Financial Services Case Study

Ascendant Financial is the gold standard in educating Canadians about the Infinite Banking Concept, the process of Becoming Your Own Banker, while helping households, business owners, and professionals create generational wealth. Their commitment to providing valuable financial education and guidance has made them the #1 Advisory Team in Canada, for several years running. (Source - Equitable Life of Canada)

With the growing trend of people spending more time on YouTube, Ascendant Financial saw the platform as an opportunity to become omnipresent, to connect with their existing clients, and to attract more of the people they most love to serve. As the number 1 video platform, YouTube is accessible by anyone, anywhere, and at any time. It was a simple decision to “go all in on YouTube” as Ascendant’s CEO, Jayson Lowe often says. “YouTube is where people go to learn, and we want to be seen and heard everywhere.” Ascendant’s content and the scalability of its content strategy made it the ideal place to increase its credibility, authority, and influence in the financial industry.

In this 2022 case study, we will highlight the incredible results Ascendant Financial generates via its YouTube channel and the lift it generates in people served, and profitable sales. By utilizing the power of YouTube, they are connecting with their target audience, providing valuable financial education, and ultimately driving success in their business.

  • 150+% Subscriber Growth

  • 125+% Organic Views

  • 140+% Watch Time

  • 175+% Impressions

Target Audience & Marketing Strategies

Ascendant Financial's target audience is English-speaking Canadian men and women aged 35-54 who are highly ambitious and motivated to either improve or to expand their wealth. They are either high-earning wage earners making over $80k or established business owners with at least 3 years of profitability and 15% (or more) going to their bottom line. These individuals are college or university educated and have kids or young adults.

They are passionate about financial control, independence, and growing wealth while reducing taxes. They have aggressive investment and financial goals and value family time. They struggle with finding a better way to manage their finances, distrust the traditional financial and political system, and seek a preferred retirement solution. They are also passionate about giving back to the communities where they live and work.

Ascendant Financial's target audience is made up of critical thinkers, action-takers, and self-educated individuals who value relationships and communication. They are influenced by the government raising taxes, the incompetence of traditional financial systems, and the absence of control. They follow a schedule that balances work and family time and are open-minded and coachable.

Ascendant Financial uses a combination of paid and organic marketing strategies, across all of the most popular social media platforms where prospects are paying attention and consuming content. However, unlike many financial experts who face the challenge of rising above the noise to attract their ideal prospects, Ascendant has stepped into the forefront by developing a discipline of consistent content creation so that prospects have access, on demand, in context, and from any device connected to the internet. The goal is to apply leverage strategically and maximize their time effectively, implementing intent based branding, and helping people by actually helping them.

  • 130 Hours of new content added

  • 325 New Videos Published (including Shorts)

YouTube Marketing Strategy

Ascendant Financial's YouTube marketing strategy involved creating and publishing a wide range of content types in 2022, including repurposed webinars, rant videos, reaction videos, repurposed live presentations, client coaching calls, YouTube collaborations, talking head videos, animation videos, and experimental videos.

To maximize the impact of their content, we adopted a healthy combination of quality and quantity, while avoiding the "spaghetti approach" of blindly posting everything to see what works. Instead, we strategically chose content formats that were proven to be successful and analyzed the results to ensure they were reaching the right target audience.

Each video was designed to promote a free video training that would enter the viewer into Ascendant Financial's sales funnel, where they could be nurtured. To capture their audience's attention and turn them into leads, they offered a valuable video training as a lead magnet.

The combination of helpful YouTube content and the valuable free video training resulted in a high number of leads converting into clients, as these clients recognized that the Ascendant Financial team had their best interests at heart. The YT Era team closely monitored the YouTube analytics to understand how the audience was engaging with Ascendant Financial's content and make any necessary adjustments to ensure continued success.

Key Results

The results of Ascendant Financial's YouTube marketing campaign are impressive. In 2022, more than 480 new qualified leads opted into their education / sales funnel.

In terms of channel metrics, we ended 2022 with:

  • Subscribers 150+% from the previous year

  • Organic Views 125+% increase

  • Organic Watch Time 140+% increase

  • Impressions 175+% increase

  • Average Percentage Viewed 35+% increase

  • We added 130+ hours of content to the channel

  • 325+ videos (including Shorts)

The channel continued to perform more efficiently, and their strategy for repurposing webinars was highly effective and exceeded expectations. The team also observed numerous positive comments from viewers sharing their gratitude, which is a metric that is difficult to quantify but important to amplifying know, like, and trust (in that exact order).

Overall, the results of Ascendant Financial's YouTube marketing campaign were outstanding and demonstrated the positive impact it had on their bottom line.

Bottom Line

The impact of Ascendant Financial's YouTube marketing campaign on their bottom line was significant. The organic 480+ leads generated from their YouTube channel led to a total trackable gross revenue increase of 976% CAD in 2022, not including YouTube ad revenue.

It's worth noting that the 130+ hours of content published on their channel generated an average of $5,000+ in gross revenue CAD per hour. This highlights the value of YouTube marketing efforts and the positive impact it is having on their business growth.

In 2023, Ascendant Financial's goal is to continue leveraging the YouTube platform, along with the services of YT Era to multiply their results and to serve more people. Their commitment to providing valuable financial education and guidance through their YouTube channel has proven to be a successful strategy, and they plan to continue this approach to drive even greater results for their business.

Lessons Learned

The results of Ascendant Financial's YouTube marketing campaign in 2022 demonstrate that a large number of subscribers is not a requirement for generating real results. With 5,000+ subscribers, they were able to add 480+ new qualified leads to their education / sales funnel and generate a total trackable gross revenue increase of 976%.

The team's commitment to providing valuable financial education and guidance through their YouTube channel, combined with their effective content strategy, resulted in significant growth in their channel metrics, including subscribers, organic views, watch time, impressions, and average percentage viewed.

This success highlights the importance of having a clear understanding of your target audience, conducting a Comparable Analysis, and developing a content strategy that effectively reaches and resonates with your target market.

Overall, the results of Ascendant Financial's YouTube marketing campaign in 2022 were impressive, and we are excited to build on this success in 2023. We believe that 2022 was just a warm-up for what is to come and we are looking forward to seeing even greater results in the future.

Conclusion

Attention is one of the most valuable assets on the planet and is a critical factor in determining a company's success. In today's digital age, consumers are bombarded with information from various sources, making it challenging for companies to capture and retain their attention.

However, for companies that are able to control the narrative in their niche and become the go-to experts in their field, the rewards can be significant. When a company establishes itself as the authoritative voice in its industry, it becomes easier to attract and retain the attention of its target audience.

In the case of Ascendant Financial, their focus on providing valuable financial education and guidance through their YouTube channel has enabled them to control the narrative in their niche and establish themselves as the go-to experts in their field.

This highlights the importance of attention as a critical factor in a company's success and the benefits of investing in strategies that effectively capture and retain the attention of your target audience.