This article was originally published in the Elevate Your Marketing newsletter and has been repurposed and republished here with the author’s permission. Here is the link to the original article. 

Video marketing is one of the most traditional (yet effective) methods of marketing in the B2B space. Many B2B companies – irrespective of their industry – leverage video marketing to showcase their capabilities, educate their audience, and give a flavor of their company culture to the outside world.

In this article, we look at a 3-step B2B video marketing strategy that covers everything you need to know to make your video marketing efforts successful.

Some of the tips and techniques mentioned in this article are focused on YouTube. However, the fundamentals of the 3 step strategy can be extended to other channels or platforms as well. Also for brevity, the very details of each step are not covered. If you have more questions, please feel free to reach out to us at info@skalegrow.com.

That said, let’s dive right in.

Advantages of B2B video marketing

The advantages of video marketing for B2B businesses are endless. But here are a few notable ones:

• Given that there is so much noise in the digital space, video marketing is an excellent way to stand out.
• Video marketing is a great way to show the people behind the walls of a business, especially in the early years when most of your customers and prospects haven’t seen you yet.
• Videos are an excellent way to convey your messages in a visual manner.
• Like SEO, the impact of video marketing compounds over time. It is one of the best long-term marketing channels.

You can add more to the list. But you get the point here. You can also watch the below video where I share my thoughts on why video marketing is useful for B2B companies, especially small businesses.

Related article: Lean B2B Video Marketing – Strategies And Approaches

Can B2B video marketing help in lead generation?

Videos are an amazing tool when it comes to generating demand and spreading awareness. And I don’t think any of us would disagree.

But the million-dollar question is whether it can generate some quick wins (or leads) for B2B businesses.

According to Optinmonster, 83% of video marketers say video helps in lead generation. And we all love to consume videos that educate, inspire, and help find solutions to some of our problems at work.

While we might not make a purchase decision purely based on a single video, they do have an impact. And with many social media platforms giving a push to native videos, not investing time, money, and resources in video marketing is a big mistake.

But yes, it does take time to get the video marketing engine going. As Rome is not built in a day, a good marketing tactic takes time to show results. The faster you get things going, the earlier will you be able to generate leads using videos.

The 3-step B2B video marketing strategy

Video marketing is a continuous activity. It requires regular experimentation and optimization. And the following 3 steps of the video marketing strategy are designed keeping this in mind:

1. Video planning
2. Video creation
3. Video optimization and promotion

Let us break down each of these.

1. Video planning – the first stage of a B2B video marketing strategy

This involves coming up with topic ideas, deciding the video type, finalizing the video duration, creating the storyboard, and planning the resources required to support video creation.

1.1 Coming up with topics

This is about finding topics related to your business that are relevant to your target audience. Following are some of the techniques you could use for this:

1. Keyword-based topic ideation: For this, you can use a YouTube SEO tool like VidIQ/Tubebuddy. You could also look at other SEO tools and platforms for more ideas. For instance, Ahrefs offers a keyword analysis module specifically for YouTube.
2. YouTube/Google search: Here, you use the search suggestions given by YouTube and Google (Remember, YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world after Google). While searching on Google, selecting ‘videos’ as the content type is a good method to further narrow down your search.
3. Use an answering or FAQ platform: Have you heard about Answerthepublic.com? It’s an excellent place to find inspiration for video topics. You could also go to Quora or even Google Trends to find trending topics in your industry.
4. Competitor analysis and research: This is pretty straightforward. Spy on your competitors and other vloggers & YouTubers to get content ideas. You can do this on multiple platforms including (but not limited to) YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, etc.

1.2 Deciding the video type

The first step to deciding the video type is to determine whether you are going to create a product explainer video, informational video, product demo, or employer branding video (or any other video type for that matter). This will depend on the topic of the video which you finalized in the previous step (in fact, you could try dividing the topics into these categories at that stage itself).

The next step is to determine the method of delivery – motion graphics, animation, live-action, whiteboard, etc.

1.3 Finalizing the video duration

There are a lot of recommendations flying around with respect to the duration of a video. First of all, there is nothing like ‘the best duration’. It heavily depends on the type of video.

For example, a detailed on-demand product demo can easily exceed 10 minutes. At the same time, a product intro video can be usually kept under 3-4 minutes.

In any case, here are a few things to keep in mind while determining how long your video should be:

• In YouTube, the more watch hours you have, the better. So make sure you have enough long videos in the mix.
• Attention is the new oil. You need to convey the key message of the video in as little time as possible (to arrive at the right time for this, observe your video retention rate in YouTube analytics after creating a few videos, and optimize newer videos accordingly).
• If you are creating videos for certain platforms and content types, take that into account. For instance, YouTube shorts videos have to be under 60 seconds. And short videos tend to do better in LinkedIn video ads as well.

Essentially, it’s about finding a balance between short-form and long-form video content.

1.4 Creating the storyboard

A storyboard is nothing but a visual representation of the video structure. Depending on the video type and method of delivery, a combination of stock images, icons, character sketches, etc., can be used to create a storyboard.

And here is a pro tip when it comes to creating storyboards.

Share it in the PowerPoint format with the stakeholders so that it will be more accessible and easier for everyone to review instead of doing it right away in the video editing tool (of course you can create the illustrations using a design tool).

1.5 Planning and allocating resources

This involves two things:

1. Planning for manpower – video planners, scriptwriters, designers, shooting crew, person to present the content, voice-over artist, etc.
2. Having the right tools – content writing tools, design tools, access to stock images, icons, and videos, etc.

Also read: 7 B2B Video Marketing Trends For The Future

2. Video creation – the core of a B2B video marketing strategy

Once the ideation phase is over, it’s time to get your hands dirty – creating the video. And this has 4 steps –  creating a video script, adding a voice-over, designing and editing, and reviewing the final video.

2.1 Creating a video script

There is no right or wrong way of developing a video script. It will depend very much on the type of video you are creating. But here are a couple of steps that would apply irrespective of the nature of the video:

1. Develop the content in line with the video storyboard. Make changes wherever required (feel free to go back and change the storyboard in case you see the need).
2. Start with a clear intro followed by the core content and a call to action.
3. Make it conversational. Ask questions, share opinions, and include stories and anecdotes. This will also encourage viewers to leave more comments (which almost every platform algorithm loves).

2.2 Adding a voice-over

This is required if your video needs to use a voice-over. Depending on the video type, you can either add your own employees’ voice or a professional voice-over. You can easily find good professional voice-over artists on websites like Upwork and Fiverr.

If you are recording your own audio, make sure you have good audio equipment.

2.3 Designing and editing the video

This is about using software tools to create the final video. For 2D videos, you can use a tool like Adobe Premiere Pro. And if 3D elements are involved, use a tool like Maya from Autodesk.

There are alternatives to the above tools. But they are two of the most popular ones. If you are starting off and do not have a design background or a dedicated design team, consider using something like Canva.

2.4 Reviewing the final video

As the term suggests, this refers to reviewing the final video for flow, consistency, design elements, text overlays, voice-over, etc.

Here are some of the best practices to be followed:

• Try to get the content reviewed by at least two people. This will remove biases and help spot errors that one person could have missed.
• If you can afford to, do the final review sometime (preferably the next day) after you have done the first review. This will help you come back with a fresh perspective and find issues that you might have missed the first time.
• Leave each task to its own expert, but have one person accountable for the deliverable. Let the design head/lead take the final call on the design elements and the content lead on the content. But make sure to have one person (say a video marketing lead, creative head, or head of content marketing) responsible for the final output. This will ensure accountability and better distribution of work.

Related article: 7 B2B Video Marketing Hacks You Should Try

3. Video optimization and promotion – the final step of a B2B video marketing strategy

3.1 Video optimization

This step is all about optimizing the video for SEO and a better viewing experience.

For YouTube SEO, optimize the video for file name, title, description, thumbnail, and subtitle. Subtitles also help in enhancing the viewing experience and improve watch hours. You can consider implementing a tool like VidIQ or Tubebuddy to improve your YouTube SEO efforts.

Here, it is interesting to note that multiple people have a role in this. While a copywriter will have a role in preparing the title, description, and thumbnail copy, the designer will be responsible for designing the thumbnail.

3.2 Video promotion

This is a vast topic in itself. There is no end to the number of ways in which you can promote videos.

It can be done using methods such as social media promotion (organic and paid), YouTube ads, third-party website ads, email and LinkedIn messaging campaigns, newsletters, embedding in blogs, articles, press releases, and more.

It is a good idea to have a checklist/calendar in place to make the process of promotion more effective and organized. Since different platforms have their algorithms operating differently, you need to take that variance as well into account.

For instance, on YouTube, the engagement you get in the first 3-4 hours is absolutely key. So make sure you push your videos out using multiple channels – within the first 1 or 2 hours of publishing – such as email, social media posts, push notifications, etc., to attract maximum engagement.

Also, if you are promoting the video on LinkedIn, the engagement in the first 1-2 hours matters a lot. So try with all your might to increase interaction within this time frame of posting the video on the platform.

That’s it for today. Hope this piece will help you get started with your B2B video marketing efforts and improve their effectiveness. If you have questions on the topic, please feel free to write to us at info@skalegrow.com.

Skalegrow – B2B video marketing agency

Skalegrow is a marketing agency aimed at making life better for marketing leaders and founders in the B2B space. It was founded to address two key challenges in the B2B world:

• The lack of quality services offered by marketing agencies
• The misalignment of marketing activities with organizational-level goals

One of our key services is video marketing. Whether it’s a product/solution video, educational video, or employer branding video, if you are looking to grow your business through video, please write to us at info@skalegrow.com.

About the author

Naseef KPO is the Founder and CEO of Skalegrow. He comes with rich experience across multiple areas of B2B marketing including content marketing, demand generation, SEO, account-based marketing, marketing analytics, revenue attribution, marketing technology, etc. He writes thought-provoking and relevant articles on The Skalegrow Blog and his weekly LinkedIn newsletter Elevate Your Marketing.

Prior to starting Skalegrow, Naseef led large marketing teams in multi-million dollar B2B organizations where he made significant contributions to the topline growth of the business. He has also appeared on numerous podcasts where he shared his thoughts on trending marketing topics such as the application of AI in marketing, startup marketing, ABM, and B2B content marketing, just to name a few. Being the founder of Skalegrow, he is currently focusing on helping its clients stay ahead of their competition by using innovative yet practical marketing tactics.

You can connect with Naseef KPO on LinkedIn.