5 top tips for creating financial wellbeing videos

"Get me a crocodile sandwich and make it snappy." I've loved this joke since the very first time I heard it. In fact, I just had a good old chuckle while typing it. I guess I have a very simple mind and am rather easy to please. With my glasses, perhaps I could have been one of the Two Ronnies? In my dreams!

Other notable things that are snappy:

Small dogs - I'm not sure if the usual adjective is snappy or yappy; both are accurate. I'm talking about the ones that have high-pitched barks and sharp-nipping teeth. I like dogs, but prefer them bigger. As a test, if you could imagine drop kicking your dog easily across your garden*, it probably isn't big enough?
Fingers - especially songs with very prominent finger-snapping moments. The very best of these must be Under Pressure by Queen and David Bowie. The clap and snap intro was extremely clever and remains instantly recognisable; even more so with that terrific bass guitar line.
Snappy Snaps - who hasn't been there for a passport photo in the last decade? A great shop that saves me looking like a pillock in a Photo-Me booth, randomly in the middle of a shopping centre. That said, I also dislike the company, due to one of their shops leaping in front of the late, great George Michael's car!
Rice Krispies - Snap, accompanied by his chums, Crackle and Pop. I still dip an ear to the bowl, as milk hits cereal, to hear that magnificently evocative snappy noise!

So, what has this got to do with anything? I recently worked with an employer creating a video for employees that couldn't attend financial wellbeing sessions in person, and one of our main aims was to "keep it snappy".

You may have employees that are too stressed, busy, or ill to find the time to attend a wellbeing session that would really help them. By making a video, as opposed to just filming the session, you create a powerful tool that can be utilised across multiple platforms. The video could even end up being the very teaser that increases attendance rates of your financial wellbeing sessions. It's important that the right employees attend financial wellbeing sessions, not just the ones that already organise their finances well!

My 5 top tips for keeping videos snappy:

Keep it short - there are varying schools of thought here, in terms of the optimal length. My view is that it should be long enough to capture the key messages (let's face it, finance can be complex), but as short as possible to maintain attention. If I had to declare in minutes then 5 to 10 maximum.
Keep it lively - at the risk of annoying the cameraman and sound team, lots of intonation variation and jazz hands goes down well. There's nothing like pensions in monotone to turn an audience off.
Rehearse - the cost of making a video has become hugely more affordable, but you will lose the will to live if you have to do too many takes.
Edit - make sure the editing is done well. Graphics are fantastic for explaining financial concepts, and music can really bring videos to life (but be careful it doesn't kill the vibe instead - oh, and watch out for copyright issues!)
Distribute it promptly and widely, and refresh it - there's no point just saving your video on an HR shared file for active seekers of such fun. Send it to everyone, using as many different channels and platforms as possible (email, intranet, social media etc etc). When the finished item gets more than six months old, check the content - especially if it's tax-year specific.

I would like to say that you should finish this off by being a snappy dresser, but I've never really been that guy. The only way my clothes could look snappy is if they were made from live alligators*!

*No dogs or alligators were harmed during the writing of this article.

James Biggs is consultancy and wellbeing director at Lorica.

This article was supplied by Lorica.