Financial services brands are investing heavily in events, their content strategy isn’t keeping up

Events have become a pivotal part of the financial services outreach strategy. From clients to recruitment, they play a part, but they’re not being fully utilized. While they’re attracting people and promoting products, their potential for content creation is underleveraged. Photography and video are an afterthought; something caught as the moment arises. There might be a social post about a successful event, or a photo embedded in a newsletter, but then the moment is gone, and the marketing opportunity lost. It’s time for a rethink.

Accessing the content potential of events

Events are one of the few places where brands feel real. Attendees aren’t being subjected to polished stock photos and boardroom headshots; they’re seeing the team in action. They see genuine communication, relationships, and culture. They’re seeing how your teams work together - and how leadership integrates and approaches them. It’s a slice of reality that shows outsiders exactly what your business is made of. And that’s why events matter.

The problem is that while financial services brands are maximizing the live potential of these events, pressing flesh and holding court, few of them are using them to communicate credibility outside of the event setting. But when you actively use events for content creation - the capturing of candid photos, a short video of a CEO answering a tough question, the audience’s response - you build a carefully curated catalogue of authentic material that holds the key to building trust. Too many companies let that opportunity slide.

The difference between covering an event and creating content from it

Anyone can cover an event. It’s what most brands do. It’s reactive, responding to what’s happening and rarely produces more than a photo gallery. Content creation is proactive, structured, and planned weeks before the event. It seeks to tell stories, promote themes, build positioning, and tie in with the company’s broader marketing goals. It doesn’t just take advantage of situations as they arise; it creates opportunities for marketing messages to be promoted and natural thought leadership moments to be captured - without seeming contrived. And it’s this premeditation that financial services brands are failing to achieve.

When you plan ahead, perhaps recording short executive interviews, soundbites, and behind-the-scenes footage that supports company branding, you can maximize the full potential of any event through the creation of months’ worth of usable, credible content. So, it’s difficult to understand why so few businesses are taking advantage of these opportunities.

Building on the value of credibility

Credibility matters to all businesses, but in financial services, it’s harder to achieve. Repeated scandals and market failures have left the public skeptical. So, while analyst reports, media coverage, and carefully crafted brand books might do for the boardroom, the public and would-be employees want more. And they’re increasingly turning to social media to gain the insights they’re looking for.

An event may attract and win over 300 or 500 people. It’s a worthwhile investment. But when you use that same event to reach thousands or tens of thousands on LinkedIn, the ROI jumps exponentially. Influencing customers, job applicants, the media, and making the company feel more human and more credible, rather than faceless and soulless.

Putting a face to a global brand

For global financial companies, humanization is more complicated. There’s not one event that can appeal to or reach all relevant parties. And content creation becomes inconsistent. What’s polished and steady in Singapore may be a fragmented afterthought in London, while New York has an entirely different approach again. This creates a sense of unpredictability and a lack of cohesion, which is why more companies are beginning to treat event production and content creation more strategically.

By bringing marketing and events teams together earlier, creating clear visual guidelines, and working with trusted production partners, they can standardize production quality and output consistency, creating a united front for their businesses. The goal isn’t to make every event look identical, but to always keep both events, and the related content on brand at all times.

Financial services firms are already spending heavily on events; the money, the people, and the time are already committed. The intended audience is already onboard.What’s missing is the communication and cohesion that enable these events to become the true opportunities that they can be.

Events can be one of the richest sources of content that any financial services company can access. It’s surprising that an industry that struggles so consistently to build trust, credibility, and authenticity should be so blind to the opportunity that combining content strategy and event planning can bring.

Serge Bejjani is co-founder and CEO of Shootday, delivering global photography and video production for businesses across 150+ cities.