Five Ways B2B Companies Can Use Explainer Videos

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As a B2B company, you’re trying to get other businesses to buy and use your product or services. So, what better way to explain why than with video?

Explainer videos have the potential to become a key solution to many problems companies face, including poor Google ranking, high website bounce rates, leads’ misunderstanding what you do or prospects’ not knowing why they should buy from you, and more.

Custom videos aren’t restricted to the top of your marketing funnel, either; they can be used all the way through:

Awareness: Where most people consider using explainer videos to discuss their company and create buzz surrounding their product or service
Interest: Where an explainer video is ideal to show how your business is the solution to your customer’s problem
Consideration: Where you can highlight your product or service’s top features and benefits, and include customer testimonials
Action: Where a video can explain how your prospects get started with your business and give them an offer they can’t refuse
Retention: Where explainer videos can notify current customers about new business updates or features

B2B businesses will always need video marketing to break down what they do and how they differ from anything else on the market.

What’s more, explainer videos aren’t just for lead generation; B2B companies can use them throughout the customer lifecycle.

Let’s take a closer look at five ways to use explainer videos.

1. Sales Pitches

At most companies, a sales team works directly with potential leads to persuade them to sign on as customers. Many have ways to make a “sale” happen, including keeping a variety of materials on hand to send to leads for them to learn more about the business.

That’s is the perfect opportunity to use an explainer video. Your potential clients have an idea of who you are, but they aren’t sure you’re right for them. Rather than passing off various pieces of content in PDFs and files, you can have your company’s elevator pitch and then some made into a creative and engaging video.

Videos encourage buyers to make a decision: a full 85% are more likely to purchase something after seeing an explainer video about it.

2. Customer Onboarding

You’ve just signed on a big publisher or a well-known finance firm, all thanks to the explainer video you used in your sales pitch. Congrats! Now it’s time to streamline the onboarding process by (you guessed it) using an explainer video.

It’s important to simplify every stage of the customer journey, and that includes after a customer has already purchased your product or service.

An explainer video is useful for customer onboarding because it can…

Clarify how customers begin working with your business
Provide more information on a customer’s specific plan and the resources that come with it
Show where customers can access assistance, such as a help center or customer service rep

Explainer videos for new customers don’t have to be boring, either. Make them fun! Show how excited you are that your product is going to solve the problem they’re having. You can even include customer testimonials to solidify that the user made the right decision.

3. Email Marketing

Using videos in email marketing campaigns is nothing new to digital marketers; however, using explainer videos might be. Why? Well, when implementing videos in email, it’s usually to promote a recent webinar or a podcast or another video businesses want to create a buzz around.

Explainer videos open up an entire world of opportunity, and that doesn’t necessarily have to mean completely reinventing the wheel. For example, if you are offering gated content such as an e-book or a guide, you’ll have a list of emails to which the downloadable content will be sent.

Use that to your advantage and create a sequence of nurture emails. Check in on what your recipients thought of the content. By the third or fourth email, you’ll have the chance to gradually shift their focus to an explainer video on your business, and how they can get started with a free service, trial, or whatever CTA you have set up.

4. Virtual Events and Tradeshows

Our lives have gone virtual during the pandemic, so online events are nothing new to marketers. Those events have shown the heightened importance of communicating through video, as well as the various ways we can do so. Explainer videos are the perfect addition to your online session, whether it’s a virtual conference or webinar.

Place a short clip at the beginning of your talk to preface who you are and what your business does; or, add video to the end to lead your viewers to getting started with your company.

Although it’s clear that virtual events are here to stay, in-person events are slowly but surely making their way back. And if you find yourself at an in-person show, explainer videos are useful there, too! Leave a video running at your booth on a table or screen with subtitles for attendees to learn more about your company.

Tip: Have your explainer video cover information you aren’t pitching to those walking by so you can direct them to learn more once you’ve spoken with them. This keeps people around longer and gives them more content that might raise new questions for you to answer.

5. Advertising

Using static images for your ads is so last year. We already know how successful videos are at grabbing consumers’ attention and leading them to a new business, so why wouldn’t you use them in your advertising efforts? Marketers who use video grow revenue 49% faster than non-users, according to WordStream.

If you think using explainer videos as your ads is unconventional, think about how easy it is to grab someone’s attention in a 30-second Facebook or Instagram video. So why not fill that video with information on your business? You can even trim longer explainer videos into multiple clips to be used as ad creatives.

Even better, if you’re using Facebook, the platform allows you to target your audience by choosing who you want your advertising videos to reach. Just decide on your core audience and which channels you want to run ads on, and begin sharing your explainer video with the world.

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B2B is the perfect space to use explainer videos because the goal is to simplify how people understand your product or service how to put it to use. From sales pitches to email marketing campaigns, explainer videos will put you well on your way to discovering where video works best for your business!