B2B Internet Video Marketing: Why Do It and How to Do It Right

The Growing Need for Internet Video Marketing

Through social media, blogsites and other major online influences, the World Wide Web has made information available in a way that has prospects spending more time shopping and doing independent research on the Web. Now B2B marketers are running into an issue of timing. Leads are B2B marketers who offer services they might need at an earlier stage in the game – at a time when they are not necessarily sales-ready.

Because these B2B marketers are being introduced to leads earlier and earlier through online mediums, it’s crucial that they minimize the risk of losing these prospects. How can you as a B2B marketer minimize the risk of losing prospects? The solution is a no-brainer. You must build relationships of trust. Video marketing can help you develop trust with leads by providing them with the information that helps them make the right purchasing decision and makes them feel comfortable about purchasing from you.

Video Will Change the Way You Are Viewed in the Online Space

When it is created and distributed through the appropriate outlets, online video helps companies create a demand for their product or service – even if the focus of the video is not specifically about the organization or its offerings. Often, videos created for the purpose of attracting visitors and building relationships are problem-specific or entertainment-focused.

When employing Internet video marketing techniques to market B2B, many organizations find success in creating and distributing videos that increase awareness and demand for their entire industry, allowing the organization to benefit from a larger reach and increased interest. To be effective with your B2B video marketing, you must focus on more than just the benefits of your product or service. Instead, try creating a series of videos which shares with your community of viewers the benefits of industry best practices. Companies that can successfully harness the power of online video marketing will improve their authority in their industry and among prospects and customers. And, they’ll reap the benefit of claiming a larger share of the market than competitors. Why? Because video can build a rapport with clients and prospects in a way that other methods of online content marketing just can’t compete with. And this rapport absolutely makes it easier for a prospect to justify entering into a business relationship with a company and/or purchasing the company’s product.

An effecting Internet video marketing campaign is not just creating videos about your company and posting them to your vlog. It includes creating a wide range of video content that your company will use to educate buyers. This can include:

  • Video reviews
  • Video books
  • Video case studies
  • Product demo videos for websites
  • Informational video guides
  • Online video courses
  • Videocasts
  • Video resource libraries

Effective B2B video marketing uses video to express your individual or organizational advice and/or insight to create a movement that changes the way that people think about your industry as well as your organization. The best kind of video does more than educate and inform. It inspires.

Promoting Your Videos

The first rule of getting traffic to your video is to be sure the video you create and distribute has the following characteristics:

  • It both excites and inspires.
  • It’s relevant and useful to your target audience.
  • It answers a question or problem with insight and with a unique perspective.
  • Its scripting and production is of professional quality.
  • It’s relevant to your company.

But let’s assume that you’ve created an exciting, inspiring, relevant, insightful and professional video. It makes no difference unless you put it in front of the people who matter. Promotion is the key to the success of your Internet video marketing campaign.

Here are some tips for getting more out of your B2B video marketing campaign.

Let press analyst, bloggers and other online communicators know about your content so they can share it with their followers.

If it’s relevant, create a press release about your video series or mention it in other press releases.

Link to your video landing page or library from throughout the rest of your website and add it an appropriate resource area.

Remember that there are tons of social media outlets out there. Don’t forget to include LinkedIn and Facebook, Google+, Digg, Sphinn and Delicious.

Consider paid promotions and weigh the benefit it could have in getting eyes on your content against the monetary cost of the paid campaign.

Paths to Employment

Emotional stress from lay-offs may be common since the economy took its recent nosedive, and many people are looking for work. Job searching is always a lot of effort to attain an interview no matter what the circumstances are. Some people haven’t had much exposure to job searching, and others might not be taking advantage of all the avenues that are available to them. Here are some ways to search for employment, many of which you may have tried, and possibly some that haven’t been thought of. All of them are crucial for effective job searching.Outplacement ServicesUtilize outplacement services offered by your former employer at the time of your lay-off if they are available. These can be helpful by providing some business contacts, advice on interviewing and the preliminaries for finding a new job, and possibly retraining for different work. This can make networking unnecessary.ResumesSend resumes to companies with positions that you’re qualified for. Many companies have their websites with whole sections devoted to careers. Any open positions will be listed here. You can usually apply using their own electronic application, or they might ask for you to email your resume. A follow-up letter and resume sent through the postal services might set you apart from the crowd.NetworkingThe majority of open positions in the employment market are filled through personal contacts using some form of networking. Networking is just making efforts to let all your friends and acquaintances know that you’re looking for a job. This can also be best at any type of gathering, be it social, or professional. Referrals can get your foot in the door for many jobs that are not being advertised. Often, a polite, well-written letter mentioning who referred you, and what your career goals are is the first step to a new job.Classified AdvertisingClassified advertising on the web, and in newspapers offers convenience, and there are many actual openings to be found there. Search engines on the Internet can show you positions to be filled locally, and worldwide. The information given in the details of the ad can be sketchy, or quite comprehensive, possibly nonexistent (be wary of those). You can post your resume or cover letter if you have one, or fill out an online application. Email alerts are offered by some that are delivered to an online email address. Interviews can be gotten this way, but you must remember that there are probably many other applicants. Most employment search experts don’t advise spending the majority of your search time on theInternet.Newspaper classified ads are a similar situation to those on the online search engines, but the printed advertisements are limited to a viewing audience that is within the range of its circulation. The number of applicants is many, and also, a small number of the actual openings within an area are advertised there. Many newspapers also have their own websites that may offer a larger number of jobs, and other services, such as, resume posting, and electronic searches.Search engines, and newspapers both have some advertisers who are just using their ads as a source for filling databases, or as a barometer for seeing what’s on the job market at the time. The position being advertised may not exist at all.Place Your Own AdvertisementsYou can also place your own ads for a position. It’s a commendable effort. Good luck.Job FairsJob fairs are usually a good experience, especially if your search efforts haven’t been producing any interviews. Lines are usually long. They are most often held at hotels, or large conference rooms where various employers have areas set up with representatives offering a face-to-face meeting. These people take resumes, and answer questions, as well as, listen to any brief sales pitch that you might have prepared. It’s actually like a mini-interview without having to schedule an appointment. You should prepare yourself accordingly.A job fair is also a good place to look around, and maybe find some networking possibilities, or pick up some company literature. It’s hard to walk away from a job fair with nothing, even if it’s just polishing up some of your interviewing skills.Trade JournalsTrade journals are publications, magazines, or periodicals that are directed at a certain audience, or niche who work in that specific occupation, or industry. Advertising in these publications is very narrowly focused, and relevant to these people. There are usually no general advertisements, which means that any employment notices are very job-specific. These are a good place to look as part of a job search if you happen to belong to such a group.RetrainingRetraining for an occupation that is rising in demand while the demand for your occupation is waning could be quite a reasonable option. You would have to have some means of support while you are doing this. Statistics and information for most occupations can be found on the Bureau of Labor Statistics website, and on the Department of Labor website. Community colleges, and job training centers have many programs, or curricula relevant to job training. Some state or federal programs might even fund this if their qualifications are met. Books and software can be found on the Products & Services page of the Velcodisk website.

The Fastest Way to Get High Quality Targeted Traffic to Your Health and Fitness Website

There are a lot of methods floating around the Internet these days to supposedly help you generate web traffic. They range from the truly ridiculous, to systems that actually work.I’ve run several web businesses full time for over five years now. I’ve tried just about every traffic generating method out there. Let me save you some time and tell you what doesn’t work. At least it didn’t for me.Useless Tactics:Free for all web directories: Don’t waste your time. Everyone in only interested in promoting their own offer. They aren’t there to look at yours. The webmaster usually set up such a website for the sole purpose of sending ads to everyone who submits an ad or website to their directory. The ad comes in the acceptance email. No one probably reads those either.Mass Spam Email: Don’t even think about. It’s a real fast way to get yourself in big trouble with your web host and your Internet Service Provider. Also, who would buy from someone sending them junk email. People hate to get spam email. Plus, now with so many spam filters out there, most of your emails will just end up in the trash folder, never to be seen or read.Junk Website Creating Software: Let’s face it. If it was as easy as clicking a button and having a great website that pulled in hordes of traffic, everyone would be doing it. Don’t waste your money.Buying The Latest Magic System: How many millions of dollars have been wasted by people getting scammed by the “latest magic traffic system”? Don’t fall for it. Keep your money in your pocket.Worthwhile Tactics:Pay per click: This drives targeted traffic to your website. The only problem is that it’s too expensive for most. You might spend $500.00 on clicks and only make $300.00 in sales. Not for most people, especially those just starting out in online marketing.Posting To Social Websites: This can work but takes a lot of time. You have to sign up for each social network and then be a regular contributor. Don’t just spam your offer all over these sites. It’ll just get your account deleted and mark you as a spammer.If you do want to follow this route, you can try Squidoo or Hubpages. These sites get a lot of traffic. Just don’t expect to throw up some junk and get a lot of visitors. You’ll have to spend some time making a quality page.The Best Tactic:Witting and submitting articles to high quality article directories. This actually works. The one way back links from high Pagerank authority sites will help get you ranked higher in the search engines. You’ll also get direct targeted traffic from the article directories themselves.Take some time to write a good article about your topic. Submit it to the top ten article directories and repeat. How do you find the best article directories to submit to? Type “top 10 article directories” or “best article directories” in your favorite search engine. Many websites maintain a list of all the top article directories.Not only should you submit to the biggest and best article directories, but also make sure to submit to niche article directories. This will give you the biggest advantage in the search engines due to the related theme of your site and theirs. Also, more people are likely to click through to your website. Example: if you run a health and fitness website, be sure to submit your article to as many health article directories you can find.Make it a habit to write one or more articles per week and submit them to the directories. You’ll be amazed at the traffic you’ll get after only a short time.