If a picture’s worth a thousand words, and video appears at somewhere around 24 frames a second, then you could communicate the equivalent of War and Peace in less than half an hour. Your video campaign may not be as nuanced or complex as Tolstoy’s magnum opus, but the point still stands: Video is an outstanding way to reach your audience. Lead generation strategies get a major boost from video, so take these five tips into consideration when developing your lead gen plan.
Punch up the Visuals
Mobile devices have overtaken desktop computers as a delivery system for video. When you’re working on a small screen, you need to make a big impact with visual imagery. Look for ways to make your video stand out in all the right ways with a minimum of text, compelling graphics, careful composition, and immediate appeal to your chosen audience. Video is an excellent medium for communicating non-verbally, so infuse your video with colors and images that align with your business throughout. For example, if your B2B organization serves the healthcare sector, send a strong signal about that connection with people dressed in scrubs or crisp white lab coats along with calming blues and greens.
Turn Down the Sound
On mobile devices and in offices, most people have audio off, so it’s even more important to make your images compelling as you won’t be able to rely on sound to get your leads’ attention. Instead of having actors speaking their own lines, consider a voiceover so people who prefer subtitles can read the video’s text instead of watching people’s mouths move without sound. Another reason to separate action and sound is flexibility; if you use a voiceover instead of actors’ voices, you can re-dub the same video for use to different market segments or reach people who speak different languages.
Start Strong
On average, 65 percent of viewers who make it through the first three seconds of your video will stick it out for 10 seconds. If they stay tuned in for that long, 45 percent of leads will watch the entire video. It’s clear from these figures how vital it is to capture your audience’s interest from the very beginning. You probably don’t have time to spend on artistic establishing shots or lengthy dialogue to provide background, so make your initial imagery count. In many B2B industries, showcasing products or manufacturing processes in action is a natural lead-in. Others might opt for eye-catching graphics if their services are hard to depict in video form.
Keep Production Values High
While your videos don’t have to maintain the same production standards as a Super Bowl ad during the first commercial break, they should look professional. Green-screen technology should be seamless. If you hire actors, work with a talent agency instead of canvassing friends and spouses for anyone who took a couple of acting classes in high school. Art and animation must be clean and sharp to appear clearly on a small screen. You may spend a little more to produce your lead gen video, but you’ll be using it repeatedly on multiple channels, so it’s worth the investment.
Collect the Data
Don’t forget the primary purpose of your video as a lead generation tool. Make it easy for leads to discover more by clicking on a pane within the video, a hyperlink in the comments section, and anywhere else you can fit a link to a landing page.
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