How to Nail B2B Video Marketing for Your Next Event

b2b video marketing

You have planned out a B2B event for your business. Now it’s time to successfully promote this event with B2B video marketing. Promoting an event with videos may seem straightforward at first glance. However, creativity is essential to stand out against other B2B video marketing campaigns.

Follow the tips below to use event videos as a tool for increasing B2B conversions.

Steps to Marketing B2B Event Videos

You will encounter three different kinds of videos when promoting an event:

  1. Pre-event videoA video to promote an upcoming event and attract attendees.
  2. Peri-event video – A live video to cover an event and increase engagement.
  3. Post-event videoA video to overview an event and exhibit its success.

Using all three is often an effective tactic in B2B marketing. However, one high-quality event video is better than three mediocre attempts. Evaluate the goals you want to accomplish with B2B video marketing, then choose which videos to make from there.

For instance, if your goal is to create a brand for your business, this would best be accomplished by displaying the successes and tone from your event in a post-event video.

Pre-Event Video Promotion

You want people to attend your event, don’t you? Whether your target attendees are industry professionals or small business owners, marketing your event before it happens is the key to skyrocketing attendance numbers. Without attendance, you have no event!

Pre-event promotional videos are a creative and effective way to build anticipation for your event. A pre-event video may be animated, include footage from previous events, or be a videographic flyer.

Keep your pre-event video short–no more than one minute long. Promote all the details about the upcoming event, including who and what will be at the event. Be creative, and remember to include a link to the event webpage in the video.

1. Define your ideal guest list.

Define exactly who you want to attend your event. Tech-based entrepreneurs in Europe? 50+ Americans with risky investments? Business owners with 50-150 employees? You’ll need a guest list baseline to know how to market your event.

Of course, not all attendees at your event may fit perfectly into these cookie-cutter standards. This means more exposure for your business but possibly less conversions and leads.

Set a number of attendees you aim to reach during your event. This depends on your business’s scale, the size of your niche, and your location. If you don’t specify this goal, how will you know if your pre-promotional B2B video marketing strategy succeeds?

2. Advertise what your event has to offer.

This is probably the most crucial aspect to include in your pre-event marketing video: illustrate why viewers should attend your event. Who will speak at your event and what will they share? What workshops and other activities will take place? Any big announcements or new products to launch?

Furthermore, explain how your event will solve the viewer’s problems. For instance, if your B2B target market includes distribution companies, explain in the video how the tips and workshops at your event will increase efficiency in the distribution workforce.

In addition to showing the value of your event, be creative in including incentives for the attendees. Free B2B quote or consultation for your services? Complimentary pizza? Industry-relevant gift cards?

3. What is your goal with this pre-event video?

b2b video marketing

What is your purpose in creating this pre-event video? To “reach other businesses” isn’t a solid enough purpose; be more specific to make sure you achieve your goal. Aim high, and work to reach your ambitions. Take a look at these examples of clear-cut B2B video marketing objectives:

  • Attract 15 different business professionals to add to the attendee list.
  • Find 5 different businesses who want booths at my event.
  • Generate 100 new visitors on my event webpage.
  • Reach 10 shares on Facebook for this pre-event video.

4. Begin marketing months in advance.

Build anticipation and allow potential attendees to carve out time in their calendar to attend your event. If your event is recurrent, start promoting your next event at the current one. Market your pre-event video on social media, blogs, forums, websites, email, and in person. Select places online and in your area that your target business clients hang out.

5. Plan for peri- and post-event promotion.

Pre-event marketing success (or failure) can help determine what your peri- and post-event marketing campaigns should focus on. Use analytics and user feedback to discover what intrigues potential attendees and what disinterests them.

For instance, after sharing your pre-event video, you may receive a lot of comments expressing anticipation for a certain speaker or activity. On the other hand, a lot of viewers may drop out of your video at a certain point, which signifies a need to saturate the video with more engaging content, correcting the weak spots of your event.

Peri-Event Video Promotion

One of the best B2B video marketing tactics is live streaming. Live streaming will maximize your guest list, increase engagement, and keep your business with the trends.

To host an impactful live stream, you will need a professional set up. High-quality live streaming is a key characteristic of any serious B2B event marketing campaign. Most businesses opt to hire out a skilled video production team to tackle their live stream setup.

1. Promote the date, time, and location of your live stream.

If you choose to host a live stream with your event, indicate the details of the live stream in your pre-event marketing campaigns, as well. Choose an appropriate platform to host your live stream, whether on social media or a professional live streaming platform.

2. Incorporate live stream attendees at your event.

Don’t passively let live stream attendees come and go. Instead, include them in the event. Perhaps set up a projector screen at the event displaying who has joined the live stream and what comments they leave. You’ll want to be sure to monitor the live stream and only allow viewers by invitation.

3. Maximize engagement with your live stream event.

b2b video marketing

Live streams are great ways to increase engagement with potential business clients. Although in-person attendance is the best option, some business associates simply can’t afford to attend an event in person.

Therefore, don’t neglect your live stream attendees. They can lead to as many conversion opportunities as your in-person guests. Encourage live streamers to engage in the event as if they were actually there.

Be creative with this engagement opportunity. You could introduce an interactive quiz during your event for both the attendees and live stream viewers. You could even encourage viewers to join the live stream with their own webcams.

4. Make your event a smash.

If your event doesn’t look appealing or worthwhile to viewers, they will exit the live stream. Instead, make your event a smash to maximize viewership and attendees and collect valuable footage for post-event marketing.

To host a successful event, you’ll need three key elements: engagement, value, and creativity.

  • Engagement. How can you better include attendees in the event rather than just focusing on speakers or business presentations (Q&A’s, polls, workshops, etc.)? What do you want them to do before, during, and after the event?
  • Value. How can the attendees apply what your event has to offer? What makes your content especially interesting to the target audience and relevant to the target niche?
  • Creativity. B2B events and live streams are hosted all the time. What makes yours stand out? How does your product, service, or business truly revolutionize the way businesses work?

Post-Event Video Promotion

B2B video content marketing might take its most effective form after an event. The footage obtained at your successful event, perhaps combined with your brand’s B-roll footage and/or animations, can be edited into an illustrative B2B promotional video.

Furthermore, only a small fraction of your target audience attended your event. However, you can still use the idea, merit, and purpose of your event to market to business clients. An event video offers exciting visuals to show what your brand is all about.

1. Revitalize your event even after it’s over.

Hosting your own event is a big step as a business. You should be maximizing your event’s impact, not limiting its reach to only a certain time and location. Think of the broader B2B perspective when hosting an event–from branding to exposure to sales.

Use the aftermath of your event, such as publicity and leads, to build your brand perception and bolster conversions. Video is a potent medium, and filming your event is a great way to capture exclusive, motivating footage.

2. Capture your successes.

b2b video marketing

From leads to attendance to analytics to even sales, your event was probably jam-packed with wins. Display these impressive wins in your post-event video to show potential business clients that you’re the real deal.

If your event achieved less than expected, you can still find something to boast about if you dig enough. For example, did you pick up a promotional lead from an industry leader? Did your highlight speaker perform well? Minimally, was the atmosphere inviting and productive?

3. Market what’s next.

What improvements does your business plan to make? Did you make any big announcements at the event? What will your next event look like? Video is all about innovation. Impress your B2B video marketing clients by promoting the future of business.

Event B2B Video Marketing: What’s Next?

The best part about coming up with an effective event video marketing strategy is experimentation. What works for your business may not work for another’s. As long as you define your purpose, engage your businesses, and promote your brand, you can have success with any B2B video marketing campaign.

Need skilled videographers and video editors to make the most out of your event? Valoso can help. Our video production team is available on a global scale and can meet any expectations your business has. Click on the banner below to get started planning your next event video.

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