B2B Video Marketing in 2022: Types, Benefits, and Top Tips

Video is one of the key ways to reach your target audience and get them excited about what you have to offer. 86% of businesses are now using video as a marketing tool — up from 63% over the last three years. The trend for video marketing shows no signs of slowing down, so it’s time to take the leap and get your brand on screen. If you’d like to know more about the options you have, keep on reading this article.

Why B2B companies are turning to video as their top marketing strategy

If you want to showcase your brand culture, demonstrate your products, and build engagement with your target market, video marketing should be at the top of your marketing strategy. It’s the ideal way to share your message while giving your business a personalized and humanized feel.

For most B2B companies, explaining how a complex product or service works is difficult to do through text alone. Video opens up an array of opportunities with easy-to-understand explanations and visual cues. There’s no doubt that video marketing is on the rise, with Wyzowl discovering that 94% of video marketers use video to help increase user understanding.

Videos also offer the opportunity to build an audience on various marketing channels. Social media video marketing has gained enormous popularity, the result being that algorithms tend to favor videos over images or text content.

If you’re worried that video marketing is too expensive or tricky to measure, you can relax. Although video is rapidly growing, there’s no need to dive in deep. Instead, start small and build your strategy step by step.

There are many different types of videos with potential for B2B business. Let’s check a few out to get you started.

7 types of B2B marketing videos that’ll boost your ROI

It doesn’t matter whether your business is large or small, old or new – without adding video marketing to your content strategy, you risk falling behind.

But video marketing doesn’t have to be challenging. Here are seven different types of B2B videos to get your started.

1. Demos and How-To Videos

The goal of a how-to video is to provide actionable steps and helpful information, which will ultimately help your customer overcome their industry pain point or understand what you’re selling better.

The benefit of this type of video content is that it can either target audiences at the top or bottom of your sales funnel. It depends on what they’re looking for at that moment.

74% of B2B consumers carry out research about a product or service before they buy. Therefore, demo videos are the ideal way to influence purchasing decisions.

Not all how-to and demo videos take the same format. Your end goals will determine which kind of demo video will be most successful for your needs. There are several different styles, including:

• Marketing product demo – encourages users to sign up for a free trial or purchase a plan.
• Pre-recorded sales demo – a walk-through of your product or service on the screen with a strong emphasis on customer pain points.
• A personalized product presentation using Google Slides or Keynote recorded onto video.
• Live product demo – as mentioned above, but not pre-recorded, so you can answer customer questions on the spot.

Demo and how-to videos can stay on your website as evergreen content. Even better, 83% of video marketers say video has helped increase the average time their visitors spend on their website. 

2. Live Webinars

Live streaming is one of the most exciting ways to engage with your clients. Live webinars allow them to watch and interact with you in a longer format, where they can ask questions or get other perspectives on topics relevant to their industry.

Yes, they take time and planning. But the advantage of webinars is that your audience is already interested in what you have to say. After all, they signed up to attend.

Use your customer research to ensure your webinar content speaks directly to your audience’s pain points, wants, and needs.

Webinars are a worthwhile video investment. Get the content and presentation right, and webinars will help you:

• Establish leadership and authority
• Speak to customers worldwide
• Deepen engagement
• Find out more about your ideal audience by listening to their questions and feedback

3. Social Media Videos

One of the best social media channels for video marketing is YouTube. Creating a brand channel lets you build a community of loyal supporters and followers that look forward to your content.

Better still, the platform has over 1.9 billion logged-in monthly users – that’s a lot of potential customers for your business.

You can also improve your online visibility through optimized videos. Google often ranks videos higher than text pages, so customers will find your content more easily.

If you’d rather use a social media channel with more of a casual professional atmosphere, LinkedIn is brilliant for B2B marketing. Industry insights, educational videos, and customer testimonials will give your brand a leading edge over competitors.

Believe it or not, more informal channels like Instagram and Facebook can also work for B2B companies. Creating light-hearted and entertaining content humanizes your brand. Authenticity will be a crucial feature of marketing throughout 2022, and social media is the perfect place to show off your brand’s personality.

4. Social Proof and Customer Testimonials

Who doesn’t look at reviews before buying a product? Not many people these days. With reviews and social proof so readily available, most of us look to the experience of others before making a purchasing decision.

Customer testimonial videos have the potential to:

• Increase brand trust and credibility
• Lead to referrals
• Provide excellent social proof and future content
• Increase sales by showcasing your products in a positive way

Testimonial videos speak directly from one customer to another. If your audience has similar pain points, a customer testimonial shows how your product solves those problems efficiently.

What’s more, research from Wyzowl shows that 9 out of 10 people say they trust what a customer says about a business more than what that business says about itself.

5. Case Studies

Case studies versus customer testimonials. What’s the difference?

A customer testimonial tells the story of one customer. An individualized experience demonstrates how the product has solved their problem.

Meanwhile, a case study shows the whole story, from start to finish. It highlights the customer’s problem and how your business stepped in to help in more detail.

Case studies tend to feature more than one person – it might feature stakeholders as well as customers. Moreover, they provide an excellent opportunity to create compelling content using storytelling techniques.

A typical structure for a case study includes:

• Providing the background by describing the brief (focusing on pain points that will resonate with potential customers)
• Talking about your products and process as part of the action plan
• Showing off the results using data, stats, and social proof

6. Company Culture Videos

A culture video is an innovative way to get your followers on board with what you offer. This kind of content offers something different for viewers who tend to watch traditional videos that focus solely on business issues and strategies.

Your workforce is the team behind your brand. Allowing your customers a behind-the-scenes look at your business creates trust. From the people making your product to the customer service team, your brand values influence potential buyers.

In essence, a company culture video illustrates what your brand stands for – the more authentic you are, the more likely others will resonate with your messaging.

7. Explainer Videos

The role of an explainer video is to teach prospective buyers about your products and services.

Imagine landing on a website containing a lot of text. Would you have the time and patience to read through everything about the product you’re interested in? Or would you rather hit play on a video?

Research shows that most consumers prefer video. Lemonlight discovered that 99% of respondents enjoy watching video content from brands online.

What’s more, 85% of potential customers are more likely to purchase from a brand that provides them with an explainer video.

Explainer videos generate a host of benefits. They:

• Grab attention quickly and keep visitors on your website
• Increase conversions as visitors stay on your site for longer
• Add shareable content to your social media channels
• Provide viewers with insight on your brand values and personality
• Improve ROI

Check out these top tips and jump aboard the B2B video marketing train

You know the massive potential video marketing offers for B2B businesses – now it’s time to try it for yourself.

But before you dash off with your video equipment, check out these top tips to help you maximize your campaigns.

• Do your customer research. Know what problems your customer wants to solve, along with their needs and desires.
• Set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-Bound) goals.
• Understand your sales funnel and what videos work best for each section.
• Don’t abandon other forms of marketing. Video content should integrate smoothly into your overall content strategy.
• Measure your results. Use all the data and insights available to track your success. If it’s not working, find out why. If it’s successful, do more of it.
• Don’t be afraid to experiment. You’re not likely to get it right the first time. Evaluate and go back to the drawing board if necessary. But don’t give up!

Power up your B2B video marketing through 2022

The popularity of video marketing is set to continue rising. In fact, 98% of marketers believe that video will play an important role in marketing over the coming years. Videos have the power to entertain while educating your target market. The future of video marketing is promising and likely to continue at a rapid pace. Tap into its potential and watch your business grow.