With the development of new platforms and communication channels over the years, user attention spans continue to shorten because they’re looking for content to keep them engaged. As new sources of information evolve, it’s important that you take advantage of marketing strategies that make your business’s content stand out from the sea of competitors.
Strategic marketing videos are becoming one of the most effective ways to reach customers because they’re visually appealing and require little to no additional thinking. All the user has to do is watch the video and decide if it’s something they want to engage with. Marketing videos put consumers in the driver’s seat to determine what they want to do with the information you’ve given them.
As exciting as HVAC, solar, IT, or other niche industries may be to you and your business, it’s probably not as thrilling to people outside of the industry—even if it’s a crucial component to their everyday lives. Asking a target audience to sit down and read a well-thought-out blog is a big ask these days, especially if a user is unsure about their intentions or doesn’t have much interest in what you’re trying to convey to them.
While blog posts and social content are valuable components to your marketing strategy, it needs to go further than that. A short, attention-grabbing video brings that same content to target audiences in a quicker and more eye-catching manner. Sales-oriented videos encourage buyers to move through the sales cycle, increasing product sales and boosting client retention.
Throughout this blog, we’re going to touch on how businesses find success and significant returns on investment through video production services. Keep reading to learn:
- How To Produce an Effective Video Marketing Strategy
- 5 Best Types of Sales-Focused Videos
- Why Are Businesses Turning Toward More Sales Focused Videos?
How To Produce an Effective Video Marketing Strategy
We all have smartphones now—how challenging can it be to make a short video, right? Answer: it’s not that simple. Video production is more than just putting clips together and posting them to your social media profile. Video production requires an elaborate marketing strategy and implementing best practices to get the most engagement from your target market. Here are some tips on how to produce an effective video marketing strategy:
Make Videos Short and Concise
You have a lot to say about your company to convince potential customers that your business is the one they need to work with. However, it’s crucial to remember that you can say a lot by saying less. As mentioned previously, user attention spans are short, which means videos need to be brief and to the point while adding significant value.
What makes your business different from the next? Address that in a one- to two-minute sales video. Videos should only contain the most vital information about your business in three to four key points. These points should pique the interest, wants, and needs of your target audience and stand out among competitors.
Highlight Customer Pain Points
Customers rarely recognize when something is going well. They generally only have something to say when things are going poorly. Think about it—when was the last time you left a positive Yelp review for a local restaurant or a positive review on an Amazon purchase? Exactly. Users typically only have something to say when a product or service isn’t up to par.
Highlighting customer pain points is a crucial factor in your sales videos because it allows them to know that you hear their concerns and you want to eliminate their problems. Customer pain points are generally universal, so if one customer encounters a problem, many others are probably having similar issues. Touch on these pain points in your sales videos to express that you know these issues occur and you have a plan to overcome them.
Have a Call to Action
So, you presented a viewer with what your company’s all about—now what? Having a call to action is one of the most crucial steps for increasing sales with video. This guides the viewer to take the next step, whatever it may be. This could be visiting the site, contacting your company for a consultation, and so on. Whatever you want your call to action to be, make sure you explain it at the end of the video so users know what you want them to do with the information provided.
Be a Creative Storyteller
One of the best things about video marketing is the ability to express your company’s story. Videos allow viewers to put a face or a personality with your business and help them feel more connected even if they have no previous engagement with the company. Being a good storyteller is an effective way to create brand awareness, drive sales, and engage with current and future customers.
Today, marketing your business is more than just promoting your product or service. It’s about the relationships built with clients and how your company has positively impacted other businesses in the area. Storytelling is crucial because it allows your company to create a strong narrative and connects to viewers’ emotions
Optimize Video Content
Did you know that you can optimize your marketing and sales videos to gain more search engine traction? Posting your video to YouTube and optimizing the video’s page is a great way to direct viewers looking for similar content. Optimizing video content on YouTube could include:
- Using keywords in the title and description
- Tagging your video
- Creating an engaging thumbnail
- And more
Optimizing video content on YouTube is a great way to increase viewer engagement and maximize your product and service sales.
Understand the Wants and Needs of Your Target Market
Like any other marketing and sales strategy, understanding your target market is crucial. Creating a video that’s suited for anyone and everyone is impossible, which is why it’s necessary to make one that’s specific to a niche group of people.
Buyer personas change from industry to industry. When developing and distributing a video, it’s vital to consider the following:
- Who you’re communicating to
- What online platform they typically use most
- What video platforms they use (YouTube, Brightcove, Qumu, Vimeo, etc.)
- What problems they encounter frequently
Creating videos just for the sake of creating videos is guesswork and more than likely leaves your hard work and marketing efforts in the dust. Don’t create videos just because everyone else is doing it; do it to reach your target market and increase profits. A deep understanding of your target audience enables you to make meaningful videos that provide value to existing and future customers.
5 Best Types of Sales-Focused Videos
There are a variety of sales-focused videos to choose from, and it can be challenging to figure out which one is best for your business model. Here are the five best types of sales-focused videos that companies often use to maximize profit:
TV Commercials
While many marketers believe that the world of TV advertisements is dead, we’re here to tell you that’s not true. TV commercials are a great way to reach a broad audience and establish local recognition. Most sales videos are easily adaptable for any platform, including TV commercials. This is a great market to reach, and there are many strategies your business can develop to increase profits. In addition to having them broadcasted across local stations, these videos can also be posted online and optimized for a more digital audience.
Marketing Collateral
Marketing collateral videos provide a strong foundation to support the rest of your marketing strategy. These videos can be implemented into your website, social media platforms, and sent via an email marketing campaign. There are many ways to distribute marketing collateral videos and what you want to do with them is up to your discretion.
Testimonials
With testimonials, the proof is in the pudding. Customer testimonial videos are a great way to reach the emotions of potential customers because it allows them to visualize themselves in the shoes of current customers. If your business produces tremendous success for clients, why wouldn’t you do the same for their business?
Testimonials are also great for industries looking to recruit new team members. Company culture and having a supportive workplace play a significant factor for people looking to take on a new job. These videos can broadcast how your business supports the individual and their personal and professional growth and display how much your company values its team members.
Animated Demonstrations
Some industries require further explanation of their process, making showing more efficient than telling—and animated demonstration videos are just the product for that. If your company wants to demonstrate a program, process, or platform, animated videos show viewers how your product or service works.
When you need further instruction on how to do something, where’s the first place you look? YouTube tutorial videos, right? YouTube is a great place to discover “How To” videos to gain further insight into products and services. These are ideal for new customers and even existing customers who need additional information. This also reduces the number of calls coming in to your support and sales reps to ask how to achieve a task or capability.
Lastly, animated demonstration videos are efficient for onboarding new clients. The onboarding process for any job is extensive, and animated videos allow new hires to learn at a speed that makes sense for them. Rather than going in and explaining a process multiple times, animated demonstrations allow new hires to learn more effectively. In return, this allows them to learn quicker and promote your business to customers more efficiently.
Sizzle Reels
Sizzle reels—also known as highlight reels, promo videos, teasers, and demo reels—are promotional videos that showcase your business’s product, service, or company. These videos focus more on catching the eye of viewers than supplying informational content. Many businesses often implement sizzle reels in their B2B sales process because they can pitch their credibility, experience, products, and services in an engaging way.
Why Are Businesses Leaning Toward More Sales-Focused Videos?
More companies are progressing toward sales-focused videos because they’re more than a trend—they’re effective. Today, businesses feel more pressed than ever before to be different and stand out among other companies in similar industries. Here are some reasons why companies implement more sales-focused videos into their marketing strategy:
Attract More Potential Customers
Sales videos are versatile and customizable, making them a powerful marketing tool for expanding your reach. By using a video to tell your story and visualize your company creatively, viewers are much more likely to take additional actions.
Targeting your ideal customer requires an in-depth strategy, extensive research, and high-quality content. While not all organizations are the same in their long-term goals and values, it’s important to use video to showcase your company and what it stands for. Strategic marketing videos are so effective that they not only boost sales but also enhance current customer retention.
Build Brand Recognition
When used correctly, strategic marketing videos provide opportunities to build brand awareness. As your company looks for new infrastructure services or individuals look for a new job opportunity, sales videos increase the likelihood of them remembering your business. Since strategic marketing videos are so visually appealing and eye-catching, they stand out and make your business different from the rest.
Use for a Variety of Channels
One of the biggest advantages of sales videos is that they can be embedded and shared across multiple channels, from TV to your website to social media platforms. However, it’s important to remember that picking a channel to share your video content depends on your marketing strategy’s goals and resources. Once materials are developed and published, the link is shareable to achieve a higher audience reach. This increases video accessibility and the opportunity to drive sales.
Close Sales
Lastly, and maybe even most importantly, strategic marketing videos close sales. If a prospect is on the fence about partnering with your company, a sizzle reel or a testimonial can be that deciding factor on whether or not they want to sign on the dotted line. Sales videos close sales and turn that on-the-fence prospect into a loyal customer.
Why Use Video for Business With Abstrakt Studios?
At Abstrakt Studios, we help Midwest businesses like yours reach their marketing goals. Whether you’re looking to drive more sales or optimize your company onboarding, Abstrakt Studios helps develop video content to share your company story.
We believe every piece of video content has a purpose. Our team is here to help you create successful sales videos and develop long-term sustainable revenue for your business. Abstrakt Studios obtains the passion, tools, experience, and knowledge to help your business grow in ways that you didn’t even know were possible.
Ready to take on new growth opportunities? We are too. Contact us today to learn how we can be your partner in driving sales through strategic marketing videos!