there, thank you.