Using Video Across the Entire Awareness Funnel

This post was written by Sherri Powers, Director of Marketing at TechSmith.

Using video in your marketing can lead to super impactful results. Chances are, you’ve come across these impressive Cisco stats before:

• It would take an individual more than 5 million years to watch the amount of video that will cross global IP networks each month in 2021.
• Globally, IP video traffic will be 82% of all consumer internet traffic by 2021. - As marketers, we know we need to up our game across the board with video gaining such traction online. But where do you start? In this post, we’re going to share some ideas for using video across the awareness funnel, so that you can start doing better, more effective marketing. But first, let’s review which funnel we’re talking about here.

At TechSmith, we follow the “Five Levels of Awareness” that Eugene Schwartz coined in his book, Breakthrough Advertising back in 1966. He broke down prospect awareness into five unique phases:

Here’s what each stage looks like from a consumer perspective:

• Unaware: Consumers are unaware they have a problem or need
• Problem Aware: Consumers are aware they have a problem, and need a solution
• Solution Aware: Consumers are looking for proof that the solution works
• Product Aware: Consumers are looking for specific products that provide the solution
• Most Aware: Consumers have bought your product and want next steps

Lucky for us, videos are a particularly great medium for top of funnel engagement, so incorporating them into your marketing strategy is key. Let’s take a closer look at each stage of the awareness funnel and identify some types of videos that you can create for each phase!

Stage 1: Unaware

When consumers are in the unaware stage, you should provide them with content that helps them understand a pain point or problem they currently face. Keep in mind that your goal should be singular and specific in each phase — capture their attention with the expectation that they will then move on to the next level.

“Keep in mind that your goal should be singular and specific in each phase — capture their attention with the expectation that they will then move on to the next level.”

Regardless of where you’re targeting this audience, it’s worth noting that many people will have their sound turned off when consuming your content. On Facebook, for instance, 85% of videos are watched without sound.

Here’s an example of a video we used recently to help promote one of our blog posts. In this video, we overlaid text captions instead of using a voiceover so that folks could follow along without sound and still understand the message.

After watching this video, the viewer should understand what they’re missing out on when they don’t use a screen capture solution. This should help them understand they have a problem that needs solving. You can learn more about this particular stage in the awareness funnel in this blog post.

Stage 2: Problem Aware

Consumers in this stage of the awareness funnel are in research mode. They know they have a problem or a pain point, and they’re on the hunt for a solution. In this phase, you can start introducing high level solutions, but remember, don’t tout a specific product yet!

However tempting it may be, your audience isn’t ready for your product at this stage, so don’t highlight all of your key features in the videos you create (not yet, at least!). Your target audience will be looking for content that answers the question “How do I solve this problem?” not “How does product X solve this problem?” As such, these videos should showcase solution-based concepts — engaging educational videos can do wonders for your brand, so always make sure you’re providing value!

Here at TechSmith, we created a video that highlights how customer service can actually be improved with a screen recording — check it out:

If someone in the customer support field watched this video, they might be inspired to use video on their team communicate in a more human way. Check out this post for more examples of how you can use video in this stage of the awareness funnel.

Stage 3: Solution Aware

At this stage of the funnel, consumers have a pretty good idea of what solutions are available to them and are now looking for confidence building indicators that they’re on the right track to solving their problem. In other words, they still need more convincing — and that’s where video comes in to the save the day! Video is a such great tool for engaging consumers at this stage because of its power to build credibility and establish trust.

“Video is a such great tool for engaging consumers at this stage because of its power to build credibility and establish trust.”

When deciding what type of videos to create, do some research around the key terms your audience is searching for in relation to your solution or offering. Then, create content that can help explain or demystify that problem.

In the example below, we break down some common video editing terms that folks who are newer to video editing might be less familiar with. This particular video served as a teaser for social media that pointed to a blog post that covered the topic in-depth.

Stage 4: Product Aware

Full disclosure: as marketers, this is the funnel stage we often jump to too early, so beware! Remember that consumers need to be bought in on the solution before they can start evaluating providers. Now that your viewers have passed through the first three stages of the awareness funnel, they’re finally ready to start engaging with your products and services.

This means it’s time to start showcasing your videos and letting your viewers get to know your product. Customer testimonial videos work really well in this particular stage, as they can help build confidence in the consumer, giving them a better idea of how other businesses succeeded with a given product or service.

Our video team here at TechSmith created this polished customer story video that showcases how our product helped Integrity Data, a payroll software service, engage better with their clients.

High-quality testimonial videos often have many of the following key components:

• Showcases real customers who are representative of your audience
• Presents a specific problem that your product can solve better than anything else
• Backs up promises with evidence
• Demonstrates key benefits in action

Stage 5: Most Aware

You did it! You got a prospective customer through the funnel and they’ve finally purchased your product. But don’t be mistaken — your use of video to engage video doesn’t stop there. Video, GIFs, screencasts, and other media are fantastic tools to utilize for onboarding so your customers can start using your product successfully.

Creating video tutorials is one way to onboard your new customers efficiently and in a delightful way. Whether your product is super easy to learn or a bit more complex, video can help make getting up to speed easy. Plus, using video at this stage can help your customers feel more connected to the brand and product they just decided to invest in, so it’s a win-win!

“Creating video tutorials is one way to onboard your new customers efficiently and in a delightful way.”

For this stage of the awareness funnel, we created a series of short videos to help our customers understand the ins-and-outs of our video editing product, Camtasia. In these videos, we covered key features while trying to keep our videos short and sweet. Our goal was to make it easy for customers to work through the onboarding one topic at a time, instead of watching one long video that covered everything.

You can check out some of our tutorials here to get inspired. Remember that this is the time where your customers are most excited to get to know your business and brand, so give them the tools (and videos) they need to succeed right from the start!

The right content at the right time

Using video throughout the entire awareness funnel is a must for marketers. Begin by understanding the goals of each phase of the funnel, and then create content that speaks directly to your audience at that specific stage of the journey.

Ultimately, you want to create content that makes the consumer feel confident in both your product and brand. Thankfully, video help you keep those viewers engaged and moving through each stage of the funnel!

Sherri Powers is responsible for the success of TechSmith’s marketing activities, including the development and delivery of the marketing strategy, marketing tactics, and external communications relating to TechSmith’s brand and product lines. Sherri has over 10 years of experience working on strategic marketing programs within the video communications industry. For ideas, inspiration, and information on video editing and more, check out the TechSmith blog.