In the past few years we’ve seen online video become an integral part of inbound marketing strategies. Now companies are looking for new ways to leverage this medium more than ever to generate leads.
Maybe your company was on the bleeding edge of its industry and incorporated online video ahead of the curve; otherwise you are looking at ways to catch up with the trend and make sure you don’t fall behind.
YouTube is the second most popular search engine on the web. Vine is on the rise and video is now omnipresent on company Facebook and LinkedIn pages as well. It’s no longer enough to stand out from the crowd simply by blending video into your strategy. Now that everyone is using video, you need to be constantly pushing forward new ideas on how online videos can boost your inbound marketing strategy. Here are fresh ideas on how to do this.
Corporate Culture Videos
Think about using online video to communicate who you are as a company. Rather than looking at online video as a television commercial for a product, think of it as an “About Us” page, version 2.0. This is an opportunity for customers or potential customers to get to know who you are. If you can communicate your company’s expertise, values and mission through video, your target audience is much more likely to remember and be influenced than they would be after reading about these topics on your website.
Consider talking about the kinds of traits you are looking for in employees as well, and encourage people who think they possess those traits to apply to join your team. If a potential customer feels they are getting some insight into who you look to recruit, they can infer something about who you are as a company and it helps to shape the perception they have of your brand as a result.
Testimonial Videos and Case Studies
No matter what product or service you are selling, a potential customer would rather hear about it from another customer in their own words rather than from somebody in the sales or marketing departments. This ties a human voice and face to your offering from outside the organization. Testimonials and case study videos are also a great opportunity to outline the results your product or service actually achieved.
Instead of a video stressing the features and benefits, move on to videos that detail what has been accomplished by utilizing those features and benefits. Written marketing collateral from competitors in your space are going to list similar capabilities. Separate yourself from the static by moving away from telling your audience what you can offer them and show them concrete examples of what you’ve already done for others.
Here are a few examples of our case studies:
LexisNexis
SendGrid
ASUS
Brand Stories
Tell the history of your brand including milestones and goals. This is a great opportunity to focus on how you ended up offering the product or service you offer today. In contrast with the corporate culture videos which should focus on who you are as a company, these videos focus on what you are.
A great tip for this type of video is to tell a story about how you responded to demand. For instance, we started out offering one thing to a certain group of people but then our customers started telling us what they really need is something else. In response to that call from our customer base, we evolved as a brand and we now proudly offer the product or service we’re known for today.
Your brand is successful for a reason. Tell the story of how it got to be where it is but focus on the story rather than the list of features and benefits.
