Online video engages potential clients and delivers marketing results. The data tells a good story: 181.4 million US Internet users (85% of the US Internet audience) watched more than 39.4 billion online content videos in September 2012; some 73% of C-suite executives say they watch work-related videos weekly; and companies using online video across multiple screens had a nine-fold increase in brand recall.
Such statistics support the contention that online video is a highly engaging and versatile tool for B2B marketing and lead generation campaigns.
Moreover, I'd argue that online video adds not only dimension but also a complete and integrated multichannel tool for tradeshow marketing. The following case study shares how a B2B technology company used online video to increase in-person tradeshow meetings with targeted decision makers by 218%.
A Case Study
A leader in retail business intelligence technology, QuantiSense wanted to increase the quality and quantity of its face-to-face meetings with decision makers during the 2012 National Retail Federation tradeshow.
"NRF is the most important retail industry tradeshow of the year and video was the centerpiece of our NRF marketing initiatives," said Jeff Buck, CEO of QuantiSense.
QuantiSense teamed up with MagnetVideo to create a marketing video and design a six-step event-marketing campaign using online video.
Video Production
The idea of video production can be intimidating. And most marketers instantly think of big cameras, lights, crews, and big budgets.
However, working together to identify the ideal target audience, core messaging, and call to action for the campaign, MagnetVideo and QuantiSense were able to create a high quality company overview video without the expense, risk, and hassle of an onsite video shoot. MagnetVideo produced a 70-second video using engaging and informative motion graphics.
That approach kept the focus on the core benefits QuantiSense provides retailers: increasing sales and margins. The video also included a segment explaining how the retailer's end clients—consumers—can also benefit from the QuantiSense solution.
Driving Demand for the Event
Step 1: Pre-Event Marketing
QuantiSense kicked off its event marketing campaign with a 1-2-3 punch combination. The MagnetVideo team created a targeted video landing page for the NRF show with three key features:
- A 70-second concise company overview video
- A whitepaper download
- Booth and speaking engagement information
QuantiSense set up its marketing automation platform (Eloqua) to deliver targeted, personalized email meeting invitations to secure appointments at the show.
The email design offered a conversion opportunity by featuring an image of the video in a player linked to the campaign landing page.
Step 2: Social Awareness
QuantiSense engaged its social media community by sharing links to the company overview video in the days leading up to the show. The video included the invitation "Meet Us During NRF 2012 in Booth 765" to build brand awareness before the show.
Step 3: Video SEO
To increase visibility from the tradeshow's organic search traffic, the team optimized its YouTube video on the term "NRF 2012" by integrating the term in the video title, description, tags, and the uploaded closed captioning text.
It worked. The video regularly ranked on the first page of Google search results for that term. Google regularly includes YouTube videos in organic search results—an indexed video likely has a greater chance of ranking on the first page than a textual page.
Step 4: Video QR Codes
At the tradeshow, QuantiSense wanted to increase brand awareness. Aligning with the increase in QR code usage, the team created a 60-foot-tall promotional banner that hung outside the entrance of the Javits Convention Center in New York, where the show was being held.
When attendees scanned the QR code with their smartphones, the video automatically played with a call to action to visit the QuantiSense booth.
Step 5: Video in the Tradeshow Booth
QuantiSense placed several large flat screen monitors in its tradeshow booth at the NRF event and played the video on those screens. The in-booth video helped drive traffic and immediately described the company's solution.
Moreover, the QuantiSense executive team played the video at the beginning of each in-person meeting with key retail decision makers to provide an overview of the company's solution and to help build brand recall.
Step 6: Post-Event Marketing
After the NRF tradeshow wrapped up, the team created a personalized email thanking each person who had visited the booth. The thank-you email was linked to a landing page where visitors could watch the QuantiSense video and download a whitepaper. The team continued to nurture contacts using the video as the content centerpiece.
The Event Marketing Campaign Results
By working with MagnetVideo to design and implement the multichannel video marketing campaign, QuantiSense increased its face-to-face meetings with decision makers during NRF by 218% over 2011 results.
"Our marketing team was able to use the same video across all of our marketing channels for the NRF event. Video proved to be both highly effective and very affordable," concluded QuantiSense CEO Jeff Buck.
