You write blogs, whitepapers and ebooks. You create countless presentations, case studies and other content resources to attract, nurture and convert leads. But why isn't EVERYBODY asking how video fits into your inbound marketing mix when it is clearly the most effective form of communication? Is it because people are overcharging for good video production? Is it because this is completely new to you as a marketer and your afraid of change? Do we love writing that much!? Personally I think its because marketers don't know what is involved in video production or how to apply video within their overall inbound marketing strategy.
Lets shock ourselves into reality for a second and look at how video, the fastest form of communication and information transfer between your brand and your buyers, can accelerate revenue coming from your marketing and sales investments.
Well folks rest assured: when you do video, you are automatically in the top 10% of marketers. Why? Because it is one of those things that no one is doing - because they "haven't gotten around to it".
Here are the reasons why you NEED to be doing video:
Why Video Marketing is Essential from Bryan Litt on Vimeo.
Your content strategy aims to give the buyer the information they need at each stage of their buying process. For example:
When you put a video onto a landing page - the conversion rate (number of people that fill out the form with their personal contact information) increases. People trust the brand more and don't feel as though they are being tricked into filling out yet another webform.
Your buyers' say:
"wow, they (you) created a whole video just to promote these resources? They must be great resources, and these guys must really know what they are talking about."
So create 15 - 30 - 60 second videos to support your whitepapers, ebooks, webinars, events, and even your blog and magically watch your conversion rates rise - across the board, at every stage of the pipeline. Your conversion rate WILL improve significantly.
Don't worry... I will give you examples and formulas below. Keep going! Your doing so well.
B2B buyers DON'T give you their personal information until they are convinced that you can help them solve their problem and they trust you enough not to waste their time or rip you off. You need to make a connection with buyers, and quickly. That connection is called "relevance" and it happens 100x faster when you speak to a buyer about their problems and your solutions through video rather than the written word.
Just look at yourself, you can barely stomach the rest of this article! If only I could say all of this in 30-60 seconds and let you get on with your holiday celebrations!
Once you get a lead's personal information you need to keep them engaged, keep yourself top of mind, so that when the organization is ready to buy, they remember you and pick up the phone.
"Lead Nurturing" is a marketing buzzword for "keeping leads warm" for the sales team. Like sending emails to them every once in a while with something interesting or informative. If the organization is ready to get help solving their problem, we know there are only a finite number of reasons that they wouldn't pick up the phone and call you. These are the pushbacks you need to address using 30-60 second videos in your lead nurturing campaigns.
Why do we need to use video? Again, video gets your message across faster. How long do you spend reading marketing emails from vendors?
The "who are you and why am I watching this" video: Research stage. Great for increasing landing page conversion rate and to improve click through rates on blog articles.
The "ok I need help, I want to learn more about your products/services" video: Consideration stage. Great for increasing conversion on demo offers, service inquiries or consultations.
Simple right? They all follow a similar pattern: you just turn the dial up or down on the "selling" vs "thought leadership" feel of the video depending on where people are in the buying process.
Off-Grid Shelters | Kickstarter Video from Steven Schloss on Vimeo.
Think of every video as a formula: a set of statements addressing either:
and each one of these statements should come from both you (your brand) as well as your customers. Hearing your customers say it is really important to buyers.
So when you go to the video shoot: get as many of these statements as possible. Build out your library of content and know that you can re-use, mix and match these "building blocks" over and over to create new videos in the future, without having to go through another expensive shoot.
Marketing events are a great way to get the most bang for your buck with a video shoot. Typically you have your marketing, sales team, executives, product people and your customers all in one place.
Video is the most expensive of the content formats, so you want to make sure you have an approved plan to measure the performance of your video assets.
Not valuable! Useless. A pat on the back.
Valuable. Supports decisions. Putes your analytics on the offense.
I suggest we chat quickly about your plans for video. So much pain can be avoided by tapping into thousands of hours of experience in this area. My direct line: 508-479-9877