It’s one of the toughest jobs to generate new leads for your software, product, or service.

But how many of your leads and sign-ups are you successfully converting to customers?

Hell, you’ve optimized your homepage, your landing pages. You’ve done your SEO homework. You’ve sweat blood and tears writing blog post after blog post.

Do you know how many new blog posts are being published?

More than 3 million blog posts. Every single day.

Is video content marketing a better strategy than blogging? You’ll be surprised when diving into the statistics.

I’ll show you in this video (or continue reading):

I’ve been there. With my software company, that I founded 20 years ago.

Content marketing is tough. Time-consuming. Competitive.

Take a short break, relax and imagine:

• What if you had a way to stand out without spending countless hours writing blog posts?
• What if you could attract new leads and convert them to customers without spending loads of time and money?

Welcome, Video Marketing!

No! Video marketing is not about the funny cat and dog videos on YouTube.

It’s about short, usually educational videos. About 2 to 6 minutes long.

In this post, I’ll show you

• what video marketing is,
• why video marketing works so well and
• how to create videos yourself that will attract leads & customers to your business.

What is Video Marketing?

Your potential customers search. Usually on Google.

They search for possible solutions, like a teleprompter app:

There you have it: Google loves to show video results.

Because people love watching videos. Much more than reading! 

Many people will search directly on YouTube. Yes, business people too! They search how to do something:

See the videos featuring apps? Although it’s a generic how-to search, these apps and software company shows up on page number 1:

Don’t forget that YouTube is the second biggest search engine on earth, with more than 1 billion unique monthly visitors:

If you know how to create video tutorials like these and how to optimize them, your potential customers will find you. And they will convert like hell. I’ll come to that in a minute.

Why Video Marketing Works

Do you know what the average attention span is today? 8.5 seconds.

That’s shorter than the attention span of a goldfish. Which is 9 seconds.

While those exact figures may or may not be true, we can certainly agree that attention spans have been declining rapidly.

 So how about all your precious blog posts, your content marketing?

According to TIME magazine, 55% of Visitors Read Your Articles For 15 Seconds or Less.

And according to Nielsen, web users spend 80% of time above the fold:

In short:

• Most people don’t read your blog posts!
• They don’t scroll down.
• They never reach your call-to-action.

How about online video?

Put out a 6 to 12-minute video, and 5 out of 10 people will watch to the very end, according to WISTIA:

Want to get your whole message across? Then get to the point with a 2-minute video, and 7 out of 10 people will watch it to the very end:

With video, you have up to 12 minutes of undivided attention from your potential customers!

So how do you intrigue your customers and draw them into your videos?

You don’t have to be Steven Spielberg for that! Just follow some simple rules:

• Show up yourself in the video, in person, and you will build trust and rapport.
• Address your customers pains & challenges, and they will start to connect with you.
• Show the benefits of your product/service.

Show how you help your customers get where they want, and they will sign up. And buy.

That’s the secret how you generate new leads and increase your conversions.

How To Create Video In-House

Creating engaging videos doesn’t have to be complicated. Or expensive. Don’t be intimidated by video!

Do you know what your customers really value? Authenticity.

They want to get to know you. In the end, “people always buy from people”, right?

No need for shiny, expensive video ads. People won’t trust them anyway.

Instead, start creating your own videos. In-house.

• Start with a hero video, for your homepage.
• Put out several how-to videos. Testimonials.

Always show up yourself in your videos. Show your customers how you solve their problems. How you help them get where they want.

There are plenty of possibilities to create videos. Just think of the buyer’s journey:

Video Marketing In The Awareness Stage

First people need to become aware of their challenges.

Create educational videos. Address pain points and typical challenges.

Video Marketing In The Consideration And Decision Stages

In the consideration and decision stages, people are already looking for solutions.

• Now is the time to show them how you can help them.
  Create tutorials and how-to videos for that.
• People are also looking for comparisons.
  Put out videos showing how you are different from your competitors.
• Show testimonials featuring your happiest clients.

The most effective way is to produce videos in-house, like that:

• You or a colleague standing in your office or sitting at his desk, talking directly into the camera. To your future customer.
• Mix that with some facts and statistics and pictures or videos of your product.
• And if you’re selling software, short screencasts.

How to get started with video marketing

Do you want to know more about how to create videos in-house? Or step up your video game?

Just pick my brain! I love working with entrepreneurs and small & medium sized businesses. Let’s chat and find out how you can benefit from my knowledge!

Hey, I want to give you a head-start. That’s why I’ve created a detailed checklist how you create kickass video tutorials. It’s taken me years of trial and error.

Get my formula to create video tutorials

• that will attract new leads to your business,
• increase your conversions,
• and delight your customers.

What is holding you back to start creating engaging videos in-house?
Please leave a comment below!