Let me ask you a question.
Do you know what part you play in your Buyer’s Journey?
Let’s take the “Journey” part literally: are you the road, the final destination, the map or the signs? Let me tell you what you are: you’re the guide. You’re the one who chooses the road, and you need to make sure that all the things that your travelers may need are there at the moment they need them.
Planning great content, and making it work, is just like that. Besides being interesting and of high quality, your content needs to be timed just right to generate the most impact. It must be in the correct place, at the correct time.
In your Buyer’s Journey, you have a clear goal: to point your prospects in the right direction. You can do this by knowing beforehand every step that you want them to make, and planning it all so well that they’ll always find the right content at the right time.
There are three stages of the journey, Awareness, Consideration and Decision. Today, let’s focus on how to plan great video content for the middle one: The Consideration stage.
During the Consideration stage, your searcher is now a visitor of your website, they know which problem they have and they’ve begun to research a solution.
How can you convince this visitor that you’re the best possible solution for their problems?
Show them. Show your prospects how your product can help them reach their goals, and how your offer is different and better than the competition.
This must be done in an effective, engaging way, and you know, of course, that the best way to deliver a powerful message is through video.
Your prospects are in the Consideration stage, which means that they’re now willing and starting to consider your company and products.
You want to take them smoothly into the Decision stage. And this is done by using your video content to grab (and retain!) your customer’s attention. Expand the information they already have about you and let them get to the conclusion that your product is the one they’re looking for.
But in order to give them the right information about your product, you need to have some knowledge about your customers, and tailor your video content to their needs.
Luckily, thanks to the first stage of the journey, you already have some information about them! At the very least, you know what their problems are, and what they’re looking for.
It’s time to get to your buyer’s personas and ask questions that will enrich your customer’s information, sorting out what you need to plan for the appropriate video content:
Ask some key questions, like:
Answer these questions and you’ll have a detailed picture of your personas. Plan their journey, use this information to enrich your video content, and if there’s a gap in one of your personas’ buying journey, fill it!
Remember to keep your content creative. Tailor it to your prospect’s needs, be useful and fun.
At the beginning of the Buyer’s Journey, the best thing that you can do is to keep your videos short and sweet. But when your prospects move forward to the following stages, your video content can get longer.
Also, you’ll see that the video completion rate should lean more to 100%, as they keep getting closer and closer to their buying decision.
In the Consideration stage, videos can be a little longer and richer in information, but don’t make them too long. Aim for 2-3 minutes of video, because if you expand them too much, you’ll be risking losing your prospect’s attention.
What kind of videos can be used?
In the world of corporate video, Product Videos are a staple, but they’re so for a reason: they’re effective.
When convincing your viewers of the benefits of your product or service, nothing works better than showing it in practice.
Company Culture Videos help you connect with your viewers on an emotional level.
Let the personality of your brand shine: Show short interviews with your employees, team-building days, birthday parties, bloopers, and everything in between. Just be creative!
Take a look at this fun one from HubSpot:
Explainer videos are great for grabbing and retaining your prospect’s attention: You can highlight a problem, followed by its solution, explain how it works, and add a call to action, all in 2 minutes or less! They’re dynamic and informative, and also very entertaining.
Pro Tip: For an added layer of interest and dynamism, use an animated explainer video! Animated videos generate empathy between your leads and your brand, which sets up a strong connection.
This a great example for using animated video, in the form of a Whiteboard Explainer Video:
CarePredict, by Yum Yum Videos.
The first channel you should be thinking about is your own website, after all, your prospects are probably going to end up there when they get to this stage! Make sure that your video is the very first thing that they see.
Remember, most viewers don’t scroll down on websites, so your video must be visible when they enter the site. Always place it above the fold.
Make it easy for them to find and play your video.
Social media is one of the most important ways to promote your video: it’s simple and effective. Now that you know your prospects and that you have analyzed their goals, go where they are. Use social media to your advantage.
Of course, there are networks that are made specifically for video, like YouTube or Vimeo, (YouTube alone is the 2nd largest search engine and 3rd largest social network on Earth!) but that doesn’t mean that you should limit your options to only these 2. Just learn which networks your prospects are using.
Pro Tip: Remember, your content should fit with the spirit of each network. Facebook is great for sharing content, Snapchat is all about getting attention, Twitter helps you connect with your potential customers… and so on.
In order to build a deeper relationship with your subscribers/potential customers, introduce them to your product or service with targeted video content. Don’t be too salesy and always provide educational content that is valuable to your prospects.
You should be including video in your newsletter because email newsletters with video get 50% to 80% more clicks. So, definitely use this to your advantage.
Always keep in mind that choosing the right content according to your target audience can make the difference between a lead, a prospect and a buyer.
Thanks to Carmen Alicia Coto for sharing their advice and opinions in this post. Content Collaborator at Yum Yum Videos. Graphic Designer. Constantly learning, passionate about languages and the Internet. In my free time, I read and google 
By Expert commentator
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