In modern distribution, influence happens upstream. Video is how asset managers shape advisor perception before the first meeting.
In modern buying, the “first meeting” usually happens without you in the room. Multiple studies show that buyers complete a substantial portion of their evaluation independently, long before a sales conversation. For example, 6sense’s 2024 research reports that 69% of the purchase process happens before B2B buyers engage with sellers, and 81% of buyers choose a preferred vendor prior to speaking with sales—with 85% establishing purchase requirements before contacting sales. Put differently: the common “80% decide early” shorthand is directionally right—because by the time a prospect finally meets you (or takes your call), they’re often not “deciding,” they’re validating. That shift has a direct marketing implication: if the buyer’s early-stage learning, trust formation, and shortlisting happen in the dark, then your job is to make sure your message—and your credibility—are what they discover during that anonymous research window, not after it.
This is where video becomes more critical than ever: it compresses time, increases comprehension, and scales trust. On the marketer side, Wyzowl’s long-running benchmarks show that 82% of marketers say video has delivered a good ROI, and 83% say video has directly increased sales—not just “engagement,” but revenue outcomes. On the customer side, that preference is even clearer: 96% of people report watching an explainer video to learn about a product/service, 85% say they’ve been convinced to buy by watching a video, and 63% say they’d most like to learn about a product via a short video. Those numbers matter because they explain why video works in the pre-meeting phase: it’s the fastest way to demonstrate competence, reduce ambiguity, show proof (case studies, walkthroughs, demos), and communicate the “intangibles” that text struggles to convey—tone, confidence, clarity, and credibility. In a world where buyers self-educate first and reach out later, video becomes the most efficient bridge between “I found you” and “I trust you.”
Going forward, the advantage compounds for organizations that build a video-driven marketing culture (not “occasional videos,” but a repeatable operating system). The trend lines point to video as a dominant investment area: Wyzowl reports 92% of marketers plan to spend the same or more on video, signaling that video isn’t a fad—it’s a budget priority. HubSpot’s marketing statistics (drawing on its State of Marketing research) reinforce that the top ROI-driving content formats are video-based, led by short-form video. Meanwhile, Forrester has documented how complex buying has become—buyers now move through many interactions across a journey, which increases the need for consistent, repeatable, on-demand messaging that doesn’t rely on live conversations. The practical conclusion is simple: companies that operationalize video—leaders participating, subject-matter expertise captured regularly, customer proof packaged, and distribution optimized—create a self-reinforcing flywheel. They show up earlier in research, explain value more clearly, earn trust faster, and stay top-of-mind as buying groups narrow their shortlist. The firms that don’t build that muscle increasingly compete at a disadvantage, because they’re trying to influence decisions after preferences have already formed.