With LinkedIn reporting that 62% of B2B marketers believe that video is the most important content format, it’s no surprise that the platform has recently made native video content publishing and advertising capabilities available to business pages.
With this in mind, there’s never been a better time for B2B brands to experiment with starting or scaling up their video marketing activities.
To help you get going, we’ve compiled this handy guide with our top four tips to ensure your videos capture the hearts and minds of B2B decision makers.
1. Be clear & concise
B2B decision makers are seriously busy people, and they have thousands of internal and external stimuli competing for their undivided attention at any given time.
To ensure your video content cuts through the noise, it needs to be clear and concise. The shorter your video is, the more likely people are to watch it in its entirety.
Sticking to a rule of ‘one key message per video’ will help you cut the fluff and keep your videos short and sweet. If you have already created some more extended video content that you don’t want to waste, why not split it up into smaller clips to create a video series?
With shrinking attention spans, getting your point across in as short a time span as possible can be quite the challenge, but if you’re looking for some proof, we have the perfect example.
In the video below, Zendesk was able to communicate one of the key benefits of its products AND generate a giggle in 15 seconds flat. What’s more - a member of the public thanked the company for making ads that are actually enjoyable to watch!
2. Communicate value
No matter what the objective of your video is, it should always communicate value to the person who is watching it.
There are many ways to communicate value in B2B video content, for example:
Can you entertain the viewer to bring them a sense of enjoyment?
Can you inspire the viewer to think differently or take action?
Can you educate the viewer on a topic that’s important to them?
Can you convince the viewer that you have the solution to their problem?
The value levers that you choose are likely to vary by video and will depend on your brand, your goals and your audience.
Want to witness one of the value levers in action? One of our favourite examples of an entertaining B2B video is the below example from Hootsuite. The company created this funny video of their employees reading out ‘mean Tweets’ it had received about its product to announce the changes it had made in response to the feedback. Some food for thought - would you have watched the video if it was framed solely as a product update announcement?
3. Consider the buyer’s journey
As technology continually allows marketing to be much more sophisticated and personalised, it makes sense to consider the buyer’s journey within your video strategy.
For the best results, it would be ideal to create a suite of video content that serves the unique needs of a customer at each stage of the journey - from awareness to consideration and decision making. This way you can get the right message, to the right person at the right time.
Let’s take a closer look at some examples of the different types of content that would work best at each stage.
Awareness
Brand introductions
Feature/benefit teasers
Consideration
How to’s
Quick tips
Decision
Customer testimonials
Case studies
Ultimately, the goal is for your videos to move potential customers along the buyer's journey and inspires them to become brand advocates who share your content with more potential customers. In effect, your customers can become a reliable source of video distribution with baked-in social proof.
4. Double down on distribution
A recent LinkedIn survey revealed that 26% of B2B marketers are planning to spend more than £300k on video advertising this year - and rightly so. You could have the most captivating video in the world, but if you don’t get it in front of decision-makers, you’re unlikely to get results. This is why a good video distribution plan is vital.
The first thing to consider when it comes to distribution is the mix of platforms you’re going to use. For example, this might be your website, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or your email newsletter. Where do B2B decision-makers tend to spend time online? Do you already have access to an owned database of B2B contacts that you can reach via email, or do you need to reach a new audience via a social media platform?
Secondly, it’s important to get clear on your targeting, especially if you’re using a paid distribution method. LinkedIn is second to none when it comes to targeting B2B decision makers because its targeting features allow you to hone in on attributes such as job title and seniority, amongst other things.
Be sure to pay attention to the distribution channels and target audiences that are the most receptive to and engaged with your content and use these findings to inform your future video distribution strategy.
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Spotted any eye-catching B2B videos lately? Tweet us your top picks at @DMA_Partners!
Looking to leverage B2B video marketing to achieve your business objectives? Get in touch with our Managing Partner, Philip Martin, at philip.martin@dma-partners.com to see how we can help you create and execute a winning video strategy from start to finish.