The fact that as consumers we are saturated with content, drowning in copy and generally just desensitised to a lot of what we see online, makes it very hard for a business to ‘cut through the noise’ – marketing jargon like that doesn’t help either ;).
In 2025 we have short attention spans and a lot of information at our fingertips (aka smartphones), so something has to really take our fancy to stop us scrolling.
This is where video comes in, and no it’s not just for a B2C brand’s Instagram!
A 2023 WordStream report found that B2B videos can increase website conversions by 86% and that video content generates 1200% more engagement than text and image content combined (Cisco 2022 Annual Internet Report). Those stats alone should show you what a valuable marketing tool video content can be, but as with everything, you need to execute it well to reap the rewards, which is where we come in!
Here is a 5-step guide on how to make a cracking B2B marketing video.
- Identify your target audience
This might be a bit of a ‘duh’ moment, but it’s a common mistake to jump straight to the creative execution (it’s ok, we all get overexcited sometimes), skipping the important preliminary planning part either completely or doing it slap-dash.
Who do you actually want to watch this video? Are they prospective customers? Hot leads you’re trying to push over the edge? Current customers you’re wanting to upsell to? There are a lot of options, and don’t be tempted to say, ‘all of them!’. You can’t target every type of customer, you can have a broad customer base but identify where they are in the customer journey with your business, as this will inform what type of video you create, the content, the platform you share it on and so on. Basically everything.
If you already have some research on your target audience then great, but if not it’s worth investing some time and money into your demographic so you can really tailor the video to them. Consider factors like what type of business they are (small, medium or large), who are their key decisionmakers (marketing, sales or procurement managers for example) and which channels are they active on (website, LinkedIn, email)?
- Identify your video objectives
Your objective should never be ‘my competitors are doing it, therefore I should be too!’. All of your content should have a clear strategy, whether that’s increasing brand awareness, generating leads, educating your audience or increasing conversion. Once you’ve established what you actually want to achieve from video marketing, the rest of the process becomes a lot easier.
As an example, your objective is to increase conversions, so you consult your marketing team (point 4) on what sort of video content can help do that. They return with the tried-and-tested strategy of filming some testimonial videos and just like that the ball gets rolling with a clear direction.
- Consider your platform
Nowadays there are a lot more channels and platforms available to businesses and consumers alike, which is a good and bad thing. Good in the sense you can be a lot more focussed with your marketing campaigns and bad because it means you need to find out where your target audience are. If we rewind just a couple of decades and the world of traditional media, you only really had to consider the main 3: print, TV and radio. Now you have the internet and the countless possibilities that brings, social media, websites, forums, email etc.
I’ve given this example before, because it’s very applicable to B2B companies, but there’s no point running a video campaign on Facebook, if your target market is actually active on LinkedIn.
You might argue ‘but Facebook has more users! How can our target market not be on there?!’ This is when you need to acknowledge how the user is using that platform – Sharon the Sales Director only uses Facebook to wish her friends & family Happy Birthday, she’s not going to watch your client testimonial video on how you streamlined their business telecommunications because she’s simply not engaging with the platform in that way.
Once you’ve established where your target audience are (yes that might entail some additional spend on research but it’s crucial for all marketing activity so a worthy investment), you can then hone in on the type of video you’re going to produce. As an example, short-form 30-second clips for social media or longer or more detailed YouTube videos to be shared as part of an email education campaign.
- Use professionals
Whether it’s your marketing manager or an outsourced video production team, enrol the help of professionals who have the skills to create a video campaign. It might seem like a straightforward enough task, where you can just do some filming on your iPhone, but it isn’t (to put it bluntly). Even if you had the most natural, confident, charismatic subject in your video, they are still going to need a script to follow or direction. The editing for a 30-second clip can take hours. Knowing what filming kit and microphones to use can be a minefield. You get the picture!
- Incorporate your brand
When filming video content your brand can become lost very quickly. Not only should you consider your business and target audience when deciding what type of content to film, you should also consider creative assets, like colours and logo placement in the video. In general, your marketing videos should have a clip at the end displaying your logo to sign-off the content as well as some logo placement, such as branded work wear on actors or clips of company signs, dotted throughout the video. Basically, by the end the viewer should be very clear of what your business is called and what it does, but it’s a balance to be struck because you don’t want to spam them with brand mentions to the point the video becomes unwatchable (again the professionals will be able to advise on this, but a quick tip -branded B-roll is key!).
Video content is an invaluable tool for the B2B industry. It can completely transform the look and feel of your website, bolster sales efforts and become your most effective lead generation tool. This 5-step guide should arm you with some of the fundamentals to consider before investing in video marketing, but if you’d like expert advice and support, please don’t hesitate to contact us here.
