The trust gap is widening

I sat across from the managing partner of a national accounting firm last month. He pushed their freshly printed brochures across the table with a resigned sigh.

“Our competitors are churning out more and more content every day using AI. How are potential clients supposed to know we’re the real experts when everyone sounds the same?”

It’s a question I’m hearing with increasing frequency across professional services firms in Australia.

The reality is that when anyone can create polished, professional-sounding content with a few AI prompts, your written words alone no longer signal expertise or build trust.

This isn’t speculation. Our experience shows us that video content consistently outperforms AI-written text when it comes to building trust and driving conversions.

The numbers tell an interesting story. When identical information is presented as AI-generated text versus expert video, viewers rate the video content as 47% more trustworthy and 58% more persuasive.

Why such a dramatic difference?

Humans are wired to trust faces, not fonts

We’re fundamentally social creatures with brains that evolved to read subtle facial cues, voice tonality, and body language. These signals bypass our conscious reasoning and speak directly to our trust instincts.

A law firm we work with discovered this firsthand. Their comprehensive AI-written guides on property law generated decent traffic but minimal enquiries. When they created video versions featuring their senior partners explaining the same concepts, conversion rates tripled.

What changed? Nothing about the information—only the medium.

The partners weren’t more eloquent in video than in writing. But their genuine expertise, subtle hesitations when addressing complex topics, and authentic enthusiasm when explaining solutions all communicated something text simply cannot: genuine human mastery.

Four types of video content that build genuine trust

Not all video content is created equal when it comes to trust-building. Our work with dozens of Australian professional services firms has revealed four specific types that consistently deliver results:

Client testimonials that tell authentic stories

Nothing builds credibility like a real client explaining, in their own words, how you solved their problems. You can turn your happiest clients into your most effective salespeople if you dedicate the resources to turn their stories into testimonial videos. 

Together with a national NDIS provider we created interview videos of their clients sharing their experiences. These videos became their highest-converting marketing assets, and they’re now Australia’s fastest-growing NDIS provider.

The key is capturing specific details and real emotions rather than generic praise. Viewers can tell the difference instantly.

Here at Eloquent we differentiate between client testimonials as your “highlight reel” of happy clients saying great things about your solution, while your case studies are in-depth walkthrough’s of how you helped one specific client.

Case studies that show your process

While testimonials focus on outcomes, case study videos showcase your approach and methodology. They give prospects a window into how you think and work.

An IT consultancy in Sydney created a series of behind-the-scenes videos showing how they tackled a complex cloud migration. These videos didn’t reveal confidential details but demonstrated their problem-solving approach.

These process-focused videos shortened their sales cycle by nearly 30% because prospects already understood and trusted their methodology before the first meeting.

Thought leadership that shares genuine insights

True thought leadership doesn’t state your brilliance—it demonstrates it through valuable, applicable insights.

A construction firm we work with started a simple video series where their project managers shared one specific insight each week, drawn from current projects. No scripts, no fancy editing—just authentic expertise shared conversationally.

These videos averaged 8x more engagement than their written content and directly influenced several major contract decisions, according to client feedback.

People-centric content that celebrates your team

The strength of any professional services firm lies in its people. Videos that showcase your team’s expertise, personalities and passion serve a dual purpose: attracting clients AND new talent.

We worked with that same accounting firm in creating short “meet the expert” videos for each senior team member, focusing on their specialisations and what they enjoy about their work. These videos now feature prominently on their services pages, their careers page, and in recruitment outreach.

The result? A 40% increase in quality job applications and clients specifically requesting to work with individuals they “met” through these videos.

Our proven framework for turning expertise into strategic video content

Many firms recognise the value of video but struggle with consistent implementation. The good news is that with the right partner and process, it becomes remarkably straightforward.

Our framework breaks video content creation into three strategic stages:

Identify your knowledge assets and audiences

Start by mapping out the specific insights, processes, or case studies your team could share that different audiences would find valuable. The best approach considers:

• What questions or misconceptions each audience segment has
• Which aspects of your approach resonate with different decision-makers
• What types of results matter most to various stakeholders

Remember, you’re not just creating content for prospects—you’re also speaking to potential hires, current clients, and even your internal team.

Establish a regular filming rhythm

The most successful firms we work with schedule consistent monthly filming days where our team comes onsite to capture multiple content pieces in a single efficient session.

This approach delivers several crucial benefits:

• Your experts become progressively more comfortable on camera
• You build a substantial content library that can be deployed strategically
• Multiple content types (testimonials, thought leadership, case studies) can be captured in one day
• Both short-form (social media) and long-form (website, proposals) content can be created from the same sessions

A national accounting firm we partner with holds a monthly filming day where we capture content from four different partners. This single day generates enough video content for their website, LinkedIn, client newsletters, and recruitment materials for weeks.

Distribute and amplify strategically across channels

Different video types belong in different places in your marketing ecosystem:

• Testimonials work best on service pages and proposal documents
• Case studies belong in nurture sequences and later-stage decision content
• Thought leadership videos perform well on LinkedIn and as “top of funnel” content
• Team videos shine on your careers page and in recruitment outreach

The key is building a comprehensive content calendar that ensures the right content reaches the right audience at the right stage of their journey.

Our clients receive a mix of quick-turn social media clips and more polished longer-form content from each filming session, ensuring all their channels remain consistently active with authentic expert content.

Our favourite little “hack” is then amplify your thought leadership content to your ideal audience, and then retargeting your website visitors with your testimonials and case studies to help turn that attention into new clients.

Authentic expertise, or AI anonymity?

As AI-generated content continues to flood every industry, the firms that stand out will be those that showcase the irreplaceable human elements behind their services.

Your expertise, relationships, and unique approach can’t be replicated by AI. But they can be hidden behind it if you rely too heavily on automated content.

The most successful firms we work with aren’t fighting against AI—they’re using it strategically for research and support while putting their human experts front and centre through video.

The question isn’t whether you should incorporate more video into your content strategy—it’s whether you can afford not to in a world where written words alone no longer signal authentic expertise.

Ready to start building trust through video? Let’s talk about how Eloquent can help your business showcase the genuine expertise that sets you apart.