People are consuming videos at an alarming rate because video content gives the most amount of information in the shortest amount of time. That must be why HubSpot reports that “𝟲𝟳% 𝗼𝗳 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘀𝗮𝘆 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗼𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮 (𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗧𝘂𝗯𝗲, 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺, 𝗧𝗶𝗸𝗧𝗼𝗸) 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗥𝗢𝗜”. And B2B video marketing will continue to be used by a vast majority of businesses as Wyzowl states that “91% of businesses use video as a marketing tool in 2023.”

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So whether you are currently budgeting for B2B video marketing or want to get started making B2B video marketing content, today is a great time to figure out the best video content for your firm.

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Why B2B Video Marketing is on the Rise?

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B2B Video Marketing is on the rise in part because of our lives outside of our business day.  Our personal behavior has always driven our business behavior.  We bought things online in our personal lives before our business lives.  We used our cell phones on a personal basis before a business basis.  And the list of behaviors that fit these criteria goes on and on.  

This is exactly the reason why B2B video marketing is on the rise.  We are all comfortable going on YouTube to find information or to watch a video on how to fix a household problem.  Thus more and more people have come to use videos to learn and understand… This is EXACTLY why your business should be creating video content and why B2B Video Marketing is on the rise.

Video content gives decision-makers the most amount of information in the shortest amount of time when they want to understand 

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• Solutions that are available to their problems

• Your business

• Your products and services 

• What makes you different from the competitors

• The skill sets of your people 

 

Here’s the kicker if you are not planning to start investing in B2B video marketing content…if you don’t have video content then the next decision maker who goes to check out your business or might move on to another company that has video content of their products, services, benefits, and answers questions that come up in the sales process.  Additionally, video content will benefit you because you will have prospects that will be more engaged with your business, get to know your people, build the know, like, and trust factor and convert more qualified leads than if you did not have B2B video marketing content.

So What is The Best Type of Video Content to Make?

First off, to have a sound video marketing strategy you will need to plan for many videos that span many business objectives.  That doesn’t mean you do them at one time but rather build up your video library, and thus your video marketing strategy, over time. 

But since one video is not a video marketing strategy, where do you get started?  We have an expression that goes

“𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨,
𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨.”

This basically means that the best video content for your business depends on your current business objectives.  Where are your other marketing strategies and your other sales strategies directed?  This is where your video marketing strategy should be creating video content to support.  The net result is that video is a piece of that communication mix.

For example, which of these business marketing objectives are you working on right now?

• Branding and awareness

• Lead conversion 

• Nurturing

• Product launch 

• Case study  

• Testimonial 

• Thought leadership

These are all areas where B2B video marketing content can be included into the mix.  But as noted, one video is not a video marketing strategy, so therefore you would not create a product video and then use that for thought leadership.  You would not create a branding and awareness video and use that for lead conversion or in the nurturing stage.  Just like you create distinct content for each stage of the sales funnel, that is the same methodology when you create video content for a sound video marketing strategy.

 

-Branding and Awareness

-Lead Conversion Videos

-Nurturing Videos

-FAQs Videos

-Case Study Video

-Testimonials

-Thought Leadership Video

 

Yes, that’s a lot of video content to create over the years.

So when you are asking “what is the best video content to make”, it is a matter of “which type of video content will fit into our current business objectives.”  Thus you will be creating B2B video marketing content that will support your current business initiatives from a sales marketing and communication objectives.

How long should a business video be when people are consuming videos at an alarming rate? Cisco states that in 2022, online videos make up more than 82% of all consumer internet traffic — 15 times higher than it was in 2017. 

So by this logic, if your business wants to respond to your next customer’s buying behavior, you should be making lots of videos.  But what is the optimal length of a business video?  In this post, we will dig deeper into “how long should a business video be” and some of the best practices to incorporate these into your content marketing strategies.

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From a marketing perspective, Oberloo studies show that 54% of consumers want to see more video content from a brand or business they support, this goes to show that the demand for video content is also increasing.

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The Golden Rule in How Long Should a Business Video Be

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So if you are of the mindset that making one video is not a business video marketing strategy, then you will be planning to create many kinds of videos across your sales and marketing channels.  Here’s a pro tip on how long should a business video be – “Never make a video longer than it has to be.” 

That means the business objective of your business video will dictate how long should videos be.  For example, the higher-end of-the-funnel videos like social media videos and advertising videos should be on the shorter side. 

Whereas middle of the funnel deeper the funnel videos like thought leadership videos, promotional videos, product overview videos, or service overview videos can be a bit longer (can you really explain something in 30 seconds to a minute? 

You will probably need a longer time).  And final consideration videos like case studies videos or videos about your processes can be longer.  As buyers move deeper into the funnel they become more invested in making a decision from you and will spend more time watching videos.

 

But won’t buyers read?

 

More and more people are on the lookout for business videos like sales videos, video FAQs, website tutorials, animated explainer videos, and promotional videos because of ease of consumption and the visual representation that makes it easy for people to understand a concept, the benefits of a product, service or a process.

The traditional way that buyers have gotten information is by reading or talking to somebody in your organization.  For better or for worse, buyers don’t want to do that in today’s information-rich digital world.  Some organizations like Thomas noted that buyers are 80% thru the buying process before they even reach out to an organization.  This means that buyers want to do their research on their own and on their own time.

Buyers want to watch videos because they know it gives them the most amount of information in the shortest amount of time. And even better for you, video is the only way to show your people, facilities, products, and services and clearly explain your processes in an easy-to-consume, share, and enjoyable way for buyers.

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Video Marketing Strategy for the Length of a Business Video

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Are you thinking about the video length best practices and the impact that video can have on your marketing efforts?  Some research shows that:

• HubSpot sees the most engagements on YouTube videos that are about 2 minutes. 

• The average length of all business-related videos is just under 10 minutes – Vidyard

• Studies show that Wyzowl found that 78% of marketing professionals say company videos have directly increased sales. 

For a quick representation, your business funnel can be strategized like this:

• Brand and Awareness Videos

• Lead Conversion Videos

• Nurturing Videos

• FAQs Videos

• Sales Videos

• Thought Leadership Videos

• Case Study Videos

• Testimonial Videos

• Process Videos

That’s a big foundation of video content to support all those parts of your marketing and sales mix.  So don’t start with the question of ‘how long should a business video be’ but rather start with ‘what’s the best type of online video content for your sales, marketing, and communication objectives.  Thus starting with the type of video content that will best support the current business initiatives, will dictate how long your business video should be.  

Are you ready to upscale your business video marketing?

So, the best type of online video content for your business really depends on your other marketing strategies and your other sales strategies to make sure that video is a piece of that communication mix.  Indeed, video is the new preference of the majority of buyers and all businesses should innovate for their long-term content marketing strategies, with the help of a video marketing agency, you could achieve the video length best practices as well.

If you make your content compelling, succinct, and informational driven, your customers will get the information they’re looking for, they’ll watch it. And then they will be more educated and more informed about your company’s products and services than they were without watching the video. 

We get asked all the time about video production cost estimates.  And what are the main factors to consider when putting together a video production budget? In this video marketing tip, we will help you understand that there’s really no average cost to a professional video production budget.  And if you want accurate video production cost estimates, then you should spend some time talking with a video marketing agency that can help you scope your entire video production budget…..and it doesn’t go by time. 

Video Production Cost Estimates Does Not Go by Time 

Many people think that a video production budget goes by time.  For example, “I’m just looking for a simple 30-second video”.  By noting the time many people think that their video production cost estimates can be low.  BUT, if you think about the last 30-second advertising video commercial you saw on TV, then you might be surprised that some of those even simple 30-second advertising videos can cost a lot of money (like in the 6 to 7 figures!)

Now, let’s take a B2B video that explains a product or process.  Or maybe it is a B2B promotional video that is for a service area, pro-bono practice, or showcasing the progress you have made in diversity & inclusion…can you really communicate what you need to communicate in 30 seconds?  It probably needs to be longer. 

So thus, we can’t compare video production cost estimates for an advertising video and a B2B promotional video as each project’s scope would vary greatly, and thus from a video production budget standpoint.  And if you are going to work with a video marketing agency on your video production project, then a more experienced agency will have a different investment structure than one with less experience…which further adds to the wide array of video production cost estimates that you might get.

Examples of a Video Production Budget Based on Scope

Now that you know that a video production cost estimate does not go by time, how do you allocate everything that goes into a video production budget?

If you are going to look for a video marketing agency to help you they are going to ask you questions such as:

• What is the business objective of your project?

• How many locations do you need to shoot?

• How many cameras, equipment, and accessories do you need?

• How many people you will need to set up and manage those cameras, equipment, and accessories?

• Is there going to be animation or motion graphics in your video?

• How many video deliverables are there going to be?

The answer to all of these questions will ultimately determine your video production budget.  

The below charts show examples of two different video production cost estimates.  Note that each of these examples represents a different video production budget for the same video (that can be a 30-second advertising video, a 2 min B2B promotional video, or any other kind of video you are thinking of).

Breaking Down the Investment of a Video Marketing Agency

One example of determining how much you want your video production budget to be is to have a budget range in mind when you are talking with a video marketing agency.  This way they can do what they do best and make suggestions to you to make the most out of your budget.

For example, one of the aspects that make up a video production cost estimate is motion graphics.  If you want motion graphics, then this will only add to your budget.  And if you want motion graphics to be 3D vs 2D After Effects, then you will need to have more budget.  

There are many ways to add a little bit of motion graphics to an advertising video that will be cost-efficient so you can hit your business communication objectives and budget constraints.  

So, it is truly important that you discuss all these matters and be open with your video marketing agency.  Let them know the budget parameters that you’re working with and challenge them to come back to you with a couple of different options.  Making the most out of your budget is one of the things that a video marketing agency is really good at.