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B2B Brands Blast Off With YouTube: Tips for Manufacturing Marketing Using Video

B2B Brands Blast Off With YouTube: Tips for Manufacturing Marketing Using Video

YouTube isn’t just for funny footage of cats. The video platform is the #2 biggest search engine in the world, just behind Google (which owns it!) It processes 3 billion searches monthly: 100 hours of content are uploaded every minute!

Jul-Manufacturing-Marketing-Video.jpgYouTube is important for B2B and industrial manufacturing, too: It was listed as the #1 content marketing tactic in 2015’s B2B Manufacturing Content Marketing Report by the Content Management Institute, which reported 87% of manufacturing brands create videos.

 

 

But Wait: Why Should I Use the YouTube Platform for Manufacturing Marketing?

 

With YouTube, you’ll be on the same platform as some of the Internet’s most beloved entertainers. “How’s my B2B content going to be heard over the likes of Epic Rap Battles of History?” you ask. Worry not! You’re not competing with everything on YouTube: You’re using it to tap into your audience!

YouTube isn’t like TV: The audience is enthusiastic, active, and engaged, interacting with content they want when they want it. They’ll mute the ad before your video, sure ... then sit through your informative video with rapt attention.

Why? It all comes back to creating the content your audience wants, then being available when they feel like talking.

 

 

What Matters Most in YouTube Videos? Planning!

 

There are some people who can post a video like "David After Dentist" to YouTube, and get 100,000,000 likes. In B2B, your challenge is more complex: Your videos are an extension of your brand, so you need to have a plan. 

That begins by knowing how your video fits into your strategy.

Are you:

  • Trying to raise brand awareness? Thought leadership and storytelling videos can help.
  • Trying to generate leads? Company differentiator videos or testimonials are the answer.
  • Explaining or showing how your products work? Try out a step-by-step process video.
  • Informing customers about how your product’s solve their problems.
  • Capitalizing on manufacturing trends? Unique thought leadership content can help you.

Video content can do all this, but it’s a good idea for a video to have one or two goals. With that in mind, it’s time to look at your buyer personas and delve into how to communicate with your audience.

 

 

YouTube Lets You Take Your Audience for a Spin and Look Under the Hood

 

As a B2B leader, you probably have a good idea who your ideal customer is: Their age, gender, industry, geographical location, and concerns. Once you have your YouTube channel, it provides a nifty Demographics Report for you.

Some of the information in your Demographics Report:

  • Gender distribution
  • Age distribution
  • Top locations by views

No matter what demographic you’re targeting, your position in B2B gives you a secret weapon for designing your video’s “voice”: The communication style – and maybe even video content – produced by companies most likely to buy from you.

Most B2B decision-makers are looking for concise, informative content to help make choices about important purchases with limited time. But as Forbes notes, B2B content doesn’t have to be boring. Check out their article for great examples of clever videos.

No matter what communication style you use, always start with your buyer’s pain point!

 

 

Make Your Videos Memorable: Take a Lesson from a Pirate

 

Jul-Creative-youtube-make-a-hook.jpg

Captain Hook is the pirate with a hook for a hand, and to this day, you probably think of him when you think pirates. There may be imitators, but nothing beats the original. Like him, your videos also have a hook ... usually in a less literal sense. The idea of the hook is to make your video memorable: You only have 15 seconds to convince viewers to watch.

Attention spans are short, so keep these tips in mind:

  • State the video’s purpose clearly!
  • Make it compelling!
  • Keep it simple!
  • Include your contact info!

When people reach your industrial manufacturing or other B2B content on YouTube, they’re already engaged in research. They can pause, rewind, and share content in one click. Your role is to develop something they’ll devote full attention to, even if it’s for 60 seconds!

 

 

Nothing Succeeds Like Success: Measuring and Tracking for Fun (and Profit!)

 

What metrics should you be tracking to know you’re on the right ... track? Most people start and end with the number of views their video gets, but this is misleading – especially in manufacturing marketing.

  • For Brand Awareness: Number of views is a start, but also look at your percentage of audience reached and your share of search traffic on the keywords relevant to your brand.
  • For Lead Generation: Take a holistic view that includes number of clicks, subscribers, likes, shares, percentage of core audience subscribed, and total time spent watching.

YouTube might seem complex, but start with a plan and it can be rocket fuel for your brand! It's one of the biggest manufacturing trends out there.

 

Related Blog Posts:

Learn more about marketing your Manufacturing company with the free eBook below.  

 

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