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[According to a 2025 Wyzowl survey of a large cross-section of marketing professionals, video as a marketing tool is used by 89% of businesses and is considered integral to the marketing strategy of 95% of those marketers – an all-time high. Data reinforces that explainer videos comfortably top the charts as the most popular video type created, and that consumers are more receptive to video marketing than ever.
Barriers to adoption, though, still exist for many marketers, with most citing time constraints or simply not knowing where to start as their main obstacles. This indicates that getting started with video marketing could feel overwhelming.
To better understand how to tap into video marketing and its creative applications in financial services, we reached out to Matt Novello, Managing Director of FLX Media, a subsidiary services partner on the FLX Networks wealth and asset management platform. Matt brings a unique perspective to the industry from his previous work as a co-owner of a Los Angeles production company and Director of Photography for a wide array of television and cable projects. As a winner of a slew of video awards from SIA, AVA Digital, Viddy, and The Telly Awards for video work with his asset manager and wealth firm clients, we asked him to share his unique perspectives and experiences on the nature and power of the medium of video.]
Hortz: What is meant by the saying that video brings content to life?
Novello: When advisors or portfolio managers are trying to get across their message, they ultimately want to be relaying trust. That is at the forefront of any relationship, especially when we are dealing with finance and money.
While video messaging can establish subject matter expertise, its real power is in helping establish trust. Its rich visual nature addresses the fact that people want to see who they are dealing with. It can become a kind of virtual handshake, a way to get to know you, build your brand, and gain visibility and traction in a very scalable way.
In a video, you are able to utilize cinematography – a visual language – with strong client-centered messaging, and evocative music that can combine all those elements to create an emotion, an emotion that drives impact. I see it as the ultimate combination of all the arts rolled into one. You can do things and say things in a way that just does not come across in everyday conversation or in standard marketing brochures. It creates living, breathing differentiation from other competitors and that is really the heart of how it brings content to life. We always say it’s your story, but we just help you tell it in a powerful way.
Hortz: From your unique experiences in both the entertainment and financial services industries, how do you develop media content for a financial firm that differentiates them? How do you help them tell their most compelling story?
Novello: I look at it in a few different ways, of course. From one perspective, I look at myself as a cinematographer of a particular subject – the choices I consciously make in how I tell the story visually, how I use light, what lenses I use in different situations or locations. Is there camera movement, or advantageous camera positioning? There’s an art and skill in filming the subject in a way that separates them as unique individuals and thought leaders.
From another perspective, it is really getting to know your subject personally, with the ultimate goal being to humanize them and find out what makes them tick. Why did they get into this space? Why did they choose to work in finance and their particular markets?
When you look at the websites or speak to most asset managers, financial advisors, or wealth management firms, a lot of them are saying the same things. Many of their goals are the same, like protecting downside risk. So, I ask questions to dig into their underlying motivations and goals. My goal is to differentiate them from what everyone else is doing and saying. If the subject is a firm, I ask why that firm exists beyond just making money and a return for their clients? What is the ultimate goal? What are we solving for?
I then add my visual skillset, essentially adding an extra layer of accessibility to see them as human and distinctive to gain trust and emotional connection.
Hortz: What are the various video media solutions you offer to meet the unique goals of different financial firms?
Novello: We like to look at our different video solutions as a spectrum of offerings – brand videos, product videos, spotlight videos, FLX Reels. At one end is a bespoke, onsite, white glove, directed experience where I am onsite working with firm leadership or their advisors at their offices, and it is very high touch. We assemble a small, nimble team of craftsmen and cameras to help tell their story on site, using the practical backdrop of the office and in-person filming.
Towards the other end of that spectrum, it can be virtually hands-off on the FLX platform with our embedded virtual FLX Studios designed to meet people where they are – no travel and easy plug-in from their offices. Within this area, we can produce low-touch, low-involvement firm narratives and firm video messaging for clients. We can also offer full direct use of our video studio with the click of a button for speed and market responsiveness, where firms can get out their timely market or quarterly updates with their portfolio managers or other designated spokespeople. Of course, there’s a director’s version of that where I, or someone from our media team, will sit in with the folks and guide them through the studio environment, prompting them with questions, or whatever else they may need.
To round out our video solutions, FLX Reels offers digital avatars to solve for busy Portfolio Managers or advisors who do not have the time or the desire to be on camera. This is fully on the other end of the spectrum from the high-touch onsite experience, with FLX virtual Studios sitting in between.
Hortz: What are the key parameters or elements needed for a media product to be effective?
Novello: I always go back to story. Everybody has a story, but is it unique? Is that message coming across? Ultimately, I think it boils down to your message and why people should pay attention to you. Why are you different? I think if we can capture that, it is the biggest part of the job. But also, with the attention span these days, it must be concise, unless someone is tuning in to hear about something in their portfolio, and they know they are signing up for something detailed like that. You must catch people’s attention, do it quickly, and be different.
To do that – building a differentiated story or approach – you have to develop the right storyboard with the client to really sift out and determine those differentiators and emotional connectors. Sometimes it is hard for firms to do it themselves, to discover those elements. They need that third-party perspective, or you get the same sounding story across industry websites and marketing brochures.
Hortz: Once the media product is done, how do you help them broadcast and amplify that media message?
Novello: One of the reasons it made a great deal of sense for the FLX Networks platform to create a video content Studio, as opposed to using outside agencies, is that we are directly tethered to the asset and wealth communities. We can easily broadcast and amplify media content of all kinds.
We gain that ability to scale the message, obviously through our social channels, but also through our targeted email campaigns to financial advisors, our newsletters across channels that have this wide net, but can also be targeted at the same time. We are orchestrating campaigns where we are following the lead-gen process and passing those leads off to our client members.
Hortz: Can you give us a brief case study on your engagement with a financial firm on video marketing and the results of a recent video product?
Novello: A lot of our engagements honestly start with a firm having had a bad experience with video media. They did something before and they were completely turned off by it. Through their relationship with us here on the FLX Networks platform and getting exposed to all the different capabilities we have, we talked them into giving it another shot with our help to correct all the previous mistakes that were made. Our winning over sixteen major video marketing awards across multiple video award groups also helped us in making the case.
After one video with a recent asset manager, they were so pleased with the quality of the messaging and the results that they just signed up for four more. Many of our case studies and experiences followed that same playbook – converting them and changing their experiences with the power of video.
Hortz: Any concluding thoughts you would like to share?
Novello: I would just like to clearly reinforce that our goal at FLX Media is to deliver meaningful video content that grows audience engagement, generates leads, and gives brands their unique voice, all while saving the firm time and money building in-house production teams and infrastructure. And every video we produce is amplified through FLX’s proprietary email and social channels, ensuring your message reaches the audiences that matter most.
I am personally thrilled and privileged to bring my visual skillset and video production experience to financial services to help bring their important work and messaging to life in a powerful way to better engage their audience. I welcome discussions to explore a creative collaboration.
This article was originally published here and is republished on Wealthtender with permission.
About the Author
Bill Hortz
Founder Institute for Innovation Development
Wealthtender is a trusted, independent financial directory and educational resource governed by our strict Editorial Policy, Integrity Standards, and Terms of Use. While we receive compensation from featured professionals (a natural conflict of interest), we always operate with integrity and transparency to earn your trust. Wealthtender is not a client of these providers.