A quick glance at the current state of social media tells what many of us already know: Video reigns supreme.
TikTok was the fourth most popular free iPhone Apps download in 2019. 500 million Instagram accounts use Instagram Stories every day. And Facebook boasts 4 billion daily video views on its platform. It’s clear that the era of video is officially upon us.
Quick to embrace the opportunities that video presents, many savvy marketing departments have completely reconfigured their strategies to fit this new reality. A few examples: Corporations have built their own YouTube channels, videos have become a staple feature on many internet landing pages, and marketers who incorporate video into their campaigns experience 34% higher conversion rates.
Marketers can’t afford to ignore that today video is a prominent fixture of nearly every successful marketing initiative, regardless of industry.
We’ve compiled the top reasons why video should be used to help support sales, drive demand, and — perhaps most importantly in the current uncertain climate — foster a deep human connection between you and your buyers.
Video Drives Results
In B2B marketing, it’s essential to drive a variety of buyer interactions and measure success by looking at key metrics such as email click-through rates, form submissions, and whitepaper downloads. As a result, marketers invest time and resources in creating compelling content.
Video is a game-changer. One of the most captivating and immediate forms of content, video can be regarded as an MVP for your content stockpile. Consider these statistics:
- People are 27 times more likely to click on an online video ad than a static banner ad.
- Adding video to an email can increase click rates by 300%. In fact, merely adding the word “video” to your email title is likely to increase click rates by up to 20%.
- Video campaigns on LinkedIn boast view rates of 50%.
- A reported 7 out of 10 B2B buyers will watch a video at some point in their purchase journey in order to help them make a decision.
In addition to these quantifiable benefits, video lends itself perfectly to social media marketing campaigns. According to G2 Crowd, social video generates 1200% more shares than text and image content combined. Video is a near sure bet if you’re hoping to expand your reach and expose more people to your product or services.
Video Facilitates Conversions
52% of marketers say video is the type of content with the best ROI — and with good reason.
Video resonates with company decision makers — of the 65% of executives who report that they have visited a company website, 39% report that they have contacted the business after watching a marketing video. In addition, the simple act of featuring a video on a landing page can boost conversions by up to 80%.
Still, for videos to convert at an optimal level, marketers need to approach them strategically. As with emails and landing pages, it’s important to monitor how individual users interact with each video in order to measure success and make informed optimizations. With a sales enablement platform like Highspot, sellers can easily incorporate videos into sales pitches, unlocking a wealth of engagement analytics that both sales and marketing teams can leverage to assess how buyers are engaging with content. By integrating with a CRM like Salesforce, Highspot can calculate and display the ROI of each piece of content based on its success in driving movement in the sales funnel.
Video Adds a Human Touch
Sales and marketing know how important it is to cultivate trust with prospects and customers. Trust is the bedrock of the B2B relationship and the key to fostering loyalty between you and your buyers. With its ability to bring you face-to-face with your buyers and create a sense of shared experience, video can help forge connections with buyers.
For video to succeed, however, it demands a different approach to creation. Here are several examples of how to use video to develop lasting relationships:
- Customer testimonials: These are effective at converting and can go a long way toward building credibility and confidence in your services. When presented in the form of a short video, the visible emotion on display will help enhance the messaging on a deeper level.
- Company story videos: Videos that feature employees explaining their roles in helping customers have become a go-to for B2B companies that excel at marketing. In such cases, humanizing your organization by highlighting your people can increase the level of trust between you and your buyer.
Video Supports Sales
Whether content is needed to close a new deal or renew a customer contract, sales should know that they can rely on their savvy marketing team to produce materials that will secure wins. Enter video, which can grab audience attention and effectively demonstrate the various elements of a product in a concise and easily digestible way.
Marketers can create video assets according to buyer persona, buyer stage, or product campaign, and then arm sellers with poignant, meaningful material to have personalized conversations that add value. Sellers can then report back regarding how the videos have performed. Firsthand feedback provides marketers with the information they need to create even better content to capture buyers’ attention in the future. This collaboration is critical to marketing and sales alignment and has the power to drive business outcomes.
Some Final Thoughts
Video is a formidable feature of the modern marketer’s toolbox. Major leaps forward in technology have made video creation and distribution increasingly accessible and affordable, so incorporating video into marketing processes is now easier than ever before. Best of all, video will help you strengthen your connection with your buyers, leading to lasting relationships that benefit all those involved.
