Harnessing Video Content
Video content enhances engagement with potential clients throughout their buyer’s journey, helping to persuade them to choose you over competitors.
By now, you should have researched and defined your target buyers. This understanding allows you to tailor your video content to their specific buyer personas. Your content should focus on addressing the challenges and concerns they encounter at each stage of their journey, making video an ideal medium for this purpose.
Here’s how to incorporate video at each stage of your marketing funnel to connect with buyers as they move toward purchasing your product.
Making your customers aware!
The buyer’s journey begins with the awareness stage, where potential buyers first recognize that they have a problem to address.
At this point, your goal is to make future customers aware of their issues and guide them back to your website or landing page, sparking their interest in your company or product as a potential solution.
For this stage, consider creating an industry video or an educational video. An industry video highlights the broader opportunities within your field without directly promoting your brand. These videos target individuals who may not yet realize they have a problem, featuring statistics, trends, or news that emphasize the significance of the issue, thus attracting the right audience.
In contrast, an educational video focuses on how your products can help solve specific problems. For example, if you operate a marketing firm, you might produce a video titled "How to Advertise on Facebook," aimed at teaching potential customers how to effectively use Facebook ads to reach new audiences.
To effectively reach your target customers, you'll need to invest in promoting your industry or educational videos through advertising. Identifying the right distribution channels is crucial for attracting prospective buyers.
Tip: If you’re struggling to draw potential customers to your website during the awareness phase, consider producing a commercial. These short, captivating videos showcase your company’s strengths through engaging visuals or compelling narratives. Whether distributed via digital platforms like Facebook or aired on television, ensure your commercial clearly outlines the problem and presents your solution, complete with a strong call to action.
Provide your customers with a solution.
Your videos have successfully educated potential buyers, making them aware of their problem and prompting them to seek solutions. However, just because you highlighted the issue doesn't guarantee they'll choose you. This is where video content becomes essential for addressing any questions or concerns they may have about your product or service.
During the consideration and evaluation phase, potential buyers explore different solutions to their problem. Your video content should aim to answer key questions they may have, such as:
What solutions are available?
Where can I find more information on these solutions?
What are the pros and cons of each option?
What factors will influence my decision?
At this stage, your content should guide potential buyers in understanding how to solve their problem, highlighting your product as a top choice.
The most effective video type for this phase is the brand video, also known as the explainer video. This type of video provides an overview of your company's mission, ideally linking it to the problem your business aims to solve. Additionally, since many customers will discover your brand through your website, a brand video can serve as a welcoming introduction on your homepage.
Among all video types, testimonial videos are particularly impactful during the evaluation phase. By sharing testimonials, potential customers can hear from others who had similar concerns but ultimately found satisfaction with your product or service. Testimonials leverage the power of personal recommendations, making them highly persuasive.
It’s crucial to keep potential buyers engaged with content that answers their questions, minimizing the need for them to seek information outside your marketing funnel. Video is a powerful educational tool, and while prospects may still look for reviews and alternatives, the more compelling content you provide, the better positioned you are against competitors.
Tip: Consider creating a "day in the life" video. This type of content showcases how your company or customers operate daily, helping potential buyers envision themselves using your product while enhancing your brand's credibility.
Time to decide!
The final phase of your prospective customer’s journey is the decision phase. After evaluating their options, potential buyers will have identified the key factors that influence their choice. At this stage, your video content should focus on demonstrating the value of your product or service, helping them justify their purchase by addressing these crucial factors.
While deciding factors can vary, they typically include:
Price: Which option offers the best value?
Quality: Which solution seems to be the highest quality?
Reliability: Which product comes from a trusted source?
Efficiency and Ease: Which option is the quickest to obtain and easiest to use?
One effective video type for this phase is the before and after video. This format visually demonstrates the problem a buyer faces before using your product and the positive results afterward, allowing them to quickly gauge your product's effectiveness. It also highlights quality and ease of use, building credibility by showing the product in action.
Another useful approach is a product review video. Collaborating with a trusted third-party source, such as an influencer or industry expert, can provide an unbiased review of your product. You might even set up a comparison review that showcases your product against competitors, highlighting its advantages.
At this point, your product needs to have a compelling edge over the competition, providing potential buyers with all the information they need to make their final decision.
Tip: If you're launching a crowdfunding campaign for a new product, use similar tactics in your crowdfunding video. It should engage viewers by clearly conveying your company’s mission and vision. Highlight a significant problem your product addresses, provide detailed information for evaluation, and inspire viewers to support your campaign.
To make an even greater impact, consider featuring multiple videos on your campaign page, such as day-in-the-life, testimonial, product review, or before-and-after videos.
Summary
By incorporating video content into each phase of your customer’s buyer journey, you can create engaging, visually compelling content that resonates more effectively than text or images. This approach not only enhances information retention but also addresses customer questions directly.
The buyer’s journey is a universal experience. We all follow this process when making purchasing decisions, often without realizing it. Video has a unique ability to capture attention and stir imagination, which is why we are so drawn to movies.
If you're interested in boosting your sales and marketing efforts with video content, schedule a call with one of our creative producers today to explore potential video package options.