The Power of B2B Short Form Video Marketing: an Actionable Guide

Video content has distinguished itself as a powerful marketing tool, so it isn't surprising that short-form videos are all the rage these days. According to statistics published by Wyzowl, almost 90% of businesses and marketers use video in marketing, and most agree that video fosters a better understanding of their products/services besides boosting traffic, onsite time, and sales.

Surveys conducted on customers also support these claims. For instance, most people say they have watched an explainer video when researching a product or service and, in most cases, they are convinced to buy the product after watching the video.

Moreover, video content consumption continues to rise over time. Currently, people watch videos for 19 hours on average every week, which is almost double the average four years ago. And the trend is projected to increase as we continue into the future.

B2B Short Short Form Video Content Trends

Despite the increase in video consumption, preference leans more toward short form videos, which explains the rising popularity of TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, etc.

Generally, short-form videos promote higher engagement and information retention because the shorter the video, the easier the content is to consume and remember. For instance, short YouTube video ads have been wildly successful marketing tactics despite consumers’ general distaste for ads.

Traditionally, people don't like ads or promotional videos, and many would gladly click the skip ad option to resume viewing their content. However, marketers are finding the work around by creating short, engaging videos. They capitalize on the trend to deliver punchy adverts that are so engaging that the message has been delivered by the time the viewer decides to click away.

Now we understand a video should be short. But just how short are we talking?

Generally, there's no clear-cut definition of a short video. What's considered “short” varies depending on the platform. For instance, a short YouTube video may be too long for Instagram Reels. But on average, you should keep the video at 60 seconds across most platforms, except for YouTube, where you can aim for 2 minutes 30 seconds on the maximum end.

Why Is Video So Popular

Generally, video content captures the audience's attention for a longer amount of time than plain text. The viewers are more likely to remember a message delivered via video that’s easier to digest and understand. As a result, video is a crucial marketing tool in a marketer's arsenal.  

Let's explore some of the reasons in greater depth.

Shortening Attention Spans

According to recent studies, the human attention span has increasingly dropped over time, some believing it may even be shorter than that of the average goldfish. Now, you have about eight seconds to capture your audience's attention. Otherwise, if the content is not engaging enough, they’ll click away in search of better content. And with so much competing content available, the need to captivate the audience from the get-go should be every marketer's goal.

People Want Info Quickly

According to Wyzowl, the average length of a video watched on the internet is 2 minutes 42 seconds. In the same way you create skimmable text content to deliver vital information at a glance, the video message should be clear and concise.

As most viewers view a video for less than 3 minutes, keeping it short and clear allows you to deliver your message before they lose interest in the content.  

Best Way To Convey Visual Information

Humans are visual beings. Infographics, images, and videos all garner more engagement than text content alone, and videos perform better than any other form of visual content.

For example, it's easier to elaborate on a product's details through a video than with an image or infographic because listening to information leads to better recall than reading it.

Highly Shareable

Video content usually sees more social shares than any other type of media. People love sharing interesting videos with their followers and friends across social channels. Videos from YouTube and TikTok (which are specifically video platforms) are shared across platforms like Instagram and Facebook. In fact, video content attracts more engagement and shares than other types of content on pretty much every social media site.

B2B Video Marketing: Tell Your Story

So now that we’ve discussed the importance of including short-form videos in your marketing strategy, how do you create compelling B2B videos? Here are a few tips:

Find Your Voice

It's crucial to have a consistent brand voice in your communications. It defines your relationship with your customers as it helps them recognize you. This refers to the language and tone you use on your website, social media, emails, ads, etc. Essentially, the nature of your customers should influence the voice you choose for your communications, be it through copy or video.

Your videos should amplify your voice so customers can easily identify with your brand.

Emotional Appeals

Effective marketing is rooted in emotional connections with the target customers. An emotional connection has a magical effect as it makes the customers value about what you're saying. According to research, 70% of consumers feel closer to a company as a result of content marketing. Hence, the effort of creating emotional appeal is all the more worthwhile.

To begin with, you must understand your customers. What challenges push them to seek your product/service? What do they aim to achieve after purchasing the product? What are their possible limitations? In other words, before creating the video content, you need to have accurate buyer personas of your target audience.

Once you understand your customers, you should develop a compelling story to arouse their interest. However, you should keep it as authentic as possible. Otherwise, the customers can see through any half-truths, which is the easiest way to lose them and damage your brand appeal.

Example:

Snowflake's BI vs. IT data struggle video may be 2 minutes and 30 seconds long, but it's captivating enough to carry the viewer to the very end. Snowflake delivers the message so effectively that the audience can actually feel the relief their product offers.

Relevant Information

Categorizing your customers is crucial because it helps you craft relevant content. Even with a single product, you may need to create several buyer personas, as the customers have different motivations. It's important to tailor content for a specific buyer persona at a time to be effective.

In a nutshell, relevant information appeals to the right audience by addressing their specific need at a particular time, encouraging them to seek the solution you're offering.

Relatability Through the Hero's Journey

The objective of telling stories is that it enables you to put yourself in your audience's shoes and relate an experience, or journey, they're familiar with. The only difference is that your story doesn’t just follow the journey but offers a solution at the end. This approach grabs their attention as they see themselves in your story and makes it easier for them to imagine themselves using the solution you’ve laid out in front of them, just like the story's hero.

Example:

Lenovo did an impressive job with their Chad and Jane videos, which are crafted specifically for their target audience, office workers. With Chad representing an over-enthusiastic IT professional and Jane a multi-tasker (power-user), the videos showcase the laptop's sturdiness and ability to withstand common mishaps such as falls, spills, and human errors in a seriously relatable way.

Jump Into Short Form Video Production

Once you understand the basics of producing powerful videos, the next step is to dive in and create the content. Feeling unsure at first is normal, but you shouldn't let uncertainty hold you back. Just jump into production, and improve as you go.

You don't even need equipment or a video creation team. Often, all you need is a smart phone, and you can start creating content and engaging your audience.

There are dozens of user-friendly video editing apps and software you can use to create professional-grade edits. Popular tools include InShot, Adobe Premiere Rush, Splice, and KineMaster.

Distribute

Finally, you need to distribute the videos to your audience by sharing them on social media, on your website, via email, or maybe even all three. However, considering your distribution channels before creating the video is essential. Every channel presents video content differently, based on length and presentation. TikTok videos, for example, are filmed vertically, while LinkedIn videos need to be filmed horizontally.  Some videos can be ideal for multi-channel distribution, while others can be repurposed for each channel, depending on the audience.

Steel Croissant Is Here to Help

With the ever-shortening audience attention span, short-form video dominates other types of marketing content. With the average video viewership length being less than 3 minutes, short-form video is king. This bodes well with the fact that the weekly video viewership is increasing steadily.

With the tips we have shared, you can start creating excellent video content even without a team. But one thing you may soon realize is that consistently producing video content is time-consuming and choosing the right B2B video agency can make all the difference in creating compelling short-form video content for your business.

Nonetheless, you need not compromise your productivity. Here at, we ease the burden of digital marketing to help business leaders like you concentrate on growing their business.

Whether you're starting or established, we can assist with your projects. From creating growth strategies to preparing product launches, branding, and web development, we are your one-stop digital marketing solution and your go-to B2B video agency. Contact us today and let us enrich your marketing video production.