Marketing and video marketing are pretty much synonymous now. People love video – it’s easy to digest, engaging and info is absorbed seamlessly. On your end, video has a great return on investment (ROI) when done well.
One of the real bonuses of video, and is a term used a lot in marketing, is its evergreen capabilities. Evergreen content can be used time and again in different ways so that it feels new and fresh. Reusable content, with some editing, can easily be primed to thrive across multiple channels. Videos are also easy to embed on your site and to upload to LinkedIn, Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Instagram and more.
Video, unlike some other content, has the benefit of working effectively across multiple channels. You can embed video within your website or share it across various platforms. Making, distributing and watching videos has never been easier – good news for marketers who can now make decent quality videos without breaking the bank.
The process of making and disseminating videos gets easier each year. However, because of this, a surge of video content makes its way online. 86% of businesses use video as a marketing tool, increasing slightly from 85% in 2020. In this article, we’ll explore how to give viewers what they want – engaging, high-quality content that inspires and connects with their own business goals.
That being said, people tend to favour higher quality production in their videos. With so many mediocre or immemorable B2B videos, it’s essential to invest time and resources into doing video properly.
B2B video strategy
With 59% of executives preferring to watch a video than reading text on the same topic, now might be the time to invest in your video marketing strategy as a B2B. These are elements to strengthen that strategy and give you ideas on where to start.
Short and sweet
Longform videos, once the norm, can still be helpful but not at the lead generation stage. Videos, and audience consumption, is becoming snappier, and if it takes too long to get to the point, viewers aren’t going to wait around. Dive straight into the core of what you need to relay to potential customers.
Formal ≠ Professional
Formality in B2B is fast becoming obsolete in many sectors within B2B. Your business has to go beyond a stoic branding that relies on facts to win over your audience. Instead, especially after COVID, we’ll be seeing your customers ready to interact with brand’s that value communication and quality business relationships. Portraying this in videos takes a storyboard to examine what makes your business likeable, trustworthy and enticing to do business with. After that, it’s about building a consistent brand through a video campaign that increases working well.
Manning a B2B marketing strategy can be a mammoth task. Between engaging customers, interacting with and growing your audience, and staying within budget limits, it’s a full load. If your current team doesn’t have time or expertise for video marketing, perhaps it’s time to call in the experts. This helps to make the process more manageable. By outsourcing your video production needs with an experienced and creative team, you can begin to make headway with your outreach strategy.
Customer testimonials
Reading a customer testimonial and viewing one are two very different experiences. First off, the video format feels far more personal. The customer is right there in front of the camera, offering their experience of the brand. Also, it has an added dimension of credibility. Often, it can be tricky to decipher whether a written review is genuine. It also shows how much the customer believes in the business that they’re willing to take the time out to be in the recording. 2 out of 3 people say they’d be more likely to make a purchase after watching a testimonial video demonstrating how a business, product or service had helped another person like them. All in all, testimonials are powerful in convincing prospective customers to take the plunge and connect with your business. Testimonials are often the final reassurance that a client needs to convert.
Commit to leading
Most businesses have a marketing plan that’s not far off a carbon copy of their competitors. They might use different brand colours and a slightly different tone, but other than that, B2B’s often miss a trick. That is to be a thought leader. Instead of opening videos with a bland mission statement, it might be time to step outside the status quo. Discuss what people want to hear. Share your ideas, the exciting projects your business is working on. Entertain your viewers, and speak to them rather than at them. Adding value to your prospective customers day involves taking chances, experimenting and sparking conversations.
Post-production is gold
Recording days take planning, time and money, the extent of which varies vastly depending on scale. However, not every campaign needs a production day. Repurposing existing assets from old shoots and leaning on video editing, incorporate animations and perhaps stock videos is highly cost-effective. You can either do this in-house or let a video production agency do the work. Lean on post-production techniques. Repurposing existing assets (e.g., photography, footage, stock) is often the most cost-effective and fastest way to get timely, relevant video content. Post-production techniques like motion graphics can animate stills in a visually dynamic way. Since these projects are mostly just editing work, they can be turned around in as little as 48 hours.
Looking to engage and get results with your B2B marketing strategy? We’re a small team of video storytellers at Videoworks Belfast. In 2021, high-quality videos inspire prospects to connect and convert. Get in touch with us at Videoworks today to start telling the stories your audience needs to hear.
You can also connect with our sister companies, Videoworks Dublin and Videoworks London.
