Video is rapidly becoming King in marketing. If you are skeptical, check out these facts that tell the story.

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• 90% of users say watching a product video helps them make a purchasing decision
• One minute of video is equal to 1.8 million words
• 80% of users recall a video ad they saw in the last 30 days
• 87% of online marketers use video content
• 46% of users take some form of action after viewing a video ad

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The ever-increasing power of video is indisputable in the marketing and advertising arena. But have you heard about video’s latest traversal?  

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Make room, marketers, because video has officially been dubbed the latest sales tool. That’s right, sales.

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SalesForce (you know…one of the largest CRM providers in the market) announced that they would be integrating with Wistia, a hugely successful video hosting and analytics company. At face value, this looks like any other partnership between two companies in the marketing and advertising vertical. But in actuality, it stands for something much more significant.

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Video isn’t just for marketing anymore. And this partnership is a foundational shift in how organizations will be able to use video in the future.

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Why the sudden shift?

As you witnessed above, video statistics tell a gripping story about what we can expect in the years to come. According to experts, video accounts for far more than half of all online content.  In 2019 and 2020, it was predicted that 80 percent of all internet traffic would be for video. With these forecasts looming just beyond the horizon, industry leaders are acting now to figure out how this video phenomenon can be used to their advantage.

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What does this have to do with sales?

If video is in the process of taking over content, that means all your target prospects will be searching for video instead of blog articles to self educate and guide their purchasing decisions. To understand why this will impact sales, you first need to understand how sales have changed over the last several years.

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Outbound vs. Inbound Selling

Traditionally, salespeople used outbound methods to close deals. They attended networking events, purchased lead lists, made cold calls, and sent out blanket emails. Essentially, they casted a wide net, hoping to catch a few fish.

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As the industry evolved, it adjusted its stance to inbound and is now hyper-focused on knowing as much about target audiences as possible. Using social media, a CRM system, and other prospecting tools, salespeople are spending more time watching, researching, and learning about their target prospects and less time trying to charm them into a sale.  

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A major part of this research involves watching how potential buyers interact with different marketing campaigns.

The goal is for salespeople to know exactly when the buyer is ready for a sales call and exactly what the initial sales conversation should be about. No more scripts. No more generic approaches. Sales conversation is customized, thoughtful, and, most importantly — helpful to the buyer.

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As video continues to gain traction among target audiences and becomes the preferred way for buyers to collect information about the products and services they are interested in, your sales reps will need to get darn good at understanding video viewing data and engagement history. They will also need to develop the skills to translate video metrics into action as part of their sales prospecting strategy.

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What Specifically Will This Integration Offer Sales Teams?

Here are several ways sales teams will use the Salesforce/Wistia integration:

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• To acquire new leads: using Wistia’s Turnstile email collector, salespeople will be able to acquire new leads via video.

• To Integrate video viewing data in a lead record: When new leads are generated via video, Wistia will automatically sync with Salesforce to incorporate video viewing data into the lead record. Video Heatmaps (a feature of Wistia) will also be available to salespeople to illustrate how every contact interacts with every video.

• To improve lead scoring: Once video viewing data is included in the lead record, it can be used in lead scoring and assignment rules.

• To personalize content for lead nurturing: Viewing history will tell salespeople and marketers even more about their target audiences, and content can be refined to better reach these individuals and drive sales conversations. Think about it…individual heat maps will tell salespeople:
  • Which videos a lead watched
  • Exactly how much of a video a lead watched
  • Precisely when a lead lost interest in a video
  • If they interacted with a video’s CTA or links

• Video-Sharing Across Departments: This integration will make it easy for marketing to share its video library with sales so that video can truly become a part of the sales process. Videos can be dragged and dropped into Salesforce emails, or video-based templates can be created to increase response rates.

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Still not convinced that video metrics matter?

We understand. For some organizations, the rapid rise of video is a bit unsettling. And now it’s becoming a part of the sales strategy?! Video doesn’t have to be scary. It also doesn’t have to break your budget. Consider working with a video production agency. Tattoo Content Studio will help you get a feel for what video is all about and how it can help your campaign.

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Tattoo Content Studio | 704 Morris Street, Charlotte, NC 28208 | 704.900.7150

Email contentstudio@tattooprojects.com or click here to schedule a call.