10 Essentials to Craft a B2B Video Marketing Strategy in 2019
Video content is fast becoming the preferred content format for B2B content marketers. With fewer marketers satisfied with their content marketing efforts, video content seems like a new window of opportunity. Video content is more immersive and attention-grabbing than other content formats. Videos say more in less time and make content juicier, presentable, and user-friendly.
Video content is fast becoming the preferred content format for B2B content marketers. With fewer marketers satisfied with their content marketing efforts, video content seems like a new window of opportunity.
70% of B2B buyers watch videos along their path to purchase—a whopping 52% jump in just two years.- (Source)
62% of B2B marketers believe that video should be the primary platform of any creators.- (Source)
As more video content is being consumed, what marketers need is a well-planned video marketing strategy that puts them one step ahead of competitors. While getting off the ground may seem like a challenge, once there’s a plan of action in place, then finding the flow isn’t that big.
Still confused how to weave video into your B2B marketing blueprint? Let's get ready to get started:
1. Repurpose Existing Content
There are plenty of blog posts already there on your website. The best way to start is by repurposing them into some kick-ass live-action or slideshow videos. To convert content into expert live-action videos you need:
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A professional camera and mic
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An editing tool like iMovie for Mac users
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A script
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A presenter
Looking to create slideshow videos in a jiffy? You can try Lumen5, an AI-based tool that converts blog posts into professional-looking videos.
2. Produce Video Across Customer Lifecycle
Video content should be audience-centric. Videos that cater to each stage of the customer journey are likely to be more fruitful. Every customer goes through an entire cycle from being a stranger to becoming a loyal customer. At the awareness stage, it's essential to create a large number of educational videos, for instance.
a. Educational Series
Educational videos help the audience with some of their persistent challenges. Videos of this type address common issues around a niche topic.
Here’s an example of an educational video from Trello, the popular project management tool:
It’s the first of the ‘Productivity Tips’ video series from the software company.
b. Webinars
66 per cent of marketers believe webinars to be effective in the B2B world. - (Source)
Webinars are an effective content format for businesses to help their audience while showcasing niche expertise. These video presentations allow marketers to interact and engage with many participants.
Middle-of-the-funnel videos demonstrate product features and USPs triggering prospect decision when they're ready to buy.
c. Product Explainers
Explainer videos simplify the product and service features for the audience. These videos highlight some of the key USPs of an offering. Take a look at this example of an explainer video from Slack, the popular team communication app:
d. Brand Videos
Brand videos tell a story of the company and its values. Such videos display a brand’s core values and help build an emotional connect with the audience. Here's a terrific example from Dropbox, a leading business collaboration tool:
e. Case Studies
Case studies are a classic decision-stage video marketing tactic. These videos convert potential customers looking for deep niche expertise. Case study videos show examples of results a business has achieved for its customers.
d. Testimonial Videos
Customer testimonial videos are living proof of the merit of a B2B business. The video content showcases customer interviews of those who have benefited from the product and are happy to say it on camera. Salesforce, the popular CRM tool has created a whole series on customer stories:
Finally, bottom-of-the-funnel content is about providing more help to existing customers through useful product guides and support videos.
e. Tutorial and Support Videos
The best way to retain customers is to ensure they have no trouble using the products and services. Tutorial videos that lay out the steps for using a product work very well to answer common user queries before they occur. Such content enhances user-experience and comfort level. The following video from Freshbooks teaches its users about the essentials of time tracking, for example:
f. Thank You Videos
A good retention tactic is to thank existing customers or provide them with loyalty bonuses. The strategy establishes a high level of customer happiness and satisfaction.
3. Use a Video Hosting Platform
Choosing the right video hosting platform has a huge impact on the returns from video marketing. A dedicated platform assists marketers with in-depth data:
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Video watch time and audience insights
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Video performance analytics
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Audience location, devices, and browsers
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Video engagement rate and drop-off times
A hosting platform helps businesses to have a unified place to manage and assess their video marketing activities.
4. Publish Native Videos on LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a haven for B2B marketers. LinkedIn is 277% more effective at generating leads than Facebook and Twitter. - (Source)
It's a place to find a targeted audience for a B2B business. Marketers can give that much-needed push to their LinkedIn marketing by infusing native video content. The platform also allows video ads to help businesses expand the reach of their business.
5. Define an Audience Persona
Videos make content more human and trustworthy. While video content adds a personal touch to business communication, it should speak to its audience.
Video marketers must create a list of audience attributes like:
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Job role and industry
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Key decision maker or not
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Goals and obstacles
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Dreams and aspirations
A professional demographic and psychographic profile helps create targeted videos. A well-defined audience persona is a great reckoner for defining the tone of marketing videos.
6. Create Event Videos
Events are a breeding ground for hot new video content. Marketers can create videos of events they attend or host. A good way to start is to plan interviews with attendees by reaching out to them before the event.
7. Call to Action
A Call-to-Action or a CTA helps guide the audience into taking the desired action like signing up for a mailing list or taking a free trial. You must have come across videos that ask the audience to like and share the video or subscribe to a channel. The CTA depends on the goal of a campaign: (1) Leads (2) Sales or (3) Engagement, etc.
8. Promotional Strategy
While effective video marketing starts with creating some kick-ass video content, it spears ahead with the right promotional tactics. Here are some quick tips:
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Embed blog posts and website pages so viewers have easy access.
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Include videos in landing pages for paid ads.
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Share videos on social media pages for higher reach and engagement.
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Share video content in newsletters.
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Optimize video content for search.
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Run paid campaigns on YouTube and other social media channels.
9. The Script
A video script forms the core of a video. It hooks the audience from one scene to the other and leads them to the CTA. The more fluid a script, the higher will be the level of engagement. The protagonist or the solution to the problem is the heart of a script. An effective script arouses the right emotions. It empathizes with the audience and their challenges, so they can resonate with the message and take an action.
10. Measuring the Results
A well-planned approach helps marketers to measure the right metrics from a video marketing effort. It's a good idea to have a predefined objective for each video campaign or series.
Video view count and watch time are the metrics to focus if the goal is to awareness, for example.
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Goal
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Metrics
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Awareness
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View count and watch time
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Engagement
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Likes, comments and shares
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Leads
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Subscribers, free trials, form fill-ups
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Sales
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Conversions
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Measuring and analyzing the results helps marketers to work on improving the outcomes in the next campaigns.
Over To You
There’s no doubt that video content is more immersive and attention-grabbing than other content formats. Videos say more in less time and make content juicier and presentable. Content showcased through videos is more likely to rank up higher on search engine results, generate more traffic, and fetch more conversions. Video builds a human-to-human connect and makes branded content more trustworthy. But creating video content isn't enough. It's the right strategy that paves the way to good returns from video marketing.