The #1 reason for a business to use video is to increase their leads. And so we’ve compiled these tips, showing many of the practical ways you can use video to get more sales. We’ve broken the list down into categories, putting the core content first and then breaking things down by where they are in the sales funnel. A few examples from our portfolio have also been included.
Core Branded Content
Our recommended first step is to create your core branded content. This is usually premium level work because it will define the visual and motion style for your brand. This work can also serve as a bank of artwork that can be re-used.
1. Get a Product Explainer Video
A good explainer video highlights the benefits of your product in a compelling way and increases product understanding. A key benefit of an explainer video is that it increases your conversion rate of traffic to revenue.
2. Make a Motion Brand Kit
This is good if you want to scale your marketing and create a lot of content. The motion kit should contain layouts and sample animations covering at least: logo intro, typography treatment, footage treatment, advert layouts, treatments for headings/sections, lower thirds, core product visuals, logo outro.
Increasing Awareness & Traffic
Video is a great tool to use at the top of your marketing funnel, to generate traffic and make people aware of your product.
3. Create Adverts
By using video adverts in paid promotion you can get more eyeballs on your product. Short 6-30s adverts are best for this.
4. Use Cut-downs of your Video on Socials
Use shorter versions of your video on social media to drive traffic to your website.
5. Make Promoted Video Posts
Another form of paid promotion is to boost your social video posts. This content can be more informal, so experiment with different formats.
6. Make a Conference Video
Video can help improve the appearance of your kiosk at conferences and get you more engagement. They can also add some dazzle to your speeches if you’re presenting. See here for conference video ideas.
7. Promote your Business on TV
Adverts on TV or streaming services are a good way to generate awareness for many brands. Regional TV advertising can be more affordable than you might think.
8. Release Teasers for New Products
A short teaser or trailer for your new product can help build some hype.
9. Localize your Videos
You can reach new markets with translated video content.
10. Use Animated GIFs in your Socials
These are an excellent way to increase engagement. You can also create them by repurposing, or making minor modifications to, parts of your branded videos.
11. Create a PR Video
If you’re releasing important news, then a dedicated video can really help with getting attention and getting the news published in more places.
Get Found Online with Content Marketing
Content marketing is all about creating useful content that answers questions that your audience is searching for. This helps you get referenced by search engines and AI.
12. Make Videos that Answer your Ideal Client’s Questions
By answering the questions that people are searching for online, you can increase traffic and position yourself as an expert on the topic.
13. Scale your Content with a Video-led Process
The idea here is to combine video with a process like Gary Vee’s content model. Here’s how: you create a video which serves as your ‘pillar’ content and then you create supporting micro-content using the videos assets. E.g. topic: “How to lower HR costs in Software Development”
- 1x video,
- Repurpose assets:
- 3x video adverts (cut-down from main video)
- Vertical versions (9:16) of all the above
- 1x audiogram
- 1x downloadable whitepaper with images (lead capture)
- 8x static image adverts for social promotion
- 2x static images for email promotion
- 3x animated GIF adverts for social promotion
- 3x images for blog post
- Final result: a full set of promotional collateral.
14. Turn your Best Content into a Video
If you have proven content that resonates, e.g. a great blog article, then double down on it by turning it into a video. This will help you win more traffic from search platforms and Youtube. It can also increase dwell time on your website, e.g. if you post it in a blog.
15. Publish Unique Data in a Video
The internet craves unique data and insights that are not available elsewhere. By publishing your data-based insights you can increase relevant web traffic to your site.
16. Re-purpose your Explainer Video to make Several Content Campaigns
Here’s how it works. Take your main video, select these parts: (i) the problem you solve, (ii)-(iv) the main business benefits of your product, (v) the most important piece of functionality of your product. Now create a content campaign for each one of these. You can use the language, artwork and animations as a starting point and create more content around each one, e.g. static adverts, extra videos, a lead capture pdf and more.
17. Build a Community
Video is a great tool for community-building efforts, e.g. on Youtube.
18. Start a Video Podcast Series
Podcasting is a way to build an audience and connect with them in a more authentic way. By addressing problems and topics in your target audience you can help them solve problems and position your company as a trusted solution provider.
19. Use Video in your Lead Gen Forms
To get more engagement, experiment with video in your lead gen forms. For example, LinkedIn allows you to use video in your lead capture forms.
20. Make Mobile-Friendly Content
By creating videos in vertical format (9:16) you will provide a better viewing experience for mobile users and consequently increase your reach. See our article on vertical videos for more info.
21. Embrace Short-form Video
Audiences prefer quick, accessible information. Short-form video is also great for teasers and short info bites. It’s also a good way to drive traffic to your longer-form content or landing pages.
22. Create Custom Templates to Roll out Series of Videos
By planning out a set of core visuals and designing a standardized narrative flow you can create many more videos at a lower price. This could be one of the best ways to get leads with video… because its practical and helps you scale your marketing.
Converting Traffic into Enquiries
Let’s move further down the marketing funnel. In this section we’ll give some tips for converting someone who already knows about your product, e.g. has visited your website.
23. Make a Product Video for each of your Products
A product video explains the benefits of your product clearly, leading to an increase in your conversion rate.
24. Make Testimonial Videos
Testimonials improve trust and provide social proof, resulting in more sales.
25. Create Video Case Studies
A case study video shows your viewer exactly how your product solved a client’s problem in their industry vertical.
26. Increase your Mailing List Signups with Video
Video isn’t just for smoking out hot leads – it can be used for cold leads too. A dedicated video on a landing page for your mailing list can lead to increased signups.
27. Use Animated GIFs on your Website
Animated GIFs are an engaging addition to your website and can be used to show your product functionality in a quick way.
28. Make a Company Culture Video
Aside from helping attract talent to your organization, a company culture video can inspire clients who have a similar world-view and ethical standpoint as your company.
29. Make a Brand Story Video
Tell your company’s origin story in an engaging way with video.
Turn Enquiries into Sales
Moving further down the marketing funnel, below are strategies for turning a warm lead into a sale. These are people who are actively evaluating your product for a purchase, e.g. after a sales call or if they’re in a free trial.
30. Create a Long-form Demo Video
Long-form demos are aimed at people further down your sales funnel who are actively evaluating your product for a purchase. A 3-5 min video is a great tool if your client’s decision needs many stakeholders to sign off. Even longer videos at 10-20 mins are good for highly technical products if your decision-makers have long attention spans.
31. Create Personalized Sales Videos
A personalized video sent by your salesperson can make a huge difference to your closure rate. These are great for higher-ticket items and worth the time to create them. Our recommendation is to create a slick-looking visual template that can easily be edited so you can get them out the next day after your sales call.
32. Use Video in your Email Signatures
This is a quick and easy hack. Your video will show as a clickable thumbnail for people who use G-suite and other email clients. This helps you get your chosen message across, more of the time.
Upselling & Retention
Your customer’s journey through your marketing funnel doesn’t end when you win the sale. You can use video to keep them engaged and buying more of your product or services.
33. Create Tutorials
Tutorials for your existing customers can increase customer retention and lead to more client referrals. They can also drive down your customer support costs.
34. Create a Product or Feature Release Video
Use video to announce your next product release and explain the features.
35. Make Personalized Videos for Upselling
Get your salespeople to record a video and show clients the upsell visually (so they can future-space themselves into the product), e.g. “Hey, I noticed you haven’t gotten around to testing that new feature we discussed so I recorded a quick video to show how it looks using your data”.
36. Make an in-app Promotion Video
Use video inside your app to upsell clients for more of your product features.
Conclusion
In this article we’ve given a few tips on how to get leads using video. We hope you’ve found it to be practical and helpful!
