There are two words you may be sick of hearing by now; “Mobile” and “Video.” It’s no secret that mobile video is now one of the most vital media touch points. It has officially opened up a new door for businesses to not just reach consumers, but other businesses as well. Video itself has found major success in B2B marketing, and now sales and customer success sectors are beginning to catch on. While we predicted video content will be a game changer for B2B reps in 2016, optimizing video content for mobile will also be key this year, no matter who you are.
The statistics from the just the last 2 years prove the overwhelming success behind mobile video. Here’s a brief recap of just how much mobile phones are driving video consumption.
- Today, more than 50% of all video views occur on mobile devices (reelseo)
- Mobile video views having increased by 400% in the last 2 years (Ooyala)
- Smartphones are driving digital video views up 33% year over year (eMarketer)
- By 2020, 75% of Mobile Viewing Will Be Online Video Content (Cisco)
These are some powerful statistics that should not go ignored. But what do they mean to those of us who aren’t content marketing wizards? A few things.
3 Reasons Why Non-Marketers Need To Get On Board With Mobile Video:
1. Get With the Times
Similar to how Marketers change their tactics to keep up with industry trends, it’s equally important for Sales and Customer Success to evolve their strategies as well. While you’ve figured out what works, it’s easy to get stuck in the same tried and true routines. But the reality is that your customer’s behavior is changing, which means that you need to find new ways to get their attention and keep it. So if Marketing is switching up the game, then the other players along the customer’s journey need to follow suit. Sales needs to change how they sell, Service needs to change how they support to keep buyers and customers engaged.
2. It’s Where Your Customers Are
Today’s buyers are shopping at more places than Amazon on their mobile devices. Our obsession with mobile is now being reflected in all aspects of search, with more B2B researchers and buyers using mobile devices throughout their entire path to purchase. In just the last 2 years alone, mobile usage has skyrocketed, growing to 91% throughout the entire buyer’s journey- from research to purchase. This momentum should tell you that every phase of your customer journey should be mobile friendly — from Marketing’s first touch, to Sales’ initial break-in, to the Customer’s support.
The same applies to video. “Video alongside mobile has the strongest impact on increasing consideration rates during the B2B buying process,” says Richard Robinson, Google. Another Think with Google report stated that “70% of buyers and researchers are watching videos throughout their path to purchase. That’s a 52% jump in only two years.”
With 70% of B2B buyers interacting with video and 91% searching via mobile, it’s clear that video and mobile are changing the B2B buying process.
Delivering content-rich mobile and video experiences is obviously successful in reaching your B2B customers and moving them through the path to purchase. While these statistics have been proven in B2B Marketing, the momentum shouldn’t stop there. Here’s why all customer-facing sectors need to be utilizing mobile video, and how:
3. It Just Makes Sense
Salespersons work in an era where, despite today’s technology, it’s much more difficult to reach a prospect. It’s now more common than ever for buyers to get overloaded with offers, information, and requests for “five minutes” of their time. So it’s no new news that breaking in has become a more difficult feat for the B2B salesman. This is where video comes in. Its sheer medium makes it possible to communicate unlimited types of information in a way that’s exponentially more stimulating and sticky than plain text. We’ve demonstrated all the ways Sales, Customer Success, and all other professionals can use video to engage throughout the customer lifecycle — from following up to a cold call, to addressing support issues. Luckily, creating a video message doesn’t require a lot of time, effort nor resources. With more videos being viewed on mobile devices, smaller screens equate to shorter videos. Now, 45% of mobile videos viewed are less than 6 minutes in length, saving you time and money in your video production.
How B2B Professionals Can Leverage Mobile Video, Successfully
Incorporate Into Your Outreach Strategy
Every rep has their repertoire of tools and tactics. When it comes to incorporating video into your strategy, the good news is that you can make as much or as little effort as you like. Go all out and create personal videos for all of your prospects or customers, or simply stick a marketing or product video in your email blasts. No matter how you communicated, video is applicable to every type. From introductions to transitions, supplementing with video increases effects of all your communication efforts. Companies like OneMob makes it easy not only for reps to create, send and track videos, but easy for recipients to watch, reply and forward across all devices- including mobile.
Tie Back To Existing CRM Software
Sure video is engaging, but how can you tell if it’s moving the needle. Is it really helping you hit quota or increasing your Net Promoter Score? Luckily, there is a way for reps to tie their effort by their results. Look for solutions that tracks not only your video’s activity, but the entire activity of your message. From email opens, to responses, to link clicks, all this information is linked backed to your Opportunities in Salesforce, clearly tying your efforts to your success.
Use Analytics to Adjust and Strategize
Analytics not only show you your successes, but areas that you could improve on as well. The ability to see what works and what doesn’t can help you adjust your messaging, experiment with new approaches and perfect your outreach tactics.
If video is paving the way in reaching b2b customers, it only makes sense to keep them engaged through video. Video allows you to demonstrate your value story to your potential and existing customers much sooner, and articulate it in a much simpler, stickier manner. And if that video content can be optimized for mobile viewing and interaction- well, you’ve hit the jackpot. This is a movement we’ve been behind for quite a while now. It just so happens that we know a thing or two about mobile video. OneMob’s video engagement platform is optimised for both web and mobile, from creating to viewing, and everything in between.