Five Reasons B2B Marketers Who Don't 'Do Video' Are Getting Left Behind
For a long time, B2C marketers have dominated video advertising.
But the evolving landscape of video advertising has opened up opportunities for
B2B marketers, too, driven in large part by a changing demographic of B2B
buyers and their video-consumption behaviors. According to a recent Google study, 70% of B2B buyers watch videos along
their path to purchase—a whopping 52% jump in just two years.
Are you still on the fence about
whether to take advantage of video in your marketing program? Consider these
five reasons to take the plunge.
1.
Video works for long sales cycles
B2B marketers love to point to
their longer sales cycles as one of the key differentiators versus B2C
marketers. The question is this: Does video have a role to play when the
purchase isn't instantaneous?
The answer is yes, though it requires a thoughtful, full-funnel approach.
The key to video strategy for B2B
marketers is to mix brand (top of funnel) videos with direct response, or DR,
(bottom of funnel) videos. That requires two different types of creatives: one
designed to raise awareness and the other designed to drive purchase. Working
together, these different videos can accompany the buyer through a longer
purchase journey, initially sparking interest for brand retention and later
offering the consumer more relevant, sales-converting information.
So
instead of hedging your bets on a single video asset during your campaigns next
year, opt for a three month—or longer—flight that strategically mixes brand and
DR video.
2.
The No. 1 B2B social network is (finally) paving the way for video advertising
Until recently, LinkedIn has been
a thorn in B2B digital marketers' sides, with a notoriously slow adoption to
video, especially compared with its video-first cousins (and B2C advertising
hubs) Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. That's changing: Last year, LinkedIn
launched a native video uploading feature, letting users upload
videos directly to the site via LinkedIn's app. Soon to follow (so we hear as
of this writing) will be company videos and, thereafter, in-stream video
advertising. B2B marketers should be ready to react when LinkedIn joins the
21st century of digital advertising.
But beyond LinkedIn, B2B
marketers should be responding to the changing demographic of the decision-makers
they're trying to reach: According to a Google/Millward Brown Digital study, nearly half of B2B
researchers are Millennials (18-34-year-olds)—a 70% jump from 2012. Follow the
digital behaviors of those Millennial decision-makers and start considering
Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and, yes, Snapchat, as possible channels for
video engagement.
The big boys are already doing
that, by the way: Microsoft recently launched an SMB-targeted campaign for its
Office 365 + Teamwork products. In addition to the obvious digital channel
(YouTube), Microsoft made a big push with the creative on Facebook. Part of the
appeal of the social platform likely includes the ability to target audience by
job title on Facebook—including "small business owner"—among other
granular demographic parameters.
3.
Video will have a positive impact on your current marketing tactics
Although the comparatively higher
production cost of video has scared away digital marketers in the past,
consider the ripple effect it has on other marketing. Mentioning
"video" in an email campaign subject line can increase email clickthrough rate by up to 300%. And
adding a video to your website can significantly increase the chance of a front-page
Google result.
4.
It's personalized and scalable
Savvy B2B digital marketers know
that buyer segmentation is key to effective marketing. But the more buyer
personas you develop—CMOs, CSOs, CEOs—the more personalization of tactics is
required. Personalization been relatively easy with low-production marketing
tactics like email or e-books and whitepapers. But video is now joining their
ranks.
Decreasing video-production costs
over the past decade have driven brands to get more from their spend. Budgeting
for a shoot day? Make sure you're capturing 2-3 variations of your video (at
least!) to tailor to each of your personas and their various pain points,
motivations, and positions in the customer journey.
5.
You can now test creative for maximum ROI
Testing creative isn't a new
concept, but increasingly affordable production costs are also driving a surge
in A/B-testing, which is helping B2B brands get even more ROI from their video
advertising.
In the past year, we've seen our
clients increase the number of variations of each spot requested from a
standard single 15- or 30-second cut to 4-6 variations of each cut. You can
now plan ahead to test end card variations, landing pages, and even talent
used, and then just put your spend behind the highest performer.
With all these new opportunities
and possibilities, it's harder than ever for savvy marketers—B2C or B2B—to
justify avoiding video marketing.
Whether you create customer
testimonials, product features, professional influencer product reviews, or
full-blown commercials, get creative by integrating video into your B2B
marketing strategies. Don't let B2C marketers reap all the rewards!
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