Online video isn’t a new concept in marketing. Many of the biggest brands have fully integrated video as a core asset for growth.
According to a 2019 report by Wyzowl, 87% of businesses use video in their marketing strategies,
and 81% of businesses reported that video has helped them generate leads through their website.
This isn’t surprising, as video is often the most easily consumed and shared form of online content for visitors.
That said, video is a big deal. Marketers know the value of video, and visitors flock toward video content. However, where many businesses miss the mark is with strategy — as the success of any video campaign is determined by the thought behind it.
Any company can hire a freelance animator to create an explainer video, or shoot a meet and greet video in-house and put it on their website. Video marketing performs best as its own cohesive cog in your marketing machine, not a quick add-on to existing efforts.
In the video marketing space, most companies strive for one of three goals with their campaigns:
Video marketing effectively has its own sales process, within a company’s broader sales process. To increase traffic, a company might use top-of-the-funnel video content such as product introductions, demo clips, and promo videos on social media. To increase sales, bottom-of-the-funnel videos like testimonials, team introductions, and personalized greetings are very powerful.
It’s middle-of-the-funnel (MOFU) video content that challenges most marketers that use videos to increase lead generation.
Video for lead generation is all about engagement. The viewer is most likely familiar with your brand, and now it’s your job to pique interest and, ultimately, convert them. Your success with lead generation video content depends on the types of videos you create, the tools you use to drive action, and how you present your content.
Lead generation is exactly that — acquiring the information needed to turn a first-time or returning visitor into a marketing lead. This applies to premium content offers, whitepapers, email blasts, and of course, video.
With any type of premium or gated content, driving a user to submit a landing page form is first priority. While this can also apply to landing pages for a new video course or access to your video library, most video hosting platforms have built-in lead generation tools you can use to both simplify the user experience and collect that information hassle-free.
Premium (paid) hosting options such as VidYard and Wistia, (to name a few) actually offer built-in CTAs (Calls-to-Action) as part of their services. This means you can plug in a CTA at the end of your product demo that links to any page, offer, or URL you’d like. In-video CTAs are particularly valuable for B2C clients, as companies can link to product pages and e-commerce sites within video players, directly following a product demo or promo.
Additionally (and here’s where these platforms excel for lead generation), most of these services allow users to embed complete forms within their video content.
In practice, this is essentially adding a contact form to the end of a webinar, right inside the video player. The same applies for any other type of MOFU video content. When integrated with your CRM, whether it’s HubSpot, SalesForce, or otherwise, the forms will collect submitted fields and populate visitor contact records automatically.
It’s a win-win. Users have an easy way to take next steps, and your team has the information it needs to begin sealing the deal. This is a great way for B2B companies to both engage their prospects and drive action in one place.
Aside from premium video hosting, almost all hosting services, such as YouTube or HubSpot’s built-in option, HubSpot Video, allow for various forms of annotations, CTAs/end screens, and engagement to drive viewer action. These features are more limited than their paid counterparts but still valuable for pushing viewers to take that next step.
The different types of conversion tools and video elements discussed above only work if they’re attached to the right type of video, reaching the right audience at the right stage in the sales cycle. Remember, strategy is crucial, whether you’re creating a 15-second YouTube ad, full web series, or even an industry podcast. Foundation is everything.
There’s no golden rule for creating video content for specific buyer’s stages. Things change by industry, audience, expectations, and even the assets you have available. That said, if you’d like to target MOFU visitors with valuable video content, there are a few approaches you should consider.
When people think of video for B2B, two things almost always come to mind: webinars and service demos. These are classic forms of MOFU content — tailored to users that have already expressed interest but want to learn more.
Webinars and demos serve the sales cycle in two ways: the initial landing page acts as a first-touch for lead generation (which might include a basic name/email form), while the thank-you or follow-up page can be used to drive next steps with more detailed contact forms.
Again , these forms can be embedded within videos using various hosting services, making the experience that much sweeter for users.
Video courses or classesOne type of MOFU video content that many businesses overlook, particularly those in SaaS, education, or even marketing, is the video course. That is, a hyper-valuable online video course or class that walks through the steps of explaining and implementing a product/service.
For visitors, a video course should resolve most questions they have about a product, which is something that should be communicated on the landing page. If you do decide to use a video course to amp-up your marketing, consider including segment/episode titles on your landing page, with brief descriptions and key topics covered in each. The actual presentation of the course can change depending on a business’s needs and preferences (all videos on one-page or library, a condensed player, videos segmented into daily email blasts, etc.), but the end result is ultimately the same.
For businesses and their marketing teams, a well-crafted video course can serve as the entire MOFU stage of the sales cycle, spanning from first-touch to Contact Us. There’s no reason a 10-part video course on HubSpot that starts with “What is HubSpot” can’t very well end with “Why You Should Get Started on HubSpot NOW,” covering the problems users face, solutions, and benefits in between. This same concept applies to almost any industry, B2B or B2C.
Of course, with this much value provided up front, companies can put the entire experience behind a landing page and ask for more detailed information than they might with other types of content.
Businesses don’t need an extensive video campaign or dedicated video course to drive conversions on their website. Those assets are great to have, but something as simple as a video on a landing page that highlights what users will receive by submitting the form for another offer can go a long way in pushing that action — much more than any other content.
When it comes to video, keep it simple. Be sure to highlight the benefits of what you’re offering, solutions to any issues they may experience, and remember, personalization is key. Any way you can personalize the brand experience will help build trust, and ultimately, increase lead generation for your site.
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