The Client
This Canadian wealth advisory team operates under a leading national investment firm, helping clients achieve long-term financial security through personalized planning and disciplined investment strategies.
They specialize in retirement planning, investment management, and risk mitigation—backed by the resources and credibility of one of Canada’s top wealth management institutions.
Client name is being withheld for confidentiality and compliance purposes.
Vireo Services
YouTube Strategy
YouTube SEO
Thumbnails
Advertising
TLDR
A Canadian wealth advisory firm partnered with Vireo Video to grow its YouTube presence. To achieve this, we developed a strategy focused on organic growth, supported by a brand awareness ad campaign. A key part of the strategy was shifting the audience demographic from a younger 25–34 range to more relevant 55+ viewers actively planning for retirement.
Through niche video SEO, improved content packaging, and targeted advertising efforts, the channel saw a +762% increase in subscribers, +182% increase in views, and a +225% boost in watch time.
These results were achieved between September 1st, 2023, and January 31st, 2025, compared to the previous period.
The Challenge
When this firm started working with us, their content already had a loyal following of more than 1,400 subscribers. However, they struggled to expand that following to new audiences. Their content is highly specific to Canadian viewers aged 55-65+ who were financially planning for retirement or already retired. Given this niche focus, reaching and engaging the right demographic was a key priority.
The Execution
To reach the right audience, we developed a hyper-targeted strategy aimed at shifting the average viewer age from 25-35 to 55+. This approach combined organic growth tactics and strategic advertising to optimize their presence across the entire YouTube ecosystem.
Organic
- Niche Video SEO – Identified top-performing search terms and keywords relevant to Canadian retirement planning, including location-based searches (provinces and cities) and financial terms like RRSP, RRIF, and CPP. Focused on primary keywords such as “planning,” “retirement,” and “financial retirement” to drive both content creation and YouTube SEO.
- Content Specialization – Narrowed the channel’s focus exclusively to financial planning and tax-saving strategies for retirement, ensuring all content aligned with high-value audience interests.
- Quality Over Quantity – Reduced video output from eight to four videos per month, prioritizing higher production value and stronger engagement to boost average view percentage.
- Improved Video Packaging – Refined titles, thumbnails, and overall presentation to meet industry expectations while maintaining a distinct brand identity, resulting in higher click-through rates (CTR).
Advertising
- Efficient Ad Spend – Launched a tightly targeted paid campaign with a modest $660 CAD monthly budget to support each video and maximize reach among the most relevant audiences.
- Call-to-Subscribe Campaign – Retargeted viewers who had frequently watched and engaged with their content but hadn’t subscribed, while also expanding reach to look-alike audiences who fit the ideal demographic profile.
The Results
Top-Level Results
This is a period-over-period comparison, looking at performance from September 1st, 2023 – January 31st, 2025, against March 31st, 2022 – August 31st, 2023.
Views
From 121K to 342K
Subscribers
From 773 to 6.6K
Watch Time
From 5.1K to 16.7K
Avg-Percentage-Viewed
From 20.5% to 38.6%
CLick-Through-Rate
From 4.6% to 5.1%
Impressions
From 520K to 2M
Comments
From 119 to 330
Shares
From 528 to 2,792
Audience Age Before vs. After
In the graph below, purple represents a younger audience (25-34), which is not their ideal customer demographic. Since their business and content is for those actively planning for retirement, this group was less likely to convert. The blue section highlights our partnership period, during which the audience shifted to the 55-64 age range—their highest-converting viewers.
Audience Geography Before vs. After
In the graph below, audiences were previously split between Canada, Peru, and Argentina. Since their content is for Canadians planning for retirement, only viewers in Canada, and potentially the U.S., were relevant. The blue section highlights our partnership period, during which the Canadian audience grew from 35% to 62%, ensuring the content reached the right viewers.
Packaging Before vs. After
To increase engagement and clarity, we refined their titles, thumbnails, and video presentation to better align with audience expectations. This included featuring one host per thumbnail, crafting more compelling, pain-point-driven titles, and shifting from a webinar-style video format to a more conversational setup.
These adjustments made content easier to digest, improved click-through rates, and strengthened viewer retention.
While we’d typically showcase a before-and-after visual comparison here, we’ve excluded it to maintain client anonymity.
Key Insight: The Hidden Risk of Shorts for Niche Channels
While YouTube Shorts can be a powerful tool for growth, they can also disrupt audience targeting if the viewers they attract don’t align with a channel’s core audience. After four months of repurposing long-form content into Shorts, we saw strong engagement on Shorts, but a steady decline in impressions on full-length videos—capping at 10K impressions and dropping further.
The algorithm began misidentifying their channel’s long-form content as relevant to Shorts viewers—who skewed younger and less engaged in serious retirement planning. Recognizing this, we made a quick pivot, pulling back on Shorts and doubling down on long form content with SEO to re-align with the right audience. Since then, long-form performance has surged, with some videos now reaching 125K impressions.
This test reinforced two key insights: Shorts can be effective, but only when they reach the right audience, and ongoing testing, performance analysis, and data-driven pivots are essential for sustained growth. For this channel, long-form content remains the strongest format, and our focus on precision targeting continues to deliver results.
Project Contributors
Vireo Video
Sally Lamberton
Account Director
Sonny Lemel
Video Editor
Benji Castillo
Ads manager
Rahul Chauhan
Channel Strategy & Management
Tarık Emir Ergün
Channel Strategy & Management
