Have you already created a marketing video? What will your next move be? If you, as a marketer, have a plan for everything, why don’t you have a video strategy yet?
A smart video strategy is based on reaching your audience with the right content at the right time. Think about your buyer’s journey: does your prospect need the same information at the beginning and at the end of that process?
Simply put, you should know what they are quibbling about to clarify any doubts with the right kind of information.
In this article, we’ll explain how to plan your video marketing strategy according to every stage of the buyer’s journey, with actionable tips and examples that will certainly help you to accelerate the journey of leads into your funnel.
But before we keep going let’s do a quick review.
What’s the Buyer’s Journey?
It’s an active exploration or research process that the customer goes through prior to and leading up to the actual purchase.
The various interactions that your buyer will have with your brand can be split into three steps:
Awareness stage: your prospects are aware that they have a problem but they don’t thoroughly understand it or know how to fix it.
Consideration stage: they fully understand the problem and are considering all the options available to solve it.
Decision stage: the buyer choses a product/service among many others.
What’s Inbound marketing?
Inbound marketing is based on creating the high-quality content that your client is looking for in each sales stage. According to Hubspot: “Unlike outbound marketing, inbound marketing does not need to fight for the potential customer’s attention. By creating content designed to address the problems and needs of your ideal customers, you attract qualified prospects and build trust and credibility for your business.”
Check out this video that explains how Inbound Marketing works:
The main idea is that each stage needs its own specific set of content that will work best. All that being said, video content is one of the strongest, most empathetic and effective types of content nowadays.
A recent research claims 54% of consumers want to see videos from brands they support in comparison to email newsletters (46%) or social image (41%) based content. They also found that video content was the most memorable (43%) in comparison to text (18%) and images (36%).
In a nutshell, people love videos.
However, not any type of video will work for every stage of the Buyer’s Journey. Let’s review the best type for each stage, their benefits and some inspiring examples.
First stage: Awareness
It’s the beginning of the Buyer’s Journey, so you need to treat them gently. Try not to be so salesly.
In this stage, at the top of the sales funnel, your future customers are not fully aware of their problem. They are experiencing some troubles or pain points but they are not really sure about what they need.
This is the right stage to display all your educational power. Remember, not your sales skills. Hold that for later! Your main goal is to provide them with information about their problem which is what they’ll probably be searching for on the web.
Try to ask yourself: What set of words are they searching for? What kind of information could be useful for them? If they decide to do nothing about their situation, what are the consequences they’ll face?
Your video should be based on those answers. Taking that into account, educational videos are perfect for this stage. It’s not necessary that you explain your business yet, teach them something about a topic related to it.
Tip: Please keep it short and funny! Don’t abuse your audience’s attention! The suggested lengths are: 30 seconds for Instagram, 45 seconds for Twitter, 1 minute for Facebook and 2 minutes for YouTube.
Well, it can’t get easier than this. You may be wondering why they haven’t even talked about what makes their product better than their competitors’ (and they have huge competition in this basic product). What they’ve achieved with this short video is to give the information their potential clients are looking for. And they gathered more than 2 million views!
Another great type of video that works great for this first stage is a branded video. They aren’t exactly educational, but they are awesome for increasing your brand awareness on the web.
Tip: Color is the key here. It should pop up in front of your audience’s eyes. Animation is a useful tool to achieve that effect. Combined with a catchy jingle, I promise you’ll have an unbeatable video. Check this one out as an example:
Second stage: Consideration
In this stage, your prospects are already aware of their problem and they’re committed to addressing it. So, your main goal is to convert your traffic into leads who will eventually make the final purchase decision.
What could be more engaging than video content to ensure that they stay longer on your website, letting your brand’s message sink in?
The purpose of your content at this stage is to inform your prospect about your product and why it’s the best choice in the market. Try to put yourself in their shoes. They’ll have doubts like these:
– What kind of solutions are there to my problem?
– What are the pros and cons of each one?
– Which is the best option for me?
That’s where product videos come in to show the unique features that set your product apart. Product videos can be created with different techniques such as: live action videos, motion graphics, character animation, whiteboard animation and screencast videos. Choosing the right style depends on your product. Check out this video that shows a product in full detail:
Tip: If you’re looking for an elegant and more formal style without losing charm and visual appeal, motion graphic is the right style for you.
Another type of video that works great for the consideration stage is an explainer video. They will always help to clarify any doubts your prospects may have but, at the same time, engage them with a funny story. Plus, explainer videos show how your product will fit your audience’s life. You’ll state their pain points and explain how your product can solve them.
Third stage: Decision
Close your deal! At this stage your leads have already looked up information about your product and your competitors. They only need a gentle push toward the bottom of the sales funnel.
This kind of content should be all about you brand, your company and why they should trust you. Given that emotion is such a strong factor in decision-making, your videos need to show the human side of your brand: What’s the story behind your company? Who are the ones who commit to your company’s values every day?
A great way to answer those questions is an “About Us” video in which your company’s representatives (CEO or also employees) will talk about your company’s mission.
Another powerful type of video that will build brand trust is a testimonial video. In fact, 85% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. Watching and listening to your happy clients endorsing your brand will definitely help push your potential buyers towards making a purchase.
Authentic and natural are the keywords that you’re looking for in a testimonial video. Otherwise you could discourage your leads.
Tip: Try to include images that put what your clients are saying into context. In this case they used shots of classes and the city where the company is located.
Let’s do a recap!
Inbound marketing is all about providing your potential customer with the information they are looking for. Having said that, there is no better way to convey your brand message efficiently than with a hit video series.
Bear in mind that at every stage of the Buyer’s Journey, you should focus on different kinds of information. That’s why certain videos work better than others.
In the awareness stage you should give valuable information, basically, whatever they are searching for online that is related to your business.
The consideration stage is when you need to explain why your product can help your audience and why it’s better than your competition.
The decision stage is all about trust, so your videos should show the human side of your business.
A smart video strategy that takes into account all of these factors will surely boost your inbound marketing efforts. Pick up your camera and start shooting! You won’t regret entering the video marketing era!
