As a business owner, I bet you come across a ton of marketing videos trying to sell you something.
(I know I do! It comes with the job.)
And I also bet that the vast majority of these B2B marketing videos try to sell things to you in the same generic, lifeless, eye-wateringly boring way.
They look the same.
They sound the same.
They all try to cram as much info about the product or service in them as possible.
And they all get jettisoned out of your short-term memory roughly 0.537 seconds after you’ve watched them.
Assuming you’ve even gone to the trouble of watching them, that is!
Because why would you? You’ve seen dozens of videos just like that before.
…Now, do you want YOUR prospects to feel about YOUR videos the way I’ve just described?
Then you can’t afford to create yet another generic B2B marketing video
You need to go the extra mile, and show your ideal customers or clients something new and different.
Because even though you sell to other businesses, business owners are still just people. They want to be surprised, delighted, intrigued, and entertained as much as anyone else.
But how do you do that? Well, one way I personally love is taking a look at other marketing videos and getting inspired. Which is exactly what I’m hoping to do for you today!
For this week’s article, I had to roll up my sleeves and bombshell-dive into the depths of B2B ads on YouTube. I trawled the sea floor long and hard, picking out compelling videos from different industries that each do something cool and different.
And then I brought my shining booty (no, not THAT kind of booty — get your mind out of the gutter!) over to our blog, and distilled each video down to ONE actionable lesson you can implement in your B2B marketing.
You will learn:
- One foolproof way to hook your prospects from the first second (hint: it involves tapping into their worst nightmares)
- How to teach customers about your highly complex offer in a way that actually sticks with them
- The #1 thing your audience wants and NEEDS to hear from you — do this to become their most trusted brand
- How to differentiate your product or service even if you’re “just another X company.”
And 3 more lessons you’ll have to learn by reading the article. *wink*
Alrighty, let’s dive in!
Lesson #1. Zoom in on one specific pain point (Datadog)
The Video: Datadog is a B2B software company that specializes in helping clients monitor their cloud tech stack. And in this clever marketing video, Datadog manages to deliver its value proposition in just 33 seconds flat.
(Wow, and I thought OUR pitches were short-n-sweet!)
How did Dataog pull it off? By zeroing in on ONE exact scenario that keeps their ideal customers up at night… cloud migration.
The Takeaway: What’s the #1 nightmare scenario your customers are dreading? Or maybe, what’s the one painful problem they can’t seem to solve, no matter how hard they try?
If you can figure out what it is and position your product or service as THE answer, your B2B video can successfully persuade… even if it’s only 15 seconds long and doesn’t contain any voiceover!
Lesson #2. Lean into vivid, visual language (Allego)
The Video: Allego creates tools and resources to help teams with sales training and development. Its main USP seems to be focused on teaching different departments and teams to actually talk to one another, and collaborate more effectively.
But how can you show such an intangible benefit in a marketing video?
Well, one way is to find the right analogy or example to make the promise “click.” E.g. like people from different teams and departments hanging out in separate bubbles, away from one another. And that’s exactly what Allego went for!
The Takeaway: B2B marketing videos are most effective when visuals and narration work together to clarify and reinforce the message being made. If you want prospects to “get” what makes your offer valuable, then clever visual analogies, metaphor, and tangible examples are your best friends!
(This is especially true if the work you do defies easy explanations or demonstrations. The more sophisticated your product or service is, the more crucial it is to explain it simply and visually!)
Lesson #3. DEEPLY empathize with your audience (Vetcove)
The Video: Vetcove helps vet clinics acquire and manage inventory from different vendors — which is normally a stressful, complicated, time-consuming task.
In the video I’ve shared with you, this brand simply shows its viewers a reflection of themselves, in a somewhat exaggerated but ultimately humorous and heartwarming light. It shows the frantic, hectic, stressful life of a vet tech, and then ends on a very simple message:
“Working in veterinary medicine will always be stressful, but inventory doesn’t have to be.”
The Takeaway: Do not underestimate the persuasive power of empathy.
Even though you’re marketing to other businesses, you’re still ultimately dealing with people. People who don’t always get the understanding and appreciation they deserve from those around them — friends, family, even colleagues (you’d think they would get it)!
So if you come along and show your audience that you truly understand what it’s like to be them, you will have a massive advantage over any other brand jostling for their attention. You can even make an almost 4-minute video that barely mentions your solution and doesn’t have a specific call to action!
Lesson #4. Lead with your brand values (ChowNow)
The Video: ChowNow is a commission-free food delivery service operating in LA. It differentiates itself by proudly siding with restaurant owners against the big delivery apps — and their steep, downright greedy fees.
In the video, ChowNow makes it crystal-clear where it stands, and invites customers to order food in a more sustainable way that helps local restaurants survive and thrive. Even if the ad didn’t come out during lockdown, it would still be smart positioning!
The Takeaway: Business owners and their customers alike make buying decisions based not only on their selfish desires, but also on their beliefs. People prefer their spending to be in line with their values, if they can help it, and your B2B prospects are no exception.
If you can demonstrate that you share their values, you’ll be able to set your business and your offer apart from all competitors — no matter how many of them there are and how much market share they enjoy.
Lesson #5. Don’t be afraid to get goofy (Miro)
The Video: You’ve probably heard of Miro. It’s the favorite mind mapping / digital whiteboard tool of almost every entrepreneur I know… including myself!
Well, surprising absolutely no one, their B2B video marketing is also on point. The ad I’m sharing with you has three different versions in three different lengths, and combined they have over 3 million views to date.
The video itself is a ridiculously high-effort production telling the story of a monster attack on a city — and how the day gets saved through creative collaboration and brainstorming on Miro.
Is it absurdly over the top? You bet! But does it work? Absolutely — and here’s why…
The Takeaway: B2B marketing videos used to be a rarity, a novelty. They aren’t anymore. Chances are, your prospects see dozens, if not hundreds of them every day. So unless you can craft YOUR video to stand out, it will blend in.
A silly premise and a quirky visual style are two surefire ways to differentiate yourself and your message. And no, it won’t make your brand seem any less professional to potential customers. In fact, I bet they’d be delighted to watch a video that dares to try something different for once!
Lesson #6. Show your offer in action (MagicLinks)
The Video: MagicLinks helps to connect businesses with influencers who could promote their products and services. The entire ad is just a montage of influencers (I’m too old to know who these people are, but I can guess that much!) gushing about various products on camera, plus some simple overlay text conveying the MagicLinks message.
This video could hardly be any simpler — but it succeeds in showing the service and its benefits in action, in a clear and compelling way.
The Takeaway: Even if you sell something highly intangible, like SEO services or pool maintenance, you want to find creative ways to illustrate what your offer does, and what makes it so valuable.
Before and after photos, process GIFs, montages — as long as it helps your prospects understand and care, it’s all fair game!
Lesson #7. When it doubt, show the transformation (Toast)
The Video: Toast is an all-in-one restaurant management solution that provides everything from POS to self-ordering kiosks, payroll software, online ordering and more.
“But Summer, this ad is only 16 seconds long! There’s no way it covers all that.”
See, that’s just the thing:
When you have so many different offers under your company umbrella, they can easily become too overwhelming to market. Do you focus on Solution A, Solution B, Solution C, or Solution W? Do you promote them all at once and risk knocking your audience out harder than two melatonins at 9pm?
The folks behind Toast knew they couldn’t possibly cover everything in one ad, so they decided to show the most important thing: the IMPACT of their solution on a restaurant.
The Takeaway: Your B2B marketing video doesn’t need to be a laundry list of features and selling points. You don’t need to include absolutely everything in it — and in fact, you shouldn’t!
Showing the transformation or the impact of your solution can be more than enough… as long as this transformation is something your ideal customers care about achieving!
Let us help you create your next B2B video
Over the past decade-plus, we have created high-converting video assets — each rooted in proven science of persuasion and in the art of storytelling — for 1,200 clients (and counting!) across dozens of industries, B2B and B2C. Education, biotech, manufacturing, finance, coaching, real estate, petroleum, pest control… you name it, we’ve done it!
We invite you to take advantage of our genius marketers, silver-tongued copywriters, and absurdly talented artists and videographers to create your first, or next, business-boosting video in any of these styles:
- Live action
- Motion graphics and cartoon animations
- Virtual Reality Animation
- Digital stop motion animation
- 2D character animation
And more.
Interested? Then head on over to this page and fill out a 1-minute form to get a risk-free, no-strings-attached quote. After that, you’ll be able to book a strategy session with our marketing experts and brainstorm your future business-boosting video together!
Looking for something smaller… but still more than powerful enough to grow your business? We can craft an irresistible Elevator Pitch that will help you grab your prospects’ attention in less than 30 seconds. (Yes, really!)
