6 Types of Marketing Videos to Propel B2B Buyers Through the Sales Funnel

Video marketing has steadily risen in popularity in recent years, but the 2020 pandemic pushed video to the forefront more than ever before — and with the continued unpredictability of the global situation and the shift to remote and remote-friendly work, we don’t see that changing anytime soon.

In fact, according to Wyzowl’s State of Video Marketing 2021 report, “91% of marketers feel video is more important for brands in light of the coronavirus pandemic.”

“91% of marketers feel video is more important for brands in light of the coronavirus pandemic.”

Over the better part of the last two years, B2B marketers have had to get creative and find new ways to reach their audiences at home instead of relying on in-person interactions and live events. Even as businesses look to open up again, the shift toward video will likely nudge more and more brands to incorporate video into their marketing campaigns.

If you’re trying to figure out what types of videos to make and how to use them to connect with your audience, we’ve got you covered with an overview of different B2B marketing videos.

Note: We’ve loosely organized these suggestions in the order a customer would encounter them on their customer journey, with top-of-funnel videos first, then middle-of-funnel and bottom-of-funnel. That way, you can see how these videos might guide your customers further down their path to purchasing.

1. Educational industry videos

Sitting at the top of your marketing funnel, educational industry videos are a great tool for building brand awareness (and, more importantly, brand affinity) and generating leads.

Consider creating videos that aren’t about your brand or your product, but instead cover general industry topics your audience is interested in. With this broad focus, these videos are ideal for building customer trust. You’re able to showcase your brand’s expertise without hard selling and provide helpful information to your audience.

Some examples of educational videos include:

• Subscription software and revenue growth company ProfitWell’s Pricing Page Teardown looks at monetization strategies from different subscription companies across a range of industries.
• SEO software company Moz’s Whiteboard Fridays dives deep into different SEO topics every Friday.
• Marketing management software CoSchedule’s CoSchedule Academy offers courses on a variety of different marketing topics.

Educational industry videos like these are great for posting on social media in order to help people discover your brand. It’s also a good idea to put them on your website’s blog to build a library of resources your audience can turn to when they want to learn more about your industry or associated topics.

2. Explainer videos

Explainer videos introduce viewers to your product and your brand. They show your audience what your product is, how it works, and what problem it can solve for them.

Some companies who use explainer videos include:

• Bamboo HR, an HR software company
• Nielsen, an information, data, and market measurement firm
• Wistia (Yep! That’s us!) The three companies above placed their videos on their homepages, which is an ideal spot for your product explainer video. This placement will help site visitors who are new to your brand understand your product’s value right away, so they’re motivated to keep exploring your site.

This type of video can also help you nurture leads in an email drip campaign. Once someone submits their email address, send them a message that includes your explainer video to immediately show them how your product might help them. (Ideally, you’ll include just a clip of the video in your email and drive them back to your website in order to watch the full thing.)

3. Live video events

Live video events are a great way to build deeper relationships with your audience — especially in the absence of large-scale in-person events. Live videos can be pretty simple, like a webinar about a new product feature. Or you can go all out and host a big event, like a live online conference with thousands of attendees and multiple guest speakers.

Some examples of live video events include:

• HubSpot’s infamous Inbound conference promises an “immersive three-day experience” with a mix of live video events, on-demand content, and meetups.
• Customer relationship and messaging platform Intercom’s webinars cover topics like “Manage and scale your support” and “Setting up self-serve support.”
• Salesforce’s webinars cover helpful topics like new feature overviews and how to optimize customer onboarding.

Each type of live event has different advantages. Webinars in particular help nurture leads since they give your audience the chance to ask questions about your product and get real-time help with their pain points. Online conferences can help you connect with your audience on a more personal level by infusing your brand personality in the event — whether that’s through a fun conference theme or mailed swag.

Whatever type you choose, live video events are great for social media because the different platform algorithms all tend to prioritize live video and broadcast that content more widely. Make sure to share your webinars on your website’s events page, too. That way, visitors looking for more information about your product can see all your upcoming virtual events in one place and make a note to attend anything they’re interested in.

4. Customer testimonial videos

In video testimonials — also called customer success stories or case studies — a customer explains how they used your product to solve their problem. Testimonials are a great way to tap into social proof. A paid ad may not convince a potential customer, but the story of a fellow consumer will likely come off as less biased and be more convincing.

Some examples of video testimonials include:

• Zendesk, a customer service software company, shares actual customer stories in which different customers talk about how quickly they saw results with the product.
• Terminus, an account based marketing (ABM) solution, uses video testimonials to share how customers are finding success with ABM automation.
• We actually used video testimonials ourselves recently! Check out our case study interview with AlayaCare, a home health care software company. One of our team members sat down with AlayaCare’s Video Marketing Specialist to talk about why they chose to use Wistia Channels for their video projects.

Customer stories sit closer to the middle/bottom of your marketing funnel. They come into play when customers have already identified the problem they have and are comparing different possible solutions to help solve it. Video testimonials can tip the balance in your favor.

Customer success stories are also very versatile. In addition to being valuable marketing tools, your sales team can use them in sales demos and presentations. You can edit videos to different lengths to share on various social media accounts, too.

Lastly, it’s a good idea to have a page on your website dedicated to your testimonials and make it searchable by industry and company size. That way, prospects can look for video case studies that match their use case and see how you were able to help companies like them.

5. Product onboarding videos

Take your user onboarding experience to the next level with videos that help users understand your product more quickly. Like product feature videos, onboarding videos help users unlock your product’s full potential, which increases retention. The content should lead users to that magical “aha moment” in which they experience your product’s core value for themselves.

Some examples of onboarding videos include:

• 3D printer manufacturer Formlabs uses video to create an onboarding “workbook” for new customers
• Asana’s Intro to Asana provides an overview to the company’s team-based work management software

Videos can create a better onboarding experience for your users, especially for products that are technical or involve some new-to-the-customer concepts (for example, 3D printing). You might even use onboarding videos to introduce the team behind your product and help users master your product faster.

As with most types of video content, you can always analyze your video metrics to see where users are clicking, pausing, or rewinding to gather more information about the kind of content they’re looking for.

6. Product feature videos

While explainer videos provide an overview of your product, feature videos focus on how exactly it works. This type of content helps customers and free trial users learn the ins and outs of your product and make sure they’re getting maximum value from it. Feature videos are especially useful for more technical products that have a bigger learning curve.

Some examples of product feature videos include:

• All-in-one workspace software Notion’s How to Create OKRs
• Mailchimp’s How to Add and Import Contacts to Mailchimp
• We use product videos across our site at Wistia, like this video that explains our SEO-friendly video embeds

Feature videos give your customers a self-service option for solving their issues and learning new features, so they can help prevent churn. The customer saves time by not having to interface with your support team, which actually saves everyone time, including that of your own employees. Essentially, feature videos eliminate the middleman. In some cases, these videos may even push free trial users toward a paid subscription.

These videos are a valuable asset for a welcome email sequence. They can help your customers dive deeper into your product’s features, just as they’re setting it up and learning how it works. They’re also a solid addition to your website’s help section, where customers looking for troubleshooting assistance can do a keyword search for their solution.

Use video to build long-term customer relationships

In the world of video, it’s easy to assume your content is only a success if it goes viral — but that’s not the case when it comes to growth marketing videos. A singular piece of content won’t keep customers engaged in the long run, no matter how many views it gets.

A more sustainable strategy is creating and sharing the video types mentioned above throughout the customer journey. Build trust over time by gradually and continually using video to educate your audience about your industry and brand. If your content is thoughtful and helpful, your customers will likely stick around for more videos.