B2B video marketing tactics to maximize your spend

As video continues to gain popularity on social media and other channels, businesses are looking for more ways to cash in on this shift in consumer behavior. In fact, a whopping 81 percent of businesses use video as part of their marketing strategy. To ensure you effectively reach other businesses and that your spend is worthwhile, we invited four experts in the field to provide their guidance on B2B video marketing tactics you can use to edge out competitors.

1. Deliver value to your audience

To achieve your marketing goals, your video must make an emotional connection with your audience, says Chris Stasiuk, founder and creative director of Signature Video Group. He says there are three main ways to establish both that emotional connection and make viewers feel that their time was well spent watching your video:

• Entertainment. Not all products are inherently fascinating, but most can be presented in an entertaining way. Old-school infomercials are a good example. If your audience enjoys watching your video, they’re likely to stay engaged with your brand. “You can create lifelong customers this way,” says Stasiuk.
• Education. Good products solve a problem for the customer, so Stasiuk recommends videos that explain in an engaging manner how your product solves real problems your customers face. An explainer video that demonstrates your knowledge of customer problems and the effectiveness of your product as a solution can be very effective. Consider following up with an FAQ video.
• Inspiration. Appeal to your viewers’ emotions in your videos, and show them inspiring stories that help drive home your message. Client stories and testimonials are a powerful way to show other potential customers how you’ve solved a problem in your industry. “Remember that B2B customers are still people, and people make decisions emotionally,” Stasiuk advises.

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2. Use CTAs wisely

Every marketer knows the call to action (CTA) is the key to converting leads into customers. CTAs are either direct, such a purchase link, or indirect, like a signup form that moves the customer to an important step in the sales funnel.

Video calls for a different CTA approach, says Allison Hott, content marketer at Blog Tyrant. “Even if your video is super engaging, many people won’t watch it all the way to the end where your CTA lies in wait hoping for a click or tap.”

Hott recommends placing your CTA in the middle of the video where more viewers will see it.  She says that studies suggest viewers are most engaged during the middle of the video, so more of them will see your CTA when they are most engaged and likeliest to take action.

“Getting viewers to take action is more important than having them watch your entire video,” Hott says.

3. Use video as a hook with cold outreach

“One of the most effective B2B video marketing tactics is to leverage the power of your prospect’s intrigue,” says Dale Johnson, content marketer at Nomad Paradise. He notes this is especially important for cold outreach, such as with email pitches.

Johnson recommends structuring these pitches to go beyond identifying a challenge the person is facing and showing how your product or service helps overcome it. Entice prospects to reply by telling them you’ve put together a video outlining a strategy for them. A hook as simple as “Let me know if you’re interested, and I’ll send over the video” can be very effective.

Only when you receive a reply do you make your video and send it over. Because your prospect has shifted from cold to warm, you won’t have to worry so much about dazzling them with a high-end production. Johnson explains that all the prospect wants to know are the facts and the meat of your strategy.

“You’d be amazed at how creating that intrigue compels your prospects to reply, and you only have to worry about creating videos for ones who have shown interest,” he says. “I used this tactic with a travel agency and saw a first email reply rate of 17 percent, which is much higher than the standard 2 percent.”

4. Support your video marketing with smart advertising

“If your business is investing in video marketing, I recommend supporting this effort with digital advertising,” says Morgan Hennessey, manager of search marketing at Electric Enjin. Not every video needs the support of ads, but this investment is essential when the video content is created for the end of the buyer’s journey, where the goal is to drive conversion.

Once you’ve produced a great video, regardless of the length, Hennessey recommends creating different length cuts, for instance, one of five seconds, another of 15 seconds, and the third of 30 seconds. These are the most responsive lengths for Google Ads videos that run before YouTube videos and ads on both Facebook and Instagram.

“Offering all three lengths will optimize performance,” Hennessey says. “Make sure these cuts are engaging snippets that represent the message of your entire video but leave the viewers wanting more.”

Hennessey has found that video is the highest performing ad type, driving more engagement and conversions than text ads or static images. “We used this tactic for one B2B client, and in approximately three months, their full-length video had received over 2 million views.”

Want the complete rundown on video marketing? Check out this guide we created on the topic.