Business-to-business marketers need to be making online videos -- one of the most powerful marketing tools at their disposal, according to a new report from the Content Marketing Institute.
Video is one of the top three most effective content marketing techniques, because B2B decision-makers usually have very little time, the survey of business marketers found. When
researching potential purchases, decision-makers often turn to video because they can get quick and understandable information about the product they’re considering.
According to eMarketer’s analysis of the Content Marketing Institute’s survey, businesspeople are looking for three things when researching
business purchases: “what a brand or business does, what its competitors do, and what people say about the business.”
More than three quarters of B2B marketers now
use video, and 60% rate it as effective, behind only in-person events, rated by 69% as effective, and webinars and webcasts at 64%. About 70% of these marketers say they are creating more content in
general than they did a year ago.
Best practices for video are dictated by the very same reason decision-makers like the medium: its brevity. Business videos need to be
informational and short. Aim to grab the viewer in the first 20 seconds. Also, the video should focus on a particular business need during a specific stage along the path to purchase, the study
found.
The research also found that content marketing is becoming a near-daily practice. About 42% of marketers publish new content daily or several times a week. However,
only 21% say they are able to track their ROI for content, which suggests measurement is going to be a key area of focus and innovation for content marketing in the year ahead, including in video.