Marc Schillaci, CEO of Actinic, reveals his top tips for successful B2B video marketing
The B2B market is following B2C’s lead when it comes to online buying preferences and expectations. According to research by Forrester Consulting for Accenture and Hybris Software, 49 per cent of B2B buyers prefer making work-related purchases on B2C sites. As the research and purchase patterns of B2B buyers intersect more regularly with B2C patterns, it’s not surprising that their marketing strategies are also aligning.
Whether selling to B2C or B2B, you’re selling to an individual and accompanying them through the customer journey is essential for a successful sale. Videos offer a host of opportunities to connect with customers throughout their journey, build brand awareness and trust and ultimately encourage purchasing decisions. As videos become a staple tool for delivering marketing messages to existing and prospective clients, B2B companies are finding innovative and engaging new ways to share their in-depth industry knowledge through the power of video. Research carried out by Forbes, showed that 75 per cent of senior executives watch business related videos at least once a week, and 65 per cent then go on to visit the vendors’ site. Start integrating video into your B2B marketing strategy to generate more leads, gain more visibility for your brand, and communicate and engage better with B2B buyers.
Good things come in threes, so here are three essential tips to ensure you get the maximum impact from your videos:
Keep it quick
Dr. James McQuivey of Forrester Research claims that one minute of video is worth 1.8 million words. The ultimate length for a B2B marketing video should be between 60 and 90 seconds. If you want to go into significant amounts of detail you’re better off writing a whitepaper or research report. Some product demonstration videos can be a lot longer and if so, they are best kept for your website or specifically for clients – you can always make a short trailer from a lengthier video.
Emotionally connect
Potential clients may already know your products but don’t know anything about your brand, culture or ethos. This could be what brings them around to doing business with you. You can really personalise your brand though video, quite literally, if you decide to feature your employees. Videos offer a real chance to connect emotionally with your audience and show off your brand’s personality.
Fewer sales pitch videos
Don’t make sales pitch videos. The self-promotion is great, but videos aren’t necessarily the place for it. You want viewers to engage with your videos. If they feel you’re pitching to them they may not stick around. Follow B2C marketing techniques by aiming to connect through storytelling and human elements. Use humour, shared pain, inspiration, cute and maybe even a touch of the ridiculous, as long as you can do so while sticking to your company’s core values and brand ethos while delivering high value content.
What kind of videos suit B2B marketing?
Product videos can be split into three main types of video: product presentation, product demonstration and ‘behind-the-scenes.’
Product presentation videos are great for the short 60 – 90 second marketing clips and for introducing new products. Product demonstrations may be more client focused and can be a lot longer depending on how much detail you are going to go into. They can take the form of tutorials or step-by-step guides. Behind-the-scenes videos look more into the manufacture or origin of your products; this could even be an opportunity to give a tour of your factory or offices.
Interview videos can also be adapted for a variety of uses. You could interview customers, employees, thought leaders in your sectors, business partners and industry influencers. You can cover a variety of subjects depending on who you are interviewing; user experience, a day in the life of a company employee, industry trends or best practice are just a few examples to get you started.
Presentation videos can provide a great way of explaining research, predictions and data in a visually stimulating way. You might opt to go down the animated route or if you have a charismatic and compelling public speaker in your midst you could bring them on board. You can also record and use footage from any talks that are given at conferences, panels or events.
B2B videos offer the perfect opportunity to blend the storytelling and emotion of B2C video marketing with the industry trends, cutting edge technology or products that are making waves in your sector. Whatever types of video you decide to use, make sure you have a clear call-to-action and don’t forget to track metrics to measure the effectiveness of your videos.