There are three core B2B videos that you need in your content marketing library.
They can be used across the funnel, from awareness to consideration to purchase, even beyond. They can be used by product marketing, demand gen, customer marketing, as well as on the content team.
Sure, there are dozens of video types that you can produce. And I think many are valuable when used effectively. I am a big fan of the 1:1 personalize videos that sales can quickly create to establish relationships with future customers.
Businesses on average are publishing 33 new videos every month, according to Vidyard’s 2018 Video in Business Benchmark Report.
I’ve been producing B2B videos for more than a decade, producing hundreds of them for a range of businesses including MarTech SaaS startups and established brands, coffee roasters, law firms, real estate agents, clean tech and more. My work was recognized with a First Place in the 2018 Video in Business Awards.
The result of that diverse portfolio has been more $100 million in sales pipeline for my clients and former companies.
What are the 3 Core B2B videos?
And, I believe, there are three core videos types that will consistently help you convert unknown website visitors into warm leads and then into closed/won customers.
Those are:
- Customer testimonial or case study video
- Explainer video
- On-demand webinar video
So, this spring, take a few minutes to audit your video library and ensure you have at least these three. And, if you have them, review them and see if any need to be updated. For example, is the customer still a customer in that customer testimonial?
Let’s review what each one is and what to consider when producing them.
What are B2B customer testimonial videos
Customer testimonial videos can also be called customer success videos, case study videos, or customer story videos. They feature one of your customers sharing on camera their experience working with your company.
The customer testimonial video answers the “Why You” question from your customer’s point of view. Here is the basic outline:
- The situation (who they are, what they do)
- The problem they were having that necessitated looking for a solution
- The evaluation process for shopping for a solution, including any considered competitors, and why they chose you
- The results they have seen. This includes ROI numbers, as well as other key differentiators you may have such as customer service, or time to value
I’ve seen successful customer testimonial videos at all price points. So don’t be discouraged. If you have stymied on how you can create a customer testimonial for your business, reach out and I would be happy to brainstorm some achievable options for you and your business.
What is a B2B explainer video?
An explainer video is typically a short, animated video that focuses on explaining how your product or service works, or just one segment or part of your product or service works.
Maybe I am taking some creative license with my definition, but I would include as an explainer those videos that explain your features and those videos that explain any bottlenecks your prospects or customers may be experiencing.
One of the reasons I believe explainers work so well is not in the animation, but in the voiceover scripts that accompany them. An explainer video is typically less than 2 minutes in length, which would be about 300 words of written script.
Go ahead, explain your product or service with clarity in 300 words. It is hard. That is also why explainers will break up your processes into chunks that can be addressed in a few words.
An explainer video can quickly become expensive due to the time required in creating animations. Custom animations could result in a video that is $25,000 or more. But there are a ton of cheaper options that are just as effective, whether you use a online service like Vyond or hire someone like me to customize a stock video template.
I have also seen an explainer video created for a billion dollar MarTech company using presentation software (Powerpoint or Keynote) and an internal voiceover. It has made them millions and millions.
Below are some examples of explainer videos I have created.
What is an on-demand webinar video?
The on-demand webinar video is perhaps my favorite video type because of its return on investment opportunities.
Basically, you are recording your webinar, uploading it to your video hosting platform and then adding a gate to it.
You don’t even to have the webinar. You can just create a presentation and record it offline. I actually prefer this method because the audio on most webinar platform sucks.
You can also slice and dice your on-demand webinar into different formats that you can test to see what is most effective in generating leads. For example, most webinars are about an hour long. You can then edit that down to a 15-minute version or a 5-minute version and test all three to see what converts best.
If I had created a webinar on this topic of the core three videos, I could have a long on-demand offering covering all three, as well as three separate on-demand videos that covered each type.
If you had a great Q&A session at the end of the webinar, you can consider slicing that off into its own on-demand webinar.
How do you use the Core 3 B2B videos?
As I mentioned earlier, you really can use these videos throughout your customer’s journey.
To do that, however, they need to be aligned with your target audience. There are no shortcuts for that. You’re going to have to know your buyer personas, their pain points, and they questions they ask (you, themselves, or their peers) as they move through their journey.
If you’ve done that, then activating these videos in your marketing mix is easy breezy. Those customer testimonials can be embedded on the homepage of your website, as well as on relevant web pages throughout your site (for example, if you offer podcast editing services and the customer talks about your podcasting editing services, you should embed the video on that page).
The testimonial video can also be shared on social, as well as included in your email nurture campaigns. These videos can be used both as top-of-funnel content, as well as bottom-of-funnel content.
The explainer videos are going to be used on the relevant pages on your website. They can be included in prospect email nurture campaigns, as well as customer onboarding (depending on the video’s topic). You can include them in blog posts, as well as create screenshots or create gifs that can be used in eBooks and other content.
The on-demand webinar videos can be used as CTAs in prospect emails, and I’ve successfully used them as in-line CTAs on blog posts. And you can really create webinars on the same topic, but positioned for each stage of the funnel from awareness to consideration and purchase, and the same applies for your on-demand versions.
What do you think?