Why Nobody Wants to Watch Your B2B Video

Having trouble getting views? Maybe you’re guilty of these (not-quite) mortal sins of B2B video production and marketing.

1) You didn’t make the video for them

Really, think about it. Did you think it was cool or did your customer?

Before you get started with your video, take a moment to think about who you’re making this gem for. Like any piece of content for the web, you need to think about at least three things when you’re working with video:

a) Who am I creating this for?
b) What do I want them to do?
c) What do they need in order to do it?
(from the minds at www.grokdotcom.com)

Beyond that, remember that you’re telling a story with an end, beginning, and a middle – preferably with some conflict (and maybe some guns). It’s either a story that’s compelling to your audience or one that somehow fulfills a narrative in their own lives (see Is Your Customer The Hero of Your Videos?)

2) You didn’t optimize your video for search

45% of video is found through deliberate search. The rest is “discovered.” In either case, you need to optimize your video so that it comes up in keyword searches regardless of platform or channel that it happens to reside on. Video SEO has its own quirks. The folks at ReelSEO know more about it than anyone.

If 55% of people just randomly find stuff, doesn’t it make sense to cast your net really wide? I’ll say what everyone else says and recommend Tubemogul. But, hey, why not hit up a few of your friends and get that video in their blogs and forums.

3) You just threw the video up there

Video is awesome. I personally think it will save the B2B Marketing world, but it can’t stand alone.

Your video content has to be integrated with all the other assets that you’re creating. Think about your editorial calendar and, more importantly, your customers’ buying cycle. Awareness videos don’t look like Risk Avoidance or Christmas videos. Is the screencast really going to be effective just as they’re going to sign the paperwork? How about wrapping up your weekly blogs with a Friday .tv show?

Strategizing also means thinking about metrics. How are you going to know you should keep making these kind of videos? What’s your baseline time-on-site? Will it improve because of your video? My Magic 8-Ball says yes.

4) You screwed up the audio

Your customers will watch a video with a poor image before they’ll watch a video with bad audio. If people can’t hear something, they tune out. Think about all those webinars out there. Do you watch the WHOLE thing? Or do you multitask and listen in? You couldn’t do that with poor sound quality.

My partner in crime says this, “You’re not going to do it, but you should spend more money on audio than you do on video.” And he’s right, people consistently buy a camera and forget to get a microphone. On camera mics are terrible. At least take a look at some wired options. You don’t have to get fancy.

In conclusion, don’t let all this slow you down. You’ve got to get out there and try it before you get it right. Have fun with it. Be bold. Create new stuff and get out there and share it.