Training is a vital part of any business. From training your employees to helping customers and partners understand your solution or product offering, generating informative content is key. Your training or tutorials need to provide a good amount of detail, but be simple enough to understand for any individual persona.
Video content is the natural choice for effective training. The medium is visually rich and engaging. You can take relatively complex concepts, and distill them into a more digestible format.
Training videos can be useful as they can emulate a face-to-face conversation, making it easier to retain information. One minute of video is equivalent to 1.8 million words of text, according to a study conducted by Forester Research. Video can impact users in a way that written text cannot.
So, what other benefits are there to training videos in the B2B tech industry?
Why Choose a Video for Training?
Around 81% of marketers feel that video has a direct and positive impact on their sales. Most consumers are engaged with video content over written content. Therefore, one of the most effective ways to train people, be it staff, consumers, or partners, is through video content.
People take in information differently. With video, it is possible to create a variety of different videos to fit the needs of the output as effectively as possible.
There are two main formats for a successful training video, either direct-to-camera addresses or a more graphical approach. We find the best solution, however, is typically a hybrid between these two formats – where you can use a graphical approach to elements that would be more visually focused, or just difficult to explain verbally.
Why Use Training Videos in B2B Tech
The overarching benefit of using training videos for your B2B tech business is the amount of time and money it saves in the long run. B2B tech solutions can be extremely complex and confusing for potential leads, new customers, or new partners to understand quickly.
By having a video (or set of videos) to onboard your customers and partners, you can ensure that they include all vital information that they would need to know before starting work with your company. Without video, this can be an extremely time-consuming and repetitive task. The alternative might be to carry out one-on-one training, or send long-form documents that often generate a lot of questions.
Videos will enable you to save time and resources when onboarding multiple partners over a particular period as you won’t need to send your staff out each time, you can simply send over the videos and be on hand to answer any questions that they may have. You can use them multiple times, and they can be updated over time when information changes.
As mentioned above, videos are now as important, if not more, than written content. You can use the popularity of online video content to your advantage. Consider integrating your training or solution-based videos into your outbound and social strategies. This way, you can ensure that your solution is understood by the masses.
In a similar vein, your training video content can be cut up and repurposed into shorter social media teasers, or introductions to your company for potential leads. The body of your training video might be too specific, but you’ll likely find some valuable information about your solution for marketing purposes. Repurposing content like this again saves time and resources when looking to spark conversation with contacts.
How to Make a Good Training Video
Whether you are using a direct address, graphics, or a hybrid approach, it’s important to have a clear process for generating your training videos.
Before you get started, you need to have a clear understanding of the uses of these videos. Are they for new staff and customers to learn about your tools, or are they for use with an affiliate marketing offer to help them correctly advertise your business? Once you have your mission in mind, you can get started.
The Messaging
To begin with, you need to brainstorm and script out all of the necessary information that you wish to include in the video(s). These might include basic company information, your target audience, how your software works, etc. It is a best practice to have the script verified by multiple people to ensure that nothing vital is missing. Also, make sure that the information is concise so that, after filming takes place, the post-production goes smoothly.
The Graphics & The Branding
As mentioned, some parts of your video may be difficult to get across through the narration, so graphics and supplemental footage are important.
From using graphs to show your business growth and expectations, to screen recordings of your tool to show it in action, using a mix of these alongside a direct address will keep your audience engaged and ensure complex information is understood.
You will have a clear graphical charter in place already for your business, so you need to ensure that it translates smoothly into your videos and supporting graphics. Use the same color schemes that you would on your website or other platforms. For videos to work within your onboarding or marketing, the themes need to flow seamlessly.
The Distribution
Once you have decided how you are going to use the videos, you need to figure out the best way to distribute them. The easiest option is uploading them to either Google Drive or YouTube as unlisted videos that can only be accessed by those that they are meant for.
Alternatively, for onboarding, a similar format to HubSpot’s Academy feature would be useful. This will give those watching the training videos to know how many parts there are to their training, and gives you a chance to provide extra written resources alongside them.
Effective Training Videos
To summarize, training videos are an extremely versatile asset to your B2B tech business and can be used in a variety of different scenarios including sales, marketing, and onboarding.
For affiliate marketing programs, videos help you to simplify the onboarding process. It’s important that partners have all the tools, and knowledge, to represent your company to their audience. They might also benefit from using your solution firsthand, and it’s important that they get the full experience.
At Nituno, we understand the importance of getting the most out of video content, be it for your marketing or onboarding. We can help you to plan, film, edit, and implement training videos for your business, and ensure that your partners and customers get the most out of your products. Get in touch with us today to learn more about our video offering.
