Smart brands are waking up to the fact that it can take a matter of minutes to create a long-lasting and impactful B2B marketing video. Video is a proven strategy that improves brand awareness, drives qualified traffic, and increases conversions. By 2022, video will account for 82% of all consumer internet traffic—so now is the time to start creating.
But we get it, producing your first B2B marketing video can seem a little daunting. That’s why we’ve outlined each step you need to ensure that your video has the biggest impact.
Wait. What is a B2B Marketing Video?
Put simply, a B2B marketing video is a tactic that can help a business reach its audience, grow its brand, and create a new channel for customer engagement. A study by LinkedIn found that 62% of B2B marketers agree that video content helps build brand awareness, and 78% believe that video engagement helps them attain higher quality leads—both key attributes in increasing revenue.
B2B marketing videos are a modern and authentic method to help you reach your audience. Chances are your competitors are already investing time and resources into creating killer video content, so now’s your chance to catch up and create your first B2B marketing video.
1. Create goals and plan
A little planning can go a long way, especially in business. Setting goals—whether you use the SMART framework or otherwise—is a fantastic way to give yourself (and your business) structure. Without creating clear, tangible goals, it can be easy to lose focus and not get the desired results from your video campaign.
Think. Do you want to create more social media engagement? Convert more customers? Gain more followers? Maybe even go viral? Whatever your goal, make sure that you’re creating a B2B video that serves that purpose.
Look at the bigger picture
Think about how your B2B video fits in with your wider marketing strategy. For the biggest impact, video marketing should run alongside your current social, paid, and search strategy. Spend some time exploring these different channels and understand how your B2B marketing video will fit into the marketing mix.
Consider the buying stage
Every viewer of your video has the potential to become a customer—as long as you create B2B video marketing content that targets each stage of the funnel. Here are a few examples:
- Awareness: If you need to generate brand awareness, consider a top of funnel video that educates your audience, answers a particular problem, and showcases your brand personality.
- Consideration: If you need to nurture the middle of your funnel, create a video tutorial on how to use your product or service.
- Decision: If you need to drive a purchase, create a video case study that shows how you’ve successfully helped other businesses.
By putting the time in to determine which videos to create for each stage of the funnel, you can help guide your potential customers into making a purchase decision.
2. Speak to your audience
Now that you’ve got your goal, your wider marketing strategy, and the buying stage planned out, it’s time to think about your audience.
Understand your personas
If your business doesn’t have buyer personas mapped out—this is your chance. Buyer personas are the best way to understand who you’re targeting your marketing toward and will help you to understand your customer’s problem and how you can help them solve it. When you’re creating your B2B marketing video, keep your target persona top of mind.
Write a script
A video marketing script doesn’t need to be pages of lines and directions. Keep it simple.
- Write an introduction that shares who you are, your company, and your role
- Outline your core message, highlight a couple of key facts
- Write what you want to say—remember to keep it conversational
- Practice saying each word out loud, cut any wording that dilutes your key message
- Detail any additional audio or video requirements
Always keep in mind the main action you want your audience to do after watching your B2B marketing video. This will help you to keep your script on track.
Think about your brand
With your B2B marketing video, you’ll want to create a lasting impression. This is a chance for your brand to be seen by your target audience, so there’s no point in creating a video that’s decidedly off-brand. For example, if your brand is playful, fun, and lighthearted, keep your video in this tone. If your marketing video is serious, sombre, and grounded, this won’t represent your brand or your business and will lead to confusion from customers.
3. Keep it snappy
When it comes to creating the best B2B marketing video, the length is at your discretion. However, it might be handy to know that a 2019 report by Vidyard found that two-thirds of viewers watch business-related videos all the way to the end if they’re less than 60 seconds, but only 25% will finish a video if it’s more than 20 minutes long. Tailor your video to the appropriate length for your topic and the social media channel you’re sharing it on. Whatever the length, make sure that you keep the content snappy, relevant, and engaging.
4. Add text to video
Surprisingly, 85% of Facebook videos play without sound. This signals a massive opportunity to add text to your video. This will help your audience understand not only your message but also offer further opportunities to make your video more engaging.
Adding text to video also means that your video is accessible. There are 466 million people in the world with hearing loss, and adding captions or subtitles is a sure-fire way to engage that community.
5. Have a clear CTA
A call-to-action (CTA) is the action you want your viewer to take after watching your video. This could be anything from downloading your latest whitepaper, subscribing to your YouTube channel, or signing up for your product or service. You can present your CTA in several ways, for example, adding a permanent button that’s nestled in the corner of your video, or verbally present your CTA at the end of your video.
6. Plan your distribution strategy
On average, people spend two hours and twenty-three minutes per day on social media, making this an excellent platform to ensure your video gets seen. If your B2B marketing video is part of a more extenstive campaign, you could create a new landing page and embed your video. It’s been shown that incorporating video into landing pages can boost conversion rates by 34%.
Follow these six key steps and set yourself up for success when you create your first B2B marketing video. Remember that it doesn’t have to be the next Tarantino movie. Just keep it simple and to the point.
Ready to start creating? The Lumen5 video maker can help you create your first B2B marketing video in minutes. Sign up here.
