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Called To Action is a podcast where the latest trends and research in B2B marketing are investigated and discussed. At the end of each episode, you’ll get ideas for tactics to use in your company’s marketing. What action will you take next?
This podcast, produced by Aimtal, a digital marketing agency, features the company’s CEO and Co-founder, Janet Mesh, and Growth Marketing Lead, Tucker Delaney-Winn, as the hosts, along with special guest speakers and industry thought leaders.
Yeah. Let's
let's go deeper. Deeper into the funnel.
That is a red alert.
That's like alarm
bells should be going off.
That these are hot leads
that should be being engaged.
Hello, fellow marketers and listeners.
Thanks for tuning in
to this episode of Call to Action.
I'm Janet Marsh, CEO of Aimtal.
Aimtal is an integrated marketing agency.
We specialize in B2B
marketing for product companies.
And super excited to have you here.
To our show.
So call to action in each episode,
we analyze and discuss the latest trends,
research and B2B marketing where it is
pretty much break it down.
Get into the weeds,
have a lot of fun, and we'll
conclude every episode
with one call to action.
So that means you're going
to get ideas today for tactics
you can use in your company's marketing.
So I'm very excited to be joined
by my co-host Tucker Delaney.
When growth marketing leader Aimtal,
and Dylan Rudd, our integrated
marketing strategist at Aimtal.
So in this episode, we're going to talk
about all things video marketing,
especially the different types of videos
your company should invest in. Why?
Video needs to be incorporated
to every stage of the marketing funnel.
How to create a successful integrated
marketing program with video at its core.
The importance of thought leaders
in your video.
And finally, we are going to share
some examples of videos we produce.
I am tall,
and how our clients are, investing
in video and how it's really been helping
to generate everything
across the funnel from awareness,
consideration, and of course,
the holy grail of conversions.
So whether this is your first episode
you've tuned into before.
We would love it.
If you like and subscribe
to our Aimtal YouTube channel.
We are going to be releasing
new call to action episodes every month.
So before we get into this episode
and you can, hear Tucker and Dylan
share all the knowledge,
I actually wanted to give you all a call
to action
at the beginning of this episode.
We're switching it up a little bit.
We'll give another one at the end.
At this moment,
if you're wherever you're watching,
would love for you to take a moment
right in the comments of this video
and answer the question, how are you
leveraging video for your company in 2024?
And what type of videos have you had
success with and will continue to produce?
And of course, if you have any other ideas
for areas that you want us to deep dive,
other topics, let us know as well
that will really help us
make sure we're creating the content
that matters to you.
So it's time to dive in to of Everything
I just covered,
we got a lot of ground to cover.
I'm super excited.
So, Dylan, let's let's kick off with you.
I'm so excited for everyone to meet you.
If they haven't already.
But you've had this build our video
production approach
processes and strategies for clients
over the past three years at Aimtal.
So super excited to have you here.
We're going
to get into a lot of good stuff.
So to kick us off,
let's do as marketers do.
So have some stories.
Can you tell folks who you are,
what you do at Aimtal?
Or do you.
Yeah,
100% that super excited to be here
as well.
As Dana mentioned, I'm Dylan Wright.
I've been curating short
and long form content for clients
for the past five or so years.
A lot of that just involves,
you know, really identifying areas
where clients can incorporate video
into their content strategies
to help
to support their goals and everything,
and then also helping
to bring those ideas to life by, you know,
concepting, storyboarding, facilitating
recording sessions, all that fun stuff.
So definitely very excited
for this deep dive.
I'm super excited and passionate
about video content as a whole.
I definitely think that the demand for
it has been rising a lot, as people
really start to realize
the true value of video content
and like the flexibility with it,
the different creative options
for, you know, showcasing your products
and your services.
So, yeah, definitely excited
for today's deep dive in.
Appreciate you guys. Yeah.
Yeah.
And just to reiterate, we will be sharing
like the purpose of a call to action to
is to bring forward
like research reports and studies
that have been done
by other organizations.
So we're going to be sharing
a lot of that data and information.
And then of course, like our experience
with video marketing,
as an agency for our clients.
So, that's we're excited
to share all that knowledge.
So before we have Tucker, I guess I have a
I always have a curiosity question,
for my primarily
for anyone who's on the show.
My question to you, Dylan,
just to get a little bit
more of your personality
and get to know you a bit more as
what was your first experience
with creating videos, like what was what's
like when I asked you that question, like,
what's one of your first memories?
Oh, that's a good question.
That's a good question.
I think the first time for me
was in high school,
probably like sophomore year, junior year.
There was like this
organization called, like the Business
Professionals of America.
They would have
you do like what you did on high school.
So the whole is.
Yeah. Shout out to VPA.
It was a fun time for sure.
Like it gives you like there's like
a lot of different contests and stuff.
I am competitive I will say I was
that was the my first job.
I'm like I definitely would love to,
you know what this looks like
in terms of marketing,
where I can get involved
and there's just a lot of
like different competitions
you can do, like the state level,
going to national level, etc..
And then there's like team
and individual contests.
So one of my friends, was doing
like the video contest
he was in, like in the video space
well before me,
but he asked me to
just be a part of the team, help
get the script together
and everything like that.
And every year
they give you kind of a prompt.
I want to say it was something like,
you know, make a two minute video,
about like,
you know, recycling initiatives
in your city or something like that,
like you're supposed to do, like a PSA.
So it was a where were you?
Oh, I wasn't there.
Yeah. In Delaware.
So this is in bear, Delaware.
You know, very quiet
town, East coast and stuff.
But yeah, this was supposed to be like
a two minute PSA and, like,
involve our teachers,
put a script together, put a storyboard
together, just like the whole nine.
And I was it definitely a very fun
experience, like just being kind of like,
behind the camera and getting a sense
of what goes into making,
like, a two minute video.
You know, you see that on TV all the time,
and I'm like, oh, like they just filmed
put it together, whatever.
But really seeing how meticulous it is,
getting the different clips
and splicing them all together and,
you know, cutting out the arms
and the eyes like it was
it was definitely
a really interesting time.
So that's the only
difference to make for sure.
Amazing.
Well, can't wait to talk more.
I love how you said I'm very competitive.
So let's we'll share some tactics where
folks can can compete with their videos.
You got a mastermind here undone.
All right. Amazing.
Over to you, Tucker
I like please introduce
yourselves to the audience,
our co-hosts of Call to Action.
I'm going to ask the same question
so you can share your story, too.
What was your first experience
with creating video?
I was like, when I ask you the question,
what's your, first memory?
Hello? Hello. Yes. Thank you. Janet.
So I'm Tucker Delaney,
win growth marketing lead at Aimtal
driving demand leads and revenue
for B2B technology companies.
Dylan, I just want to clarify.
So in high school, you were it
was a business professional association.
What was the BPA. What are that same.
Oh is it professionals of America business
professionals in America.
Even even cooler.
So even Clark
and you made a video about recycling.
Yeah. Okay.
So my first experience, I'd say I
mine was probably
a little more professional than yours
and probably a little more better
for the social good than yours was.
I have to two of my best friends.
We're all dads
now. I'm just kind of crazy.
But about 20 years ago, we were in my
friend's basement making music videos.
So really help in society, you know,
really getting out there causing, I think,
a, I think recycling went up by like ten
after we, made these music videos, but,
Yeah.
So, one, I think the first one we ever did
was Eminem's Lose Yourself.
We we felt like his music
video didn't really do it,
so we wanted to make our own,
and I wanted to tell you guys that I was
there starring as Eminem, the rapper.
But, lo and behold, I was a backup dancer.
Me and my friends,
I think, found a pair of crutches
and we improvised a choreographed dance,
while my other friend, rapped Eminem
lyrics.
So labor like the beginning days of,
like, user generated content,
then user generated content.
You know, one of the pioneers of there.
And I like to think that today, Janet,
I'm still,
a backup dancer with a crutch
supporting your marketing leadership.
Maybe me and Dylan are here, you know,
just doing our in our discipline.
So, did you use a camcorder?
Oh, yeah, we had a camcorder.
You know, the running around. Yeah.
Oh, yes. Exactly. Yeah, yeah. That that,
that.
Yeah. That was that's
where the video passion came through.
But, clearly, Dylan,
you were doing much more
impressive things,
which I'm not surprised about at all.
Janet,
we got to bring you into the mix here.
What's your
what was your reaction to the video?
I feel like mine. Maybe.
So my first experience would,
I think, like my, like, strongest memory
where I was like, oh,
we're actually taking this seriously was
in first year of producing videos
at an after school program.
As a kid,
I think I was probably like 13 years old.
There's
if you know, of like Boys and Girls Club,
there's I grew up in Boston and Dorchester
neighborhood of Boston,
and they have like an after school program
where you could you could like
they taught you how to, like, create
videos, and produce them like on iMovie.
I think it was it must have been on
like the Macs where it was like
the Big Mac, you know,
and then you got like my movie and stuff.
So we just I don't even remember
what the topic of the video was.
Just it might have
I feel like I could have been somewhat
of like a music video too,
or like one of our friends, like
he kind of had a band, but not really.
But it was also just like us,
like doing some weird shooting
around the neighborhood.
I don't think it's on anymore.
And then.
But yeah, so that was that's
where I was kind of referencing.
I had a lot of fun, like actually like
going into, like the, like computer lab
and like producing the video
and but it was fun to be like, oh,
and about it was also the same
kind of camcorder was like flipped up
and you're going around and like,
loaned it to us. It's pretty cool.
And you're like a teenager
and you got access
to that type of equipment and everything.
So that's one of my first memories.
I would say,
yeah, I mean, like actually producing it.
Yeah.
And you got into the editing to your.
Yeah.
There is an embarrassing video of me.
I think we're going to I'll have
to find these videos and maybe share them.
But there's another video.
I remember we one of my friends in
high school, he was applying to Emerson.
So we were like,
recorded a video for like him to like,
submit into like his college application.
And we always wanted to create a TV show
on high school, but we didn't.
I went to Boston Public High School.
Unfortunately,
there's not a lot of funding like classic.
So but we were we did record like a video,
of like
it was pretty much the like, commercial
for a potential, like,
new show and high school.
So I could probably find that one
that one's pretty funny.
Oh, yeah.
Wow. And those are credit.
Well, we can recreate a call to action,
create a commercial one day, maybe
bring up the camcorders.
Yeah, we got the experience exactly as
bringing it back to our more
recent history.
So, Dylan, one of the first big projects
that you, me and Janet
all got involved in was building
a thought leadership series
for, one of our clients
in the cybersecurity space.
Since then, you've been spearheading
strategy and production for video projects
for pretty much every email client for,
what, three years plus now?
So I'd love to really kick it over to you
as the video guru and expert
and just hear
what are some of the most popular
and effective types of videos
that you're seeing today, and why is that?
Yeah, absolutely. No. Great question.
There actually was a recent report
from Wistia.
They just released a 2024 state
of video report and it dives. Yes.
You're pulling it up, Janet.
There's a lot of really great takeaways
in here.
Just around that same exact topic.
I know they surveyed around
like 2000 different professionals, analyze
activity from 100,000 different businesses
that used their platform.
And they pulled all that together.
And there's some just really strong
insights and learnings.
Which really just digs
into exactly what you're talking about.
Tucker.
Like where people
are focusing their energy
when it comes to video content.
And as you can see here, interestingly
enough,
the number one form of video content
that companies are creating
and they need to create
in 2024 is product videos.
That's definitely reflected
a lot in the work
that we've been doing for clients as well.
Again, you know, with video
being such a strong, like, relevant
visual opportunity, like,
it's a really great way for companies
to showcase firsthand exactly
what their product
and service does in real time.
So, that's definitely been on the rise.
We definitely seeing that across
a lot of our client projects as well.
Following up with number two, we have
educational videos and online courses.
Just, you know, giving,
companies and businesses the opportunity
to position themselves as a resource,
as a source of information.
A lot of, organizations
and a lot of our clients,
they really need to that heavily as well.
And then in the number three slot,
we have webinars and live events.
We know that was really on the rise,
around like the pandemic in 2020.
And that continues to stay
in that top three section as well,
even going into 2024 and beyond.
Interestingly
enough, social media videos has now
and then the number four slot, which might
be a bit surprising at first glance.
But, you know, at the same time, a lot of
our clients have been investing more
in, you know, more of the webinar space,
the educational video space,
more of those, like evergreen
pieces of content that people
can revisit a little bit more long form
in that sense as well.
Social media
video content is still very much relevant,
but it's just not right there in that top
slot,
as it might have been a few years ago.
So it definitely was like seen.
That's a great observation. Done.
I think I was surprised to see this
from there in the Wistia
studio video report from this year
that social media videos is in that top
spot of where people are investing, which,
you know, when folks think of
when you think of video, you immediately
think of social media videos
like Instagram Reels, TikTok videos.
How do you like
get that, create that viral content.
But this color shows that companies,
especially B2B brands,
can are in getting a lot of value,
kind of around like long form content too.
It seems not just, you know, a 32nd clip.
I think that's valuable,
but where you're you're investing
in product videos like the educational
explainer videos, webinars.
I mean, we're doing this type of content,
right?
It is long form.
So I think we'll get more into it
for sure.
And a little
and a little bit of how you can kind of
take that long form content and slice
and dice it.
But yeah,
definitely an interesting trend here
that, you know,
social videos important, but not the top
the top priority potentially.
Exactly right.
And just as you mentioned
there is less space for it.
But it's
not like the main top of mind thing
for a lot of these different companies.
A lot of the clients
that we've been working with as well.
And as you mentioned, it's not just for
like social media engagement and virality.
There's like actual use cases
to, you know, being able to build out
a suite of different resources
for your customer base to use.
That's that's been like, hugely valuable
for, a lot of our clients for sure.
And actually within that same
with your report, as you can see here,
they found businesses
are really digging into video
to generate leads and drive sales.
It's not just about that awareness
phase anymore.
And just like catching eyes
for the first time,
we're really looking at more of like that
middle and bottom of funnel as well
when it comes to video content,
which is really interesting.
Yeah, I look at that
like it's the chart here.
It says, we were looking, this graph,
and the pie chart in like 38%,
like the biggest
piece of the pie is their primary goal
is to generate leads and drive sales.
And then social media engagement are
two great celebrity engagement followers.
That is an 8% piece of the pie
for the marketing goal
for creating this video content.
So that's that's fascinating.
That's awesome.
Absolutely. Yeah.
The landscape is definitely shifting
a little bit again, as people
get a better sense of exactly
where video content
can be long into strategy, you know,
shifting a little bit.
So yeah.
Yeah, true that the trend is
definitely moving in the right direction.
I'm excited about this.
I think that it really helps to show
that like what we're always trying to make
the connection around is, marketing apps
is does contribute to the success.
And of a of an organization is,
you know, video isn't
just for awareness and entertainment.
And of course,
you want to bring that into it,
but it's truly moving the ROI, like your
return on investment, for companies.
So that brings me to
we always refer to this, report as well
when we're building
like video strategies
or just any integrated marketing strategy.
And I think it's just a very
fascinating context to layer in here.
So in another report,
it's it is from 2022, but I think
a lot of it is pretty relevant.
I'm hoping that they come out with
maybe another one at the end of 2024, but
it's a benchmark report by Demand science
on the B2B tech buyer's journey.
So in other call to action episodes,
we've actually, like dug into this report.
Even more of, the how complex,
and non-linear the buyer journey is.
What we're seeing here, on screen
is that B2B
but like buyers are consuming
and they, they do
want video,
throughout kind of their journey
of identifying a product,
trying to assess, like,
do we want this new solution, new, vendor.
But on top of that,
this first graph here says like time
spent researching
before talking to a sales rep.
It's the top one is 3 to 4 months.
So folks are still going online
wanting to find this video content,
other content, not just video cards,
but we're focused on video today.
But as you can see here,
like what's the type of media is
that makes you aware of a new solution
or new vendor?
Fascinating. Facebook is still a top one.
But then second in line is YouTube,
followed by LinkedIn, Twitter,
company blogs, and then the final one
there thought leadership or demo webinars.
So just think of how much you can
infuse video,
bring your like brand personality, explain
kind of what you're what you're not,
just like what your product is.
I think we saw in the Wistia report
that everyone's really focusing on that,
that product video,
but also it's important to create content
that's, you know, that I think I'm excited
to talk a little bit in a few, minutes
about like that thought leadership content
and bringing people from your organization
or like, customers
to speak to these things is, you know,
there's a lot of ways that you can,
leverage video and different kind
of tactics around the creative, for sure.
And then, yeah,
I think another one we had here
from that same benchmark report,
is, you know, B2B buyers,
they're they actually found
that they're consuming video assets
all throughout the purchase path.
So that buyer journey, 70%
said that they are engaging in
like want video.
That was actually from its looks like
it was from a Google report within this,
larger report by demand signs.
So I bet anything
I would imagine that's over the past
two years clearly has increased.
Oh, absolutely.
Oh, I love that.
We're really getting my gears turning here
that I know
I'm like,
let's like parachute into the funnel.
Into the funnel.
Yeah, I think this is great. I love that
we're bringing in the buyer journey.
I love that we're starting to talk
about the different stages.
So bringing in Dylan,
I want to get into that context
a little bit of the B2B buyer journey.
And it's amazing to see that 70% of buyers
are consuming video across the funnel.
But let's break that down a little bit.
Let's start with the awareness stage
at the very top of the funnel.
Dylan,
which videos should brands be focusing on
when they're trying to engage
folks at the awareness stage?
Yeah, for sure.
And I think, you know, even just speaking
to that previous slide as well,
it really is nice to see B2B companies
dive into this a little bit more
because there is so much opportunity,
again, when it comes to video,
across the entire funnel,
as we can see here, you know,
there are different formats
that you can utilize,
for the type of funnel
all the way to the bottom.
But you're talking about awareness,
definitely vertical social first video
content,
across your priority social media channels
is the first one that comes to mind.
Again, as we mentioned before, like,
yes, social has kind of moved down
a little bit.
In terms of where people are investing
a lot of their, their time and attention,
but it still has a really
it's like a core element of your approach
to social regard.
It's like that should be part
of your always on strategy to just kind of
have video content baked in across
all of your priority channels and priority
channels, just really focusing on
where your audience is actually consuming,
engaging content.
That's the big one for sure.
So for B2B brands,
as we saw before, LinkedIn, YouTube,
those are really great areas
to zero in on when it comes to,
the top of your funnel and finding good
video content, just really meeting them
where they are, you know, is really
the name of the game there.
But yeah.
What do you do
if we can repurpose videos across channels
you really do want to focus on,
like those key areas where you're getting
the most engagement with your audience.
So I definitely would recommend digging
into vertical social first content,
especially with YouTube actually.
YouTube shorts. Yeah.
What Janet like is rising in popularity
like crazy has been integrated.
Yeah.
When you open the app on mobile,
like you're brought into YouTube shorts
versus like, I'm curious
because it's a mobile experience
with the vertical videos,
but they're really prioritizing.
Actually, LinkedIn just is rolling out.
I have the beta on my LinkedIn app.
Some people,
I don't think they have it yet, but they
they're rolling out vertical video
on LinkedIn as well.
Absolutely.
It's definitely becoming a lot bigger
in popularity.
Just, you know, think we have TikTok reels
and everything like that.
I think a lot of people are seeing
that value across other channels as well,
just because of that mobile
first approach, for sure.
Like it is very valuable.
It's very accessible and everything.
One thing
I would say though, on that topic,
because I've been seeing a lot of this
with,
you know, various recent trends and stuff
we have like the Brett Summers
and everything like that.
I think there's definitely opportunity
to dig into that with B2B.
Like, I don't think that B2B marketers
should shy away from digging into trends,
because, you know, just in terms
of like the relevance and being part
of like the social conversations,
I think there's a lot of opportunity
across those worlds and things.
But as B2B marketers, it is important to
it's it's a balancing act,
you know, like you want to make sure
that it makes sense for the brand as well.
And the way that you tell yourself
to these different things,
you don't want to just do a trend
to say that you did the trend, like
just check something off of the box.
Like,
I think there's there's
definitely opportunity
to lean into trends, especially
when it comes to social first video.
But just be mindful of that
and kind of find that balance between,
you know, participating in the trend
while still making sure it stays true to
your company's core values.
Spot on.
Do you want to
do you want to jump in here and talk about
I can bring this back
the the middle of the funnel stage?
I think this is an interesting
kind of next stop
of we're seeing the type of videos.
I especially I'm a the one of sorts here
webinars, spinner videos
and thought leadership videos. Yes.
I think definitely when it comes to the,
like explainer video realm,
educational videos and things,
especially the animated fun as well,
because it's like you can do that
visually.
For those of you who work with like,
motion designers and things,
I would say,
you know, just based off of the work
we've been doing with our recent clients,
for sure, positioning your brand
is like a trusted source of information.
It goes a really long way when building
long term relationships with audiences
and when, you know, fostering existing,
leads as well within your funnel.
I know, you know, in recent years,
blog posts would definitely primarily
serve this purpose, maybe within like,
the past five, ten years.
Like there's a lot of
we need to blog posts in order to like
increase your SEO performance and things,
but videos have been allowing
that same opportunity as well.
Again, as you mentioned, Janet,
with YouTube shorts being so prominently
shown on your feed,
even with link you data as well.
Like they're always going to prioritize
those new features and make sure those
in the forefront
in order to encourage that adoption. So
yeah, that's
another great opportunity
to improve the SEO performance.
And really dig into that consideration
phase a little bit as well.
Once people are already aware
of your company, what they do,
they can introduce
that other layer of like,
oh, we're able to actually serve
as an ongoing resource for you,
you know, explaining different industry
trends.
For example,
it doesn't always have to be attached
just to your product or service,
like even being able to dig into
what's going on within the industry
as a whole is a big thing as well,
because it just shows your customer base
like,
oh, like they actually know
what they're talking about.
This is the company that I trust,
you know,
they know exactly what my pain points are
and how to how to address them.
That's
just a really great way to foster that,
that relationship
with the middle of your funnel.
Yeah.
You want to be that be be seen as,
like, expert in your industry,
in your fields and that go to source
for that information.
I think that's where it has nice
that thought leadership content.
I'm sure we're going to show
some examples later.
But I think anytime too
you can bring people into
be that like face on the feed
to like kind of speak on behalf
and share that kind of like human side
and, make that connection for folks.
If you're watching video,
you still want to feel that connection.
That is valuable.
And I think we're seeing the same. Yeah.
With the webinars, too, because I think
that's another aspect of like,
the relationship building the connections
and things like that's like a prime way
to really connect and engage
directly with your audience and build,
foster that sense of community
because you're all in the same space live.
You can actually have those Q&A days.
You can actually have to ask you
questions directly
and show them in real time
exactly what your stuff does.
So, yeah, because middle of funnel.
Yeah, we're seeing a lot of webinar
activity too.
And then bottom up, we have it here.
Bottom of funnel.
Webinars are a really effective way
of convincing folks and converting them,
if you can like, weave in
a demo, I think some I think sometimes,
you know, people really want that value.
But if you can give a little bit
of a quick demo not to overly salesy,
I think is the kind of angle to it.
But it ties back to that kind of like
weaving in that kind of hybrid of
like the thought leadership content
with webinars, you can put in like use
cases, explain how you know your company
solve something for another company
and how that can be relevant
to folks listening in.
That actually brings us to another level,
to just bringing all the research
back to this 2022
benchmark report by Demand Science.
They and we actually have
a couple of others to share from,
I want to I want to I want to go
into the webinar direction for a moment.
Because I just
I think this is actually really exciting
to hear
that webinars are still very effective.
I find that there's a there's a perception
that they don't work
and they're not effective.
And I'm based on the research
that we've discovered
and that's coming out, there's
this report, but then there's actually
showing a moment
in on 24, digital engagement report.
And if anything, actually webinars
are growing in popularity
and they're even more effective.
So I'm excited to debunk the misconception
that webinars don't work.
I think that we're just seeing across
the board that they're so effective.
So as you can see here,
the most valuable content.
The question is like,
what's the most valuable content
when researching possible solutions
or vendors?
Number one spot webinars and or podcasts
and then followed by website content,
thought leadership content.
And the third spot, like there you go.
It's everything we're talking about here.
So I think,
you know, right on the money there
and then as I mentioned, the on 24 report,
this is like just to kind of layer
on, as I was just saying, like
this is a this is this year
digital engagement benchmark report,
20% increase in average interactions
per webinar.
People are actually like engaging
for up to an entire hour, like 53 minutes
and then over 200 or an average of 200,
webinar attendees per webinar.
And I think obviously the aggregate
and take the average of all their,
you know, their customers.
But this is this is pretty fascinating.
So I think we could spend a moment to like
I guess even a question is like,
are there ways like people are doing it
more effective than the other?
Like I, I'm curious what you Tucker think.
And then Dylan like why
why it's still growing in popularity.
Why this is so effective.
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, these are amazing to see.
I mean, like you said, just looking here
at this, at this chart from on 24,
53 minutes being the average duration
of webinar engagement, incredible people
that we can time out of their busy days
to come and learn about your product.
Watch demo. Right. That's that's amazing.
So much of the funnel.
I mean, we're going to talk
about the funnel again,
but you think about that
consideration stage.
And if you can have people spend this time
learning about your product,
that's a that's a really great signal.
But to a larger point,
the reason that we love webinars
so much is that they can be a fantastic
anchor for integrated campaigns.
They're really a goldmine for that,
and that we're going to get into what
what I mean by that a little bit more.
But one thing just off the bat
is that webinars serve multiple functions
or can serve multiple functions
in a way that almost
no other marketing asset can do.
I'd love to dive into that,
you know, in a couple different ways
from a few different angles.
But if we just think about our buyers
for a second,
webinars are a mechanism to do two things
that I think every marketer should be
trying to do show your product success
and show your product in action.
A webinar can do that in a way
that I really can't think of.
Another marketing asset
that can that can do that as well.
You think about from the product success
side, showing use cases, showing benefits.
As a bonus, if you can ever get a customer
of yours to join a webinar, be a guest.
That's incredible. Social proof.
That's a way for them to come on
and validate your product.
Verify the information that's
being shared, be seen as a trusted source.
We've done that at Aimtal
a number of times with clients,
and it works incredibly well.
And then on the other side, as you were
mentioning, Janet showing showing demos,
that's a way
to show your product and action.
And if you can show in the space
where it's being used, how
it's being used, how it's driving
success, that's just, again,
an incredible thing that you know,
really can't be done in any other way.
So that's just off the top.
Some reasons why I think webinars work
really well.
Let's again get into the funnel.
And Dylan, I want to bring it back to you
to to talk awareness.
We talk about webinars,
driving thought leadership.
Would love to just hear
a little bit from you
about how you think about webinars at the
top of the funnel and what they can do.
Yeah, 100%.
I think you're spot on with your analysis
of just the ability to really engage
with your, customer base and, you know,
have that like one on one, not one on one,
but like real time interaction,
I guess you would say
when it comes to the webinar content,
one thing I do want to, point out as well,
when it comes to like
the registration rate, because I think
sometimes it can be discouraging for,
you know, maybe the first,
second time around,
if you have X amount of registrations
and then not as many like actual attendees
for the webinar itself.
One thing to keep in mind
when it comes to the Legion angle is that,
you know, just that initial registration
alone is a great sign,
when it comes to lead scoring,
that's like a couple of points
in the right direction as well,
because I already shows
a sign of interest.
You know, they're really curious about
what you have to say, the information
that you have to offer
and things like that.
So even if someone does register
and they don't end up attending,
don't take that
as a sign of like disinterest at all.
I think there's still a lot of
people will sign up to get it.
I do that all the time.
I'm like, I can't attend that,
but I know I'm going to get the webinar
and the content afterward,
and then I'll watch it on my own time.
But so, but you want it hit
both experiences like,
give people the content
so that they can consume it in the ways
that they like, when they can,
and how they want to,
I think that that follow up
is like an important piece of it.
Yeah.
Yeah, 100% if you're able to.
Yeah. Do you think?
Oh. Go on.
Oh, no, I was just going to say like,
if you're able to even deliver with that
on demand aspect as well, that there's
like longevity to that as well.
It's like, okay, like I know that I'm
going to be able to get these resources.
Maybe
I will be able to attend the next one.
I guess you're on their radar now,
you know.
So definitely. Right?
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah.
And I think also it kind of what's
interesting to hear about
this is like the average duration
of a webinar engagements 53 minutes. One.
That's a long time.
Like they
I think that is a cool
like debunks a little bit
especially because there's like obviously
a younger generation like our generation
and younger are the decision makers
of organizations like they're moving up
in their career in their ranks.
And but it doesn't mean
just because, like the TikTok generation
is entering the workforce,
that they don't want longer form content.
I think that's what's kind of cool.
It's like actually like
you should create that content too.
But there's still value in
creating this longer form webinar content.
These types of videos.
And then we'll talk about
like how you can kind of repurpose
that in a bunch of different ways.
Awesome.
So I guess back to back to the question,
a little bit of like,
I'll bring us back, because I kind of
put us on a tangent as hard as I do.
But let's bring back to that funnel
like that awareness, stage.
Dylan, I'm just like, using this
as a mechanism for thought leadership.
And then we we found another, kind of,
report, and star.
That was really interesting.
I'll pull it up here.
So this is, B2B thought leadership impact
study by Edelman, and LinkedIn.
So they, kind of did a little bit
of an analysis on the importance
of thought leadership and content.
If you want to speak to this a bit.
Yeah, no, for sure.
I thought this was a really interesting
study as well.
They point out that, you know,
64% of bias points in organizations
thought leadership content as a source of,
you know, just understanding
the level of trustworthiness,
and helping them
to assess the capabilities and see of,
different organizations, products,
services that they're considering.
So I think that's definitely something
really, really valuable to keep in mind.
Just the idea
of leveraging your organization's leaders
and putting them at the forefront.
That's a really great way
to, build trust with your, target audience
and also just really humanize yourself
and your company as well.
I think it's really, really helpful,
as you mentioned a little bit earlier,
the idea of faces on the feed,
that's something we noticed a lot
within social content, like being able
to have people kind of from the center
on, on people's timelines.
That has a lot more stopping power
than just like,
you know, a nice polished graphic or,
you know, a nice mockup of something,
just being able to really have
that like one on one connection,
making eye contact with your audience
and things through video
has proven to be very, very valuable,
as we can see with this study as well.
Even on the other side here, the idea
of bias, saying that thought leadership
is an important, like proof point
to show that an organization
genuinely understands can solve
your specific business challenges.
I think that's really important
to keep in mind as well,
just being able
to put your organization's leaders
front and center
and have them explain exactly,
you know, what their value prop is
and how they can help their audience.
I think that's that does wonders
for just being able to earn that trust
and credibility with your audience. So
going into like the kind of consideration
decision
middle to bottom of the funnel, like what
what are you what have you seen.
Like what's kind of
what's your take on this.
Yeah, let's let's go
deeper, deeper into the funnel.
So real of the rabbit holes and love them.
So when we think about consideration
in the decision stages of the funnel,
from my perspective,
if folks are showing up,
I was going to say spending 30 minutes.
But now from that earlier part of their
spending 53 minutes out of their day
learning about your product, watching the
demo, asking questions, leaving comments.
I want to pause here and give a shout out
to, on 24 and that webinar platform
and the capabilities that they have
in order to track that engagement,
in order to serve up really easy ways
to follow up and take action
and even subscribe for a demo
or free trial right on the platform.
We're about to start using that,
for a webinar series.
I'm very excited for the opportunities.
But if
folks are doing that, that is a red alert.
That's like alarm
bells should be going off, that
these are hot leads
that should be being engaged.
And I want to give a quick story.
We did a bunch of webinars
for a client over the past few years,
and in one instance,
we had a person attend.
They stayed for the entire webinar.
I think it was about an hour long.
The very next day, a deal was created,
by that person, in his company.
A couple months later,
that deal gets closed for multiple
hundreds of thousands of dollars.
You look back,
and I don't think that's a coincidence
that a person attends the webinar one day
and the very next day a deal is closed.
Something happened there
that literally moved. Wow.
Yeah.
So, you know,
is that going to happen every single time?
No, but we have to be on the lookout
for those things.
And we have to be aware of the fact that
people attending webinars are engaging.
Are some of your best, best prospects
that are showing
huge signals of purchase intent?
So I really think about that
from the consideration stage.
And here we are looking at some examples.
So this is, this is the client that you're
just explaining the story.
Yeah. Voice like, client of ours.
So we, ran webinars for them
for almost four years.
Did a lot of, partnered.
They have an integration with SAP.
They, have clients like Nissan, lots
of different verticals and industries.
I mentioned a little bit earlier
that I think a really smart thing
that that logic would do is
bring current customers on to do webinars
with them to then, share, you know,
how is this product working for you?
What's your story,
what's the specific challenges
that you're facing
and how did the three see
logic cloud contact center solution
start to solve that for you?
As I mentioned earlier,
these stories, are incredibly powerful
for validating your brand
and your product.
But there's a there's a bigger piece here
that we're going to get into
when we talk about we've been talking
about the customer and the buyer so much.
What about the operations side?
So this book that Janet Metz
shared with the next CMO
shout out to these guys.
Yeah, Peter
Mahoney, Todd Todaro, Dan Faulkner,
I hope I said your name is great,
but I actually email that to to Dylan.
This isn't to become required. Oh my God.
My mind's on my, next to my couch.
That's right.
Like the old Elijah reading.
Oh, no. Oh, nice. Yeah.
It's going to be
hands on to the Antle team.
This is become required
reading for everyone.
I think starting with this book
right here,
it's either chapter one or chapter two.
But one of the biggest things that happens
that marketing leaders are facing,
especially in larger companies,
redundancy, multiple different
marketing teams, creating either
the same assets or doing a ton of work.
Spending hours
and hours and hours and hours
creating marketing assets from scratch.
We talked about webinars being an anchor,
and I think what what we really mean
by that.
The anchor for integrated campaigns
is that you're
capturing a conversation here
that can now be replicated
into and repurposed
into multiple different assets.
So just thinking about what we did
for three, see logic,
take a webinar, you convert that
into an on demand webinar.
So to your point, Janet,
the folks who don't attend live
can capture that later, can in their own
time.
You take a landing page, you're now
promoting, your webinar on a landing page.
Make that gated
so that people have to convert.
You get their lead information.
Now we're off to the races.
Now we can promote this as a lead magnet.
And and we can also serve it
in emails to nurture existing leads
during that consideration stage.
I think when we start using webinars
as that anchor
for integrated marketing campaigns,
not only is it a mechanism to engage
customers in a lot of different mediums
and formats, whichever one they're using,
meet them where they are, but it also
it really eases the operations.
It really helps your team,
you know, focus around
a certain asset and tell a story
and a bunch of different ways.
But not having to cross multiple channels.
Yeah, like, oh,
we heard about a nice little graphic.
Just,
give a visual of what we're talking about.
But like webinar is, like at the center,
you're taking in
that content, you can bring in a customer
if you can, or a thought leader.
And then you
repurpose that content
through the campaign and all of these ways
actually, now what I'm looking at is it's
almost like that like hub and spoke
approach
to like campaign and repurposing content.
But this is what we think of it as like
an integrated approach when we talk about
integrated marketing and campaigns,
this is how we think about it's like,
make sure that it's
you have a consistent story, content,
information sharing across
channels, across all of your marketing.
Like you said,
I go back to, you don't have redundancies,
don't have like a bunch
of different messages
going out to your audience
all at one time.
Like it's confusing. Yeah, absolutely.
Stay on message.
And by the way, Dylan, you,
points for you mentioning lead
scoring a little while ago,
but I know there's
a lot of marketers out there
who probably have point based lead
scoring systems where
depending on the number of engagements
we've talked about,
what do you do at this stage of the funnel
and then that stage and then that stage.
But also, what do you do to literally move
folks down the funnel a lot of teams
use sophisticated
lead scoring point based systems.
What everybody should be doing here
is assigning,
points and scores to each of these
different marketing activities.
Now with an integrated campaign,
and we start getting people to register
for a webinar, assign a point to that,
get people, attend a webinar, assign
points to that, visit
a landing page, open an email.
You know, read a blog article. You are.
The more you get people to do these
things, you are racking up the points.
And at a certain point,
if you have a threshold
that tips them into an mql or an email,
this is a fantastic way to do that
and literally move people down the funnel.
So this is really how it's done.
I love this.
What's interesting about that though
too, is you need all this content
before someone even converts.
So like your example up for the three
see logic customer
that they were able to convert
from the webinar like that person
was most likely following them
on social media,
going to meaning them,
maybe like on events or seeing them
featured in podcast episodes
somewhere else.
So like that,
maybe they were already kind of back to
I was saying before is that
people are consuming this content,
seeing your brand engaging before they
even convert, but then when they convert,
as you just explained to you,
you want to keep nurturing them.
Obviously if you got like this,
like Mecca of all meccas of webinar
to conversion, that
it's like the next day, that's incredible.
But as you expand
like you want to have all this content
because folks need to be convinced
and they're going to take their time
to decide, like,
I mean, I think in business, a business,
you know,
it's it's big budgets on the line,
it's big decisions to make.
It takes time to make these,
you know, to, to purchase.
But if you can continue to convince them
and provide value,
then that's, that's really the gold mine.
I think just going back
to the idea of like,
you know, humanize angle, like bringing
thought leaders front and center
and having those faces on the feed, like
webinars are just a really valuable way
to naturally bake that into the process
of, like, all your content
when you're
when it comes to like repurposing the hub
and spoke approach,
we just looked at all of your content
becomes much,
because you're able
to, like, share that unique message
and have it come directly
from the thought leaders within your team.
You're kind of hitting that for sure.
And I actually do want to.
We had another example,
and we had the one of the first like ever
series campaigns
that we built for a client
and worked on the three of us,
and then of course,
some other members of the agency.
But, was with
for one of our cybersecurity clients.
You want to want to talk through that
because this was
we really brought the thought
leadership to the core,
the humans to the core of this series.
So if you want to speak to it,
I'll, I'll pull it on camera for context.
Yes, absolutely. Absolutely.
This this series here that we had
was a video series that involves,
interviews with a variety of different
thought leaders
from the cybersecurity
and DevOps industry.
We would have a thought
leader from our client sit down with,
a third party, either a customer
or someone who's just, like,
very influential within the space
to have these conversations about,
relevant topics within the industry
and things it's really digging into,
again,
like the knowledge sharing end of things.
One thing I would mention here
really quick before we dive into
like when it comes to thinking about
webinars, thinking about video content
and things,
I would definitely encourage marketers
to not think in the silo of like one
individual webinar, one individual video.
There's a lot of value in having
like episodic recurring series and things.
Because you can then, you know, really
tailor your content around very specific
pain points or questions while keeping it
all cohesive within like the same series.
It's just another way
gain new leads, nurture existing ones,
and really customize your message towards
very specific, people
and very specific pain points.
Yeah,
this was the first episode of like ten.
Yes, again,
it was ten for the first, season.
We started diving into it
another season as well.
So I think overall we have maybe like 12,
13 episodes spanning across a variety
of different topics.
But when it comes to that integrated
approach,
this is a great slide
to just show kind of the breakdown of how
this content was able to spread across
so many different mediums.
We had the full length video itself,
but we were also able to repurpose that
into social posts
where we're pulling quotes from the video
and things,
to repurpose on social as well.
We had blog posts, we had email,
newsletters that were able to go out,
paid ads,
short teasers from the episode as well.
This from this 20 30 minute interview,
there was so many different ways
to repackage the content and information
and distribute that across,
several different channels
for just an extended reach, as well.
So, yeah, I think there's
there's just a lot of opportunity
when it comes to webinars
and long form video
to really pull this
into like a more integrated approach
and think about how this can extend across
all areas of your marketing strategy.
Yeah.
And I'll just jump in here, this,
you know, for for Prisma Cloud,
as we took this series,
it also became a great mechanism for lead
generation, kind of, as we're talking
about done able to take these videos,
able to get people to subscribe
to the series using LinkedIn
ads to generate new subscribers
with a DevSecOps audience.
Just a really fantastic way
to package this all together,
drive that integrated campaign
and bring in new leads.
So, yeah, it's,
it was an awesome series to work on. And,
I think a great example of what integrated
marketing success can look like.
Yeah.
Then they started,
they also started to take
some of this video content
because it would be like specific since,
like the topics were very like tailored
to specific pain points or questions
that folks have in the industry.
So then when the company
was like running other like campaigns,
they were like feeding
this content into it as well.
It wasn't just like we created this series
just for the series
and just to build like one up,
like community.
They were able to like,
expand it into like other campaigns
and programs that like personal content.
Even Palo Alto Networks,
that was they were running.
So that was really cool to see.
Like how far and deep
the content could go.
It wasn't just kind of
in this little box here in the internet.
It was expanding out across
a lot of their other,
campaigns and programs
that they were running at the time.
Absolutely.
I think that's where the flexibility
and the beauty
of having like an episodic video series,
because you can build it around
any initiatives that, come to, to light
that you want to just attach
to some video content.
You already have an initiative
that's already built for incorporating
that into it.
So I feel like,
you know, right from scratch,
a brand new you can bake into it
and everything like that.
So yeah,
I definitely think there's a lot of value
in having that episodic content
for just like a reoccurring series
that you can attach to any campaign,
any relevant topics and all of that
good stuff.
So yeah, I mean,
I think you pretty much covered it, Dylan
and Janna, but just, you know,
I think that that series, just the idea
of creating repeatable mechanisms for lead
generation, creating those opportunities
to attract each different target persona
through intentionally selected
webinar topics or video topics,
and really tailoring that content around
very specific pain points or questions
as you're mentioning here. Dylan.
Yeah, just a super effective way to both
gain new leads
but also nurture, nurture, existing.
It's just kind of the name of the game
doing doing both of those things.
Yeah. But yeah.
Yeah.
Thank you both for sharing all your
knowledge and experience and insights.
And we covered a lot.
You know, everything
from strategy types of content
to the operations of how to even take,
you know, one
webinar video and repurpose it
across multiple assets and channel.
So some really good stuff, very exciting.
And like, the other things,
I mean, I think we also touched on
we don't want to overlook is like bringing
in that thought leadership.
Making it
kind of also just debunking
some of the the misconceptions,
too, I think, is we talked a lot
about that as well in today's episode.
So big shout out to the, the companies,
that we feature today
and their research reports and studies.
Like with them doing that,
we're able to bring and better understand
like how all
this is actually like trending.
So we're excited to keep sharing it
with everyone on call to action.
So we'll, we'll conclude here,
with our, our final segment of the show.
I'll go to you first.
Dylan, what's your call to action
to our audience today
related to video
marketing strategy or operations?
I would say if I had to pick one, could
I could if we have about this all day.
Yeah.
But yeah, I think if I had to just
pull it all together into one package,
I would say really just encourage
all marketers
to start thinking about video
content outside of just a singular
one off YouTube upload.
There's a lot of long term plays
when it comes to leveraging video
throughout your marketing strategy, so
definitely, definitely keep that in mind.
I really like the opportunities,
that we mentioned in terms of repackaging
long form content into short form content
for social repackaging,
then to blog post, being able
to pull downloadable guides out of like,
you know, longer webinars
and things like that.
There's so many different opportunities.
It's such a flexible and creative, avenue
for creating content.
I definitely encourage homeworkers
to, like,
just really explore
all the different opportunities from video
testimonials, company culture, content,
behind the scenes of like production
processes, like anything that you think
your audience would be attracted to,
just give it a try, put some content out
there, and really start to leverage video
and many different aspects.
It's not just putting up one video
and kind of letting it be there.
There's
definitely more of a long term play
when it comes to producing
consistent video content.
So definitely,
definitely keep that in mind for sure
when it comes to your marketing
strategies.
Thanks, Dylan. Awesome. Tucker,
over to you.
Same question.
What's your call to action to our audience
today related to video or webinar?
Yeah,
test running a lead generation
campaign using an on demand webinar
as your lead magnet.
Hopefully you have an existing webinar
converted
to an on demand webinar run.
Set up a landing page, slap
that webinar on there and make it gated.
And then you have a gated landing page.
Start running LinkedIn
ads against your target audiences.
Drive them to that page,
get them to download the webinar.
Hopefully you've got it.
Automated email nurture.
Going off of that,
start assessing that lead quality.
Are you getting your ICP
from these webinar, ads?
We've done this for clients
and seeing really, really good results,
driving a ton of quality leads.
So definitely recommend trying that out
if you haven't before.
So, Janet, let me,
let me bring that back to you.
What would you call to action today?
Okay.
It's going to be hard
to break it down to one.
I might have to go for two,
but I'm excited about the investing.
I think it's very exciting.
The research is showing
that there is a lot of value
to creating longer form
videos and webinars.
We saw like people engage up to 53 minutes
on a webinar from one 24 hour
this, this year's report.
So I think just getting started,
you know, create that long form video.
And then as we discuss
and we're recommending is repurpose
it across different
types of videos and channels.
And I think the
I want to go for like a second call
to action on top of that because I find
that, of course, video does
take time to prepare and plan and produce.
But at the same time, I think that there's
a little bit of misconception
there as well as folks don't necessarily
like your audience may not need
this like Hollywood production
of an interview or a video.
Actually, I think people just really want
the information,
like there's
a lot of information out there already.
So you can make it easier
for them to like, consider
and make a decision,
through your video content.
I think it's more of just about getting
on, get it on camera, talking things.
Bring your customers,
bring your people in,
and have a good conversation
and share that knowledge forward.
So that that's my kind of twofold
answer to the question.
But 1 or 2 fold CTA.
Yeah. Like,
incredible.
Well, thank you, Tiger.
Thank you, Dylan, for joining this episode
of Call to Action by Aime Tahoe.
A lot of us always amazing insights,
little knowledge nuggets.
Much appreciated.
And then for.
Yeah, for those of you
who who watch this for 53 minutes.
Thanks for sticking around.
But, yeah, please, do,
you know, share with us in the comments,
like, what are what are you seeing?
What's working for you and what are you
what are you going to take?
Action on?
From what we share
today, we'd love to hear that.
And also any other ideas
that you have, for future content
that we can go find some research,
get that information to slow down for you.
Definitely subscribe
so you don't miss an episode.
We're going to be publishing
these once a month.
And then finally, we didn't get into,
I think, a big angle of this too,
which we somewhat touched on is,
you know, with video content,
there is a lot you can do for like ranking
in terms of like SEO optimization.
You know, people discovering your content.
So I think that maybe
that's the next episode.
Guys, what we can
I noodle on that one, but
we in the meantime,
we do have a free guide,
that aims help produce, it creators,
a YouTube, an SEO optimization guide.
So that's also in the show notes.
Download that,
get some ideas of how you can,
just really kind of juice up
your, your content.
So thanks again everyone.
And we'll see you
on the next episode of Call to Action.
Thanks, everybody.