Whether it’s B2B or B2C, video marketing can be an effective way of generating new leads. In fact, many businesses have already identified the importance of video marketing when influencing purchase decisions, and made it an intrinsic part of their content marketing plan.
If you’re looking to attract high-quality leads with great conversion rates, video marketing is one digital strategy you can’t afford to overlook. In this guide, you’ll learn how to effectively leverage this type of content as a lead acquisition strategy.
Know Your Audience
The first step in creating effective videos involves defining your target audience. After all, if you don’t know who you are marketing to, how can you possible\y understand what they need – or want? By pinpointing your ideal audience, you’ll get a clearer picture of what types of videos will work best for your business when it comes to attracting new leads and engagement. .
Another benefit of defining your audience is that you’ll have the necessary information to create precise and highly targeted videos with impactful messaging in the most cost-effective manner.
With the correct strategy, transforming visitors into leads is now more straightforward than ever!
How to Use Videos in Your Lead Generation Campaigns
Video is king right now, and everyone’s working at integrating it into their lead-gen efforts. Why? Because video is highly engaging and it gives you the chance to share information with your potential customers that would otherwise be challenging to convey.
There are multiple ways and placements in which this type of content can be used throughout your marketing and sales funnels. Here are some of the most successful applications:
1 – Campaign Landing Pages
The primary function of videos on landing pages is to create engagement. Once your audience is done watching the video on your landing page, a call to action can be leveraged to invite them to take the next step – such as downloading a freemium.
FUN FACT: landing pages with video content can increase conversion rates by 80%.
2 – Capture Leads with Gated Content
Webinars and other types of content often have an email gate, which means viewers aren’t able to watch the content unless they fill in the form with their contact information. In order to drive conversions, however, you need to emphasize the value your content has to offer. The only way gated content works for lead generation is if viewers understand clearly what they will be getting, as well as how it will serve them.
3 – Optimize Content for Social Media Networks
Running successful video marketing campaigns on social media requires that you use each channel correctly, as well as optimize your efforts and initiatives based on what platform the videos will be used on. After all, each social network is suitable for different audiences and demographics, lengths of videos, and content types. For example, YouTube is better for long-form videos, whereas Instagram and TikTok are more suited to shorter, bite-sized videos.
The primary goal of using videos on social media is to entice your audience to navigate off of the platform and make their way to your website or landing page, where they can further engage with your brand.
4 – Embed Videos in Your Emails
Email marketing is still one of the most effective ways to generate high-quality leads, and click-through rates can be improved and leveraged by embedding engaging videos designed to capture the attention of your audience. In fact, 64% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase after seeing a video.
Here are a few things to keep in mind to stack the cards in your favor:
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- The word “Video” in an email subject can increase opens 19%
- Video thumbnails can increase click rates by 50%. Once a viewer clicks on the video embedded within an email, they will be automatically redirected to your website.
- Embedded video content reduces unsubscribes by up to 26%.
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What Types of Videos Work Best
Although you’ve now gained a firm understanding of how to use videos to generate leads and create better conversion rates, you might still be wondering what type of video content is most effective.
Here are the most popular types of videos used in lead generation campaigns:
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- Educational or Explainer Videos – An explainer video is a simple overview of your product or service. The main difference between this and an educational video is the amount of value for the viewer. Educational videos are usually more in-depth than explainer videos, and are great for generating awareness.
- Testimonials – Testimonial videos help you generate brand trust with your audience, specifically by addressing how your brand services or products are delivering on their promise and fulfilling customer expectations.
- Promotional Videos – Promotional videos are a great way to deliver campaign messaging to your target audience in a creative and fun manner. These types of content will help with engagement, conversions, and building awareness. For instance, with any type of gated content, such as a webinar a promotional video could act as a teaser to grab your viewers attention and draw them in to learn more or sign up.
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Picking the right type of video content is crucial to any successful campaign, and your decision should primarily be based on your goals and at what stage of your funnel the video will be used since lead generation efforts will be different at varying stages of the purchasing cycle.
Here’s what I mean…
Your video marketing strategy needs to be comprehensive, and span the entirety of your sales funnel and marketing efforts. Your primary goal should always be to capture viewers, convert them into leads, and then nurture them through the sales funnel for conversions. Here’s a 30,000 foot overview to help clarify:
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- Step 1: To attract visitors (so, for example, an explainer video)
- Step 2: To convert viewers to leads (a gated educational webinar with email sign up might suit you well here)
- Step 3: To convert leads into customers. (for example, email campaign sequence ending in video testimonials)
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MARKETING TIP: always remember that your videos need to be informative and add value, as well as provide entertainment.
The Bottom Line
It’s important to note that the implementation of video marketing doesn’t always mean creating new content and videos. You can judge your return on investment by leveraging existing videos before investing in new ones. More often than not, all that’s needed are some simple adjustments, like attaching a call to action, or end of video form.
Incorporating videos into your marketing strategy can substantially improve lead generation, and subsequently, sales. They are a great way to capture your target audience’s attention, as well as build brand trust and awareness.
If you’re looking to attract high-quality leads, videos are definitely the way to go.
