Video as a Marketing Tool
In the business to consumer (B2C) marketing world, video has taken over to the point that even book publishers are now creating video trailers to promote books by James Patterson and other authors. However, video marketing is trickier in the business to business (B2B) space. Read on to learn why and how B2B companies should use video in their marketing plans.
You’re marketing your company’s products in order to generate leads that will lead to sales, right? Well, consider this statistic: Companies that use video marketing increase their revenues by 49% in comparison to those that don’t incorporate video into their campaigns.
More and more B2B marketers are turning to video, with video advertising experiencing the largest two-year growth in a Salesforce State of Marketing Report. That survey found that video use in B2B marketing has grown 204% since 2015.
Now that you’ve hopefully been sold on “why” you should use video (money talks, right?), let’s take a closer look at “how” by investigating what other companies have done for their video marketing. At past companies, I’ve taken a video review of a wide area network security product and placed it into an email promotion, and have also been part of a marketing video that showed highlights from our booth at a conference to send to those who weren’t able to make it.
Need inspiration? Consider these videos (how could an article on video not include video links?) that B2B companies have created for their marketing plans:
- Case studies (This one is for Slack from Sandwich, Inc. and it’s quite clever)
- Product demonstrations (HP offers a sleek business PC product demo)
- Explainers (Basecamp tells what they do in less than a minute)
- Branding/Advertisements (Schneider Electric brings humor into telling their story)
- How-to (MethodCRM takes a unique approach to the how-to video)
Animated vs. Live Action Videos
One of the top questions that clients have for our video team is if their video should be animated or live action. There isn’t a set answer for this that covers all companies because the approach is individualized to each client; the product; and the type of video.
For example, if you want a video of one of your customers talking about their results with your product, that video should be live action… unless of course you’re looking to mimic the look and feel of a-ha’s popular “Take on Me” video from the 80s that featured sketched animation. Yes, it would certainly be unique, but that’s not exactly be the right look for a B2B customer testimonial video.
On the other hand, if your video is going to explain how your cloud-based solution works, an animated video is your better bet because you’re explaining an abstract concept. Anything that’s abstract works much better in a whiteboard, cartoon animation, or motion graphics animated video.
Want to take your marketing up a notch with video, but don’t know where to start or don’t have the right technology/camera to use? Contact our team at PartnerDemand for help with your video marketing.
