As most of us are aware, the B2B audience can be made up of the same mixed demographic as a lot of B2C audiences.

And in fact the sometimes-more-mundane subject matter associated with B2B can take more creativity to engage an audience.

If done right, video can create impressive results, so here are some tips to consider when producing video for B2B use, some may seem obvious but based on experience, many forget these key considerations.

1. Don’t assume your audience want boring content!

As I talk about in my Econsultancy Video Strategy course, properly understanding your audience is critical in producing effective content.

Many people assume they understand their audience because they deal with them every day, but as I was reminded from a recent customer survey, it doesn’t mean you really understand them.

A good example of B2B video content from Moz (click to visit the site)

Ask them about what kind of content they watch online, what they think of your product/service and how they feel about your brand – use all this research to create content for them.

Creating branded content that stands out and achieves results is what we all want to do, much of the time it’s easier to do that with B2B content, take advantage of that and make something great!

2. Video advertising can be extremely cost effective for B2B purposes 

Most video advertising models are set up for B2C, and most B2C advertisers need to reach a LOT of people to see a profit on the relatively cheap widget they are selling.

If, however the item or service you are selling is high value, you only need to make relatively few sales for the advertising to become very lucrative.

So for example, if you pay £0.50 for a view which leads to a £50,000 sale it’s been a good investment – even if, as is likely, you have to pay for significantly more views, it can still proof very effective.

The B2C advertiser however needs to make sure they sell thousands of widgets meaning they need a much higher conversion rate than you.

3. Make sure you set clear objectives

Sometimes clients come to me asking to produce some content with no real understanding of why they are making it.

Maybe it’s because they’ve always done it, maybe a senior leader feels it’s needed, or maybe you are spending so much on an event you need to capture it.

Sadly, on their own, none of these are good reasons to produce video content.

Spend time thinking about what you want to achieve with the video, create measurable KPIs where possible and then decide whether those SMART objectives justify the spend.

4. Consider wider opportunities

If you are making the investment in content, have a think about how else you may be able to use it.

Are there partners involved who would want to be featured and could help distribute your content or contribute to the cost?

Is there any PR value in the story? Can you capture footage for future projects at the same time? Will interviewing certain clients or partners help build business?

5. Measure and learn

Make sure that you measure the success (or failure) of the campaign.

Use analytics to check you are reaching the right people and that they are engaging with the content.

Then through clever measurement linked to your CRM, track any leads associated with the content you have produced – proving that £50,000 lead came from your video will certainly help justify spend on film.

For more on this topic read: