Through his incredible storytelling skills, Tony Gnau enlightens us with how and why we should be fitting videos into our very own marketing funnels. Tony and his team at T60 Productions are communication experts, content creators and above all else… storytellers. They guide their clients through the corporate video production process and create videos people enjoy watching.
Here at Stream Creative, we host a quarterly Hubspot User Group event and we were excited to have Tony present and provide us with his insight.
Here are the five big takeaways that Tony shared to impact your corporate video marketing results:
Even with the best camera equipment and editing skills, there are still ways to end up with zero video views: having no plan, no promotion, and bad creative. Following a simple video process or methodology, you can ensure your video hits the right audience, with the right messages through the awareness, consideration and decision stages of your marketing funnel
It starts with making a plan, choosing the right video structure, promoting your video and finally, analyzing the results. Let’s dive a little deeper into this simple video methodology.
If you want people to watch your videos, you have to create a plan. Where do you start? It’s definitely not by picking up a camera and hitting record. Start by answering these three questions:
Most of the time, people start with what type of video they want to create. Although that’s not a wrong way to do it, Tony suggests using the data from the planning phase to help you figure out which type of video you want to make. Here are three common types of video you may consider using:
“About Us” or “Company Culture” Video
The About Us video is possibly the most important for a company to have. The About Us video is often the first impression you have with your potential customers. If someone is on your About Us page, they are there because they want to investigate what your company has to offer and what the company culture is like. What better way to show this than with real people talking directly to them, saying how you can help, what you do, what you stand for and what you’re passionate about.
“Testimonial” Video
When it comes to effectiveness, marketers often place a high value on the use of testimonial videos. As marketers, we all know that it’s extremely valuable if you can get a client or customer willing to tell others how much they like a company, a product, or service.
“Product / Service” Video
Videos create tangible examples for the viewer, allowing ideas and concepts to be grasped much more easily.
There are all sorts of videos that you can create, such as interviews, live streaming videos, webinars, presentations, animated, or behind-the-scenes. But the three listed above are the core videos to start with as a business just getting into creating video content.
Remember there is more to producing a video than creating and posting it once. To take advantage of the new content asset you’ve invested in, you need to incorporate your video into your content calendar. Without having a set schedule of when and how to share the video, your video will end up being shared by everyone in the company within the first month and then nobody will share or see it ever again. Consider promotion on your social media channels, your website, blog, and even with some paid support to really get your video seen.
There is video analytics that proves the number of views doesn’t always come from the initial post that was first sent out. As an example, Tony recalls a specific time someone reached out to him explaining how they finally got around to watching a video that was included in the newsletter several times and they really enjoyed and learned so much from it. If it wasn’t for them continuously putting the video in the newsletter, that person would have never seen it. Tony explains that this happens all the time and that’s why it’s crucial to incorporate your videos or any content asset you have into your resources on a regular basis.
ATTRACT
Your inbound skills are put to the test in the attract stage. The content you create needs to be focused only on your buyer persona(s) with the answers to help their needs or pain points. Videos are a great way to make your customers aware of your product or service. Research shows that social video creates 1200% more shares than images and text combined and a landing page with a video will be 53% more likely to show up on page one of the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). To attract attention, the following types of videos are perfect for doing just that:
A company culture video is something you might want to consider providing at the top of your funnel because people want to believe in the company that they’re doing business with. This can show how you treat your employees, what kind of social citizen your company is, or how you’re giving back to the community.
CONVERT
You will want to focus on converting your prospective customer into a lead when they are in the middle of the funnel. This is when they are evaluating whether your product or service is a perfect fit for them. Using any of these types of videos, you can provide the information your customer needs to take the next step:
If you’re looking for a low-cost video… webinars are a great way to convert your customers into leads with a shallow budget. You don’t have to hire a big production company to do this; all you have to do is screen-capture some presentation notes and do a voiceover. With a webinar, you are able to share your expertise or show your customers something that you do that’s going to help them.
CLOSE
The customer is at the bottom of the funnel when they are in the close stage. This is also known as the purchasing stage because your customer is about to buy the product or service. The reason you need to continue creating video content in this final stage is that it doesn’t necessarily mean they are going to buy from you. Your potential customer is looking for just the right offer or Call to Action (CTA). As you’re getting ready to close the deal, here are some videos to choose from to convert potential customers to clients:
Giving someone confirmation from an outside source stating that you do what you say you do (and you do a great job at it) might be the thing your customer needs before they make their decision to buy from you.
Why is company culture in two different layers of the funnel? First, we will refer you to what you just learned about the reuse of content. If someone is about to buy a product or service from two different companies, your culture could be what puts you ahead of your competitor. That person might not have caught your company culture video as they were in the attract stage, but luckily, you can reuse the video and work it into their buyer’s journey in another way.
DELIGHT
But wait, there’s more! As an added value (just like what you can provide to your customers), HubSpot has included a section below the funnel and they call this “Delight”. The four main pillars of delight include solving problems, being helpful, achieve goals, and being enthusiastic. Here are a few examples of what delight could include:
Once your customer is through the funnel, it doesn’t mean you should stop supplying content for them to use. We all know that it’s easier and cheaper to sustain a current customer than it is to find and attract new prospects; so why wouldn’t you make time for delighting your current customers?
An educational course or product training video might be just what you need to create added value for your customer after they’ve made their purchase with you. Another unexpected way to delight your customer is providing a “fun” video. Something that makes your customer feel like they know you on a personal level -- like they’re a part of your family or company. Show off your annual summer company barbeque or your office contests and keep your customers in the loop.
Videos are not for throwing out facts and figures. When you’re producing videos, you’re not going after people’s minds, you’re going after their hearts. Facts and figures are great for your website and all sorts of marketing campaigns, but avoid this in your marketing videos.
Instead, focus your creative angles on eliciting emotion to make the viewer feel something. So how exactly do you drop the facts and figures and still get your points across? You can do this through storytelling. Research shows that stories are so powerful, people often lose track of what is a story and what is reality. As marketers, we want our customers to have emotion and feel something.
An expert in communications and friend of Tony’s, Rob Biesenbach, once said in one of his presentations on storytelling and public speaking:
“Facts are called ‘cold’ and ‘hard’ for a reason because they don’t have the ability to warm hearts, which is the key to changing minds.”
If that wasn’t enough to convince you of the importance, Seth Godin, a marketing author, blogger, and TED Talk lecturer, says: “People are moved by stories and logic is a battering ram”.
If you are wondering how to get started with storytelling, there are few simple assets you likely already have that can help.
FAQs
You probably already have a frequently asked questions page on your website. You can use your FAQs to come up with stories that address the answers to those questions. You can even speak to why these questions might be so frequently asked. Are there industry-wide myths or misunderstandings you can touch on?
Your Current Employees
Current Events
Follow current events and relate them back to your business. Doing something as simple as a vlog and having someone talking about a current event and giving the company’s opinion or outlook is a great way to share a story and even helps you stay relevant.
Find Your Specialty
What makes you unique as a company? Find what makes you an industry differentiator and talk about how you got there, or why you decided to get into this business.
Use the Power of Search
Finally, type in your industry into the YouTube search bar and see what others have done. If your company is an accounting firm, you may think your creative capability is limited, however, if you did a quick YouTube search, you’ll find over 60,000 results! Some examples of accounting related videos include: ‘a day in the life of an accountant’, ‘how to start bookkeeping for small businesses’, ‘accounting office flash mob dance’, or ‘the difference between accounting and bookkeeping’. To make a long story short, in the words of Tony Gnau, “If an accounting firm has stories to tell, your company has stories to tell as well”.
Facts and figures might work great in a blog or website, but when it comes to video, you have to be prepared to tell a story. You also need to be prepared to have a well thought out plan that includes answering who the audience is, your goal, and how you’ll measure success. After choosing your video structure and the stage of the buying process you want to target, don’t forget to have fun with it, especially if you’re creating a video to delight your customers!
If you enjoyed this content, you guessed it, it’s available in video!