Video marketing is not a new concept. But video is no longer an isolated piece of content – it can be central to your overall B2B marketing campaigns, especially at the Top of the Funnel (TOFU). 

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Why Video? 

As Entrepreneur and Imagen point out, video has inherent engagement advantages over text. Unlike big chunks of text, video can immediately grab someone’s attention and is easily consumable. Visuals are actually processed 60,000 times faster than text. In fact, 65% of businesses are considering video to be the most engaging communication tool for their audiences. 

What is video marketing? HubSpot defines it as, ‍

“Using videos to promote and market your product or service, increase engagement on your digital and social channels, educate your consumers and customers, and reach your audience with a new medium.”

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Video Optimizes TOFU Conversion 

Video can be incorporated into every B2B platform and channel, including social media and your website. According to Databox, videos double the number of clicks, increase conversions by 20-30%, and boost the CTR by 47% on social media channels. 

It’s highly effective at driving traffic to your website and boosts your Search Engine Optimization (SEO). According to HubSpot, using video on landing pages can increase conversion rates by over 80% and their research has found that over 50% of B2B buyers would prefer videos over any other type of content. 

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Why Do B2B Videos Work?

Storytelling

Storytelling elicits an emotional reaction, which differentiates video from some of your other content formats. Video marketing is exceptionally good for emotional storytelling, and emotions compel action and give your audience a cause to get behind. According to Buffer, videos focused too much on sales are likely to be ignored. Tell a concise, cohesive, and compelling story that drives your viewers to want to learn more about your brand. 

What do you stand for? Start with your purpose and consider the emotions that resonate most with your buyers. Support your story with key facts about your customers’ success and/or your team or partners. Build a deeper connection with your B2B buyers by focusing on people. Your storytelling doesn't have to be perfect but it does need to be authentic to stand out and drive TOFU conversion.   

Brevity

Good videos capture your attention immediately and great videos leave you wanting more. According to Statistic Brain, online attention spans are very short. 8.5 seconds, to be exact. Be concise and get straight to the point in your videos. Edit out any unnecessary details that are keeping your audience from your core message and engagement.

On social media, bring your story to life quickly and present your message clearly in the first few seconds, or your viewer may scroll past your video. Keep your content engaging and immersive. Not so brief that it leaves your audience confused (or without context), and not so lengthy that it bores them.

Supporting Actor

Your video doesn’t have to be the star of your B2B campaign. Instead, you can use videos to make your existing content more impactful. Create quick animations to tease downloads of your eBook. Or repurpose video from your events. Use videos in your email campaigns. In fact, according to Vidyard, personalizing videos in your email campaign can increase response rates and boost conversions by over 300%. 

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Video Production Budget and Timeline 

According to Dubb, a common misconception about video is that it’s expensive and time consuming to produce. This simply isn’t true and managing your budget carefully is a key aspect of quality video production. To get a rough estimate of your video production budget, consider time, the cost of production, editing, and who is doing all of this work. Are you producing your videos in-house or outsourcing your production? When producing video in-house, keep in mind there are many free and  affordable video editing tools available online.

Like video production budgets, video production timelines are often misunderstood as well. Quality content can be created in minutes and posted the same day. Keep in mind longer timelines don’t automatically produce better videos. Approach your video production with a clear goal and a flexible mindset of achieving it. Choose the faster, simpler option whenever possible.

Lastly, treat your video marketing as an ongoing experiment. Test. Test. Test. With each video you’ll learn more about your audience and how you can optimize your TOFU conversion. Because of its popularity, you may find numerous video formats and styles are delivering strong results for you. The only thing you need to avoid doing is waiting. There is no better time than the present for B2B video marketing success.