Focus on getting share of mind - think about your video distribution strategy for maximum brand salience.
A few nuggets that we recently picked up was from this interview from LinkedIN on the Principles of B2B Marketing. Which can help with thinking about how to structure video content.
So - the more you’re in front of customers, the more they think about you, the more buy.
But… not all customers are going to buy right? So, how to target them? Traditionally we use a consumer journey which is a bit spread out (more on that later).
In-Market & Out-Market VS BOFU/TOFU
The truth is that people are either in a buying mode for what you sell, or they are not - and may not be for months or years. There’s really no convincing them with B2B services.
That means you are really always creating for TWO different audiences, trying to balance the short-term results for the in-market crowd, with the long-term brand building which helps attract more future demand from out-market.
To make it simple: they require different types of content and approaches.
Drilling down into in-market and out-market, what does it really mean?
A bit more clarification for those who don’t want to watch the entire video which is recommended. It’s a great approach to B2B but ok, enough of a plug.
Here’s a brief overview of both, to give a bit more contrast between the two.
In Market (Think Whitepaper)
Out Market (think Geico)
Narrow targeting. You know them.
Broader targeting. They may change jobs and buy later.
Measure: sales/revenue
Measure: views, engagement, other metrics need to be used (brand salience)
Warm to hot, ready to buy
Unaware to cold, long sales cycle
Within comparison / consideration stages
Awareness, problem identification
Needs the logic, why,
Better responds to brand building, emotional type messages
Goal: persuade, convert, sell the sizzle
Goal: entertain, educate
Asset type: explainer video, product demo, screencast, ads, training
Asset type: YouTube or social media content. Entertainment, funny, longer-form, thought-leadership, podcasts, etc
That’s a useful framework to understand the purpose behind the content we create. Who is it serving within which segment? What is it’s future longevity?
Now, let’s move onto another practical framework. And afterwards distill the insights from both.
Branded Video Content Marketing Framework #2
The next tip comes to us from none other than Rand Fishkin of Moz.com in this Whiteboard Friday video series.
The way that Rand looks at it, is a more traditional funnel approach. However he’s got some great ways of interpreting the different stages which should be noted.
People become aware
Consideration around buying
Form of comparison
Decide to convert or not
Retention element
In B2B it’s important to target 1-2 of these stages to maximize effectiveness. How do you know which ones to target? See where you’re underperforming in your funnels and start there.
Measuring your content in B2B beyond leads, sales and revenue
Since not all your content will be around the conversion point, it’s important to think about your distribution strategy & what are some realistic goals for each one.
This means planning ahead of time, thinking about video content ideas like:
- How can content be re-used on different platforms?
- Who will be responsible for making sure it’s distributed?
- Are there any specific edits, formats, sizes to keep in mind?
- What kind of engagement can you expect from each platform?
- What does success look like for this specific content, in this part of the funnel?
- How will you be measuring your video (analytics from where?)
- Who are the other members of the team you should be targeting?
It’s important to amplify your content to reach the most people possible. Don’t get caught in the trap of creating content all the time, focus on distributing it, this means building your marketing strategy into the content ahead of time.
Putting it all together, what’s a branded content strategy look like?
Video is not one size fits all. Let’s do some key takeaways here.
Think about funnel stages. Not all content is an explainer video. What about a youtube series? LinkedIn ads? Doing something which hits multiple channels?
There’s better metrics than sales. If you had video on every page, and channels that were filled with great content, how would that impact your brand awareness, perception and performance?
Know your audience. In market, out market, you can use video as a tool for short term sales or long-term brand building. It all depends on the cards you have to play.
And as always, you pick 1-2 areas to focus on, invest enough to see results, or decide that it’s not an area you can get a lift in. The reality though is that many businesses see HUGE increases in sales, productivity and exposure through video.
Why can’t yours? No reason, it absolutely can. Just need the right team by your side.
