We all know it takes a lot of skill, money, and effort to make great-looking video content that makes closing deals easier and faster. So what do we get in return for all this expense and trouble? Quite a lot, actually. Here's our ultimate guide on how to integrate video marketing into your sales process to attract more customers and gain new leads for your business.
What's the actual benefit of using video content in the B2B sales cycle? Well, if we had to point out a media format that dominates B2B marketing and is a resounding success story, it would have to be video. It's everywhere; everyone uses it, and is used to it, but only when applied skillfully, they are interested in it.
And a stunning 96% of businesses agree. 55% of audiences watch at least one video segment every single day, while 78% at least once a week. 87% of B2B marketers are certain that video is key to positive ROI, and the revenue growth rate is 49% faster for those companies that make good use of video formats.
They consider it the most important form of content (54%), and they are most likely to share videos with others (53%). In a 2020 study, 78% of Millenials and 70% of Gen-Z, which are the majority of B2B buyers, disclosed that product videos were extremely helpful when making purchasing decisions.
Videos allow you to connect with the audience's core emotions to make your brand and product stand out among your peers and competitors. Compelling stories will build on commonalities between the company and the customers, which easily convert into trust and purchase decisions later on.
In order to capture and then retain the attention and engagement of your desired audience, you need to stop thinking like a salesman and seek within for your internal storyteller. Your company name, brand identity and clear messaging have to be present, but they do not have to be bluntly spelled out. They can just as well be merely implied and yet still clearly come across through the video's presentation and narrative. You need to refrain from creating a sequence of options and features. Those complex topics have to be explained in an interesting and engaging way.
Just like in B2C, one of the best ways to close a deal in B2B is humanizing the interaction. Make the buyer comfortable with the message, and show that you understand them on an emotional level. The former is easily achieved by making the video amusing or even funny. The key to the latter, however, is knowing the potential customers' real friction and pain points. What threats are they afraid of in the context of what you're trying to sell? What results do they hope for? Show clearly that you are able to protect them from those threats and bring about changes that solve their problems. Give direct answers to their issues and make them hope for a better future again. When they see themselves safe in partnership with your company, with the threats and obstacles removed by your cooperation, you have just sold them on your service or product.
First and foremost, do not overcomplicate it. The most captivating video in marketing is the one that gets the point across in a simple, elegant way. The formula should be simple and the messaging easy to understand, but not "dumbed down." Your audience will immediately pick up on it and resent being treated this way.
Instead of trying to overexplain the message, focus on a single feature you're selling or a single, well-identified friction point that you're able to resolve for your customer. This approach may take several short-form videos instead of one, however, this will also play to your advantage. The average attention spans of those watching videos drop off sharply beyond 2 minutes in. We prefer they watch smaller segments in their entirety and ingest the complete messaging as intended. This segmentation will also come in handy during video dissemination on various important social media platforms.
That was the easy part, you see. Now, you have to ensure your story itself is compelling enough. One surefire way to achieve that is to remember that your audience is not companies but people. Talk much more about them instead of yourself. Humanize the story as much as possible, play up the emotions, and convince the audience of your team's empathy for their pain points. Make them feel seen and understood, and convey care for the problems they struggle against.
Your story has to have a definite beginning, a developing middle, and a summarising end. They need to flow well into one another, connected through BUT or THEREFORE logic, never a simple AND. Creative flair is a must as well, as B2B purchase decision makers overwhelmingly (over 80%!) consider usual B2B marketing boring and wish for it to have the creativity normally associated with B2C marketing. They also openly state that they'd make better decisions if B2B advertising was more engaging to them.
Stand out from the banality of the B2B crowd and create a dopamine-shot video for your audience.
While it might seem a good idea for your B2B video to show up on the social media platforms most associated with video content - YouTube, Instagram, TikTok - real-world data is quite counterintuitive. To maximize visibility (remember - in video distribution more is more!) among key decision makers in B2B, you should prioritize at least two other platforms, Facebook and LinkedIn.
In Facebook's case, it's pure statistics. Among over 4 billion daily video views from 1.25 billion monthly viewers on the platform, native videos receive an overall 478% more shares than YouTube. Video ads on Facebook also lead all other platforms with the highest average click-through rate. Engagement rates are through the roof as well, 110% higher than other platforms and 5 times more gaze than static content.
LinkedIn might be one of the last social media platforms you'd think of as far as video content, right? Underestimating it would be a grave mistake, though. Just think about it: most - if not all - of your target buyers are already there, and there's much less non-business-related traffic. LinkedIn is also a video powerhouse, as video boasts 3x the engagement of the text posts on the platform and 5x the likelihood of starting a conversation among members.
Adjust your videos to the requirements and best practices of each platform for the best effect. Think not only of the opportunities to meet prospective customer gaze while they're at work, actively seeking business-related information on LinkedIn. Meet them halfway while they're browsing Facebook at home or just scrolling YouTube during a break. If you took our previous advice about storytelling, your compelling and emotional story will find them when they're relaxed and open to new ideas. Stand out from the droves of repetitive, droning content and get stuck in their brains.
How to close deals in B2B sales? Do we need to create videos for every stage of the sales cycle? In short, yes. You should create a variety of video content because different stages of the buyer's journey will require different tools. Some of the factors to consider here are the needs of your target audience, video length and level of detail.
Right now, you're simply trying to grab attention of potential clients and make them aware of the existence of your company, product or service. This is where the shortest video form rules and, as such, should be displayed on all platforms available. Those self-contained stories should be brief, exciting and emotional, giving your audience a compelling reason to become interested customers.
Videos you create for this stage of the sales cycle have to be legible without sound, as this is a preference of mobile users. The thumbnail image also has to be a deliberate design choice, as it is the sole reason for the user to click on the video.
At this point in the sales funnel, you're free to diversify into longer content. Your customers are knowledge-seeking now so it's time to build relationships. Provide them with educational videos where they will find out more about your company, your success stories, and case studies. It's a good idea to also provide explainer videos and product demos showing how your company's products or services work and what the customer's experience with your company would be like.
Here, you need content which will be the customer's tipping point so it's a great time to utilize how-to videos and testimonials of various lengths. Those can be from a loyal customer, or an assortment of relevant, successful industry professionals who have used your product or service. If your budget permits, this is also where influencers fit right in. Ensure SEO serves the customers with your videos at the right time through easily accessible platforms. You need them to see all the good arguments for making the right choice - your business.
Here you're encouraging the customers to fully commit. Just like in the first stage, those pieces of content have to be brief, emotional, and succinct. However, they also need to contain a clear call to action. Clickable links directly to purchase or subscription pages are welcome, as well as creating a sense of urgency. Offe customers a unique promo code or other type of benefit that times out within a few days or hours to speed up their decision process. They've been along with you for their whole buyer's journey, so reward their time spent on watching your videos and invite them to take this last step together.
Video content can substantially boost the effectiveness of your email marketing. Let's be honest: the average email click rate is an abysmal 2.69% and anything that stands to improve that number is a good idea. Video increases email open rates by 19% and CTRs by 65%, while at the same time reducing unsubscribe rates by 26%.
Be sure to use the word "video" in the email's title to nudge their curiosity about possible interesting content and ensure they actually click through to what you've prepared. Never embed the video directly into the email itself though. Most email apps do not work well with embeds, and they often trigger spam filters. Instead, use a clickable thumbnail or animated GIF snippet that leads to an external webpage where the video can be viewed. It's also a good idea to place a strong call to action somewhere in the middle or toward the end of that video piece.
Webinars have gained a lot of acclaim during the pandemic, often replacing in person meetings. Webinars are the king of engagement, the only video form that can deliver the customer's attention for an entire hour or longer (try doing that with phone calls!). 73% of B2B marketers and sales professionals also consider webinars to be the best way of gaining quality leads amd expand their customer base.
This is especially true within the tech and software sectors, where on average, the conversion rates from webinars reach 53%. About 50% of those registering for a webinar can be considered highly qualified leads who attend with a strong intent to engage. As long as they are offered unique and worthwhile content, webinars can position your company as a thought leader in your industry.
However, you need to follow several principles to get the best results.
Most people register for webinars through links they have received via email. Optimally, it has to reach them during the 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. slot, as emails received in the afternoon garner fewer registrations. Start promoting the webinar about a month before, but keep up the information campaign the closer it comes. 59% register during the week preceding the webinar, while a further 17% do it exactly on the day, so make sure your campaign sends out last-minute invitations, too.
Statistically, the best time for a webinar is a Tuesday or Thursday, starting at 10 or 11 a.m. Don't be afraid to experiment, though, as your audience might have different preferences. What's quite surprising, is that people prefer webinars that last at least an hour. Shorter ones do not seem to carry the promise of much valuable content and seem a bit of a waste to set time aside for.
A Q&A session at the end of a webinar is a unique chance to hear the doubts and concerns of your customers and be able to respond to them in real-time. You might also gain invaluable insights that will be useful when creating further content. Recording of the webinar (or clips from it) will be useful during the creation of social media posts, blogs, and further email campaigns and gives you a chance to send a follow up email to your participants.
What if you need... a LOT of videos? Well, it takes great effort to produce B2B video content at scale, the main challenge being to maintain a high level of quality and message consistency. To scale your production without compromising on quality, we advise partnering with a video production agency (like us!) that can handle bulk orders or specific types of content. Those partners will be able to fully understand your brand and maintain consistency throughout the entire campaign.
Repurposing content is one of the ways to create scale and bulk while keeping the same tone. A single webinar or a Q&A session can be turned into several short videos or tutorials. Likewise, videos from conferences or events might be edited into several smaller pieces, focusing on different topics.
For added authenticity without substantial investment, you may also encourage your existing customers and employees to create video content.
And finally, while turning to AI generated videos may seem like a fantastic way to save your valuable time (and money), remember that it works best when supporting human creativity.
Aside from return on investment, which should be your ultimate goal, there are several metrics that we can use to measure the success of a video marketing campaign.
The most basic metrics are impressions and reach. Those, respectively, mean how many times your ad or organic content is displayed or viewed and by how many unique users. Those metrics focus on less material value that the video content created, like brand awareness, users' exposure to your content, and potential for audience engagement.
Another critical metric is click-through rate (CTR) - the number of clicks your videos are getting from their impression, expressed as a percentage of those. Detailed information can show us which ad or piece of content is performing well.
How eagerly do the customers engage with the content is another thing. One of the metrics there is the conversion rate - the percentage of users who take action after viewing the video content. Engagement is one of the most important metrics, as it shows us how motivated the audience is to react to our videos and the effectivenes of our call to action.
A recent revelation from Meta shows that views, not click-throughs, actually drive purchase decisions, especially among younger audiences, where 90% of purchases occur without clicking anything. The ratio of post-view purchases to post-click purchases is an astounding 6:1 for Gen-Z, 3-4:1 for Millennials, and only 0.5 to 0.8:1 for ages 55-65+.
This is what's understood under the ominous name of "dark social." Those are the paths users take that escape tracking tools. They send each other links to content over messaging apps, emails, or text messages. They also completely skip the digital reference paths and use classic word-of-mouth, recommending products and brands to each other. That's why large platforms such as TikTok or Meta have stopped relying solely on CTR, as a lot of the traffic was untrackable or underestimated.
We hope the above has convinced you that video is an indispensable communication tool to support your B2B marketing efforts. It can help you close more deals, affect how your business is perceived by decision makers and make your campaigns reach even into the dark social area.
If you're ready to make your own video campaign, start a project with Black Rabbit.
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