Planning a B2B web video production for profit – Part 1 of 6
A helpful 6 part guide for any B2B marketer or web video buyer wishing produce a profitable video.
We already know the web is full of videos that failed to deliver the returns that were hoped for.
Everything in this 6 part series is aimed at showing you how to get it right – how to plan your video so it delivers more direct sales – or more leads and enquiries.
If you follow the tips and ideas outlined over the series, you’ll maximise profit-generating power of your web video.
The contents of this 6 part series include:
- Understanding the basics – the value of web video
- The customer experience – or “getting inside their heads”
- Video location on the web page – and why it matters more than you think
- Why it’s absolutely critical to understand Bounce Rate
- Deciding the best way to display your web video
- Good and bad examples of video display
- The Money Maths of web video production budgets
- How to work with your web developer – so they understand exactly what you want
- What happens to a customer once they click on your video?
- Figuring out the winning storyline that actually converts – and not merely creates interest
- Balancing video runtime & cost
- When to “sell”, and when to “tell-not-sell”
- How to make your video generate desire
The Value of Web Video
The basic assumptions are that a profitable web video will deliver:
> an increase in your level of enquiries,
> an increase the viewer’s desire to explore your brand more favourably.
Whether you work in hi-tech, manufacturing, business services or any other B2B sector, either of the above deliverables will generate real business value for your company.
The next question you have to ask yourself is:
“How much will a web video increase sales compared with our existing rich media slide show or banner web page graphic?”
Recent statistics show this increase as high as
“ … an engaging video creates a 250% greater likelihood of buying or exploring the brand”,
to as low as
“… a 54% greater chance of purchase, enquiry or favourable engagement with the brand”.
The point is that either of these statistics make 2 conclusions clear -
1: Video will increase sales and enquiries
2: The video must be engaging for it to work.
But there’s more to it than this, obviously.
Your video must be displayed prominently where it can be clearly seen – because if it isn’t seen by as many visitors as possible, then you won’t get the maximum benefit from your superior video message.
Contrast this with sites that have a great video – yet position it half out of sight, or so small it almost needs a magnifying glass to spot.
So let’s start by looking more closely at the customer experience – their point of view.
The Customer Experience 
The next stage of Planning a B2B Web Video Production for Profit is to examine the customer experience, and discover what’s relevant – and what’s irrelevant – to them.
We all know The Customer Experience is the only point of view that counts.
And the customer experience usually starts with a search engine – and a problem they have.
Typically, they type in a keyword relevant to their problem – the keyword to your products or services, and quickly get a page of search results, including your link.
You need to consider that a business customer who’s ready to buy might open 6 tabs from a search listing – you and 5 of your closest competitors.
Quite quickly, they’ll narrow this down to 2 or 3 tabs – two or three possible suppliers they’ll look at.
Ideally you want them to focus immediately on your website – your tab – as their first port of call.
You already know this – which is why you’re considering producing a web video – to increase your chances of a sale or enquiry compared with a competitor.
So what matters next – from the customer point of view …
- is how well your video is displayed on the page.
In Part 2 we’ll review the location on your web page that you want to insert your video.
And we’ll consider the different ways your completed video can be displayed on the page – the choices you have in alerting your customer that “here’s a great web video – please watch it” – which isn’t necessarily as obvious as you may think it is.
Thank you for reading Part 1 of Planning a B2B web video production for profit.
You can view more information and video samples on web video production here
This is a very helpful guide. This is full of knowledge on how to profit in video production. Thanks for sharing your experiences and thoughts. I am sure that this can help all the future video production.