KnowledgeVision

BUILD LEAD-GEN
LURES WITH VIDEO
USING INTERNAL RESOURCES
AND ONLINE PRESENTATION TOOLS
A
White Paper
2
Though much of the sizzle in
the Internets growth has come
in consumer applications, BtoB
marketers have gotten more and
more effective at using the web to
deliver content. Blogs, e-communities,
portals, social networks have all been
widely adopted in BtoB marketing
to inform, nurture, excite, sell and
support new prospects.
Marketers looking beyond these
established, largely text-based
channels are discovering that BtoB
video is a compelling medium to
include in their content strategy
toolkit. Video holds a great deal of
promise, especially in the area of lead
generation and nurturing. And now,
thanks to new tools and techniques,
hard-working video doesnt have to
be costly to produce.
This report explores some of the
emerging applications of video
in demand generation, and new
techniques to produce interactive
video in a less costly manner often
using resources most companies
typically have at hand. Youll learn:
How and why leading BtoB
marketers are expanding
their use of video in demand
generation;
Why production costs can
sometimes be a barrier to
increased use of video;
How some marketers are using
new tools to surmount that cost
barrier;
How to build your videos into
digestible segments;
Why its important to think
about interactivity in your video
deployment, and;
How to integrate call to action
into your online video.
3
THE IMPACT OF
BTOB VIDEO
Video is already having a major
impact on BtoB marketing
among early adopters. According
to a recent blog post on
DemandCreationSpecialists.com,
Salesforce.com has been gaining
traction with its use of video.
For example, its video, What is
Cloud Computing? was viewed
over 200,000 times in one year.
Salesforce.com partnered with
YouTube and now has roughly 1,000
pieces of video content getting well
over 7,000 views a day, according
to Demand Creation Specialists.
Salesforce.com has reportedly
reduced its spend on traditional
marketing vehicles by more than
60% and shifted much of those
dollars into video and interactive
offers. Industry insiders point out
that when viewers seek out content,
leads generated from interactive
offers are all the more valuable.
Other BtoB marketers are
catching on. A recent survey
in BtoB magazine found nearly
half of the respondents plan to
gradually increase their use of
video in marketing campaigns this
year, while nearly one-third will
aggressively increase their use of
video marketing this year. For 8%
of respondents, their use of video
marketing will remain unchanged
this year. Only 15% had no plans
to use video in 2011.
THE COST OF
TRADITIONAL BTOB
VIDEO PRODUCTION
Heres the catch: Video can
be expensive to produce in
the quantities needed for lead-
generation programs. Until very
recently, if you wanted to use
video, you had to reserve a lot of
time and money and engage a
specialist to produce the piece.
Starting from scratch, a typical
video can easily cost $5,000 to
$20,000 or more to produce using
traditional methods. Thats fne for
a high-traffc home-page video,
but presents a barrier to the kind
of fresh, frequent content that is
the foundation of lead-nurturing
programs.
Marketers and brand managers
want to use more video, says Jeff
Whatcott, Senior VP of Marketing
for Brightcove, a provider of online
video hosting services. The key
is it has to be easier to create and
deploy than traditional video.
4
New Options for
Cost-Effective
Video Production
To meet this need, there
are now new, cost-effective
web-based applications that
rapidly turn existing and new
video content and PowerPoint
presentations into video content
for BtoB lead nurturing. Whats
more, by surrounding the
video with clickable navigation
and reference material, they
turn these videos into rich,
interactive experiences that
reduce the steps involved in
calling the viewer to action.
By adding interactive features
to video, these tools drive
engagement by allowing
companies to push relevant
resources like live forms to
viewers right in the video clip,
rather than posting a URL and
hoping they are moved to visit.
Another key to driving video use:
breaking up the content into
more easily consumed pieces.
An Alternative
to the Hour-Long
Webcast
Given the time-starved nature
of most executives, many
marketers are realizing videos
need not be cumbersome hour-
long presentations and are
opting to create pointed, short
segments that can be used in a
series of messages to stimulate
and feed lead generation and
lead-nurturing campaigns.
In recent years, many marketers
have become dependent on
the hour-long webcast format
to tell their story. The 60-minute
format evolved as a convenient
unit of time for people to
reserve on their Outlook
calendars a not-insignifcant
time commitment but less
than traveling to a conference
or seminar. With todays
lightweight video tools there is
no reason for video messages
to take a full hour. In fact,
padding your message to fll the
allotted time can do more harm
than good as your prospects
attention wanders.
5
With most webcasts, if you boiled
down the material to its essence,
most of the information could be
conveyed in several 10-minute
bites. This is preferable, according
to KnowledgeVision CEO Michael
Kolowich, because you can
create a video series on related
topics that will command viewers
attention in effcient chunks. People
will dip in and out of the content
as they wish, creating more
touchpoints upon which you can
build a relationship. You will also
be able to glean more information
about exactly what the prospect
is seeking. Then, you can create
targeted messaging for specifc
verticals, buyers and even accounts.
Interactivity
Boosts Value
Interactive video creates a more
convincing, memorable and
relevant experience for viewers.
According to Forrester Research,
including a video clip in an email
message signifcantly boosts
click-through rates. For example,
Kolowich points out that when he
was an advisor to the Romney
Presidential campaign in 2008,
he noticed that just putting new
video in the subject line of an
email was enough to drive up open
rates. And placing a thumbnail
with a triangular playhead overlay
in the body of the email drove up
click through rates.
Readers are excited to click on the
play button in a video window
to see what sort of content awaits
them. The expectation and the
reality -- is that the video will be more
engaging than the typical written
content. Consumers are trained
to want imagery, says Whatcott.
When they see the playhead they
expect high-value content.
Every organization has individuals
who are storytellers and can
present the companys unique
value proposition in a personable
and informative way. Using video
clips of these storytellers in action
puts a face on your company,
driving the creation of a personal
bond between the viewer and
your company. As your prospects
fnd content that is relevant for
their needs, they will begin to trust
in your ability to provide good
information -- and by extension,
your company.
PLAIN OLD VIDEO
VIDEO WITH CONTENT
6
Marrying Content
with Call to Action
If youre like most companies,
you have existing video footage
maybe your CEO at a user
conference, giving a keynote
speech or interacting with
investors. If not, it is simple enough
to set up a camera at your next
training session, presentation or
media interview. Repurposing
existing video footage is a quick
way to get up and running with
video lead gen. It is also cost-
effective as you will not need
outside help to produce the video
if you use a web-based video
presentation tool.
Video alone, however, is not
suffcient. Early BtoB video
marketing efforts left viewers in
the fnal frame with a rather lame
message: Visit this URL for more
information. Todays dynamic
presentations encompass video,
infographics, spreadsheet data,
interactive polls and surveys and
even live forms prospects can fll
out to receive more information.
The idea is to create just-in-time
resources for prospects that are
available exactly as they might
need them. You want the video
and the resources to be in close
proximity, Whatcott says. You
dont want prospects to watch the
video and say, what do I do next?
Sun Microsystems (now owned
by Oracle), a client of Brightcove,
leveraged video extensively on its
then ChannelSun portal to explain
its highly technical products. Within
a video, prospects can click to
download the software they are
seeing demonstrated. Or, they
can click to access a white paper
further explaining a key concept.
Every interaction was tracked
in their CRM system, where a
salesperson could follow up.They
generated a lot of business through
the call to action in their video
player, says Whatcott.
Video for All
Kolowich founded
KnowledgeVision in 2009
in part to capitalize on the
lessons he learned in the last
presidential campaign about
how to communicate effectively.
KnowledgeVision seeks to reinvent
the business presentation for an
online, on-demand, multisensory,
anytime/anywhere world. The
company offers an enterprise-
class presentation tool called
KVStudio Professional that allows
7
the creation of interactive, tailored
content incorporating video and
other types of content for a richer
viewing experience that drives
prospects to ask for more.
KnowledgeVision combines
the personality of video, the
information depth of PowerPoint,
the supplemental and drill-down
capabilities of just-in-time footnotes
and the integration of calls to
action like the integrated lead-
generation forms and polls, says
Kolowich.Youre not just leaving
them with a URL at the end of the
video. BtoB marketers can put
prospects in charge by offering
them a number of different options
and resources right in their frst
experience with the company.
KnowledgeVision presentations
weave together, in a tightly-
synchronized fashion:
Video that showcases your
organizations best experts and
communicators
Fully animated PowerPoint
slides and images, rendered
in crisp detail that far exceeds
what can be done in a video
window
Just-in-time footnotes and
virtual handouts that can direct
the viewer to web pages, white
papers, contact information
and technical documents
Navigation that allows the viewer
to hone in on those parts of a
presentation that are the most
relevant and to return quickly to
material they want to review
A variety of plug-in applications,
including:
9Embedded forms that
collect data for leading
CRM and lead-nurturing
systems like Salesforce.
com, Eloqua, and Marketo
9Quizzes, surveys and polls
9Q&A widgets that send
questions straight to the
source
9Interactive transcripts that
allow presentations to be
searched and navigated
freely, just by typing or
selecting keywords
Thanks to its effectiveness and
emotional appeal, video is poised
to become a marketers tool of
choice within BtoB organizations.
With the advent of web-based tools
like KnowledgeVision for easy video
creation and production, the expense
and time constraints traditionally
associated with video have been
removed. Its time to incorporate
video into your content strategy
in a way that will maximize lead
generation without excess overhead.
8
ABOUT KNOWLEDGEVISION
KnowledgeVision is the worlds most fexible online
presentation platform. Synchronizing video, presentation
slides, images, animations, just-in-time footnotes, and
virtual handouts, KnowledgeVision presentations may
be embedded within any website for on-demand, live,
and mobile applications. Our powerful, easy-to-learn
KVStudio authoring tool works with our robust cloud-
based system to make online presentations easy to deliver,
organize, and maintain. With no special hardware required,
KnowledgeVision presentations can be built and published
on Windows, Mac, and Linux computers. Special
programs for independent producers and content creators
are available. KnowledgeVision is reinventing the business
presentation for an online, on-demand, multi-sensory,
anytime/anywhere world.
KnowledgeVision
www.knowledgevision.com
(855) 587-8834
676 Elm Street Suite 200
Concord, MA 01742
ABOUT DEMANDGEN REPORT
DemandGen Report is a targeted e-media publication
spotlighting the strategies and solutions that help
companies better align their sales and marketing
organizations, and ultimately, drive growth. A key
component of our coverage focuses on the sales and
marketing automation tools that enable companies to
better measure and manage their multi-channel demand
generation efforts.
www.demandgenreport.com
(201) 257-8528
411 State Rt. 17 South, Suite 410
Hasbrouck Heights, NJ 07604