B2B Video Strategy to Win New Clients

Having a solid, well-executed video strategy might be the single most important marketing channel. Here’s how to think about it.

They say a picture is worth a 1,000 words.

A one-minute video has 1,440 pictures, so how many words is that worth?

When I started marketing my sales training and consulting business, I originally planned to market myself through writing.

Within a few months, I quickly changed directions when I saw the power of having a B2B video strategy. There are 6 main reasons I prefer video to every other form of marketing (other than referrals) available:

1. It’s humanizing. People who consume my video content get to know me as a person.
2. It builds trust quickly because people can make a judgment about me.
3. It simulates what an interaction with me might be like.
4. It quickly showcases my ideas.
5. It’s bingeable – if someone wants to, they can watch hours of my video content in a sitting.
6. It’s highly shareable. People like video. Don’t you?

Convinced yet? Good!

Here’s how to think about your B2B video strategy.

Components of Your B2B Video Strategy

Goals

Why do you want a B2B video strategy anyway? It’s not enough to say “for eyeballs.” You have to be more specific than that.

For me, it’s to create and nurture relationships while building trust with potential clients. I also get to work with other creators, which is deeply fulfilling.

While it might be tempting to assign a ROI requirement to your video strategy, it will take several months to feel your way through it before you see any results. Video, like any marketing channel, will be a big time commitment so give it the time and energy it deserves.

Personality

Perhaps more than any other medium, you’ll have to think about your personality as an individual and as a brand. Are you funny, or serious? Are you professorial, or no-nonsense? Are you rehearsed, or off-the-cuff?

I don’t recommend you spend too much time thinking about this in the beginning because the most important thing in any B2B video content strategy is to actually make and publish videos. You can sort your personality out over time.

But you should have something in mind when you get started.

Content

Content is everything that goes into your video. Your topic, your format, your titles, your thumbnails, your keywords, your….

There’s a lot that goes into your content. Here’s the shorthand: cover topics that your target clients will like, in a way that’s different and interesting. That’s basically all that matters.

I tend to sketch out, at a minimum, the following for each video:

• Keyword
• Specific topic
• Outline or script
• Style (i.e. candid, cinematic, etc.)
• Shots needed
• Major messages and talking points
• Associated text that will go with your video, wherever you decide to publish

Production

Now it’s time to make a video. How are you going to do that?

At the time of this writing, I shoot and edit all of my own videos. I’d love it if someone else whom I trust could do that heavy lifting, but I don’t have it now.

The question is how are you going to produce your videos? At a minimum, you’ll need a camera, lighting, a decent microphone, and a computer with editing software.

You can hire people to do all of this for you, and the prices for video production are always falling. Whatever your plan is, have a plan.

Distribution

Where are you going to publish your video?

One thing to keep in mind is that the kind of content you create will be influenced by the platform you choose for distribution. So for instance, LinkedIn videos tend to do better they’re short, say 3 minutes. But YouTube videos tend to do better between 8-15 minutes.

There are a lot of publishing platforms, but the primary options for B2B video are:

• YouTube – of course. People spend more time here than anywhere else on the Internet. More YouTube is watched than television.
• LinkedIn – this is my most active platform. LinkedIn is still the best place to generate B2B leads, so you should consider it if you’re not already active there.
• Facebook – they have the users. Half the world is on FB, but that doesn’t matter for B2B marketers or their B2B video strategy. People tend to be the most responsive on FB, making it a great place to facilitate conversation.

Conversion

How does your video strategy connect to your funnel? You should have an intentional, mapped path from your video content to your marketing funnel. Of course, there may be several options, like your website, lead magnet, content form, and more. Just have a clear idea of how people can go from video watchers to clients.

Getting Started

I said before, I’ll say it again: the most important thing is to make and publish videos. When you’re starting, you don’t know what you don’t know. Collect some information, make a few educated videos, then make a video or two. Then do it again.

You’ll quickly accelerate your path generating new leads and clients the more you actually hit record and publish. Go do it!