video marketing throughout the sales journey.

A lot of people associate video marketing with the awareness and interest phases of marketing, or the ‘top end’ of the sales funnel. But if your customer’s journey with your business begins with a video, why shouldn’t it end with one?

‍Video marketing can and does play a role throughout all stages of the sales process, so here’s a few tips on how to develop your content to target each the stages and guide your customers from interest to purchase.

To begin with let’s first define the various stages of the sales funnel. There are a number of variations on exactly how many stages there are but for the purposes of this we only need to focus on four main categories - awareness, interest, decision and action.

This is when a potential customer first learns of your product or service, possibly as a result of a problem that’s arisen within their business.

At this point a potential customer is actively looking for solutions to their perceived problem. This includes researching a number of possible solutions and compiling a list of companies to consider to meet this need.

This is the part of the process in which a potential customer is deciding which service / solution they are going to go with. Their list of potential options has already been narrowed down to only a handful of choices.

This is the point at which a potential customer becomes a customer and finalises a deal to use your product or service. Customers who reach this stage should also become part of your re-marketing efforts with a view to retaining long term customer loyalty.

So with that clarified it’s time to get down to what type of video content works for each of these stages…

This is probably where any video marketing you currently do is already focused. It’s an animated explainer video on your website describing what you do as a business, or a television commercial designed to grow brand awareness.

The key at this stage is to make potential customers, even those who don’t specifically have a need for your products or services at this time, aware that you provide a solution should the need ever arise.  My post from two weeks ago on the topic of conveying your brand via video is a good starting point for understanding what videos aimed at these customers should be about.

Where as videos aimed at top of the funnel prospects should be short, concise and raise brand awareness, videos aimed at those evaluating their options should be more in-depth.  The type of videos you want to be producing for these customers are client testimonials, video case studies, detailed product demos etc.

Remember at this stage an interest in your product or service has already been shown and any content in this stage needs to inform and educate your potential clients, allowing them to evaluate and justify using your business.

At this stage customers are on the verge of, or already have become customers. Here you want to showcase the support network you have in place to help them make the most of your products or services. Things like video FAQs or lessons are a great way of helping clients get the most out of their purchase. This will mean they are happier with their decision and more likely to recommend you, which is the most sure fire way to grow your business.