In the B2B world, content is king. Video marketing makes a strong case to distinguish itself as the king of it all. Effective video marketing has benefits that can dwarf even the most well-constructed and curated infographics, blog posts, e-books, and podcasts. If you’re thinking about trying to make video marketing work better for your B2B company, there are a few things you should know.

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What to Consider

Though any digital strategy requires an investment of resources, a video marketing plan in the B2B space requires important considerations that will affect the planning, creation and eventual sharing of content that is created with your target audience. Determining a goal for any B2B video should be decided well before formulating any of the actual content. These goals do not necessarily have to be overly complex. Many of the questions your marketing team should be asking can be answered in a relatively straightforward manner.

Types of Videos 

The most popular and successful B2B marketing videos tend to fall into one of two categories – training videos and promotional videos. Slightly less popular are demonstration videos, or live stream sessions containing Q&A or current and time-sensitive content. Your B2B company might also have a reason to create personalized videos, how-to videos, or customer onboarding videos. Since those last three videos are generally distributed to active clients, a marketing strategy’s goals can be most advanced with training or promo videos.

What are the Goals of a B2B Video Campaign?

Above all, the content must be shareable. Most goals of a video marketing campaign rely on the inclination of viewers to pass the content on. Your B2B video doesn’t have to reach viral status to advance your marketing goals. Although if it isn’t easy for an appreciative viewer to click a link or push out an email to an interested colleague, then the video will not provide a high rate of return on your investment.

Video content should be intriguing to your target audience. B2B decision-makers often spend less than three seconds deciding whether or not to view a video. Therefore if nothing grabs the attention by announcing a novel way to solve an old problem or declaring a fascinating new insight, that is another path to ineffectiveness.

Finally, video content should be engaging and easy to consume. This doesn’t mean it is easy to consume due to quick load time (though that can have an impact as well). Instead, this means it shouldn’t be overly complex. Factors like tone, pacing, and ensuring that the focal point is easy to identify can be critical. Most successful B2B videos clock in between thirty seconds and two minutes long. Any more than that and your target’s mind may start to wander or they may grow frustrated and seek specific answers elsewhere.

Strategy

Just like any marketing campaign, the goal is to leverage the media in a way that will capture the attention of highly desirable leads while also providing a clear path to conversion. There should be an organic progression from viewing the video to taking the next step into becoming a client. This can include gaining followers on social media or increasing the likelihood that they will fill out a form. It can also include immediately requesting a trial of (or purchasing) your B2B products and services.

Video Marketing Tools to Drive Engagement

As with many other B2B marketing decisions, the best tool in your marketing toolbox is planning. It might help to create a list or a flow chart, to determine the best way to address the following issues:

What are the needs of my typical buyer?

Similar to prospects in the B2C space, B2B decision-makers need to have trust in the brand. In the case of a small business without an overarching, known branding element, this means to trust in the company providing the content. A great way to establish this trust is to showcase your B2B company products and services as a solution to a common problem. If you’re having trouble getting ideas, reaching out to your current customers is an excellent strategy. Learning why another B2B company purchased your products and services can help you narrow down the focus if you’re pursuing similar deals.

What is the buying stage of the B2B client this video is targeting?

If you’re producing a video for early-stage buyers, it might look very different than a video produced for a lead that is further along in your sales funnel. Consider at what point a potential B2B client needs demonstrations versus tutorials, and how in-depth that information needs to be. The best B2B video strategies contain content that can nurture a relationship at each stage of the buying cycle.

Share Across Multiple Platforms

If your B2B company is strictly sticking to LinkedIn or only posts videos on Instagram, you’re losing out on a large segment of potential leads. Video content does occasionally need to be modified to share on each of the major platforms, but it is becoming increasingly important to make sure that and all your content is published, at a minimum, on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, and TikTok.

Share Videos in Email as Thumbnail Links

B2B video content is a large slice of the marketing pie. However, your company should not be neglecting the other segments that drive strategy. Include videos on your marketing emails. Whether they are newsletters, client updates, or cold-call emails being distributed to a leads list. The number of people who prefer to consume information via video is growing and is anticipated to get even larger in 2022.

Video Marketing Trends: What Now, and What Next?

B2B video marketing is here to stay, and it is a highly effective way to target leads with a high conversion rate. Conversion rates improve at a rate that correlates with the quality of the produced video. Along with the perceived authenticity and expertise of the B2B company presenting. In addition, the creative “sticks in the mind” factor that has been the secret sauce since the origin of television commercials. 

Get In Touch

At GoingClear, we design and produce video marketing content. Content that both complements and drives your business in a way that no other form of media can match. Reach out today to get started and start tackling those New Year forecasting goals.