Video is rapidly becoming the favorite content type of a potential B2B buyer. Webinars and short videos are among the top 5 most preferred formats for consuming content.
But with the huge demand and the desire of B2B marketers to make engaging videos, most B2B marketers find the process of creating and implementing a video strategy complicated and overwhelming.
It’s not just video production that intimidates them, but also how to use the video content they are creating effectively and how to tell a story in their videos that hooks viewers into watching and going deeper in the sales funnel.
Another challenge is choosing and tracking the right metrics to gauge the success of video content. Here are proven tips you can follow to make videos an integral part of your B2B marketing strategy.
Utilize What You Already Have
When it comes to creating video content, most of us think we don’t have enough ideas and material.
The secret to stack up your content library fast is to be resourceful and find opportunities to create and repurpose videos without going too far of the way.
Here are some ideas for videos that won’t take much to make, as well as can easily be repurposed into other types of content.
Conduct More Webinars
A webinar has long been proven to be one of the best ways to engage your audience in real time and generate leads.
With several high-quality webinar tools to help, it’s really easy to automate registration, scheduling and conducting other parts of the process. In fact, a great free option is Google Hangouts.
Though not a typical webinar platform, Google Hangout has a remarkable set of options for collaborative presentations, meetings and workshops for up to 10 people in a single call.
Engagement and lead generation are not the only reasons webinars are good for. Another benefit of webinars is the cost effectiveness and efficiency they can add to your content creation process.
This is because your webinar content can easily be repurposed into other types of content to share on your website, social media and marketing emails.
For example, you can turn your recorded webinar into a video embedded on your website which prospects can view at any time.
When you embed videos on crucial pages of your website like homepage, solutions, case studies and more, the bounce rates get lower and conversions go higher.
You can also convert the webinar into a blog post, a nurturing email or landing page.
Record Events Or Stream Them Live
You’re already organizing events, interviewing key people in your industry, speaking at seminars or hosting workshops.
So instead of making them accessible only to people who are present at the venue, why not stream it live or record it for later viewing by your prospects?
Live video isn’t just a buzzword. Youtube, Facebook and other major social channels have made huge strides to bring Live Video features to their platforms because of growing demand.
Not only Live Video maximizes the reach of your event, but also lets your prospects share or come back for later viewing.
Experian, for example, used live video to chat with their audience about financial concerns like debt, student loans etc. Their chats are shared via Twitter, Snapchat, and Youtube, and with the same hashtag #CreditChat.
This ensures that the content is reaching its prospects on the social platforms they are the most active on. The prospects who are watching live can participate in the conversation, ask questions and get answers in real time.
These are the kind of moves that enable a business to position itself as a thought leader in its niche.
Short videos shared on social media channels can also help drive more traffic and engagement to other campaigns and content assets.
Capture Product Demos
Just like events, it doesn’t take too many resources or effort to record videos featuring your products. There are many tools to help you do this.
Place your product in a room with good lighting. Then use a free video-making app to record a video with sound. The app will also let you make some simple edits and polish the video.
Once the video is ready, embed the video into a more in-depth article or landing page.
By embedding videos, you can breathe new life into your old blog posts, and also spice up your current collateral.
Personalize Your Videos
Personalization has always been a popular topic in marketing and advertising. Personalizing your content to the viewer means sending the right message at the right time, to the right person.
A personalized video works because it has the power to stand out from all the other marketing messages your prospects are daily bombarded with.
When they see their name, their pain points, or their interests embedded in the message, they feel like they matter and have a role to play in your brand story.
A great example is how Vidyard does it. It sends videos to prospects which start with their name.
And it doesn’t just stop there. The speaker in the video doesn’t just address the prospect by his first name, but also mentions the prospect’s coworkers.
With personalized videos, you can make a direct relationship your prospects and make them feel good about who they are. The outcome is that you have left a strong, lasting impression in their memory.
But keep in mind that while this kind of personalization is very effective, it also takes a lot of time. You can’t scale this for everyone. So when you decide to follow this strategy, make sure you’re targeting highly qualified leads.
Imagine taking hours to create highly customized videos for your prospects, only to find that most of them aren’t the primary decision makers or don’t have the budget.
Match Videos Across Customer Cycle
If you want to get the best results from video content, you’ll have to be smart about it. There are many styles and types of videos you can create, but you can’t use any video at any moment.
Different videos are meant to be prepared for different needs. It’s only when you identify those needs that you can show the right video at the right time. A prospect who is looking for a solution to his problems will have needs different from a customer who has already bought from you.
So your video library should not be limited only to the type of content needed to attract an audience, but also help them learn more about your business.
You should be creating as many videos as needed to serve your prospects through the entire customer journey. The journey starts with your prospects’ realization that there is a problem that needs to be solved.
For example, the videos you need for prospects before the sale are brand stories, video blog content, client testimonials, presentations and product demos.
After-sale videos will include tips and tutorials to make the most of your product or service. Plus, content needed to retain customers and keep them engaged.
Here’s a great guide to plan out video marketing for your entire sales funnel.
You will also need to keep checking these videos from time to time on whether they are still accurate considering current consumer preferences and changes you have made to your product or service.
Consider Using A Video Platform
In the end, what really matters is the bottom line. So with any video strategy and implementation, you should be able to check if your video content is adding any value to the sales process.
That’s where a video marketing platform comes in. With hosting, detailed analytics and features to convert viewers into leads and sales, a video platform helps you maximize the impact and return you get from your video content.
By facilitating internal as well as external video collaboration among businesses and teams, it lets you add more efficiency and ROI to your video production and marketing process.
A great such platform is Wistia. When you host videos with Wistia and embed them on your site, you have full control over branding.
Plus, you can also add social sharing buttons or other call to action, like to watch another video showing your product in action. That’s what Apperian does.
Video analytics will not just help you answer who is watching your video content, but also for how long a video was able to hold their attention, and where did they drop off.
This gives you the crucial data you need to make changes and future adjustments to your video marketing strategy.
Conclusion
Though the pressure to generate more traffic, engagement and leads isn’t new in life of a marketer, but lately the parameters of success have changed.
The focus isn’t just on quantity, but also quality. Leads of higher quality and better conversion rates are top priorities across the entire sales funnel.
But when striving to get the attention of your prospects in a competitive market, re-using the same text content as you have always done could only be so effective.
So how can you nurture your prospects better, stand out from the competition and generate high quality leads?
The answer is video content, and using that content in a strategic way. Hopefully, this post will help you be more thoughtful and effective in your video marketing.
