Budgets are tight these days
And there’s more need than ever to prove ROI from your marketing spend.
But there’s good news! Some of the best ideas are born when you’re working within constraints.
These are the moments where we roll up our sleeves and get stuck in.
When I sat down with Robyn Winstanley last month to chat through her approach to fintech marketing at Ozone API, it was immediately clear that she was someone who relishes this DIY mindset.
With a background in video production herself, she was the perfect person to speak to about creating content in house that delivers against your marketing KPIs.
When done in the right way, it can be a great tool in your content toolbox!
The following 6 min read covers topics including:
- Content strategy
- Producing video in house
- Turning internal voices into brand advocates
- Distribution & metrics
Ready to pick up a few tips from someone who knows their stuff? Let’s go!
Why Video Deserves a Seat at the Strategy Table
Video has always been an integral part of Robyn’s approach to marketing strategy.
At Ozone, it’s primarily used at the awareness stage of the funnel, and is built in from the very beginning.
As she notes, “when it comes to our campaigns and how we use video or how we use any of our formats, we plan distribution in parallel with production.”
This is reflective of Robyn’s wider approach to strategy across everything she does.
“I see strategy as clarity plus velocity. Know who you're talking to and move fast enough to stay relevant.”
Starting with the audience is key. Understand what they need, what they fear, and what they value, and align your messaging, but also crucially your channels, accordingly.
There’s no use trying to reach an audience with a piece of content that isn’t fit for purpose.
Robyn sees video as a uniquely powerful channel, one that’s able to bring ideas to life in a way text alone can’t.
“Video allows us to get what we need to across in a way that is human, that other platforms or other formats don't allow.”
In practice, this means using video to help grab an audience and pull them in, before directing the new set of qualified viewers towards longer-form blog content.
By sharing a small, engaging insight up front, you draw the audience in, making them more receptive to the content that follows and more likely to convert.
A Lean, Scalable Way to Produce Video In-House
So how does Robyn go about creating this bite-sized content that helps capture an audience and move them through the funnel?
It can be a daunting prospect to consider creating video content yourself.
What programmes and tools do you need? How do you go about recording the raw material? Once finished, how/where should you upload it?
For Robyn, it’s all about making the most of the tools at your disposal.
Tools that are easy and (in most cases) free to use.
Tools that are web-based and don’t require lots of computer processing power.
Everyone has video recording software at their fingertips these days in the form of video conferencing software.
Robyn uses theirs (Google Meets) to record conversations between internal experts and anyone elsewhere in the world with a good internet connection.
She then deploys Canva to put together a simple edit: “We take the recording, we add a top and a tail, and we add a bit of our branding and a bit of audio to it and then we publish it.”
It’s important not to lose sight of the end goal as well. These aren’t meant to be broadcast production quality interviews, or flashy explainer animations.
Instead, they’re designed to place the content front and center, and to be easily reproducible.
“We're leaning on the sort of more authentic human side of things, much lower production value, but focusing on the idea of getting the message across and that being the most important thing.”
Here’s an example of one of these chats from their Global Voices series:
Turning Internal Experts into Confident Video Advocates
It’s one thing knowing how to make and distribute the content.
It’s a whole other challenge to get buy-in from the people in your organisation who’ll be key to creating the content.
This is a challenge I’m sure most marketers are familiar with: how do you persuade your internal thought leaders – the experts in your organisation – to use their knowledge and social media presence to advocate for the product and brand in video format.
Most people don’t like speaking on camera.
And most are too tied down in the day-to-day operation of the company to have the time and space to contribute.
Robyn’s approach at Ozone again is a very simple one: start with the founders.
If you can't get them engaged talking about the company, then something is much more fundamentally wrong!
“The things that are in those guys' brains should be out there for the rest of the world to see and we could see that and we were like, guys, you need to be sharing this information with everybody else.”
They were hesitant at first, but with a bit of encouragement to try it and see what happens, these videos have quickly become some of their highest performing content.
It helps if your CEO loves running too, says Robyn. Audiences seem drawn to someone speaking to camera whilst dodging fallen trees and potholes!
It’s the human quality that makes this kind of content work. And you don’t need any media training to be able to produce it.
Once the example has been set from the top down, then it’s much easier to get buy-in throughout the organisation.
“If you can find those thought leaders in your business who are willing to go on camera and share insights, it could be some of the best content that you've ever shared.”
Measuring What Matters
Good strategy is all about doubling down on what’s working.
With video, you can get a pretty good indication alone just by following the vanity metrics: things like views, engagement, shares, comments etc.
But it’s also important to maintain a sense of the bigger picture and how your video content is contributing to wider goals like moving the pipeline along, and driving adoption.
Say your focus is on acquiring more MQLs.
Then reviewing your video content continuously, and working together with the sales team, to see how it’s helping to push those people through the funnel, is key.
As Robyn says, “Match the metric to the moment”.
Adapting your content based on how the market's moving, or how your audience is interacting with it, should be something that flows through the week with you.
Beyond the DIY approach
We’ve seen how fintechs can deploy tools they have to hand to produce effective video content that helps contribute towards a tangible marketing goal.
But what happens when you need to up the production value, or produce some content that can’t be done internally?
What would Robyn create in that scenario?
Bite-sized content is great for many things, but occasionally there’s a need for something longer and more thought out.
“I would love to create a documentary style series showing how open banking is transforming people's lives and businesses across different regions.”
As a global company, Ozone API supports every country around the world, and there would be great value in telling the real stories of its local impact.
Using video to make Open Banking feel tangible and emotional, and not just a technical framework, would help elevate Ozone API to the next level.
It’s a reminder that while DIY content can go far, there’s real power in investing in bigger stories when the moment calls for it.
Wrap Up
Robyn’s approach shows that you don’t need a massive budget or a full production crew to make video work for your fintech.
By focusing on clarity, speed, and authenticity, and by getting internal experts involved, your team can create content that not only engages, but drives real results.
Whether you’re recording from a meeting link or out on a run, the key is to stay human, stay relevant, and stay aligned with your audience.
Video doesn’t have to be complicated. It just has to connect.
