The B2B Marketers Guide To A Brilliant Video Strategy

“We need video!”

That’s the battle cry that makes me swoon. Usually, this exclamation is followed very quickly with, “Okay, I don’t even know how to get started.”

If you’ve been contemplating adding video to your content arsenal, here are a few simple items that you should consider before pitching The Next Big Thing to your boss.

1. Define your objectives

Before you pick up the camera, get a clear understanding of what you’re trying to achieve with your videos. Are you trying to increase traffic, improve time on site, get more conversions on a landing page, or get people to hang out in your convention booth?

Answers to these questions will define style and content. Everything from the kinds of videos you shoot to the calls to action that you place in the video or in surrounding copy will be born here.

Also think about how this campaign fits into your broader corporate designs.   If your objective is to make your company attractive to potential buyers, you may not want to shoot in front of the utility closet that also doubles as your server room.

2. Conduct an audit of your current assets

Video doesn’t occur in a vacuum, either in its production or its distribution. Conduct a thorough audit of the content that you already have on your website.

Going through this process will help you identify places where video can be added to fill gaps in your story or augment already existing offers.

If your goal is to increase conversions, take a note from the information marketers who have been ‘building value’ by packaging video with eBooks for years. A download containing multiple kinds of media can be a compelling proposition.

3. Create a content matrix

Different audiences have different informational needs. Building a content matrix can help you create the right message for the right group as well as identify places where your video can be effectively repurposed.

If you’ve never created a content matrix before, now is a good time to start. Open up Excel, and in one column lay out your customers’ buy cycle – Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action, Satisfaction or whatever funnel you prefer.

Across the top, fill the columns with the audience categories. This could be your direct targets or influencers like press or analysts.  Use the fields in between to map out your videos and the stories you want to tell.

4. It’s about people

Whether you’re selling products or services, B2B often involves a very complex sales cycle. It’s one in which you’re trying to get a prospect to know, trust, and like you.

Videos provide an excellent tool for tearing down walls and increasing transparency…if they are done well. Keep in mind that not everyone is comfortable in front of a camera. Your CEO can be as charming as they come, but may go tharn as soon as the little red light comes on.

Speaking in front of the camera is an art. Generally, the more equipment and gear you bring into a production the more ‘stiff’ your co-workers will get. Mouths go dry, sweat beads up…

Keep this in mind when you’re coming up with video ideas. Who is going to be on-camera?

5. Choosing equipment

Equipment will eventually come up in your discussions about video, so let’s go ahead and address it here. You need to consider audio first and camera second.

Why is audio first?

People will watch a poor quality video with great audio, but won’t tune in to gorgeous footage with terrible audio.

Make sure that you buy a camera that has audio inputs. This will allow you to plug in a variety of microphones for whatever style of video you shoot. Steve Garfield, one of the original Vloggers, has a good primer on microphones.

6. Types of videos

There are a variety of videos that you can shoot in-house. To get you started, I’ve listed five simple ones that you can use to showcase your people and thought leadership.

Interviews:  If you’re at a tradeshow or around the office, you can grab a few minutes of commentary from just about anyone.  Keep these short by asking only one question. To make them more dynamic and natural, don’t worry about staging. Go commando and do it on the fly.

Testimonials: Interviews are designed to get people to talk about themselves. Testimonials get people to say what they think about you.  Take charge of this opportunity and guide your subject through the things you want your customers to hear.

Video Book Reviews: More than simple critiques, book reviews allow you to create a dialogue with your audience, the author and publisher. Looking for links? Publishers actively seek out people who are talking about their books. They respond to your comments by Tweeting and linking back to your site.

Screencasts: If you’re selling software or if you want to give a PowerPoint presentation, look into Screenflow and Camtasia for creating a quick screencast. These videos are perfect for How To’s as well as training.

Whiteboard Presentations: Feel more comfortable in front of the camera? Set up in front of a whiteboard and use it to illustrate your points.  These videos feel more engaging than simple talking heads and work well for conceptual topics.

7. Distribution

You can distribute video in a variety of ways. The most common is through the web. And here you have two strategies:

Hosted: Choosing this option means that you’ll be hosting video on your own server and using your own player. Keeping the video on your site gives you more control over your branding, but you miss out on the traffic that you get from posting to a community like YouTube.

Posted: If you’re looking to cast a wide net, posting your video on sharing sites gives you a built in audience that is actively looking for content.  You don’t have as much control over branding and embed codes send traffic back to YouTube, not your own site.

With either method, make sure that you’ve done your SEO research so that your videos are primed for bots as well as people. SEOmoz has a fantastic write up on strategy and ReelSEO is a must read for video SEO tactics.

8. Know when to say when.

Adding video to your content toolkit is an exciting prospect for most people. These tips should get you a long way towards building your in-house strategy.

Remember, however, that producing video is a skill that people hone for their entire careers. If you’re getting to the point where content is mission-critical, consider bringing in professionals who can make you look great every time.

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About The B2Bblogger: Talmadge Boyd @Talmadge has been building businesses around online communities since the late nineties. After running a bumper sticker company with a small group of angry, suburban white kids, he attended Acton Business School to learn how to bring his love of community involvement to business and received an MBA in Entrepreneurship. He is currently co-founder of Reel Social Media, a web video production, social media and content marketing strategy company based in Austin, Texas.

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