Let’s play a game; what comes to mind when you read these sentences?
“I’ll never let go, Jack.”
“Luke; I am your father.”
Or even,
“Can you hear me now?”
I’d venture to guess that within that one line, an entire scene comes to mind. You can probably recall the speaker, the context, and even the events that follow. From major motion pictures to 60 second commercials, videos make an impact. In fact, viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video compared to 10% when reading it in a text.
Is 10% of your message enough to convert prospects into buyers?
Probably not. Rather than having your audience skim your one pager, implement video to communicate faster, more efficiently, and with more clarity. Diode Digital recently found that online video is a 600% more effective marketing tool than print and direct mail combined…and you don’t have to remake the Titanic for results.
Using Video Outside of the Box
Video increases conversion, builds trust, and adds humanization to your sales process. In less than a minute, you can make a huge impact so make it count! Below are just a few of the ways to add video into your sales and marketing process.
Advertising
Using video in your social media and advertising is probably the most intuitive option in your marketing strategy. For instance, 82% of Twitter users watch video content on Twitter. Whether you utilize paid ads or original content in your feed, video can grab the attention of your audience. With this method, you can use a variety of video content for regular posting. Interviews, ‘how tos’, whatever is most relevant to your audience.
Proposals
Let’s say you have a sales meeting with the end-user of your product. The end-user is totally bought in, but unfortunately the buyer couldn’t make the call. How can you deliver the most succinct way to explain your value? Video.
Using video in your proposal, whether you choose to utilize testimonials or an ‘about us’ feature, can help to share knowledge across your prospect’s company and move the conversion needle. This is also a great option when prospects are comparing vendors and the differences seem to blur together. A compelling video can reinforce your differentiators.
SDRs
It’s no question that video can increase the results for SDRs. While this is a new strategy we are testing internally, our own SDR team has been experimenting with video for prospects who expressed interest but didn’t convert. This is an opportunity to get creative, both in content and execution. Perhaps you want your SDRs to help decrease your ‘no show’ rate or maybe this is a strategy for ghosted prospects.
If you’re not being noticed by prospects, a quick, personalized video can make a difference. It proves that you aren’t just utilizing ‘spray and pray’ sales tactics and instead taking a humanized approach.
Sales Follow Up
After your prospect ghosts, you may be wondering where you went wrong and why they lost interest. While it may be the case that they found a better solution, they also may have simply lost track of time and you fell off the priority list. To see conversion, it’s crucial that you keep the conversation going. Including a video in your ‘circling back on this’ email can increase your email click-through rate by up to 300%.
We’ve even seen our CEO send follow up videos on behalf of the sales team. It goes a long way to see execs involved in the sales process, making personalized messages for prospects. It’s the icing on the cake.
Testimonials
Prospects want to hear from your existing customers. What better introduction than a video testimonial?
Video testimonials offer clients the opportunity to speak in detail about their experiences. This is a great strategy to build social proof. The biggest obstacle here is collaborating with busy clients. Find ways to incentivize video testimonials and be sure to give an easy, step-by-step ‘how to’. You want to make this process as painless as possible while also showing your gratitude for your clients.
Video testimonials can be used anywhere and everywhere. From proposals and websites to social media and blog posts, video testimonials are a huge asset for your marketing team.
How to include Video on a Budget
While of course you have the option to create professionally made videos, hiring an agency or team of freelancers can be expensive. If you’re planning on frequent, personalized videos, there are multiple simple solutions that may be a good fit.
Companies like Vidyard and Loom offer quick and user friendly solutions to record yourself (and your screens) through your laptop. We’ve even used Loom to create internal training videos. The barrier for entry in video creation is low; don’t overthink it, just start.
Just because you’re in B2B, doesn’t mean your content needs to be entirely buttoned up. Video can add creative (and more effective) alternatives to your existing marketing channels while also finding new ways to make your customer journey more engaging. To learn more on moving prospects through your sales funnel, download the infographic Sales Funnel Land.
