Research suggests video content is 1200% more successful than written content with 84% of people having purchased a product after watching a video. Therefore, if you’re not using video marketing in 2023, you’re missing out on high-quality leads and sales opportunities.
Video content is often absorbed better and holds attention longer, making video marketing an unbeatable opportunity to convert viewers into leads and leads into customers. However, it’s important that you follow the right approach to video marketing to ensure
In this blog, we’ll cover the following:
What Is Video Marketing?
Video marketing is a strategy that uses video content to market information, products, and services.
Video content can be used to inform audiences about your company, generate leads and sales, and get email list sign-ups or other conversions.
Video marketing assets can be implemented across all types of channels and is perfect for both inbound and outbound lead generation efforts. For instance, for outbound lead generation, you can send video content to prospects via email marketing to help nurture the relationship and encourage them learn more about your business. On the other hand, for inbound lead generation, videos can be embedded on your company website or posting them to social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and more for greater visibility and brand awareness.
Why Is Video Marketing Essential for Business Growth?
Video marketing is essential for business growth for the following reasons:
Videos Make Complex Concepts Easy to Understand
You’ve probably seen “explainer videos” and they’re popular for a reason—demonstrative video makes it easier to explain concepts. Whether you’re detailing something about your company, products, or services, videos support clearer explanations because they combine visuals with written or spoken words.
Here are some tips for making videos easy to digest:
- Write an outline or script whenever possible. Some videos can be made without a script, but having pre-written concepts is generally more effective and helps get your point across.
- Ask for feedback. Getting input is the best way to know if your points are clear for those who may not understand your business.
- Rework unclear and wordy points. Work on your explanations until they’re as clear and concise as possible so they can be easily understood by potential buyers in your target market.
Videos Can Help You Generate a Positive ROI
When you create videos to be long-term sales and marketing assets, they will support your ROI in many ways. For example, case study videos are impactful for various lead generation approaches because they can be used for long-term impact and are never outdated. This allows you to use this one video for different scenarios and buyer personas.
Here are some tips to make ROI-supporting videos:
- Focus on video quality. It takes time and money to have videos professionally created, but it’s worth the investment. If you don’t have the bandwidth to pay for video marketing services, there are still ways to save. Cost-effective video production websites like Doodly and VideoScribe also have video creation templates for YouTube intro videos and other types of animations, helping you get your video crafted in the right direction.
- Create video content with the long-term in mind. Sometimes videos need to address current events or timely situations. Still, try to make content you only have to create once to use forever. For example, if you make videos to promote seasonal products that will still be sold year after year, don’t refer to the current year in your videos. This allows you to use the same content season after season.
Content Is Adaptable to Various Goals and Platforms
The same video can be used to market your business across multiple platforms like Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and even your own website.
Here are some tips on how to use video marketing on your preferred platforms:
- Use live streaming. Live videos get an average of six times more interaction from viewers. Businesses that create engaging, informative content can build a list of subscribers who are eager to watch your livestreams to learn more about your topic expertise.
- Create webinars. Webinars are an excellent way to teach people about your business, educate your customers, establish authority in your industry, or answer questions. Webinars can act as lead magnets, exclusive content, or content you sell on your website.
- Use video to improve the customer experience. Video marketing materials can be used to keep customers engaged with your business. Send customers a quick, personal welcome video as a follow-up to their purchase, adding a personal touch to their experience.
Videos Encourage Leads to Want to Learn More
Videos are the perfect medium to capture interest from potential buyers. By publishing quick videos, you can generate intrigue from people who will take action to learn more about your business, product, or service.
Here are some tips detailing how to get inquiries from your videos:
- Use compelling call-to-actions (CTAs). When you want the viewer to contact you, tell them exactly what action you want them to take. For example, if you want a viewer to schedule a meeting, a CTA could read “Contact us today for a free consultation!”
- Speak directly to your target audience. Craft your message to relate to the right group of people. For example, speak to your target audience’s specific pain points and make sure it’s clear that your product or service is the solution they’ve been looking for.
Videos Support SEO
Uploading videos to your website and YouTube channel will support your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts just like any other piece of content. The more content you publish, the better, but videos can specifically help your entire website rank better.
Google frequently ranks YouTube videos in the results under the video tab. On top of that, videos can rank well in standard web-based results, and millions of people search Google for videos.
Here are some tips for supporting SEO with video:
- Optimize your videos for SEO. Craft your video titles and descriptions just like you would for your web pages. This will make it easier for users to find online.
- Add your website URL to each video description. While it may not be a ranking factor, it will help you generate traffic from people who find your videos first.
What Are the Different Types of Marketing Videos?
When it comes to content production, there are several types of marketing videos you can create with each serving a different purpose. Because your audience will be at different stages in the buying journey, you’ll probably want to use some of each kind.
Here’s a list of the most common types of videos that sales and marketing teams use to generate leads and secure more sales:
Demo Videos
No matter how obvious things may seem, demo videos will always be helpful to a large portion of your market. Demo videos are great for showing how a product or service works, giving users better insight into the benefits of your offerings.
Brand Videos
Brand videos portray your company’s mission, vision, or solutions in a way that builds brand awareness. Brand videos can help users understand what your company is about and decide if you’re a business that aligns with their values. If they do, they’re much more likely to buy from your business and a competitor.
Event Videos
When your company hosts or attends events, making a highlight reel or sharing portions of the event makes for great marketing. This can help pique the interest of those who may not have attended, giving them a glimpse of “FOMO” and encouraging them to come to the next event.
Interviews-With-Experts Videos
Interviews-with-experts videos help build trust and establish authority. When users see interviews of experts within the industry giving their first-hand insight into different topics, they’re much more likely to trust what the interviewee is going to say. This is because they have real-world impact and proof of concept to show what they do works, and they want to give their insights to help other individuals as well.
How-to Videos
A how-to video takes a demo one step further and provides detailed instructions for your audience. While demo videos are more like a tour, how-to videos are instructional. These videos are designed to help your market understand how to get the most out of their purchase.
Explainer Videos
When you want to tell people why they need your products or services, explainer videos are perfect. They can often resemble video-based sales pitches because they focus on getting conversions.
Animated Videos
You can use animated videos for just about any purpose, and they’re especially useful for explaining complicated concepts that need visuals to be understood. For example, let’s say that you’re a software company looking to show how your platform works. Using an animated video would be great for this scenario because it’s both visually appealing and showcases the impact your software can have on a business’s everyday operations.
Case Study Videos
Leads who are almost ready to buy can often be converted by case study or client testimonial videos that show how your products or services can solve their specific problem. Showing how other customers had similar needs met through case studies is a powerful conversion strategy because it encourages them to envision themselves in the shoes of your customers.
How to Develop a Video Marketing Strategy That Generates Leads
Are you ready to start building an effective video marketing campaign? Here’s a step-by-step guide describing how to create a video content strategy.
Step 1: Market Research
First, you need to identify your target market, uncover their pain points, and explore what they’re interested in learning more about. This gives you the chance to brainstorm video topic ideas that align with what they’re looking for, increasing the likelihood of them watching the video in the first place.
Step 2: Connect With Leadership
Even when you’re the top boss within your organization, connect with other leaders in your company to create a plan for each video you want to publish. Make sure all decision-makers have a say in the process so your videos will more thoroughly represent your brand.
Step 3: Set a Timeline and Budget
For each video you plan to create, set a deadline with important milestones along the way. Also, be sure to budget so you know your financial limits and how much time you can spend hiring others to create your video marketing material. Having a predefined budget is necessary when you work with video professionals to edit and create final productions.
Step 4: Select Your Distribution Platforms
Choose the platforms on which you’ll distribute each video. This might vary on a per-video basis. Just remember that it’s critical to publish your content where your audience spends their time. For instance, if your target market doesn’t use Instagram, don’t waste your time on it because it won’t yield worthwhile results. Most businesses stick with YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn, but there might be another video publishing platform in your niche, so it’s important to know what your target market engages most on.
Step 5: Work on Your Messaging
Craft the message for each video intentionally so that it will reach your buyers and make them want to convert. When messaging aligns with the different buyer personas in your target market, you have a greater opportunity to capture their interest and watch the whole video rather than taking a quick glimpse and immediately exiting out of it.
Step 6: Determine How To Track and Measure Impact
You only know if your video marketing campaign is successful when you track your results. How do you plan on measuring the success of each video? Choose the metrics you want to collect and analyze, and document how you’ll measure success.
Tracking the right metrics will tell you when you’re on target and when you’ve veered off course and need to make adjustments. Here are a few of the most common metrics that marketing teams follow to measure the impact of their video marketing materials:
- View count: This is the number of people that have watched the video
- Engagement: This is the number of people who have interacted with the video, whether it’s commenting or clicking the “like” button.
- Watch time: This is how long users watch the video. If they’re not watching it all the way through, see where they tend to follow off.
- Social shares: This is the number of times the video has been shared on different social media platforms.
- Conversions: This is how many people have converted from users to leads after watching the video.
Video Marketing Best Practices
When you produce content, you want to make sure it’s the highest quality possible and that it reaches the right audience. This requires adhering to video marketing best practices. Here are some of the video marketing best practices you should follow when producing content:
Don’t Guess Your Target Market—Do Your Research
You might think you know who your target market is, but if you haven’t done the research, you could be wrong. The best video marketing campaign in the world will be ineffective when put in front of the wrong audience.
Make Sure Your Production is Appealing
People are sometimes forgiving of less-than perfect lighting and accidental camera bumps, but that grace isn’t extended to sound. Never settle for bad audio thinking people will overlook it—they won’t. If you’re recording your own videos, always record sound with a microphone separate from your camera.
If a Video Isn’t Getting the Results You Want, Find Out Why
Before you toss a poorly performing video to the wayside, look to see why it isn’t effective. It might be the video content, but it could be other issues like website accessibility or being published on the wrong platform.
Tell a Story People Want to Hear
The better stories you tell, the more eager people will be to subscribe to newsletters or invest in your product or service. Remember to make video marketing materials something that potential buyers want to hear so they can grow a better, stronger connection with your business.
Reasons to Consider Hiring a B2B Video Marketing Company
If you run a small to medium-sized business, outsourcing your video creation to a professional production company will give you some core benefits:
When you outsource your video marketing efforts, you have access to a team of video experts creating your materials, including creative directors, video producers, sound professionals, and more to make sure everything looks perfect in post-production.
Additionally, hiring a B2B video marketing company gives you the following:
- Professional-grade audio and video equipment, including mics, cameras, lighting, and software that creates special effects
- A professional video team will help you create a timeline and budget based on your needs. They’ll also help you choose the marketing platforms best suited to share your video.
- A team to coordinate all filming locations and processes, including getting any required B-roll for creating the optimal video content.
Although you can create some of your own video content online, it still takes time away from your day and more than likely won’t look the way you want it to. Outsourcing your video marketing will ensure your time is not tied up performing tedious editing. Instead, you can focus on growing your business.
Key Takeaways
Video marketing is an effective way to reach your audience, and with today’s online tools, it’s easier than ever to create and publish high-quality content to share. Now you know why video marketing is so powerful. If you haven’t started creating video content yet, now is the time.
If you aren’t using this marketing tactic, you’re losing sales by the day. It’s not hard to produce videos, but you will need a solid plan for creating and publishing each video where it will best reach your market.
If you need help launching an impactful video marketing campaign, the video experts at Abstrakt are ready to help. Abstrakt Studios, a division of Abstrakt Marketing Group, creates videos for growing businesses that generate leads, capture viewer interest, and secure more sales.
When you’re ready to use video marketing as an additional lead generator, contact the video experts at Abstrakt!
