4 Tips to Make Your B2B Website Videos Stand Out

Since most B2B businesses target niche audiences, it may seem like a no-brainer that their video content would be pretty specific and distinct from other brands. In reality, a lot of these businesses play it safe and end up creating generalized videos that look just like those of their competitors.

“A lot of B2B businesses play it safe and end up creating generalized videos that look just like those of their competitors.”

Given the nature of B2B, it’s not difficult to see why many of these videos end up looking and feeling the same. Many brands in this space feel like they have to portray a more professional image than B2C companies, which can ultimately inhibit creativity. This restrictive mindset leads to businesses missing out on a prime opportunity to differentiate themselves with video.

If you’re a B2B business looking to create video content that sets you apart from competitors, you need to implement a combination of creative and technical video tactics. Don’t worry; we’re here to guide you through just that. Here are four key tactics for your business to use to differentiate your video content.

1. Study your competitors closely

You can’t know how to stand out if you don’t know what’s currently going on in your industry space. Start by identifying what types of B2B video content your competitors are hosting on their websites. Look for trends, similarities, differences — anything you notice or that stands out to you. Once you have those insights, you can brainstorm ways your videos will be different or leverage some of the strengths you picked up on from competitor content.

Track what type of video content your competitors already have in their arsenal so you have a clear understanding of their videos. You should be paying attention to several specific factors that will help you understand the content and structure of their videos. Some things to keep track of include:

• Video type: Determine whether the video is a product tutorial, testimonial, culture video, etc.
• Video technique: Determine whether the video is an animation, smartphone recording, professionally filmed, etc.
• Video length: Take note of the video’s running time.
• Video subject: Identify the overarching topic of the video.

Now that you’re keeping a close eye on the videos your competitors are creating, look for gaps in their content. For example, your main competitor may have a lot of product videos and tutorials but not many testimonials or customer success stories. Once you identify what’s missing in their content, you can plan your own B2B video strategy to fill in the gaps.

2. Don’t add extra baggage to your B2B videos

B2B businesses often sell products that are complex and require time and effort to fully comprehend. Make your brand and product easy to understand by presenting them in the simplest way possible through your videos.

Kick things off by focusing on one key concept per video. Every video you create should have a singular focus, so viewers can easily follow along and stay on the same page with you. Don’t waste running time on in-depth product explanations that are over your viewers’ heads.

Avoiding visual clutter is also important, especially in a B2B video context, where many brands have complicated software and algorithms. Instead, focus on visual elements that communicate your product’s core value to customers.

The video above from call tracking and marketing analytics software company CallRail is a perfect example of a video with minimal visual clutter. Instead of describing all of their product intricacies in detail, CallRail simply focuses on how they help businesses with a short animated video that runs just under a minute.

3. Create different types of B2B videos

It can be tempting to commit to just one or two types of videos, especially if you’ve seen success with those in the past. Maybe product demos have increased lead generation by a certain percentage, so your business decides to prioritize those over the coming months.

While it’s of course okay to double down on the B2B video type that’s been successful for you, you still want to maintain a varied content pipeline. Create an array of video types to hold viewers’ attention at different stages of the sales funnel and engage them at different parts of your website.

Here are some common types of B2B videos your website should include:

Product explainer

This type of video describes your product’s main functions and benefits. It’s generally hosted on the homepage of your website and is highly visible as soon as you enter the site.

Here’s a great example from BambooHR where folks from their company give an overview of the main features of the BambooHR platform and why it stands out in an ocean of HR tech.

Customer success stories or testimonials

These types of videos describe a customer’s success with your product. They’re especially useful in the B2B space, where products are typically a significant investment, so prospects need to see evidence of your brand’s value.

Even a craft beverage software company in Portland, Oregon called Orchestra benefits from creating testimonials to show how they can help beer, spirits, cider, or seltzer makers crush it in their industry.

Company culture

This type of video helps viewers relate to the people behind your brand. Giving people a peek into the rapport between your employees, for example, can help humanize your company, build brand affinity, and spur people to take action because they feel connected to you.

At Wistia, we’ve closed out the years with special rap-up videos that feature our teammates, major product updates, and company events. Take a look at our 2019 rap-up to grab some groovy inspiration!

You’re also not limited to presenting video on its own. Think about how to integrate video with written content. For example, create blog posts with short interview clips or FAQ pages with mini video tutorials. By watching these videos, your site visitors won’t have to consume long blocks of text without any breaks.

4. Optimize your videos for search engines

Many businesses know to optimize their written site content for search engines — but did you know you can also optimize videos for search as well?

Since search engines can’t actually watch videos, they rely on crawling the text to determine your video content. You can help direct these engines to place your video on popular search engine results pages (SERPs) by using keywords that your audience will search within your video text — namely your title, captions, and transcript.

Video SEO generally requires some coding work on the back end. To avoid that extra effort, your business can use a video hosting platform like Wistia. Our platform can automatically optimize your videos for search engines, so you don’t have to worry about any additional video SEO work.

Ready to make your B2B video content the best it can be?

We’ve covered four ways to make sure your video content rises above your competitors. By keeping an eye on what other companies are doing, staying focused on a singular message, using a variety of videos, and optimizing for search, you’ll be well on your way to standing out as a B2B brand.