- What is B2B video marketing?
- Is B2B video marketing effective?
- How to use B2B video marketing to grow your business
- B2B video marketing techniques to use with other digital-first solutions
Q: What is B2B video marketing? How can I use B2B video marketing to benefit my business?
A: B2B video marketing stands for business-to-business video marketing and is essentially video content that has been created and distributed to promote offerings to other businesses. You can use B2B video marketing to benefit your business because video marketing is one of the most effective styles of advertisement.
Within our digital-first market, video advertising stands out because it is very digestible and easy to absorb. PEW Research states that more than a quarter of American adults get their news directly from YouTube.
As you can see, watching videos is much more straightforward than any other content consumption. Also, consumers appreciate videos because they can multitask when the video is playing.
Currently, attention is everything.
The businesses capable of retaining attention for as long as possible are the businesses that will succeed.
So, what can your company do to retain attention?
While it depends largely on what kind of offerings your company provides, who your competitors are, and your target audience, for the sake of the discussion, we will be focusing on B2B marketing and attention retention.
One excellent form of marketing that retains attention, builds stronger connections with consumers, and gives your business an edge against the competition is B2B video marketing.
In this article, we’ll explore B2B video marketing, whether B2B video marketing is effective, and the best B2B video marketing campaigns you can use to grow your business. Finally, we’ll explore how to use B2B video marketing techniques alongside other digital-first business solutions.
So, if you’re on the lookout for B2B video marketing trends, you’re in the right place!
- What is B2B video marketing?
- Is B2B video marketing effective?
- How to use B2B video marketing to grow your business
- B2B video marketing techniques to use with other digital-first solutions
What is B2B video marketing?
Before we dive into B2B video marketing, let’s take a quick moment to examine each aspect.
B2B stands for “business-to-business.” B2B businesses sell their products or services not to consumers, but to other businesses.
In recent years, the B2B market has boomed. Forrester reports claim that 74% of working Millenials are involved in B2B business decisions, and the companies focusing on business-to-business transactions are seeing an increased chance of success.
Read more: Improve, Impress, Sell: Building Your Perfect B2B Sales Funnel
This might include manufacturing companies that deal with raw material suppliers, software companies selling products to other businesses, professional service firms, IT consulting companies, and several other kinds of businesses. All that matters is that the company transacts with other businesses rather than average consumers.
Video marketing is just what it sounds like: marketing initiatives that use videos as advertisements.
These videos can take several forms, so any video can technically be used for video marketing. In other words, video marketing is a style of marketing that’s similar to blogging.
YouTube was used by a staggering 95% of American teenagers and about 75% of American adults in 2022, so it’s fair to say that video is increasingly on the rise in the online world. As a result, marketing has adopted video as one of its most powerful and relevant mediums.
While many marketers think of video primarily as a consumer medium, business owners and employees use it too. Not only is video easier to digest during work hours, but it’s also important to remember that business owners can see business-related content outside of work.
Here, we’ve created a list of some common B2B video marketing ideas that your business might be able to create.
- Product demos
- Live videos
- Explanations
- Customer testimonials
- Animation
Product demos
A product demo is a video showcasing how a particular service or product functions and any benefits the offering provides. These videos can be unbelievably simple.
You can be the star of the demo, an employee could take the reigns, or you could hire a freelance. Whatever you feel comfortable with is fine.
With a product demo, you allow your company to quickly answer frequently asked questions all at once. The more potential consumer questions you correctly identify before they’re asked, the better your chance of creating a meaningful B2B video marketing campaign.
Live videos
Just like they sound, live videos are videos that are streamed live across the web. This kind of B2B video marketing can be incredibly effective. Still, it’s also a little bit risky filming a live video because once you’ve said or done something on a live video, it exists forever.
Suppose you’re hoping to promote a specific offering or sale. In that case, a live video is a great way to engage with your audience in real-time while answering any questions and generally connecting with your consumers.
Streaming is a 95-billion-dollar industry that doesn’t look to be slowing its growth anytime soon. Live videos allow your business to take the benefits of streaming and repurpose them into an effective B2B video marketing campaign.
Outside of the live video you stream, you’ll be able to use the recorded video to create content for social media platforms or any other kind of video-sharing service.
Explanations
Explanation videos are short and straightforward videos that explain a specific concept, process, or problem. The videos are designed to break down complex information while making it more accessible to future consumers.
Say, for instance, you’ve released a new product that people seem to love, but there’s one problem with the item that customers regularly struggle with. This problem isn’t dangerous and doesn’t require a recall – so what can you do?
This is where an explanation video comes in. Look into B2B video marketing statistics to determine where your previous customers are spending their time online so you can determine where to release your video marketing efforts.
Now, you’re able to educate consumers and increase brand awareness without being forced to take serious losses on inventory and production.
Customer testimonials
Customer testimonials might be the single best B2B video marketing campaign available.
In a market dominated by corporations vying for attention, consumer-created content always stands out.
A customer testimonial is a video that showcases a particular customer’s experiences with your company or your company’s specific offerings. Because these videos are focused on a single customer, they can efficiently build trust and credibility with other potential customers who might have been on the fence.
As your company continues to grow, taking the time to cultivate relationships with consumers that are willing to create customer testimonials is invaluable.
Sure, your business can probably exist just fine without diving into customer testimonials, but the question is, why wouldn’t you make use of these testimonials?
A short, two-to-three-minute video that focuses on a real-life consumer explaining how they benefited from your offerings, how easy your offerings are to use, problems the offerings might have solved, or more personal stories about how your offerings improved their business or personal lives makes a stronger and more lasting impression than just about any other kind of video marketing campaign.
Animation
People love animation.
It’s typically lighthearted and fun to watch, and because of this, using animated videos is a great way to assemble effective B2B video marketing content.
Except for customer testimonials, all of the other styles of B2B video marketing initiatives can easily be filmed in one of Alliance’s meeting rooms or another quiet and professional location, making them very cost-efficient.
While customer testimonials do require the use of a customer, they’re not very expensive and can often be filmed for free at the behest of happy consumers who feel loyal to your brand.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the case for animation. Sure, if you’re a talented graphic designer or you have employees that are capable animators, you can likely make your animations in-house.
That said, you have to consider the opportunity costs of doing so. If you’re spending weeks and weeks on a B2B animated video marketing campaign, there is a great chance that you’ve missed other marketing opportunities that might be more effective and less time-consuming.
Typically, the best plan is to hire a freelancer or other animator to make the video. You won’t get the same level of say in what’s created, but you also won’t break the bank.
Keep in mind, any video that you make to help promote your business or its offerings can be used as B2B video marketing.
Take the time to understand how each style of B2B video marketing could benefit your business, which style will help your business see the highest return on investment, and which style will resonate best with your audience.
After you’ve decided, it’s time to determine how effective your B2B video marketing campaign will be.
Is B2B video marketing effective?
B2B video marketing is one of the most effective forms of B2B marketing.
Video is easier to consume as it’s passive and can play in the background. This makes it much easier to get your audience to engage, as it’s a low-risk, low-commitment medium.
This is particularly powerful for business owners and executives, as these individuals are very busy and often tired after work.
Having a passive, easy-to-consume means of marketing means you get more exposure, more reach, and ultimately, more conversions.
Outside of this greater exposure, the best B2B video marketing strategy is one that is effective in several different areas.
If your company focuses on B2B software, you want your video marketing efforts to highlight what makes your software stand out from the competition.
Read more: What is B2B Software? The Best Choices for Your Small Business
To help you better understand how to make your B2B video marketing campaigns more successful, we’ve put together a brief list of what your videos might try and accomplish.
- Building trust and increasing your credibility
- Deeper consumer connections
- Establishing your business as an industry expert
- Educating consumers
- Lead generation
Building trust and increasing your credibility
Whether through customer testimonials, detailed explanation videos, or any other kind of video marketing, you want your B2B marketing campaign to provide a professional and credible face for your company.
When you’re using your videos to demonstrate credibility and the videos are filmed in a quiet and professional location, viewers won’t have any way to convince themselves otherwise.
This goal works particularly well with Alliance’s Virtual Offices because each office is backed by physical space and registered to well-known addresses.
Deeper consumer connections
As bigger brands start migrating away from the over-saturated social media platforms, forming deeper consumer connections is paramount to keeping your market share and attracting new customers.
Live videos work particularly well for cultivating a relationship with your viewers.
When consumers watch you in real-time, they feel close to you. When they can directly interact with you and get questions answered, they feel like a part of something rather than a consumer looking for something to buy.
You don’t have to get too personal, but consider a live video that tells the story of how your business came to be or showcases your values and the culture that makes your company unique.
Establishing your business as an industry expert
This goal is even more important if you’re in a niche market. You don’t want to be an expert on your market, you want to be the expert.
To do this, you can use videos that provide in-depth, highly technical information and insights on specific topics or industry trends. Similarly, you could discuss other businesses your company has helped while demonstrating your offerings’ usefulness.
Product demos are a great way to establish this image because you’re demonstrating your knowledge of the industry simply by explaining how your product is better than the competition and the benefits it includes.
If you want to be seen as an industry expert, you need to start acting like an industry expert.
Educating consumers
Education is a great way to cultivate a connection between your business and consumers.
To educate consumers, consider using explanation videos to break down complex concepts or other information about your market. While you should always express why your company stands out amongst the competition, you can create explanation videos that function as a kind of newsletter as well.
This kind of video blogging shows consumers that you’re dedicated to their education while advertising for your company.
You can also use your videos to provide tips and best practices on using your offerings. As long as you’re creating educational content and dealing with topics your viewers are interested in, this is a great way to increase brand awareness and cultivate a consumer connection.
Lead generation
Lead generation is the process of finding, nurturing, and generating potential customers for your business.
Within lead generation videos, you should consider providing valuable information that consumers can’t find elsewhere, tracking and analyzing all of the performance metrics you possibly can, and including a call to action, or CTA, that encourages consumers to take the next step in purchasing from your company.
To understand what kind of call to action to use, you first need to understand the goal of your b2b video marketing.
If you want more sales, consider adding a CTA like “Sign up for a free trial” or “Shop now” that asks consumers to head directly to your website or online shop.
To increase engagement, you might consider a CTA like “Follow us here!” or “Leave a comment” that directs viewers to your social media channels.
Regardless of what the CTA asks viewers to do, lead-generation videos require you to ask them to do something.
Outside of generating leads, keep in mind that there are several other kinds of video marketing campaigns that your business can use to connect with consumers.
Read more: Video Marketing Emails
Following these guidelines will allow your business to create robust B2B video marketing content that can better position your organization for long-term success.
How to make effective videos
When making B2B videos, professionalism and tone are everything.
Business owners don’t want to risk their businesses on unprofessional offerings. They’ll read into everything from your terminology to your visuals.
Remember, creating and distributing your B2B video marketing content will cost money, which will affect your company’s profitability. With this in mind, it’s essential to ensure that you’re doing everything possible to create compelling videos that show a positive return on your initial investment.
Read more: What is a Good Profit Margin for a Small Business? Your Complete Guide
Before you dive into video marketing distribution, you need to determine whether or not you will make the video content in-house or outsource the content creation.
It’s important to craft a compelling script that uses industry terminology, establishes your expertise in a given market, and speaks to what you will bring to the business you’re marketing to. Most of the time, this motivation will be making more money, so try and speak to that.
Your background and environment are also of the utmost importance. You don’t want to film in your bathroom or bedroom or have your recording interrupted by kids or passing sirens.
If you’ve ever tried to record a video in a crowded coffee shop or in the middle of a bustling day at home, you’ll understand why it’s so important to film in a quiet, clean, and professional space.
Using one of Alliance’s Meeting Rooms is the best choice.
With our on-demand meeting space, you can always have a quiet, clean, professional space available for filming. Ensuring you’re producing a high-quality video will add a sense of authority and respectability that will hook your audience and help you sell to the businesses you want to sell to.
B2B video marketing techniques to use with other digital-first solutions
B2B marketing is an incredibly effective tool for growth.
B2B video marketing helps boost engagement and reach by making it easier to consume your content. Recording in one of our on-demand meeting spaces is the best way to appear professional and simultaneously set yourself up for success.
Even with the best B2B video marketing campaigns, there are some digital tools you can use to assist with your campaigns.
Alliance’s Virtual Offices, for example, come with a whole slew of amenities that will help you create better and more engaging B2B video marketing content.
Your Virtual Office’s well-known mailing address allows you to put a professional and already-credible address on any branding materials, business cards, or B2B video marketing campaigns to help establish trust and credibility with other businesses.
With the easily reservable meeting rooms, you now have access to quiet, professional, and well-lit rooms where you can film videos, host webinars, host digital meetings, or even host in-person meetings if you’d like.
The friendly and professional onsite staff is always available to help you through any technical difficulties you experience while trying to create your B2B video marketing materials.
Outside of Alliance’s Virtual Offices and Meeting Rooms, consider using a Live Receptionist to help manage newly generated leads while saving you money and time to focus on your company’s core operations.
Our Live Receptionists will personally screen and answer every call, ensuring that you don’t have to try and multitask when speaking with potential customers. If you’ve just launched a new lead generating B2B video marketing campaign, what better way to deal with the influx of new and potential consumers?
This way, you don’t have to deal with the frustrations of hiring another individual, you save a substantial amount of money on the onboarding process, and you’re able to focus on the aspects of your operations that set you up for later success.
Further reading
- Improve, Impress, Sell: Building Your Perfect B2B Sales Funnel
- What is B2B Software? The Best Choices for Your Small Business
- What is a Good Profit Margin for a Small Business? Your Complete Guide
- Video Marketing Emails
Alliance Virtual Offices provides several tools for established entrepreneurs, new business owners, and everyone in between.
With Alliance’s various digital tools, you can create effective and meaningful B2B video marketing campaigns that foster a deeper connection with consumers, increases brand recognition, and legitimizes your operations.
Contact us today to see how Alliance can help your business create the best B2B video marketing materials, and be sure to check out our Virtual Office Blog!
