How To Build An Inbound Marketing Strategy Powered by Video
An effective inbound marketing strategy hinges on knowing what concerns and values drive your targets and developing content tailored to that. And a video-based strategy to follow your leads through their buying cycle might be the most versatile option that you haven’t tried yet! In this article, you'll be introduced to the best types of videos to use at each stage of the buyer's journey.
Much of what it takes to succeed in online business comes down to one essential point: developing the right kind of content to attract the right targets from all corners of the Internet.
From all the trends and alternatives available out there as of 2020, video content has proved to be one of the most reliable tools for many businesses and marketers to nurture a solid online presence.
But powering your marketing strategy with video is only the first step to drawing new leads to your brand. As most video production companies know, succeeding with videos requires giving your audience the pieces they need according to the current stage in their journey.
In this post, we’ll take you through the key types of video that you can introduce to your audience as they become more familiar with your brand. Along the way, we'll cover why they are effective and how you can use them to your advantage!
Awareness Stage: Grasping Your Audience’s Pain Points
Customers in the awareness stage are not interested in a product yet. Instead, they want to pin down their problems and find ways to make their lives easier. They welcome the type of content that's useful for getting clarity about the next steps or helps them familiarize themselves with your brand.
Educational Videos
Your audiences will seldom show interest in your brand's solutions if you don't first help them identify their pain points. By giving them educational videos on topics that they care about, they will start to see your brand as a reference worth exploring.
The principle to follow with educational videos is usefulness: your audience needs the information you provide them. But there’s a reason why these are among social media’s most effective forms of video: at their best, educational videos combine their didactic approach with entertainment and even humor to keep viewers engaged.
‘How-To’ Videos
A popular – and very specific – type of educational content, ‘How-Tos’ help people realize they have a certain problem by showing how others do tasks more efficiently and with better results. The sheer satisfaction and utility of watching others breaking down any endeavor—from a fresh, summer recipe to a complex product setup—in simple steps is what makes people love ‘How-To’ videos.
‘How-To’ videos are great for attracting curious prospects who want to learn creative ways of producing or accomplishing things. These videos fit very well for stage zero, as they focus on those topics that people are interested in, while you still can demonstrate how practical your product is.
Commercials
Commercials or video ads are among the most popular content on social media. They are the most 'aggressive' type of video for this stage since they don't hide the fact that they want to sell a product to the audience.
Although commercials are intended to be self-promotional, they shouldn’t consist of just a list of your product’s features. At their best, commercials are perfect for highlighting the benefits your product will bring to your targets.
Consideration Stage: Highlighting Your Brand’s Strengths
When prospects understand their problem or need, and that there are solutions that could help them solve these, they actively start researching and comparing the best options available. This is the right time to introduce your business or product to them—and no other content does it better than explainer and product videos.
Explainer Videos
Animated explainer videos are among the most favorite yet powerful contents you can introduce in your video marketing strategy. These include various styles of video that combine compelling animation with effective storytelling techniques.
These videos aim at answering the basic “what", "how", and "why” questions surrounding your product or service. They are the perfect bridge that connects your audience’s understanding of the challenges they have and the novelties your product introduces.
Product Videos
During the consideration stage, prospects are actively assessing the pros and cons of the different products they find. However, a lot of those products look similar to their eyes. So, if you want yours to stand out, you can make a big difference by creating a dedicated product video.
These videos are great for explaining how your product works in real-time. In an online world where everyone relies more on ecommerce solutions, you can make yours unique by showing customers how they can expect to use your product in different settings and purposes.
Decision Stage: It’s All About Reputation!
At this point, your targets are well-aware of the problem they have and what options are available out there to choose from. They just need a final push for a confident buying decision. The best types of videos for this stage are those that use social proof to convey trust.
Customer Testimonials
There’s nothing that better expresses the value of your product than customer testimonial videos. Solid testimonials that showcase a happy customer attesting how discovering your brand improved their lives is a powerful social proof.
Adding customer testimonials to your pages can give your prospects the assurance that others have indeed benefitted from your product. To produce a great testimonial, be sure to include background questions so your audience can see how your brand helped the interviewee solve a particular problem.
FAQ videos
Educational and product videos give your targets the best information about your brand’s solution. But at this stage of the journey, their questions are far more detailed and technical. To help them resolve any remaining questions, you can introduce FAQ videos into your content.
These videos address common questions that people often ask about topics related to your product. They are a great opportunity to delve into the nitty-gritty details of your product. To excel with these videos, find relevant questions under a topic that concerns your audience and provide them on-target answers.
Let’s Wrap It Up!
There isn’t a one-size-fits-all type of video for your inbound marketing strategy—the absolute best choice depends on your viewer’s journey in the sales funnel.
In the early stages, when they are barely familiar with your brand, prospects need video content that focuses on giving them useful information to help them understand the problems they present.
Once they have a good grasp of their pain points, they are more open to evaluating options. This is the call for you to introduce your product as a unique solution.
Lastly, in order to close the deal, you need to project an image of trust and professionalism to your viewers so they can feel confident in their decision.
Now you know—introducing video content to your marketing moves will make your brand resonate for your audience.