What made Candace Payne’s Chewbacca Mom video so irresistible was sharing her enthusiasm. Shared enthusiasm obviously plays a big role in day-to-day buying decisions, too. Consumer marketing gets a big boost from customer video reviews, “influencer” tweets, tutorials on enthusiast websites, etc. B2B subject matter expert videos can share enthusiasm, too.
Why don’t we see a lot of this contagious emotion in B2B marketing videos? Well, it’s not that technology companies lack employees who are enthusiastic and savvy advocates for their solutions. Or that these people can’t talk on camera — most of them probably use FaceTime, Skype, or online video conferencing software.
The value of subject matter experts
We research and write scripts for our 2-Minute Explainer videos by talking with subject matter experts. That’s the best way to hit the right conversational tone, use the right words, and most important, come up with a good hook to build the story on.
Not surprisingly, subject matter experts from sales, product management, and engineering are very busy people. They talk to customers, speak at conferences, guide product development. Sometimes they make videos — but these are apt to be talking-head studio productions without much spontaneity and enthusiasm. But when we talk with these folks in real life, we are always carried along by the spontaneity and enthusiasm. Enthusiasm, as much as knowledge, makes subject matter experts indispensable.
How to share the enthusiasm of subject matter experts
A basic strategy for capturing and sharing the enthusiasm of subject matter experts is to use a Q&A format. Just get them to answer questions. Why Q&A?
- You develop content that can be widely shared in social media and online communities
- Customers who are researching solutions on your website can find no-nonsense answers fast
- You can continuously add “answers” to build a library of fresh content
You can capture these answers in a FaceTime chat, online demo, or studio interview. The essential ingredients are 1) enthusiastic SME; 2) an interviewer who knows what she wants to capture and knows when she has it; and 3) the editorial skill to put it all together. You might want to add simple graphics or photos to cover some edits. But a clever editor will certainly come up with something you can use.
Toward more integrated video content marketing
Another big difference between B2C and B2B marketing is that, in B2B, we’re dealing with fluid buying committees. Many buying committee members are doing their own research before we know who they are.
As noted in this article on B2C approaches B2B marketers should steal, the big push in B2C is to integrate every application and system in order to be there for the customer at every conceivable online and offline touchpoint. We see a lot more integration in B2B, too. We see it in sales automation and CRM integration. We see it in solutions like Journey Sales Smart Rooms, customer microportals built on Salesforce to provide a collaborative B2B buying experience. B2B companies are putting a lot of effort into account selling and managing the entire customer lifecycle.
A library of SME Q&A videos would be a great resource for these effort. Think about it. Your best and most enthusiastic spokespeople responding to real-life customer questions. Telling customer stories. Previewing the next innovation. That’s what buyers want.
And it’s not a costly resource. You’ll need to expend time and editorial skill. Beyond that, it just takes enthusiasm.
