By Richard Conn
Marketing is a bit like telling a story: you entice customers with the tale of your brand, values, and services. You probably already implement several story-telling techniques in your day-to-day marketing and PR efforts, thanks to your blog posts, newsletters, and live events.
However, the onset of COVID has changed the way we operate businesses, and the majority of us are now involved in remote work with endless virtual team meeting schedules and online calls. Customer engagement and interaction have become even more important than before as companies scramble to find ways to foster relationships over the web.
This is where the power of video storytelling campaigns comes into play.
Video campaigns are an extremely efficient and accessible way to interact with your customers and maintain relationships. As well as providing value and fresh content to consumers, video campaigns can take the form of various mediums, giving you plenty of choices.
Three of the most common include:
- Webinars
- Live conferences
- Simulives
Webinars
A pre-recorded video, webinars offer an easy way to provide content to customers without the hassle of going live. You’ll forgo possible technical disruptions, be able to prepare in advance, and don’t have to worry about time zones.
It can be useful to invest in a cloud system that integrates collaborative software for your team with video and phone platforms. Platforms like Fuze, for example, make it simple for you to host video campaigns while also providing channels to communicate with your team.
Live conferences
Sometimes seen as a slightly high-risk strategy, live conferences are nonetheless an excellent way to provide direct engagement and interaction. Their downside is the possibility of encountering technical issues (with audio or mic) and the fact you only have one shot at making a good impression.
Simulives
Often seen as a combination of webinars and live conferences, simulives provide you with a safety net while also enabling you to introduce a live section after the video ends.
Just like webinars, simulives give you greater control over the audience experience and minimize potential risks, as you’re able to set aside designated time for a live section.
Now that you know some of the most popular video mediums, you can move on to implementing them into your marketing strategy.
We’ve compiled a list of five reasons why you should invest in video storytelling campaigns.
1. Globally accessible and on-demand
Video campaigns are easily accessible, available worldwide, and are always on-demand. Opting for webinars means you’ll forgo all the problems that come with interacting with customers globally, and there’s no need to worry about time-zones.
This gives you a chance to provide customers around the world with opportunities to engage with your content when they feel like it. Unlike live conferences, webinars can be accessed when it best suits the customer, meaning you’re able to provide value and smooth accessibility to all users.
Since webinars are always on-demand, you can promote and remarket your content again and again. The longevity of campaigns means your investment efforts will go a long way in generating new leads and promoting your brand.
You’ll also have more confidence investing in high-quality video campaigns because you’ll know that your chances of a positive ROI are high.
2. Evergreen content
Video campaigns are a form of evergreen content; they’re on-demand and always relevant. This makes them particularly useful if you want to remarket and promote old content, and they’re an easy and efficient way to generate more leads.
It’s important to note, however, that videos only remain ‘evergreen’ if they’re shared enough. You can’t just shoot a webinar and expect the material to remain relevant a year on.
This is where your remarketing strategy efforts come in. These can be anything from sharing past webinars on LinkedIn to sending follow-up emails to customers.
If you promote and remarket your old material successfully you might even bump up your Google search rankings, making evergreen content a goldmine for SEO.
Videos already drive most of the engagement on Google, so make use of previous webinars to drive even more organic traffic to your platform.
3. Greater control over the audience experience
Depending on which form you choose, video campaigns are a great way of minimizing setbacks and ensuring greater control over the audience experience.
Webinars and simulives are two of the easiest video forms to implement because they enable you to control the kind of experience you’re offering users without any of the interruptions you might face in a live conference. You’re able to shoot multiple draft videos and retakes without having to worry about interrupting the audience experience.
The content you provide can also be more nuanced – with webinars, you can include slides, videos, collaborations with speakers, and more.
As well as making the process easier for you, video campaigns can be tailored to your audience. Unlike live conferences or static promotion content, you can plan what topics you’ll be going over and what kind of speaker you want promoting it.
Essentially, you forgo the mishaps that occur with live conferences while giving your audience the visual engagement they crave.
If you plan on doing a simulive, the same points apply as simulives are simply an extension of a webinar. Instead of just providing a video, however, they enable you to combine live conferencing with a pre-recorded segment. This way you’re able to interact with customers after the webinar and answer any questions they might have.
It’s also useful to note that if you shoot a simulive, you can still implement tools to help prevent live mishaps. Consider adding augmented reality remote assistance to your simulive so customers have a point of contact if any technical issues occur.
4. Promotes engagement at all levels
At a time when most operations have moved online interaction and engagement are more important than ever. Customers still crave and need interaction from you to feel valued. Video campaigns, better than voice calls, are a perfect way to foster relationships and drive engagement.
Implementing simulives is a great way of making webinars more interactive, so consider using the time after to add in a live question-and-answer forum. Videos also trigger engagement at all levels across your marketing strategy, increasing click-through rates and traffic to your website.
A simple way of engaging customers via video is to have various portals available to them. Perhaps some customers sign up for a video event through an email link you’ve sent or your weekly newsletter. Be sure to provide multiple ways of accessing your video content.
You could also consider implementing a range of CTAs at the end of each video campaign. These can be anything from a CTA to sign up to a mailing list to an invite to attend next week’s webinar.
5. Fast and easy collaborations
Since webinars and video campaigns work irrespective of time zones, you’re able to collaborate with a wide range of speakers. Even if you opt for a live webinar, video platforms will enable you to provide an interactive and engaging experience to customers.
Having speakers who are experts in your niche will provide value to customers and position your company as an expert in its field. You might even be able to generate leads from an interesting new speaker – the key is to provide fresh, high-quality speaker content.
Consider having speakers from other industries or focusing on a new topic. You might be able to tap into a pre-existing customer base and gain even more leads. Make sure you record all your live conferences and simulives so they can be remarketed and easily accessed by others.
At the end of the day, your marketing campaign will only be effective if it generates new leads and provides value to your customers. Your content needs to be varied and fresh, and video campaigns are a great way to drive engagement and interaction.
Keep a close eye on your video campaign efforts and track their progress. Measure the success of your display ad campaign, your online live event campaign, and everything in between – and if it’s being recorded, make use of real-time engagement data. This way you’ll be able to track the average amount of time users spend watching a webinar and their level of interaction.
Consider sending follow-ups to customers after a video campaign, asking them to rate their experience from one to 10. This, along with tracking engagement data, will help you to discover what kind of video campaigns work best for your business.
It might be useful to implement collaborative software so you can easily update your team on the progress of your video campaigns and any issues that need to be addressed.
Weigh up which platforms work best and remember that there is a multitude of cloud call services and collaborative software available. Do your research, search for a Bitrix23 alternative, and consider installing cloud service software that combines a video platform with collaboration tools.
The key is to constantly update and renovate your systems to find what works best for your marketing strategy. Consider making business phone system comparisons or search for the best software alternatives.
Isn’t it time you started to invest in your own video storytelling campaigns?
About the Author
Richard Conn is the Senior Director for Demand Generation at 8×8, a leading communication and cloud telephone system with integrated contact center, voice, video, and chat functionality. Richard is an analytical & results-driven digital marketing leader with a track record of achieving major ROI improvements in fast-paced, competitive B2B environments. Here is his LinkedIn.
