The recent years have enabled B2B marketers to recognize the benefits that online videos provide in their marketing campaigns. Indeed, based on a study conducted by Web Video Marketing Council, Reelseo and Flimp Media that surveyed around 350 B2B agencies, it was shown that a whopping 96% are engaged in video marketing, and 73% have noted that video positively impacts marketing results and ROI.
Top Reasons B2B Marketers Choose Video Marketing
This illustrates that marketers are really moving forward and adapting to new digital habits, where majority of consumers opt to watch digital videos on online platforms. The top reasons marketers use website videos include:
1. To increase brand engagement
Around 80% of the marketers surveyed consider video primarily because it can increase a brand’s reach. How? For one, users retain information significantly better when they watch it on video compared to reading it on text. That retention can then determine consumer decision, where more than half of online consumers purchase a product or service after watching a video about it.
Additionally, videos enable you to enhance your branding and promote recall. Through content, voice and composition, you can personalize your marketing campaign and make sure users recognize who you are.
2. To promote products and services
Video marketing is a powerful tool for marketing because it can be accessible from any device. It is quite capable of expanding your reach because it can be made conspicuous in any type of online activity. When users come across your video and remember your content, it can easily translate to sales and leads. In fact, almost half of video viewers act immediately after watching an ad.
Moreover, online viewers typically share videos they enjoy, which can expand your brand’s reach. The key thing to do is to make sure that your videos are consistent with your brand strategy – colors, sound, logos, etc. Everything should always follow the style of your brand.
3. To boost website traffic and SEO
Adding high quality videos on your landing page and website can hugely improve your site’s SEO. This was determined by looking at people’s online habits: it is a fact that users spend a third of their online time watching videos. So if you have videos on your site or page that are relevant to them, these people will click through your site and spend a longer period of time on it. Plus, the likes and shares your video can garner will drive traffic into your site.
4. To generate new leads
Video marketing can generate new leads when it fosters a continuing conversation with the users. It’s not only about putting up a video for people to watch now and then forget about afterwards; instead, it’s about knowing who your target customers are and knowing what answers to provide that will make them think about how valuable your product or service can be. Examples where video can compel the users’ interest include live video series, how-to videos, testimonials, case studies and others.
Challenges in Video Marketing
While evidence points to the many gains that online video is able to achieve, a lot of B2B companies have only recently included video as part of their campaign due to some challenges. Considering that video production has never been as easy and as affordable as it is now, there are still a few barriers that marketers experience with regards to this tool:
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How to measure the ROI
Marketers are keen to measure the return on investment (ROI) of their video marketing strategies because it determines not only the effectiveness of the video itself, but also the areas you can further tweak and improve for your next marketing campaigns.
Determining which set of metrics can track your ROI can be tricky, especially when most B2B companies only tend to look at a few metrics when ascertaining the success of their video. Now, focusing on key metrics may seem productive, but sometimes, you miss out on other ways to fully gauge the ROI.
One way to make sure that you get a full idea of your video marketing ROI is to look beyond the usual metrics (e.g. views, click-through rates and shares). Analyze other KPIs such as the number of inquiries, your landing page conversion rate, total number of site visits, impressions, etc. This way, you can have more relevant data regarding the video’s performance.
Keep in mind, however, that your video content should be aligned with what you aim to track. For instance, you can’t measure lead generation if there is no link to a form. You can’t also expect information on brand awareness if the content targets existing customers.
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Lack of in-house video marketing expertise
Making a video is one thing, but making an effective, engaging video is another. Even though the cost of video production has dramatically reduced with the available technology and equipment around, coming up with quality video still depends largely on artistic and film shooting savvy that sometimes you just do not have. For this reason, we would still recommend that you hire an expert team that will actualize your concept.
A professional team will have the proper equipment, editing software and creative skills to provide you with the most effective video material for their campaign. Unless you have the necessary equipment and skills, it would simply be better to invest in an expertly made output rather than risk associating your brand with something substandard.
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Lack of creative ideas
Around 17% of B2B marketers who responded to a survey admit that they find it hard to think of creative ideas for video content. Of course, hiring an expert video team will lessen the brunt of the work during filming and editing. But while an expert video marketing team can help a great deal in your whole video production process, you still have to do your own pre-production research, specifically on video marketing strategies that best suit your needs.
So where can you start? You can first identify a specific goal that you wish the video to accomplish. Only then can you proceed to explore what type of video (e.g. promotional, corporate, demo, etc.) will fit in with your particular goal. Also, think about which online platform you want the video to be visible on. Does your brand need social media videos, website videos, or both?
Thinking about these three factors – marketing goal, type and platform – will likely make your conceptualization more organized and productive.
8 Ideas For Your Online Video Marketing Campaign
Still racking your brain on how to turn your company’s story into video form? Here are our suggestions:
1. Company Overview
A video that shows an overview of your company gives your audiences a brief but captivating piece of who you are and what you can offer. Questions like, “How did you start?” or “Why should the customer choose you?” can be answered by an overview that will ultimately lend credibility to your brand.
To set you apart from competition, you have to highlight what makes your product or service unique. You can source video ideas from press coverage, blog posts and other written content. Because videos have been seen to drive a 157% increase in organic traffic, it would be a waste not to utilize it to introduce your company to the online world.
2. Industry Updates
Videos containing updates and relevant developments about the industry you are in allows your brand to establish a level of expertise. This type of video enables users to recognize that you are a reliable go-to source of information, which can result to healthy site visits and click-throughs.
To keep your video content diverse, you can feature experts in the field; or create a text-based video complete with pertinent findings and statistics.
3. Customer Testimonial
Testimonials are among your brand’s biggest assets because they are proof of how your product or service has benefited other consumers. Aside from acknowledging your customers, testimonials can influence other viewers to go along the same path of being ambassadors for your brand.
You can create customer testimonial videos in a number of ways: first is to show your customers talking about your product on camera; another is to share quotes and positive reviews from highly satisfied customers.
4. Product Demo
If it applies to your product or service, you can create a product demo. This allows your users to have a full understanding of the product’s features, and if done right, encourages familiarity and trust with your brand.
Take advantage of consumers’ penchant for video watching by letting your product sell itself. It’s also effective to use a before-and-after format to emphasize what the consumer can gain by using the product or service.
5. How-To or Tutorial Video
This approach can promote your brand in two ways: it makes your audience see the quality of your work, and at the same time, it showcases the actual application of your product or service. How-to’s can include how to use your product and useful tips for your target niche, among others. Users will perceive that you are an expert in all related matters concerning your field.
6. Short Q & A
Using video to address questions can position you as a brand that provides thoughtful customer service and genuinely communicates with your customers. Not only will you learn the audience’s current pulse, you can also maintain relevant communication with them.
Insert in your Q & A content any recent user comment or review that you feel needs to be addressed. A weekly or monthly roundup of questions is also a good way to go about this type of approach.
7. Video Announcement
Need to garner interest and traffic for your site? Share effective video announcements that feature the latest in your offerings, special events planned, and special promotions. Since B2B companies need a strong digital footprint to be able to fetch likes, shares and conversions, communicating regularly with users through these announcements can encourage consistent engagement with your brand.
Take a peek at this promotional video from fitness line Onzie. Primarily geared toward women, this introduces their new men’s line. It’s cool and upbeat, and is definitely engaging for their new set of audiences.
8. Seasonal Video
B2B marketers know how important it is to capitalize on popular holidays when boosting brand engagement. These are the prime times that consumers are looking to spend money on products and services. Hence, it is worthwhile to offer special promos around these occasions (e.g. friendship day; donut day) and also incorporate seasonal trends (e.g. hashtags, pop culture fads) that will fit your brand.
Best Practices in Successful Video Marketing
Now that you’ve learned the myriad of ways video marketing can be presented, it’s time you learned about the best practices in creating fresh, inspiring and effective online videos:
1. Create videos that stick to its story
In any effective marketing tactic there is always an embedded story that appeals to the customers’ needs and desires. Make the best of your video by staying true to the story, and focus on branding instead of selling. Why? Because effective marketing is fundamentally directed at the emotions of a person; a piece that says “We are connected, we are the same”.
A story could be about your company vision. It could be about what happens behind-the-scenes, or it could be something funny or controversial about your brand. Whatever it is, focus on the emotional power that a video can have to compel users to watch it.
Check out this video from Artifact Uprising, a company that creates custom photo books, albums and cards. The cut scenes of product assembly is juxtaposed brilliantly with the one reason why customers should obtain their services: “Because your story matters”.
2. Align your videos with your target consumer’s journey
By now, you should know that the type of video you use depends on the marketing purpose and platform where the video will be placed. Aside from these factors, it is also important that the type of video aligns with the funnel – the theoretical journey a consumer takes towards a purchase.
Basically, some videos perform better at engagement compared to others (e.g. testimonials, explanatory videos), while some are better at educating viewers who are farther down the funnel (e.g. product demos, webinars).
3. Video length should be just right
Yes, people have very short attention spans (only 8 seconds on average). In fact, versus a goldfish, you probably don’t stand a chance. So as far as your video marketing is concerned, the shorter it is, the better.
The general range is 30 to 90 seconds, so make your top funnel story as succinct and attention-grabbing (meaning share worthy!) as possible. Of course, for the mid- and bottom-funnel videos where the consumer has continued the journey to know further about your product and is possibly in the stage of converting, your video can go longer for up to 5 to 10 minutes, and sometimes even more.
4. Don’t overlook SEO
Even though social media marketing racks millions of viewers each day, there is still a need to optimize for search engines. There are a number of ways to do this. You can host the video on your own domain, enable embedding on your video, and use video sitemaps.
5. Consider different devices
In the realm of digital marketing, video content has a lot of potential because it performs well on all devices. One of the main considerations for a business owner is to create online videos that are responsive, meaning they are fit for any device, be it a laptop, a tablet, or a mobile phone.
Take note that these days, over half of video content is viewed on mobile gadgets. Therefore, it is in your best interest to adjust your video according to the dimensions ideal for phone viewing.
Conclusion
Video marketing is a major tool that can generate interest and trust in your evolving brand. Your growth, after all, depends on your target market and audiences, and it has long been established that this is the kind of format that consumers want. By taking the ideas discussed here, your company can be on its way to creating informative, accessible and unique video content for online users that will ultimately grow your business.
To jumpstart the process of creating an efficient video marketing plan for your business, contact us here.
