Why video marketing should be included in your B2B marketing strategy, and how to get started
Why video marketing should be included in your B2B marketing strategy, and how to get started
YouTube is currently one of the largest video platforms in the world. YouTube processes more than 3 billion searches a month. 100 hours of video are uploaded every minute. The volume of uploads – at around 500 hours per minute – also shows how important video content is today. Well-produced videos can be entertaining, educational as well as useful. So it’s no surprise that video content creation is also at the top of the agenda for many B2B companies. Whether it’s a product, explainer, or image video: What is needed for successful implementation is first of all a solid video content strategy, which is what this post is all about.
1. what is video marketing?
Video marketing has now established itself as a powerful and up-to-date component of marketing strategies. Many companies in B2C and B2B already use videos to communicate their messages to their target groups. Various formats have developed in the process: in addition to purely promotional videos, many companies now rely on informative explainer videos. This enables companies with products and complex services that require explanation to position themselves as experts in their market. The use of video marketing in combination with the use of social media is particularly effective. Involving and entertaining video content is happily viewed and shared there, allowing your videos to achieve a wider reach. Videos about case studies, tutorials, and explainer videos are also suitable for integration into a blog. This increases the time users spend on your website, which incidentally also has a positive impact on your on-page SEO performance.
2. Success factors for your video content strategy
Success factors for your video content strategy Before moving with your video production, you should start with mapping out your available resources, your target audiences, and your choice of topics. Video production requires time for planning and project management, as well as technical expertise for shooting and editing. Thus, personnel from your marketing team will be tied to the project. You may also want to engage agency support, which will incur costs that you should factor into your resource planning.
3. Target group
Think about who is the target groups you want to reach with your videos. Which topics are at the top of your target groups’ agenda and should therefore be addressed? Which media do your target groups use to inform themselves? Do they use social media, for example? Then you should share your video content there. What benefits do you want your target groups to derive from the video? Is there a call-to-action they should follow? This could be downloading a pdf with tips and tricks on your website or registering for one of your newsletters for example.
You can discuss all of these basic questions using a handy empathy map. We have already summarized how this works for you in the blog article “How to create a customer journey map“.
4. Content
Based on the results of your target group analysis, you can group together the topics that are relevant to your target groups. This creates a practical video content plan for each target group. For each topic area, think about exactly what added value and benefits your company offers your target groups here, and collect ideas in the team about which formats (e.g., tutorial or product film) you can use to convey your messages most clearly.
5. Engagement
Your aim is to inspire and convince your target groups with your videos. To do this, it is essential that your videos are as engaging as they are informative. Videos that tell a story are the most successful. That’s why storytelling plays an important role in video marketing. Videos that explain a story in a coherent and comprehensible way stay in the viewer’s memory longer, because the brain processes them like real experiences. The challenge lies in developing a strong and comprehensible story. Many videos are based on the following approach: There is a main character – the hero of the story. He or she has a certain problem. The solution to the problem must succeed because something is at stake for the hero. And, of course, your product, service, or special process can solve the problem particularly well. Transferred to your marketing for industrial applications, the solution to the problem can be, for example, time savings, higher throughput, or the optimization of a process
6. Storyboard
With the information you gathered about the content, added value, and the right hook for your target groups, you can continue with the development of a Storyboard. Here, it is advisable to focus on your company WHY? what are your DESIRES, UNIQUENESS, and MOTIVATION.
7. In conclusion:
the increasing number of searches in video platforms such as YouTube shows that video marketing should be an important part of your marketing mix. In the B2B sector, especially explainer and product videos, as well as success stories and tutorials, are established video formats to convince target groups of the benefits of your products and solutions. Before you get into the concept of your first video, you should first define a framework by looking at your WHY, target groups, content, and added values and combine them into a rough story. This will give you a good starting point that will help you put together a blueprint of video assets that will engage and inspire your target audiences to the maximum.
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Image Film Quality VS Budget
How much does an image film cost?
How much does an image film cost? What is the price for an image film? In a first inquiry or cost estimate for a new image film production, we often find that there are very different ideas about what services are necessary for a professional image film and what they cost.
So what exactly does the price depend on?
If you have no experience in making image films, then you have come to the right place: we at SeeSaw, are specialized in this, therefore, we provide a piece of very comprehensive support from the very first moment. We have been shooting commercial image videos (and other types of films) throughout Germany and worldwide for 8 years ( in Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Frankfurt, Paris, Lisbon, and Jerusalem) and, thanks to these successful video productions, we have a huge amount of know-how for all major industries and different clients. In preparation for your production, we also offer you our step-by-step concept template for your new image film production and price template for free download.
Prices and costs of image film
The price for an image film depends on how complex the film production is in terms of the number of shooting days and the experience and size of the film team. However, this scope also depends on how close and authentic the film reflects reality (for example, as reportage or documentary) or how artificially staged the film shows a fictional reality (scenic fictional film with actors, studio, glossy advertising production). Furthermore, additional services such as actors, travel expenses, location rentals, special filming technology (camera, light, drone) and elaborate post-production with many long interviews that have to be edited, animations (schematic 2D or photorealistic 3D), good, specially composed GEMA-free music and voice talents can influence the price.
Image film is a service and not a finished product. This means that there are few fixed costs, but the proportion of variable costs is very high, as the amount of individual labor and the technology used by a video production company depends on your goals. For example, how much does a three-minute corporate video cost? It is not that easy to say: it is possible to produce both a 10min film (like reportage or a documentary video production) and a 30sec film (like an elaborate commercial) with a budget of 10.000-15.000€. So the cost per film minute depends more on how much and how elaborate is to be seen in the film time. When calculating image films, three important cost points.
Production
Film Shooting
Post-Production
- On-site meetings
- Script Storyboard
- Casting
- location scouting
- Location visit
- Conception
- Target group analysis
- Competition analysis
- Size of the video team
- Qualification of the video team
- Filming equipment nedded
- Number of shooting days
- Variety of filming locations
- Scope of editing the video
- Buying rights of use for Actors, voice actors, and composers
- Amount of interviews
- Color correction complexity
- Prominence of voice actors
- Animations of corporate design content, software content, intro, outro
- Music composition
- Sound effects
Price overview (plus VAT) for an exemplary image film production:
Low-Budget
Mid-Budget
High-Budget
- up to 8.500,-€
- 1 short shooting day
- simple conception
- one cameraman
- film editing
- purchased music
- from 8.500,-€
- 1-3 shooting days
- broad conception
- detailed project plan
- professional film team
- film editing color
- correction professional
- voice-over artists
- graphics in your
- corporate design
- purchased music
- from 30.000 -€,
- from 4 shooting days
- no additional travel
- expenses throughout Germany
- detailed conception with on-site workshops
- detailed project plan
- professional larger film team
- professional color correction in grading
- studio actors
- complex animations graphics in CD design
- high-profile voice artists
- composed soundtrack
Please note that the price depends on the number of shooting days on the one hand and on the equipment/scope of services on the other. For example, it is also possible that an image film costs only 11,000€ net, which is only shot on one day, but which is upgraded with animations.
Prices and costs during conception: meetings and pre-visualizations.
The content of the film must be determined during pre-production. To do this, the first step is to prepare the film shoot as precisely as necessary and possible in the conceptual pre-production meetings, concept meetings, brainstorming sessions, treatments, competitor analyses, drafts of voiceover texts, and any drawn storyboards. Depending on the scope of the story, editorial research and preparatory work, we charge daily rates that are also common in other advertising and communications agencies. From the experience of 700 completed film productions, we try to make this process as structured and planned as possible. Together with the internal coordination (also up to the awarding of the contract), this phase often takes up the most extensive part in terms of time (not price).
This results in the staging and technical requirements for the film. After all, even before the film is started, it must be considered where and for whom it will ultimately be released. On the one hand, the use of a film has an impact on the conception, script, and visual language. On the other hand, it also has an impact on the actors’ fees, the license costs for the composer, and the buy-outs for voice-overs. Because: it makes a difference if a spot is advertised on TV or with a big budget on a social network (YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook).
Film production process
In fact, it is only after this conception phase that it is known what costs will be incurred in the entire project. We therefore offer the conception separate from the film shooting and film editing. This means: if it is not yet clear to you which form the film production should take in terms of content and scope, it is also possible to first develop only this concept with us. At the end there will be a concrete film project description, which can then be handed over ( bid out) to other film production companies for realization. We can then define exactly on a technical, visual and organizational level which services must be provided by the production companies. If this information is not defined precisely enough in an invitation to quote or an inquiry, you may receive very different, i.e. non-comparable, offers. If you still want to know an approximate total price in the early production phase, we will be happy to offer you a basic calculation first, with which it is certainly possible to produce a good film.
Looking for an Image Film in Berlin, Hamburg or Frankfurt?
Drop us a line for more details or to chat about your requirements.