Video in B2B seems to be talk of the town at the moment, with marketers across the land keen to know what role video plays in their overall marketing mix. With so many companies failing to capitalise on its potential, we spoke to agency and client-side marketers to find out how to get started.
The B2B video gurus
Adam Penny, MD, Connected Pictures
Jada Balster, marketing director, Workfront
Will Dennies, lead video producer, The Marketing Practice
Jason Talbot, partner, The Crocodile
Jonathan Sedger, founder and director, White Collar Videos
Eliza Dirnu, marketing executive, RM Results
Q: What are the golden rules?
Adam: Ask yourself what the purpose of the video you’re making is. We see some companies saying they need a video just because – this’ll never lead anywhere. Work out who your audience is, how they’re consuming video content, and what you’re trying to do. Look at the sales funnel and see where video can be used depending on where the customer or prospect is in their journey. At the top of the funnel it might be all about awareness, so you’d go with short trailers or teasers; lower down the focus is on research, purchase, qualification and advocacy. Each requires a different approach.
In the end, decisions are made using emotion as well as logic, so we tend to split video content into rational (information-led videos) and heart-based (instilling brand loyalty, for example). With the former category there’s a lot that companies can do in-house, like the CEO talking to camera, for example. The latter often require external expertise.
Jada: Different content’s created for different reasons. A demo video should be straightforward but interesting; a company overview video might want more flash and entertainment value.
Will: Story, story, story. Without a story, there should never be a video. And when writing scripts, think visually. This isn’t a brochure, it’s not an eDM; how are the words you’re putting down on paper going to appear when spoken or animated on screen? How are those words going to work alongside the footage or visuals?
Jonathan: Don’t create videos in silos – weave them into the marketing and communication plan and make them a seamless part of the journey, and interrogate buyer personas when planning content and developing a brand style for video content. And remember, going viral is like winning the lottery; smart brands are spending more time promoting and distributing their video content than they are producing it!
Q: What’s the optimum length for video?
Adam: This really depends on what you’re trying to say and where your audience is in the funnel. Everyone says it’s got to be short, and yes, to an extent, that’s true – but the length also depends on when someone’s viewing it. If they’re viewing something on their phone or iPad they’ll look at it for longer than if they’re viewing via a desktop or laptop, when they’re more likely to have lots of different windows and pages open.
Q: What can be done on a small budget?
Adam: Functional film budgets can be very low. But you’ve got to remember the golden triangle – quality, speed and low cost – and the fact you can only ever cover two parts of the triangle, never all three.
Jada: You can do more with a small budget than you think. They key, though, is to be realistic about what it’ll cost to execute your vision, and determining if you can afford it. Commit half your budget to promotion, otherwise it won’t be seen and your hard work won’t pay off.
Q: Where should we be distributing our video?
Adam: With our video for Travelport there was a big LinkedIn push, which worked well; people have a big B2B mindset when they’re on LinkedIn. But there are so many platforms – like Brightcove – that you can bring onto your website. Be wary of Facebook and YouTube unless you know they’re where your audience are going for information.
Q: How can we measure the success of our video?
Adam: Generally we steer people away from views and instead focus on engagement; views don’t mean anything anymore. Engagement means likes, shares, comments, and videos being commented on or referred to.
Will: Measurement depends on the type of video and where it’s being utilised along the funnel. For something near the top we’re more likely to focus on views and shares. But videos produced further down the funnel have been measured by tracking click-throughs and user journeys, and by adding functionality that allows the user to truly engage with the content – such as interactive videos.
Jason: A paid YouTube brand campaign will be measured differently to vines created for social engagement or a live event stream through periscope.
Q: What pitfalls should we avoid?
Will: Never think channel-first. Never think: “I want to make a video”. Instead think: “What’s the best way to solve this challenge – is video applicable here?”
Jason: Having no clarity on who you’re trying to reach, no clarity on why you’re creating the video and no clarity on how the video’s going to be used. Don’t just be an arts and crafts department that can’t prove your strategic value. Be nimble but be precious; give a shit.
Eliza: Don’t try to fit everything into one video, don’t expect the video production company to read your mind and don’t assume you can only relate to your customer on a rational level – injecting a little fun in video can go a long way.
Jonathan: The only no-no is creating video content solely because it’s a newish trend; other than that, there are no rules, we should be experimenting more – it’s a new medium for B2B and we need to push the boundaries.
Q: Who’s cream of the B2B crop?
Eliza: Both HubSpot and Salesforce are great examples of brands that have nailed the use of video, capturing both client success stories in a fun and engaging way. Citrix has always excelled in using video to show what its products can do. For example, if you want to see how Citrix is helping enterprise customers upgrade to Windows 10 easily, they have a great video that shows how simple it can be (below). Adobe is another company that features a video on almost every page of its site, showing how each new feature of a given product is used.
Q: In-house or agency?
Jada: With a good video team (we have two people in house) you can accomplish almost anything. On past shoots, we’ve done everything from full zombie makeup to hiring a drone to film parkour athletes.
Will: In theory an in-house team can do everything from conception to production and delivery. The challenges often arise with resource: highly creative, high-impact videos require very different skills to doing a quick whiteboard video.
