Did you know that 42% of business executives have made a purchasing decision based on an online video? In fact, 60% of execs will watch a video, before the ever read the text on the screen. Wow!
In the last session on the first day of SES, I was pretty excited to learn the secrets to B2B video success from Peter La Motte from GeniusRocket (@geniusrocket). You see, I hear from clients all the time reasons why video isn’t a larger part of their marketing mix.
Top 3 Reasons B2Bs Give for Why They Can’t (or Won’t) Do Video
- Video is too much work!
- B2B is too boring for video
- Video doesn’t drive sales
These reasons are wrong. And armed with 10 secrets to B2B videos from Pete La Motte at GeniusRocket I feel confident that I can convince you that video has real business value.
10 Secrets of B2B Marketing
Secret #1: Forget about viral video and focus on relative virility – Video is no longer about creating that one viral video. It’s more important to focus on sustainable, ongoing traffic from visitors. Real business value is derived from amplification of quality content to prospects and customers.
Secret #2: B2B video should be about educating your customers, not entertaining them – Of course you want to do both, but keep in mind the main intention of B2B video is to teach your clients about your products and services. If you can create an awesome video that totally captures your value proposition AND makes your customer LOL In their office chair, then kudos to you.
Secret #3: B2B video doesn’t have to play by the same rules as B2C – Don’t feel like you have to follow the same rule of engagement as B2Cs. As a B2B the types of video you create, as well as your video strategy will be unique to your business.
Secret #4: Quality production doesn’t have to mean high costs – Today most smart phones have HD video capabilities so you don’t need to obsess about keeping up with the latest video and production equipment. You can create quality video for minimal costs if you keep in mind our next secret.
Secret #5: Planning is the key to good production – Plan for creativity. You may not need top line video equipment to compel your customers, but you do need killer content. So go ahead and plan ahead. Concept, script and storyboard your video before production. Preparation and practice is the key to amazing video.
Secret #6: Don’t let all the additional content you shoot go to waste – Don’t underestimate the value of all the reels you shoot, but don’t end up using. That content can be repurposed and used for other videos. This is another example of how you can minimize costs and more frequently publish video content.
Secret #7: Go Beyond YouTube – So many of us assume video strategy ends with YouTube, but I encourage you to remove YouTube tunnel vision. Obviously YouTube is a great channel, which receive a phenomenal amount of traffic and video views, but you should also be integrating video across your website, blog, email campaigns, social media networks and other video distribution sites like Vimeo.
Secret #8: Your organization is key to spreading video. As an organization, if you embark on a video content plan, you must be prepared to support the effort. Of course, the objective is to encourage customers, prospects and industry influentials to support and promote your content, but often promotion efforts begin at ground zero.
Secret #9 : Video is not a standalone strategy, it is part of your overall content plan. B2B video should sync with overall content themes and objectives for your blog, social media and website content. Integrating video as part of an overall content strategy assists in creating a consistent content experience which will reach unique prospects leveraging video as part of their buying experience.
Secret #10: There are no “rules”! – Of course there are best practices when it comes to Calls to Action, duration of videos, etc, but I encourage you to throw away these rules. Each business will have unique prospects and customers who interact with video in unique ways. Use analytics, YouTube insights particularly, in order to monitor your audiences interaction with your videos. These analytics will guide in the creation of new video content, supporting content and CTAs.
So why is video becoming so popular? As a B2B marketer consider how much easier it is to watch a video than read a white paper. Consumers aren’t necessarily becoming lazier, but we are looking for different ways to consume content. So, no excuses! Video can be a low cost medium to increase consumer engagement with your brand and deliver real business value.
Now that you know the secrets behind B2B video – how are you going to get started?
