How to Align Your Video Ads with Your Sales Funnel
There aren’t many people who can say that they can make any sort of movie. So, if it’s not your hobby, you possibly don’t know a lot about it if you’re a business owner. And certainly, video ads are probably not the first thing to come to mind when you think about your marketing strategy.
However, according to Edge Marketing experts, video marketing can be a valuable part of your campaign if you approach this correctly – and so can anything else if you plan it along with another marketing concept called the sales funnel system.
If you want to learn how making video ads as part of your strategy may help your brand and how to get the videos in line with your sales funnel, just keep reading!
What Is a Sales Funnel?
A sales funnel shows you a journey that a person needs to take from the very first moment they notice your brand, service, or product, to finally become a customer and make a purchase. The full marketing experience should have one step tailored for each stage of this journey, every one designed to persuade a person to go further. And they can all be supplemented with marketing videos with a great advantage.
Three primary steps of each sales funnel include:
- Top – a customer discovers you,
- Middle – a customer engages with you,
- Bottom – you win a customer.
A successful marketing campaign is informative and engaging, but at the very first glance, it doesn’t have a lot to do with marketing. Customers are more aware than ever right now, and they can detect a lot of marketing tricks that will quickly drive them away. Only a good and experienced marketer with expert knowledge of the industry can safely and successfully maneuver through this and create outstanding video ads.
A Quick Guide to Aligning Your Video Ads with Your Sales Funnel
Top of the Sales Funnel
This is the part where you need to stand out the most. Your potential customers see all sorts of video ads every day, so you need to make sure that you’re doing something different from your competition to attract attention. There are several ways to go about it, and your final decision will depend on your industry, target audience, advertised products, services, etc.
You may stir people’s emotions, provide a solution to a common problem, or present something universal, therefore, relatable. Show a problem that your audience may be familiar with, or raise awareness on a topic they may care about. An explainer video is a great example of the top of the sales funnel content. You can also go for educational content or problem-solution videos, such as guides, instructions, short FAQs, etc. Here, you don’t really talk about your specific offer.
It is then crucial to start off on the right foot – each marketing video has to be consistent with your brand image so that you and your potential clients can avoid disappointment and unpleasant surprises later. Additionally, if someone has seen you before, even briefly, your video ads will surely seem familiar. And people like things that they already know – they are more likely to trust them.
Middle of the Sales Funnel
Once you have someone’s attention, you need something to convince them to stay. It is vital to remain consistent with what you’ve already presented – there’s nothing worse for a brand image than a broken promise or unfulfilled expectations.
During this stage, it is essential to provide information. A customer needs to have easy access to the details about your company, product, or service, but you should also follow up on the problem discussed during the first stage. Don’t expand on the general image.
You can make a product video where you will present all the benefits of what you offer but remember what’s important about creating helpful video content – since you have raised awareness about a certain problem, be sure to show how your product can solve it. Tutorials are also great examples of the middle of a marketing video for this step – your audience needs to know how to actually use your product and why it is beneficial.
Bottom of the Sales Funnel
Here, it is time to truly focus on your brand. Considering you have already provided your audience with possible solutions and answers, now you need to convince them that it is you who can make it real. To put it simply – if you have convinced your potential customer that they need a pen to write a letter, make sure it is your pen they choose. Show them how your product or service will change their lives for the better and include all necessary details a person may need to decide and then purchase. And yes, you need to provide all the information, but highlight those facts that make you look better than your competition. You can also expand to less relevant content linked to a specific problem, industry, product type, etc.
At the very end, you need to provide people with something – a demo video that will be a detailed version of what you have already shown during the second stage. You can supplement it with your customers’ opinions, as outside voices are always valuable, especially when it comes to video content. Webinars and detailed FAQs are also recommended.
Final Thoughts
Providing they are thoroughly planned, and of high quality, marketing videos can prove beneficial to your business. People love a good, engaging, informative video, so why shouldn’t you try to get your potential customer to watch yours while commuting? You may not see the results straight away, but marketing with video content will pay off eventually. Your audience will keep you in mind. You will present your brand image to the world, establish trust, and present yourself as an industry authority. Only then can you count on people choosing your product or service when the need arises.
Author’s Bio
Natalia is a content specialist working in a digital marketing agency. As a writer and book enthusiast, she has a true love for words, but her interests lay in a variety of aspects supporting employer branding, brand image, and design management in general.