Today’s marketing departments are creating more videos than ever before – and with good reason as such content attracts more organic traffic from search engines, keeping prospects on websites for longer.
The figures speak volumes too as nearly 60% of executives said they would choose video over text content if shown both, and 77% rated video would as an effective content marketing tactic.
It’s therefore important to have video as part of a content marketing strategy when looking at ways to not only drive lead generation but offer something visual and engaging to really tell a story.
With that said, there are so many types of video to choose from when pulling together compelling content for a buying audience – from ‘pieces to camera’ to behind-the-scenes shots to help prospects and existing customers get a feel for the business. Here are seven video marketing ideas for savvy communicators.
When it comes to today’s fast-paced customer base, there’s a need for short and snappy information too. Micro-videos are a great tool to achieve this and are being used more effectively to offer a better understanding of what an organisation has to offer.
Companies are using this type of video for lead generation, traffic generation, and sales generation with great success and with the average length of the B2B sales cycle (depending on the industry, product, price point and customer profile), micro-videos can be a critical part of the relationship building – and the finished products are easy to share on social media.
Producing engaging experiences for customers
If businesses want to explore their selling prowess further too, a product demonstration video which – once an audience’s attention is captured – can showcase how and why a business stands out in the marketplace.
This kind of content helps to showcase the value for customers in a powerful way by combining both audio and visuals to offer a memorable, engaging experience to audiences. Why not take that even further too by introducing a teaser video to push people towards the product, create a countdown and a bit of buzz, especially around a new launch?
There might be a need to showcasing the business and offer a more ‘human light’ – if that’s the case then there are several options available. Behind-the-scenes videos featuring employees can certainly do this. Such content highlights happy staff and office culture to send good messages to potential customers, and they allow to further connect with leads and prospects in a unique way, outside of the usual sales messages.
When featuring staff in such videos too, it can further increase the reach because those in the starring roles might be more likely to share them with their own network, allowing companies to take advantage of employee advocacy while generating more leads. There’s also further chance of helping with recruitment because when people see a happy workplace, they will be more interested in joining a business or finding out more.
Showing success behind the organisation
If a business is proud of its client base – then why should they not shout about it? Customer testimonial videos are a great way of achieving this and many organisations are seeing how they harness a persuasive way of showing people ‘just like us’. They do a lot of the grunt work sales teams do in convincing leads to move further along the buying cycle, because these individuals have done exactly the same, which – in turn – frees up the in-house team to concentrate on other activities and increase their productivity too. A win-win for any organisation?
Moving slightly on from testimonials, businesses can enter into the customer success videos territory. These visually demonstrate how a company can help others just like them. And they are proving popular too – in fact, nearly 73% of B2B companies use success stories in their marketing. So there’s every argument to make when combining the two and having customer success story and testimonial videos to offer a more in-depth view of the value proposition, giving leads and prospects more points of comparison.
Finally, if organisations are looking more into how to communicate knowledge and provide expertise, thought leadership videos are perfect. This type of visual is one of the top five reasons companies make videos, and the most valuable and impactful thought leadership content takes a bold stance by challenging the status quo in any industry.
Video content is an easy way to help generate leads, add valuable content and sell more on social media. Time and effort will be rewarded when organisations start sharing these videos with leads, helping to create a deeper relationship with potential customers too. So why not give video a shot? Lights, camera…
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