Research from comScore shows that 64% of consumers are more likely to buy a product after watching a video about it. Meanwhile, research from Forbes indicates that after watching a video, 65% of executives visited a vendor’s site, while another 39% went out of their way to actually call a vendor.
It’s pretty safe to say that videos are effective—and 70% of marketing professionals would agree. But before you go out and create a video for your company or for your latest product, read through this list of 5 video marketing best practices, to make sure that you get the most out of your next video campaign.
1. Know Your Audience(s)
First and foremost, it’s imperative to know who will be watching your video. Who is your audience? Who are your buyer personas? Knowing this, and keeping this in mind as you create your videos, will enable you to create the most effective videos possible.
It’s also important to consider if your video will have multiple audiences, especially in a B2B situation when team buyers come into play. In fact, it’s recommended to create multiple, segmented videos for different members of the buying team, based on what their individual interests are.
Each member of your audience likely has a unique set of questions, and a series of targeted videos offers a great way to answer them all. Additionally, if you sell your products or services across multiple industries, it’s also recommended to make a series of videos for each industry. The more the targeted the video, the more personally engaged the viewer will feel, the more likely they will be to convert.
2. Remember the Buyer’s Journey
It’s also important you remember the Buyer’s Journey. The Buyer’s Journey is essential to the inbound ideology, and video content is just another fantastic medium to implement inbound through. This means that you should segment your videos for the different stages of the Buyer’s Journey, just as you would for your blog articles or other text-based content. For a more in-depth look at how to align your inbound video marketing strategy with the Buyer’s Journey, check out this article.
Remember: Today’s buyer behavior has changed. They expect to find valuable information before making a purchase—your videos can provide them with this information and help nurture them through the Buyer’s Journey and through your Sales Funnel. However, this can only happen by remembering what a potential buyer needs at each stage.
3. Don’t Make Infomercials
As noted above, potential buyers want information—not infomercials. At the Top of the Funnel (in the Awareness Stage), buyers don’t want or need to see videos about how great your product is, or how many sweet features it has. To draw more visitors and convert more leads, focus on providing information through your videos. This can be informational videos about trends in your industry, how-to videos about a related topic, or anything that your buyer personas would find valuable.
Videos targeted to the early stage of the Buyer’s Journey should provide information to help the viewer identify what their problem is. You can’t offer a solution to a problem they don’t even know they have.
Of course, it is appropriate to have explainer videos later in the sales process, in the Middle of the Funnel (Consideration Stage), when your potential buyer is weighing their options. But even in this stage, your videos should not simply focus on your products, but on how your products can solve their problems.
4. Keep It Brief
Don’t forget to keep it brief. Internet users are a lot like gold fish—their average attention span is less than 6 seconds. If you don’t capture their attention quickly, and get your message across before it’s lost, they’ll float away.
However, 59% of viewers will watch a video to completion that is less than one minute. In fact, the only length of video that has a higher percentage of views are videos that are 30 seconds or less. These are the perfect length for elevator pitches or explainer videos. 30-60 seconds, get your message across, bing, bang, boom.
5. Make the Most of It
Yes, videos can be an incredible marketing asset and an awesome sales enablement tool, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be fun. Take a unique perspective for the video, tell an unusual story to get the audience’s attention, make your video funny and entertaining—and be sure to get your employees involved. Putting a face on your company will give your brand a personality, which will help you cultivate a more meaningful relationship with your leads.
Take time to plan out your videos and overall video marketing strategy, and keep these video marketing tips in mind to ensure that your next video marketing campaign will be as effective as possible.
Discover even more benefits of inbound video marketing by downloading our free guide!
