How To Get Started With Video for Demand Generation (VIDEO)

 

Video Transcript

There is no doubt that video should be a huge part of your demand generation funnel. As a medium, it’s a great way to convey the benefits of your products or services, as well as the true personality and values of your brand, in an easily digestible format.

However, as with most content, there are some hurdles to overcome. How do you produce high-quality engaging videos without breaking the bank? What are the best channels to leverage it and maximize your investment? How do you save time in pre-production when you need to create video assets for several different buyer personas in several different segments?

In this video series, I am going to provide you with some detailed tips and insights for creating a successful video campaign that can complement and enhance your demand marketing program. 

We’ll start with some ideas on what types of videos play well at each phase of the buying journey, and why. Then, we will talk about the best ways to produce your video content so you can maximize your budget and get the most assets possible to fill your funnel. Finally, we will talk about distribution, which channels are best for each phase, and what you should be measuring and monitoring. 

But before we get into the finer details, let’s talk about where to start.

Alright, so we’re going to work off the assumption that you’ve already nailed your buyer personas. You’ve done the interviews, you’ve scoured the search data, and you’ve put together what we call a collective content experience that surrounds your prospects with meaningful, personalized content.

Perhaps you’ve even deployed some advertising and content into the market, some emails, eBooks, and social content… yet you’re still not seeing the returns. This is where video can help. 

By leveraging video and strategically adding it to your demand campaigns, you can absolutely boost awareness, up your engagement, and drive conversions and sales. HubSpot states that 72% of customers prefer learning about products and services via video, so give the people what they want, right? BUT you have to have done your homework first, and know what type of messaging is going to play well with your buyer personas along the journey. 

Think about it: prospects and customers are absolutely hammered with marketing these days; it’s becoming increasingly difficult to break through and differentiate from the competition. So, using video content at key areas of the journey to add a human face and a little warmth to your offering can really help your brand form a connection and stand out. 

Video also helps with retention. In fact, it’s estimated that viewers retain up to 95% of what they watch, compared with only 10% when reading it in text. 

So, with all that said, it’s important to know which areas of your funnel, and at what moments in the buying journey, video will have the most impact. 

This is not a one size fits all thing; not every explainer video, talking head, or brand film provides a return, or even a significant increase in your engagement data. You might want to start where you’re seeing the conversions die, or the data falling off. If you have a lot of traffic coming into your site, but they’re not converting, I would recommend investing in video for this area of the funnel first. 

Of course, it’s best practice to have video content at every stage, but sometimes this is not feasible with your budget. So mine your data carefully, look for the dead-ends… like landing pages with tons of visitors, but very little form fills, and put some video content on the landing page that explains how your company can help and who it’s for. Remember: Buyers are time-starved, and don’t want to read a wall of text, so cut to the chase and monitor the form fills to see if conversions go up.

Please also remember that video is a tactic, not a strategy. Without understanding how your buyers consume content, and focusing your content on their particular issues, no tactic will help. 

In our next video, we’re going to go through the different types of videos that work best for the awareness part of the demand generation funnel, so stay tuned! Be sure to subscribe to our channel, and don’t forget to hit the bell icon to be notified when new videos go up.

See you next time!


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