When is the last time you watched an online video about a product, service, or company? Most likely, very recently. Video is not an up-and-coming marketing tactic. It’s well-established and proven effective.
With broadband nearly ubiquitous and video technology optimized for display on almost any device—desktop, tablet, smartphone—your customers can access video as easily as they can text. They’re looking for videos everywhere in their online experience: on company websites, YouTube, embedded in social media, and on industry research sites such as Dentalcompare.
If video isn’t yet part of your marketing portfolio, now’s the time to get in the game. According to the “B2B Content Marketing” research report published by the Content Marketing Institute, 79 percent of B2B marketers used video as a content marketing tactic in 2016 and 62 percent rate it as an effective tactic.
Consider these other statistics compiled by the marketing firm Hubspot:
- 90 percent of users say product videos are helpful in the decision process
- Video in an email increases click-through rates 200 to 300 percent
- Including video on a landing page can increase conversions by 80 percent.
- One-third of all online activity is spent watching video
- 59 percent of executives would rather watch video than reading text
Videos Support Marketing Goals
One advantage of video is its versatility in helping you achieve a variety of marketing goals. For example:
- Generate leads for a sales team
- Strengthen brand awareness for a company through increasing brand familiarity, while connecting audiences with the company’s value proposition, mission, or personal story
- Educate the market about an industry trend or breakthrough scientific technology
- Demonstrate a product or technical concept
- Post-sale, train customers on using products or technology, or on new features and unique applications
Popular and effective types of B2B marketing videos that can help prospects along their buying journey include:
- Interviews or Q&As with influential people in your industry that demonstrate thought leadership and reflect positively on your brand
- Customer testimonials or case studies can provide excellent reference material for your sales team
Prospects often access customer testimonials before making a buying decision
- A video tour of your company, showing off your advanced production capabilities, processes or operations
Remember customers are not just buying your product, they are buying into your entire company
- Videos of recorded webinars and keynote addresses for customers who were not able to attend an event
These can be edited and segmented to provide key information on major points of interest
- Product-focused videos to help communicate the features and benefits of key products and solutions, including the product’s unique value proposition
- Technical content from printed brochures, instruction manual, and whitepapers can be brought to life in a more engaging way using video
Videos Work for Dental Marketers
Videos make an impact with your target audience, and they can be especially helpful when it comes to connecting with and engaging younger dentists and dental professionals. That segment of the market grew up as online video was coming of age, and watching videos is big part how they spend their time online.
Video also is ideal for multichannel marketing campaigns regardless of whether the campaign’s goal is raising awareness, influencing a buying decision or providing amazing support to existing customers. A video can be tailored to support print or online ads, or anchor a landing page. It’s also the type of content people will share, thus spreading the reach of your campaign organically.
While online videos can be embedded just about anywhere, working with a partner such as Dentalcompare to have them hosted and promoted on an unbiased platform can give video content a broader appeal because they’re no longer seen as ads, and instead are viewed as helpful information dental professionals can use while researching the next improvement to their practice.
Videos can Vary in Length
Marketers have learned how to write for the web by understanding that their audience doesn’t read web pages beginning to end but rather scans pages for content of interest. Good web writing includes headlines, bulleted lists, and short statements.
There’s no such scanning option with video. You have to keep your audience engaged from opening credits to fade out whether your video is two minutes or twelve minutes. Most experts recommend videos be under three minutes, and the Hubspot research noted that while 5 percent of users will stop watching a video after one minute, 60 percent will stop after two minutes.
Still, this statistic can be misleading. Users don’t stop watching if they are engaged. Therefore, the most important factor to consider when making a video is whether it is compelling and relevant to its target audience.
It’s good to keep in mind the words of suspense-master Alfred Hitchcock, who once said a good story is a lot like life but with the dull parts taken out. Trim your videos of anything dull, and you’ll keep your audience interested, perhaps even on the edge of their seats.
If the content unavoidably necessitates longer video time frames, think of platforms that allow you to chapterize and index your content so viewers can easily navigate to and from the sections of a video that interest them the most. Because of the length of time, these viewers may possibly be spending on these types of videos, make sure to inquire as to whether these video platforms provide convenient call-to-action functionality as a part of the video experience for longer format video productions.
Where to Post Videos
Dental professionals use a variety of channels to research purchases, and marketers should as well. Video lends itself to a multichannel strategy:
- Post videos on your company website and on a video-sharing site such as YouTube
- Third-party channels such as Dentalcompare are popular destinations for dental professionals researching new products, and videos can help educate prospects to increase the likelihood they will contact your company
- Video is also a great addition to any tradeshow exhibit, as the moving visual captures the eye and draws people into to your booth
- Video embedded directly into email can help you create differentiation in your customers’ crowded inboxes
- Video can also be used as a valuable engaging content type for lead-nurturing campaigns
Wherever you post your video online, there are metrics you can track to help you determine how successful your video is. These include:
- Number of views
- Length of view (it’s important to know how many viewers dropped off before the video reaches the end)
- Number of shares
- Number of comments
- Number of follow-throughs on the call-to-action that closes your video
Choose the metrics that are aligned with your marketing goals, and track them for as long as your video is part of your campaign.
Video is a strong motivator that helps dental professionals understand and choose the next products they will be investing in for their practices. If video is already a key component of your marketing efforts, use your metrics to refine your processes and make each video better than the last one. If video is new to your marketing efforts, there’s no time like now to get started. In either case, Dentalcompare’s experienced video production team is ready to bring your videos to life online. For more information, contact [email protected].