"We want a video for our website." Something most businesses looking to utilize video in their marketing say, and we always follow up that question with one word - why?
Like any type of marketing, there are right and wrong ways to implement video. This short read should outline some of the common ways to incorporate video, and the reasons why.
First of all, we need to understand the different ways that we get in front of customers - advertising, cold outreach, organic social, and referrals. All forms of lead generation fall into these categories at some level. Next, there is a certain process that a customer goes through before making a buying decision - the length of this process is mostly tied to the price and intricacy of your product - but we'll get to that shortly. Finally we arrive at the importance of social proof, the evidence of a customer's purchase being a smart one, the sale itself, and the retention to follow. Video can be used in every single one of these steps and here's how.
Let's talk about how incorporating video into the different elements of lead generation improve the number and quality of leads generated.
Advertising
Advertising can be expensive, so it's important to put your best foot forward. Video is the most engaging and highest converting type of media in existence, meaning we should be incorporating it into our advertising. No matter what you're offering, it's both more interesting and more informative being shown in video format.
Cold Outreach
When you think of cold outreach, you might go right to cold calling, which would be hard to incorporate video in directly but there are many different types of cold outreach. A simple email with a link to an introduction email can go a long way in building rapport with a potential customer and a private message on LinkedIn can be a lot more effective when you're showing the other person something interesting about yourself and your offer.
Organic Social
Organic social media growth thrives on video. The best performing content on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Youtube is all short form video content. While the best strategy here isn't to have a hard ask like in advertising, it's still very effective to educate people visually about your offer and to get some face time in with people who could potentially become a customer or a referral source.
Referrals
Referrals and cold outreach are similar in that they don't necessarily utilize video directly. They do, however, go through the customer journey just like anybody else which means that utilizing video in the next step can help to generate interest with and better qualify referrals before they actually connect with you.
Now that we have leads, we need to make sure they're properly qualified for us, and us for them. Luckily, we have some tools for that. Qualification just means that the customer is a good fit for us and that we're a good fit for them. A really effective way to make sure that's understood is to show them a video demonstrating in greater detail who you are and what you're offering. This not only builds rapport, but it also educates the viewer on your offer so they can make an informed decision. It's hard to fake authenticity, so don't. Lean into your personality as a brand and really let the viewer get to know you.
Now we need a closer, something that's going to prove beyond reasonable doubt to our viewer that moving forward with this offer is a good idea. This is where we show the social proof, a happy customer on camera talking about how great your product or service was for them. Your existing happy customers are your best salespeople, and they'll be glad to go to bat for you in a project like this. Demonstrate how your offer works in a real life testimonial or case study, and then get ready to build a relationship with a new happy customer!
If you're thinking ahead, you know that usually your customer value is going to be longer than a single transaction. Even after your business is concluded, you can still utilize video in your existing relationship with a customer. Send them an email with your latest advertised deals, your latest case studies, make a video specifically for retention and offer a coupon or ask for referrals.
These things aren't exclusive to using video and you should be doing all of these things whether or not you're currently using video. It's important for the success of your business and for your relationship with your customers that you're checking these boxes. But once that foundation is built, video can be a really powerful tool in making the whole process more efficient while simultaneously elevating the perception of your brand.