Video is everywhere.
Most businesses, B2C and B2B alike, find themselves in one of two camps: 1) videos are highly desirable, but appear too time-intensive and expensive; or 2) find the sweet spot to create and share consistent videos.
About 60% of businesses fall into category one which means the entire video market space is being dominated by 40% of businesses. The good news for B2B is that the market still isn’t completely saturated and it’s never too late to get started — it’s a giant opportunity.
While it appears that video has overtaken the social advertising landscape, it hasn’t. There’s room for improvement and the time is now, says Biteable CEO, Brent Chudoba. In fact, he’s telling all B2B marketers that video is now more essential than a website.
Shama Hyder: How has the video landscape changed in the past three years? Things that most B2B marketers might not realize?
Brent Chudoba: Simply put, the sheer stats of the importance of video continue to skyrocket, yet the adoption rate in two key categories, B2B marketers and small businesses, remains stagnant. That shows me there is a major breakdown in adoption rate and my team feels like we’ve nailed the “why.” The business-to-business space understands that video is important; they just typically fall under one of three barriers that prevent videos from being made and shared:
- The cost and perception that video is it’s too expensive (speed);
- The concern that making video is extremely time consuming (cost); or
- The fear of creating something that isn’t high quality (quality)
Barriers one and two are truly false assumptions. Just look at the video creation landscape — there is no shortage of creators, makers and platforms (I’ll get to more about that in a bit). The democratization of video creation from both web and mobile is possible — the new problem is that there are too many choices without validation. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by platform choice and then underwhelmed by the results.
I have a list of four attributes that a platform should possess to make the selection process that much easier. These first two barriers are solved by looking for these specific aspects:
P Professional results because you can
L Loaded with Customizable Content
A Accessible, Ease of use (like super simple easy)
Y You just bring your message. No Video or Design Skills Necessary
The third barrier is the one I believe is most important and really offers a learning moment. I tell every single small business founder that they need to stop thinking about high production value, long-form videos and concentrate on explainer videos. That’s it (for now).
Explainer videos are short-form videos with a marketing or sales intent. These highlight your product, service, or business idea. These videos perform best in a triple threat approach: landing pages, homepage feature and on social.
If you reframe the way you think about video it will inherently allow you to create with more frequency and develop a branded look to reduce time and cost.
Hyder: What’s the use case for videos as “more essential than websites?” Is it conversion-based? Engagement based? Both?
Chudoba: The use case is one part anecdotal and one part data-based. The reason I truly believe videos are more essential than websites is because videos are the chicken.
Yes, the chicken.
This is the one time we can answer what came first, the chicken or the egg. If video creation is the chicken, it’s 100% what needs to come first and then the visits, sales and engagement (or the egg) come next. Videos get people to your site, keep them there longer and result in more sales. It’s not rocket science, but the sheer task of creating the videos can appear like it.
Recent video marketing data make it easy to show important, like:
- 87% of video marketers say video has increased traffic to their website;
- 80% of video marketers say video has directly helped increase sales; and
- 95% of video marketers plan to increase or maintain their spend on video in 2020.
But, the majority of small business owners are not video marketers, so there’s a disconnect in what they read and see and what they have the ability to create.
That’s why it is essential to look for platforms that allow you to do either/or of the following:
- Create branded templates you can easily tweak and use;
- Select from pre-created templates so you’re not starting from scratch
These two differentiators are game changers for any marketers, but especially in the B2B market where a video may be the key validation factor for a meeting or a purchase.
Hyder: What do B2B marketers need to take away from this? What change can be implemented right now?
Think “disposable videos.” Not in terms of quality, like something you’d want to throw away, but as something that is temporary or even single-use.
Do you agonize about powerpoint slides? You get your template right and your explainer pitch, but then you modify and know that each deck needs to just serve its purpose. That way you know that you have options to edit, alter and create more for your business. It might mean creating more videos based on vertical, audience type or even moments in time (e.g. holidays, deals, discounts, etc…).
What’s your video marketing plan for 2021?
Font: https://www.forbes.com/sites/shamahyder/2020/11/19/why-video-is-more-important-than-websites-for-b2b-marketers/?sh=72aab9c91809
* This article was originally published here