Let’s smash some glass ceilings! The preconception that videos as a marketing tool are costly and ineffective is a myth that needs busting. Having all the gear in the world doesn’t guarantee a super schmick video, without a proper strategy behind you, you might shoot yourself in the foot when it comes to maximising on your investment.  

Money can simplify, complicate & ultimately change the creative process. Case in point, the folks over at Wistia embarked on a series named, ‘One, Ten, Hundred’, tasking video production agency Sandwich Video to examine the creative process and the overarching production of videos with budgets at $1,000, $10,000 & $100,000. All three videos effectively communicated the functionality of Wistia’s Soapbox function in a fun & engaging way, while the differences in production value (sound, lighting, actors, hair & make-up) were evident,  the impact of each video was on par.

For SaaS companies, utilising video along each stage of the funnel can help leverage your content strategy if done effectively.

The key to a successful video marketing strategy isn’t budget, its relevance to impact.

By identifying and understanding your buyer’s journey, you can create content that is specific and directly applies to each stage in your video marketing funnel.

We know getting started can often be the hardest part, which is why we’ve pulled together a listicle full of great ideas from some big brands utilising video along each stage of the funnel, from awareness through to advocacy. So if you’ve been dancing with the idea of learning more on how you can use video in your marketing efforts but haven’t known where to start, let’s walk through how the big guys are doing it.

Awareness

In the awareness stage, you’re trying to educate the broader audience about you, your product and its benefits. Think of this stage as a first date. They’re trying to find out more about you to decide whether or not you’re worth pursuing. So in order to create leads and guide your customers further down the funnel (or land that second date), you’ve got to keep things entertaining, welcoming and informative.

Awareness level video content could include:

• Brand explainer videos
• How to’s
• Thought leadership interviews
• Darts and Social Videos

A prime example of this in terms of video content is utilising brand explainer videos, which generally outline who you are, what you do & what you can bring to the table. Case in point, WTF is Zendesk? 👇🏼

Consideration

The consideration stage means you’ve piqued their interest and they want to find out more. Woohoo, time to call Mum & preemptively book that wedding she’s been nagging about. What is helpful for both your lead and for you, is determining what kind of lead they are - MQL, SQL, PQL?. Videos that provide information, solve definitive problems and showcase exciting opportunities work extremely well in this stage, and can help define the nature of the lead. Showcasing how easy your product is to use, and how it tackles their pain points can help shape their consideration in progressing further - if impactful, can also provide crystal clear value.   

Consideration level video content could include:

• Webinars
• Product explainers
• Brand Story

Check out this video from Netflix explaining the in's & outs of how to binge watch TV. 

Decision

It’s D-Day. Your video content throughout the consideration stage has provided tailored information to your leads wants and needs, so now it’s time to ensure that your customers choose your brand over your competitors. Perhaps ‘decision’ for your respective funnel is signing up for a freemium subscription or for a demo/free trial. You’d want your video content to support either alternative because at the end of the day, they’re still making a choice, and people would rather watch a video about using your product rather than reading about it.

Decision stage video content could include:

• Case studies
• Testimonials
• Demo or Trial Videos

These videos break down the highlights of your products specifically, ensuring your customers that you are the product they want.

Intercom’s breakdown of who they are, what they do and how it works 🤓

Adoption

So they made their decision? And they chose you?! Yew! Now it’s time to put your money where your mouth is and ensure your shiny new customer can see the value in the time they’ve committed to on-boarding. Regardless if they’re freemium, free trial or paying customers, you’re still asking for their time & commitment to stick around and see the proof in the pudding.

Adoption stage video content could include:

• Getting Started
• Training
• What’s new and product updates

On-boarding videos take out the dreaded lengthy emails on how to set up and the sterile, automated thank-you messages, they’re also one of the best ways to streamline your customers' experience and get started on the right foot. Frame.io knows what’s up.

Expansion

Keeping your customers around can be a mammoth challenge in itself, so wanting to continuously delight them is a bit of a no-brainer. Perhaps you’re wanting to hone in efforts on your freemium customers and to get them to dabble in the premium game, like with any piece of content you produce you need to remain cognisant of who your audience is and what value you’re offering them. Training videos highlighting the benefits of updating your subscription can take your user experience to the next level by avoiding the sterile user manual to makes 96% of the population fall asleep (don’t quote me on that...). Another key component in getting your customers to stick around is to continually update and improve the product they signed up for,  you can guarantee they’ll want to know about it - especially if they’ve been providing active feedback and recommendations.

Expansion stage video content could include:

• Tiered product updates
• Training videos for new features
• Webinars

How to make that banger playlist on Spotify Premium

Make a playlist on Premium from SpotifyCares on Vimeo.

At the end of the day, you want to provide the best value to help solve your customer’s problems each stage of their customer journey and make their interaction with you memorable for all the good reasons. For SaaS businesses especially, video can be a very powerful tool to showcase what a perfect fit your software is and how much easier it can make the lives of your customers. Taking on board any of the above examples from any of the very established businesses, you can learn a thing or two about how best to use your videos for good, not evil (evil being irrelevant, boring to watch videos that waste your customers time).