Follow EMG’s Lead and Dare to be Different!

The second most popular search engine after Google is YouTube. Why? Video is powerful. It’s emotional. It moves us. It makes us laugh, cry and buy. We know this in our personal lives, yet so many strategic marketing consultants marketers in 2014 are still relying on the old “talking head” video formula, if they’re using video at all.

Videos Drive Results, Including Lead Generation

 Times are changing—and marketers for high-growth companies who perfect short-form video will be very successful indeed. As far back as 2010, a Google and Forbes Insights “B2B Trends in Mobile & Online Video” study involving 306 U.S. executives found:

• 83% of executives said they were watching more online video than the year previously.
• 75% of executives watched business videos on business-related websites at least weekly.
• 65% of executives have visited a vendor’s website after watching a video.
• 54% of senior executives share work-related videos with colleagues at least weekly.
• 53% of executives have conducted a search for more information after watching a video.
• 52% of executives watch business videos on YouTube at least weekly.
• 51% of executives under 40 have made a business-related purchase after viewing a video.

Resist the Talking Head Snoozer!

Wow, right? So what will get your videos viewed? While there’s still a place for “talking heads” in B2B video, this old-school approach is overused and can be boring to viewers. Professional services marketing videos don’t have to be snoozers! The truth is, business videos can be fun, memorable and still professional (and a positive reflection on the company).Progressive firms, like Baltimore’s EMG, are exploring new avenues for telling their stories, revisiting — and improving upon — tried-and-true tactics like video.

Recently, EMG celebrated the one-year anniversary of its “On Time or On Us” guarantee with a professionally produced video in the form of a fun “action movie trailer,” highlighting the very people who get the job done right, on time, every time. After brainstorming the idea with corporate film and documentary director David Diperstein and Marketri, EMG Marketing Manager Kate Varner set out to get her people on board with a new way to advertise EMG’s unique service guarantee and inject new life into the campaign.

“No one in our professional services space had done anything like this,” Kate explained. “It’s a scary thing to break out of convention, but there’s a real need to step out creatively and show the personality of your brand. Humanizing the company and creating an honest reflection of who we are help differentiate us in an industry of talking-head videos.”

Cut Through the Content Clutter

Director David Diperstein has worked with professional services firms for years, and he sees the desire for powerful storytelling moving into the corporate space. “The idea I try to bring to clients is that we want to focus on making the video engaging rather than focusing strictly on messaging. If it’s an internal video, it has to engage in order to inform or educate. An external video needs to engage in order to get the viewer to act. Any video is going to be paid for if the firm gets one new client. So in a time when the amount of content is out of control—you need an engaging video that cuts through the clutter in order to compete.”

What common traits characterize the most-viewed and shared B2B videos? 

» A little bit of humor can be a great way to keep people engaged.

» Frame the problem and emphasize the pain point your potential customers experience.

» It never hurts to use interesting visuals to keep viewers focused.

» If you can, show your people, product or service in action. People like to see what you do.

» Most videos average 2:00–2:30 minutes or less, so keep things short and sweet!

EMG Hits a Home Run!

As of this writing, EMG’s video has been out about two weeks, and Kate shared, “It’s our most effective LinkedIn post so far!  45% of viewers who play our video watch it all the way through.”  She also enthused that the video e-mail blast has had the highest click-through rate (CTR) of all EMG outbound communications, ever, and it is driving a substantial amount of targeted traffic to the firm’s website.   They’ve even had the happy bonus of direct client comments such as:

• “Love love love the video!”
• “You make it look so dramatic and exciting!”
• “Music is perfect, pace just right!”

Kate also shared, “Videos work. We would like to do more of them. Not all in this style, but experimenting with different formats while maintaining a unified tone and showcasing our EMG personality.”

If done right, video can help you reach success. (More best practices for better B2B videos here.) In a cluttered world of online written content, video can introduce you or your firm as a person or company with expertise and personality. Buyers buy from companies they like and trust.  What better way to showcase likeability and credibility than with a fresh, impactful, results-oriented video?