B2B Video Marketing: Best Practices To Maximize Your Investment

The Benefits of A B2B Video Marketing Strategy

When it comes to Business to Business (B2B) marketing, video is the most captivating and effective tool there is. B2B video campaigns make your audience feel like part of an ongoing conversation. This is a powerful way to connect with customers, grow your business, and build credibility.

In fact, watching online videos is the driving force in purchasing decisions for B2B buyers. Google reports that 72% of B2B buyers and researchers watch videos to help make their choices, so including B2B videos in your marketing strategy is essential! And when done correctly, B2B video can bring your brand to life in ways other content simply can't.

B2B Video Return on Investment

Creating quality B2B videos can seem like a big commitment, especially when many budgets are shrinking. However, most marketers realize that leaving this versatile tool out of a marketing plan is a huge mistake. But how do you ensure your videos are worth the investment?

You need videos that deliver value to make the most effective use of your resources.

Relevant, compelling, and well-planned videos will protect your bottom line. Even so, the key to the best ROI is knowing which B2B video is right and when to use it. Below we'll review 5 best practices to create successful B2B videos, move your customers down the sales funnel, and maximize your investment!

1. Make sure your B2B video content reaches the right audience.

The importance of knowing your potential customers and where they are on their buying journey cannot be overstated. Your content marketing should provide different messages to different target audiences. Base those messages on the questions your viewers are asking in their current phase of the decision-making process. But don't stop there. In order for your B2B video to effectively reach your customers, you must know where they are in the sales funnel and which marketing channel you plan to use.

"Awareness Stage”

Top-of-the-Funnel/ToFu/ High-Funnel

Help customers recognize a problem they are experiencing and then show them why it needs to be addressed. Buyers begin their journey here and require more information to better understand their issues before seeking answers. Video marketing efforts should lead buyers further down the funnel by targeting brand awareness instead of direct conversion. It's all about getting your name out there and being a valuable source of information.

Be informative. Use educational and industry trend videos since they appeal to a large audience.

"Consideration Stage"

Middle-of-the-Funnel/MoFu/Mid-Funnel

At this juncture, buyers understand their problem and are exploring their options. Here, they begin to research solutions and compare all the methods to solve this problem. You want your B2B video content to reach buyers who know your business but have yet to become clients. Show them the unique ways you can answer their concerns and help their specific situation.

Be educational. Target buyers by using case study videos and product overview videos. Check out this info on how to make a case study!

"Decision Stage"

Bottom-of-the-Funnel/BoFu/Low-Funnel

A buyer generally needs 6 to 8 interactions before they are comfortable enough to buy from you! But this final stage of the funnel is where the purchase decisions happen. B2B video should now be aimed at customers ready to commit and should help them get over any lingering concerns about the answers you are providing. Solidify their choice in you. Ensure the buyer that your solutions set you apart from the competition and will significantly benefit them.

Be persuasive. Build a case for your buyer by providing video tutorials, product demo videos, and testimonial videos. Customer testimonial videos are compelling and can trigger prospects into becoming clients. *Follow this link to learn why video testimonials are so important and how to get them!

TIPS for targeting your B2B video strategy for the Buyer's Journey:

• Create buyer personas to determine the type of video content buyers need at critical moments in their purchase journey. Buyer personas are a fictional representation of your ideal customer, including their behavioral traits and demographics. Use this information to create relevant and relatable B2B videos to get the most from your clients AND your investment!
• Produce more ToFu video content in the beginning. Creating 60% ToFu content and 40% MoFu content is an effective way to start your video marketing campaign. The more high-level stage B2B videos you make, the wider an audience you can reach. This broad audience gives you the best chance to move more significant numbers of viewers down your funnel.
• Use customer reviews to recognize the unmet needs of your audience. Sometimes there are new problems that customers need resolved, product issues you didn't realize existed, or features you didn't know clients were vying to try. Being mindful of these needs will allow you to adapt and create new solutions while keeping your buyers happily moving along their journey.
• Try to get a feel for what buyers expect from you at different stages. Talk to your audience, request feedback, create live videos, and analyze data from existing B2B relationships. Accurately anticipating the needs of prospective clients can put you one foot ahead of the competition.

2. Use tutorial videos to teach customers about what you offer.

People need to understand how to use your product or service correctly, and B2B videos are one of the most effective ways to give them this information. In fact, 96% of marketers polled in 2022 said video marketing increased customer understanding of their product or service! More than ever, buyers skip text-based instructions and search for video walkthroughs and tutorials to help them navigate complex ideas.

Tutorial videos, in particular, clearly explain how a product or service works, what it does, and how it benefits the customer. They also help buyers identify the best products for their needs and allow them to see what makes your business different from competitors. This insight gives prospects greater buyer confidence.

You can make tutorial videos into small, easy-to-digest pieces that walk new users through a well-defined demonstration of product workflow. This demonstration fosters better understanding which builds a positive onboarding experience and helps reduce churn rate at the beginning of the customer journey.

TIPS for elevating your tutorial videos in B2B video marketing:

• Embed timestamps in your tutorial videos. Adding timestamps sends viewers to the most relevant parts of your videos and lets buyers quickly find the information they seek. Timestamps are also rewarded on Google and YouTube by ranking your video higher on search engine results.
• Announce updates and launch new products with tutorial videos. These video notifications will not only create B2B upsells but can build brand loyalty over time.
• Make short tutorials for digital marketing on social media. Tutorial videos are among the most frequently shared on social media. They should be long enough to show each step but short enough to remain engaging and fit the autoplay feature on various social platforms.
• Use tutorial videos at several critical customer touchpoints. They are effective in areas like website homepages, essential product pages, or embedded in welcome emails to new customers.

3. Create educational content to build deep B2B relationships that resonate with your audience.

Your expertise matters. In today's buying environment, prospective customers seek material from industry experts to help guide them in their complex decision-making process. Generally, half of your leads are not yet ready to buy, but they are eager to learn more and want to feel confident in your knowledge. Educational videos are a great way to prove you are a trustworthy source and a better fit than your competitors.

Thanks to a wealth of digital information, B2B buyers are on a journey that no longer has a clear beginning, middle, or end. They jump back and forth between key decisions and look for insight on multiple platforms. Building meaningful connections with them during this process will keep buyers moving toward the bottom of the funnel.

If you listen to the needs of your prospects and give them valuable answers, you will increase your brand awareness, build trust, and maintain a strong bond until they are ready to buy.

To foster a deep relationship and become rooted in the buyer's process:

1. Provide them with relevant videos that help them understand your industry and your skilled role in it.
2. Create videos that resonate emotionally.
3. Review the services and products your customers use.
4. Tap into your expert knowledge to make recommendation videos or produce a series of explainer videos.

TIPS for creating compelling B2B videos that nurture leads:

• Place videos on your website. These videos catch the attention of visitors who usually skim through text-heavy pages. But be sure you don't slow down your page load speed because people won't wait around to watch.
• Use the correct language. Use simple language instead of technical terms that people outside your industry may not know. If you are trying to reach a specific audience, research what words, abbreviations, and imagery will resonate with them.
• Get your point across quickly. Video clips from five seconds to two minutes long have a higher engagement rate on social media. But don't make your video so short that your message isn't clear.
• Convince prospects to take the next step with a call to action (CTA). Try voicing the call to action in your video while a graphic pops up with the same info. Create links to your white papers, forms to fill out, trial versions of your software, or customer reviews.

4. Build brand credibility with B2B video reviews.

To raise a buyer's confidence in your brand, show them actual customers talking about your product or service. Over 50% of people say "people like me" are the most credible sources of information about a product, and in video form, customer reviews and testimonials have a powerful impact.

Watching video reviews creates a personal, emotional response you can't achieve with text. Your prospective customers are human beings, after all. They want to feel a connection with your brand and trust that you are reliable. What better way to validate that than showing real people using your services, testing your products, and speaking your praises?

Video reviews have a remarkably high conversion rate and are useful at all stages of the buyer's journey. There are several ways to utilize video reviews, including testimonials, customer reviews, and case studies.

Customer reviews:

Use personal video reviews to build trust and credibility. Relevant, validated customer reviews will boost your visibility and attract more buyers.

Customer testimonials:

You can increase brand confidence and boost conversion rates by leveraging personal customer testimonials. Create brief, simple testimonial videos displaying B2B buyers sharing their experiences.

*Click here to read more about why businesses need testimonial videos.

Case studies:

Use case studies to show your product in action and explain how it solved a customer's problem. These videos should be of your most satisfied buyers. Videos are an effective way of communicating value, but they must be authentic.

TIPS for B2B video marketing using video reviews:

• Stay real. Customers value authenticity and can spot a scripted testimony from a mile away. Showcase real customers with sincere, relatable reviews. Focusing on the benefits of your product or service will feel more personal and less like marketing content.
• Adjust for the marketing channel. The length of your video reviews should be between 6 and 30 seconds for social media but can be over a minute for YouTube. Use video testimonials of about 30 seconds on a website homepage.
• Shoot multiple testimonials at once. Save money by gathering several buyers to share their reviews on one B2B video. You can cut the testimonial into smaller chunks and use them across several platforms and throughout the buyer's journey.
• Provide prompts. When seeking a customer's review, ask questions to help them develop a valuable testimony. You'll want them to discuss their business, their pain points, and how you helped solve their problems. Ask them things like what your product did for them, why they chose you, and if they would recommend you to others in their industry.

5. Continue engagement to generate customer loyalty.

Customer loyalty is the key to any successful business. Especially because attracting a new customer costs much more than retaining an existing one. To earn a buyer's allegiance, your connection with them can't stop after conversion. Nurturing your business relationship is an ongoing process.

B2B video is an ideal way to stay connected with clients because they'll learn more about who you are and how you can continue to provide for them. This ongoing exchange makes them more likely to keep engaging with you in the future. As long as your brand grows and changes to meet your customer's needs, you can expect a lengthy, thriving bond.

Holding a customer's attention can be a challenging task. Your goal is to create enough engagement for them to rely on you for future purchases, provide referrals, and share their positive experiences. To meet this goal, you must create new content regularly. Try creating polls on social media, staying in touch with email campaigns, and sharing useful, up-to-date information.

TIPS for building loyalty with B2B videos:

• Drive retention with video guides. Create a series of short video guides for each product or service you offer. Walk through any complex steps in a way that is easy to digest. To create authenticity, use a voiceover from an employee who can speak candidly about their experience with the products.
• Build a video knowledge base. Most customers want to be able to solve issues on their own. A B2B video knowledge base will help answer frequently asked questions with pre-packed video responses. This also saves time for your support team.
• Keep your customers returning for more. Engage with them even after watching your video. Send out newsletters, post additional content on your website or social media accounts, and create additional videos that build upon the first.
• Pay attention to quality. Your B2B video should spark interest, but you need quality video production to make a lasting impact. Offering poor-quality video is a great way to turn off customers, but sharp, compelling videos will bring in new buyers and build loyal fans!

Bottom Line: Make Sure You Get the Most ROI with B2B Video

B2B video is a must-have piece of the buyer conversion puzzle. Utilizing video throughout the buyer's journey lets you attract new prospects, heat up cold leads, and grow unwavering customer loyalty. Following some basic rules and using the tips we've mentioned, you can maximize your investment in video marketing. Remember, it's not just about creating great content--it's also about knowing how and when to use it.

Ask about our Video Package Plans at Levitate Media!

Our comprehensive Video Package Plans are created with a big-picture strategy in mind. Each package is designed to tackle large-scale pain points or accelerate return on your biggest objectives. Whether it’s for your Marketing Funnel, Product Launching, or Recruitment and Training, we'll craft an ideal package specifically tailored to complement every step of your plan.

The above-mentioned are just a few samples of our offerings. We're also happy to create one exclusively for your specific needs and goals.