The best strategic approach for video content across b2b sales funnels
Written by Yash Chawlani | 31st January 2024
Video marketing is swiftly becoming a go-to strategy for B2B businesses, and for good reason.
A whopping 95% of B2B buyers confirm that videos significantly influence their purchasing decisions. This has prompted 91% of businesses to integrate video as a core marketing tool in 2023.
However, tossing up any video won’t cut it. Just like any effective marketing plan, a thoughtful strategy is key. That’s where understanding the B2B sales funnel stages and aligning your videos with buyer mindsets becomes crucial.
By strategically deploying the right video at the right time, you can shift B2B video marketing from a passive broadcast to a targeted, persuasive conversation. This approach doesn’t just generate leads and conversions but also cultivates lasting relationships with your customers.
This blog equips you with strategic insights and practical tips to unlock the power of video content at every B2B journey stage, turning hesitant prospects into devoted, loyal customers. Let’s dive in!
Overview of the B2B Buyer Journey
The B2B buyer journey is the complete process a buyer goes through, from initial consciousness of your brand to the assessment of your products and services, to finally making the purchase decision.
Here are the different stages of the B2B buyer journey:
- Awareness: This is the first stage where the B2B buyer recognizes they have a problem.
- Consideration: The buyer evaluates their problem and researches ways to solve it.
- Decision: The buyer agrees on a specific product or service.
High-quality and informative video content, strategically crafted through intuitive video app design and a user-friendly video editor can captivate prospects at each stage of the B2B marketing funnel. It can foster engagement, trust, and understanding and ultimately drive sales by delivering targeted and persuasive messages.
Strategic Video Content for Each Funnel Stage
Awareness Stage
At this stage, the aim of every B2B business to is establish its identity and ensure maximum exposure to potential customers. Videos are an excellent medium for raising awareness and boosting lead-scoring activities.
Here are some of the video types that are ideal for this stage of the customer journey.
- Commercial Ads
A commercial ad allows B2B businesses to demonstrate the value of their brand with a great script and clear storytelling. It leaves a lasting impression on the viewers, creating awareness around your brand.
Many lead generation companies are also using commercial ads to capture attention and engage potential customers.
The goal at this stage is to educate potential customers about your product or service. Explainer videos help you achieve this goal by transforming boring concepts into entertaining and easy-to-consume bites. This not only retains your prospect’s attention but also increases ROI.
You can upload explainer videos to platforms like YouTube and social media platforms. Alternatively, you can enhance your business’s website design by adding these videos to your homepage or product page.
Animated explainer videos simply offer information with relatable language. They speak directly to the target audience and take the viewer through relevant problems before showcasing your product or service as the ideal solution.
Consideration Stage
This is the problem-solving stage where the aim is to provide answers and solutions to the prospects’ problems.
Now that your prospects understand their problem, they will actively look for ways to address it. You can effectively use videos at this stage to deepen their understanding of your product/service, highlight its benefits and features, address specific pain points, and build trust and credibility.
Here are some of the video types that are ideal for this stage:
- Case Study Videos
Your word is only as good as the evidence that supports it. Case study videos present an excellent way to build trust with prospects. It makes it easier for them to make the next move as they can relate to an example that talks about solving a problem they are interested in.
- Culture Videos
An honest and unfiltered look at how your team works behind the scenes helps to humanize your brand. It shows your brand values and lets you connect with your viewers on an emotional level. Short interviews with your employees, bloopers, team-building days, and event celebrations at your company are some things you can shoot to let your brand’s personality shine.
Incorporating these engaging culture videos into your social media strategy also provides valuable insights for tracking social media metrics and optimizing your content strategy based on audience responses.
Product demo videos demonstrate how your customers can address their problems with your product. As an essential part of the sales funnel, these videos showcase key aspects of the product and how the customers can use it. For instance, if you offer sales automation software, you can create a professional product demo video and display it in a video slider to explain each facet of the software.
SurveyMonkey does a great job with its product demo video that not only highlights the features and benefits of the product but also offers a walk-through of the product interface. The two-minute-long video makes it easy for prospects to understand how the product can integrate into their everyday workflow.
Decision Stage
By now, your prospects are aware of your business and understand the value you can offer. But are they ready to spend yet?
The explainer videos and product demos have laid the groundwork. Now it is time to lend a human touch and make an emotional connection as that’s what plays a pivotal role in decision-making. Additionally, the goal is to overcome final objections, accelerate decision-making, and drive conversions.
Here are some of the video types that are ideal for this stage:
- Product Implementation Guides
These are instructional videos that offer a step-by-step walkthrough of how to implement and use your product or service. They provide detailed guidance on setting up and integrating the solution, showcasing the simplicity of the process.
- Free Trial Videos
These videos promote hands-on experience by providing potential customers with free access to a trial version of your product or live demonstrations. Free trials allow users to explore the features and functionalities of your solution in a real-world context, fostering a direct understanding of its value.
- Testimonial Videos
A good word from satisfied customers is a great way to instill confidence in your prospects. It also helps to build credibility in your offerings.
This testimonial video by Google Ads is an incredible example. It showcases a customer and his brand and nicely explains how Google Ads helped them build their business. The video also includes stats to back up the success of the project, a big plus for testimonial videos.
Post-Purchase Stage
Most B2B businesses tend to ignore this stage of the B2B buyer’s journey, and that’s where they go wrong.
Once you have acquired a new customer, you would want to retain them and build brand loyalty. Consequently, you can create videos to thank your customers and make them feel valued.
Here are some of the video types that are ideal for this stage:
- Onboarding Tutorials
These are instructional videos that help new customers get started with your product or service. They offer a step-by-step guide and demonstrate key features and functionalities, helping users quickly grasp how to make the most of your offering, ensuring a positive initial experience.
- Celebratory Milestones
These are personalized messages that help to acknowledge and express gratitude for the anniversaries or significant milestones of your customers’ partnership with your business. These videos are a thoughtful way to strengthen the customer-business relationship by showing appreciation for their loyalty and continued alliance.
- Product Updates and Enhancements
These videos serve to inform existing customers about the latest developments, features, and improvements to your product. Product updates and enhancements videos are announcements that highlight any changes, upgrades, or new functionalities introduced.
Conclusion
In this day and age, embracing video marketing has become imperative for success in B2B marketing. Tailoring videos to each stage of your B2B sales funnel is crucial, fostering customer engagement and brand loyalty.
It’s vital to recognize that the most impactful videos evoke emotions such as awe, satisfaction, inspiration, or laughter. By eliciting these emotions, your brand establishes a deeper connection with customers, compelling them to feel a sense of resonance and confidence that can influence purchasing decisions.
Author's Bio
Yash Chawlani is your go-to digital marketer and founder of Merlin, a performance-driven marketing agency. He has worked with big names like Elementor, G2, Snov, and others, to boost their online presence. When he’s not diving into the latest marketing trends, you’ll either find him at the gym or on the football field. 