Top 5 Reasons to Add video to your B2B communication

How many people out there work for a company that is on the cusp of adding video, but cannot commit to taking the plunge? Often this hesitancy stems from a lack of consensus from the key decision makers, lack of awareness of what tools exist, or simply that they don’t see the need to bother amongst many other possibilities.

As video shifts from the periphery to center stage, businesses need to know that video isn’t just for weird cat ladies; it has become a commerce powerhouse that separates the industry leaders from the industry would-be-could-be’s. How many times has your business viewed a competitor or a client that has incorporated video into their B2B communication? Often? Sometimes? Never? Regardless of which, each one presents an opportunity for your business. Here are five reasons why your company needs to add video to your B2B communication:

1. Enables you to conduct business with a personal touch

Whether you are working with a local small business or a multinational corporation there is one inescapable commonality with all business: you are doing business with people. Taking the time to create a video and send it as a follow-up rather than a regular email helps to keep you and your company top of mind. This is especially true if you are bidding on a contract or looking to make that initial sale with a business.

2. Shows that your business is innovative & on the cutting edge

Ever since Kindergarten, who hasn’t wanted to be the “cool guy/girl”? Although we have gotten older and wiser that desire doesn’t go away. Using video in your communications adds the cool factor to your business, particularly if your competitors are not using it in their B2B communications!

3. Increase your visibility on the Web

Have you noticed that any time you do a Google search it’s not only websites that pop up, but also videos related to your query? Ensure that you have some of your B2B video communication on your site and in the social media space. That, along with strategic search engine optimization, will increase the likelihood that your business will appear on the first page of a Google Search.

4. Great Way to Demonstrate your Product/Services

If your business cannot meet with potential clients but you need to show them your latest widget or ground breaking doo-dad, video is a simple solution! It would be a good idea to hire a team of seasoned professionals to do this for you (ah-hem, videoBIO provides said services at an amazing price point!).

5. 7/10 People prefer watching video over reading text

Admittedly, that's a random made up statistic. However, it reflects the ever-growing trend of people using video. This is advantageous for your business! Let’s go back to the first point: video allows you to show your product/service, allows you to engage your client, and most importantly it allows you to show your authenticity, something people value greatly so much that it can be the difference between closing the deal or not.

To help your company take its first steps or adopt new methods to keep doing great things be sure to contact videoBIO at info@videobio.com or 416-840-7600

We look forward to helping you add video to your B2B communication strategy!

- Jermaine P.V. Bagnll

Jermaine is an Account Manager at videoBIO and heads up the social media. Don’t forget to follow videoBIO on twitter @videoBIO

Why Video, Why Now? 3 Tips to Make Video Work for You

In this day and age of flashy gizmos, amazing doodads, and countless apps it is becoming increasingly difficult to figure out what a business owner should use to market themselves and their business. Do you jump on twitter, signup for Facebook, or do you start up a blog? Marshall McLuhan once said that the medium is the message. Now that we have so many mediums at our disposal the question remains; what is your message? Although the world is becoming filled with photo and text based blogs and sites, a tried and true way of effectively getting your message across is through the video.

Once your business has committed to adopting video as a communication tool the next question to ask yourself is: “How do I get it seen?”

1. Email: a very simple way of driving traffic to you video is posting it in your email signature. The most effective use of video in your email signature is a video that talks about you, your business, and why people should work with you.
2. Vlog: Don’t be afraid to step up your blogging game by adding video. Take a few minutes to give your thoughts on your topic du jour then toss your embed code onto your blog, and voila! You have created a post that is engaging, shows off your knowledge, and gives the world of potential and existing clients a look into your personality.
3. Social Media Tools: Harness your tools as a method of pushing out your videos. Once you have completed a new vlog entry let the world know that you have a new tidbit of knowledge to share. On twitter you have 140 characters to create a witty caption to drive traffic, on Facebook make sure your friends and “like”ers know what your up to, link it to your LinkedIn, etc… Although this seems like a tedious task it will prove highly rewarding when you look at your analytics and see that you have a growing legion of unique hits!

With all of these helpful hints in mind one question remains: how will you produce the videos to push out to the world? At videoBIO we have several types of video packages available ensuring that you will find the package that best suites your needs.

If you want a video that highlights you, your business, and why you’re amazing to work with, we can create a video that will co-exist well on your main website and in your email signature. Were you thinking of creating a series of short videos for your vlog? Excellent! videoBIO has recently launched a new product called LiveRecord that allows you to record short video messages that can be emailed, posted via embed code, or linked to videoBIO’s brand new videoPAGE; a stand alone mini biography page where you can provide links to your social media tools, have a video message to highlight yourself, and create a small write up about anything you wish.

In short, videoBIO is your one-stop shop to fulfilling your online video needs. Contact us today, let us know what you envision, and we'll connect you with best video products to fit your needs.

Jermaine

Your Performance Isn't Bad

We’ve done a lot of videoBIOs over the last two years. The comment we get most often during a shoot with a client is “I’m doing terrible”. It’s funny because that’s rarely the case.

Most people come into the studio thinking that they know their business so well, their performance is going to come out smoothly and naturally the first time. That’s never the case. As much as you know your business, and for as often as you talk about it in person, once the camera is on it’s a different game.

But it doesn't have to be.

When the client gets settled into their position for the video we talk to them about what’s going to happen. Once we start recording their performance is usually what it should be, but without the visual cues a participant in a conversation would give them (nodding, eye contact, etc.), the client starts to worry that they’re not doing it right.

When you’re doing your videoBIO, even though you’re talking directly to the camera, try to keep in mind that the tone you’re looking for is conversational, like you’re talking to a peer or a prospective client. Try to imagine your end viewer instead of the camera. Let the producer or videographer’s voice stand in for this person, and keep focused on the idea that you’re talking to a person, not a camera.

If you can keep yourself from worrying too much about your performance, that lack of stress will help create the easy delivery you want in your videoBIO.

John

Social Video- where does it live in the marketing mix?

…and who is making the decisions? In a recent article published by the Business Insider-- The Top 20 Social CMO's Of The Fortune 100 http://t.co/vAKMYD3 we hear that Chief Marketing Offers (CMO’s) are doing more ‘do as I say, not as I do’, and need to get into the drivers seat when it comes to personally experimenting with social media and video if they are going to be credible in leading the charge as the shift to social media in the marketing plan gives new definition to the communication strategy. Often the purveyors of social media are the ones in the trenches experimenting and doing the work, not leading. This poses a new challenge to vendors selling strategic solutions and innovative applications into the c-suite.

Social video is one of the most interesting applications for video as it pushes companies to think about video in the spectrum of uses from spontaneous video clips and messages to polished, highly produced video for what we knew as marketing or advertising uses. But video has changed. It’s no longer an event but a continuum of more personalized communications then you could ever achieve with text or pictures.

User generated video content and personal branding are pushing the volume of video content towards personal video messaging, profiles and spokesperson-led conversations and communications on video. A new communication standard that is coming fast and furious and putting CMO’s in the catch up seat as they figure out where and how they want video to live in their communication mix. Here are a few questions for CMO’s to think about as they consider video and putting video tools in the hands of their teams for self producing video:

1.Is showcasing your people and their respective voices important to your company

2. Do you consider yourself an innovator and experimenter of new technology and do you want to stay ahead of the curve in the video revolution

3. Have you experimented with video (outside of your agency)

4. Do you want to create video content for a variety of uses? If so, how much (a progressive video content creator would be creating and sharing video daily as part of regular communications)

5. Do you envision empowering end users in your company with video tools allowing them to video message, create social video, self produce video content?

6. Is compliance with your brand and messages an important factor in managing and moderating video messages generated by your sales reps, employees etc.

Top 6 reasons to add video to your online profile

• There is an honesty in video creates connections with people
• Adding video to your profile increases your chance of a 1st page search ranking by over 50%
• People like to watch, not read
• Video is the best way to express your personal brand in a full communication
• People with videos stand out
• Adding video to your marketing and sales mix saves time and money

Whether you create your own video or go the professional route with http://www.videobio.com , the business case is clear. Stay tuned for more case studies and statistics on how videoBIO is making a real difference in the lives of professionals.

Your professional video profile doesn't have to be serious!

video profiles are all about taking the opportunity to add the human, personal touch to your online profile. This is important when managing your reputation online while trying to make a connection with your audience. But that doesn't mean that it has to be serious! It just has to be authentic to you and what you want to put out to the world. Take Peter Shankman as an example. We did a social media videoBIO for Peter a month or two ago. It's one of my favourites because it's witty, funny, fast paced and exactly who Peter is. Smart, quick, adventourous and always thinking. Check out Peter's videoBIO and you will see what I mean http://www.videobio.com/pshankman